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Show REPORT OF THE CO>l3fISSlONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XIX troduced in Congress; but fiom some cause or other-lack of time or of proper appreciation of the i~nportanceo f the subject-they have in\-ari-ably fallen through, so tliat to-day tha only statutes under which In-dians are managed and controlled are s~~bstautialtlhgo se created in 1834, known as the trade and interconrse laws, whose main purpose was to regdate traffici n furs and prevent sale of am~liu~~itaiondn intoxicating drinks and i ~ ~ t rwi ounpo n an Indian reservation. As civilization ad-vances and t,be Indian is thrown intn cont:wt mith white settlers the authority of the. chie& proportionately decreases. It is manifest that some provision of law should be maile to supply this deficiency and pro-tect Indians in their individual rights of person a,nd propertfyy, At the same time, the Indian should b e g i ~ e nto understand that no ancient custom, or tribal regnlation, will shield him from just ~)onishmeufto r crime. The importance of this subject has been so frequently enlarged 11pou in the annual reports of this office for years past t.hat it seems allnost superfluous to add more; but at the risk of being cousidered prolix I herewith append an estract from a letter on file in this office from Agent Wilbur, of the Yakima Agency, Washington Territory, an officer of over sixteen years' experience with the Iudiaus. Under date of March 10 last, he says: in other, end at this agency, perhaps, eqo%lly important matter, is the extenston of tho united States law over the reservation. Possibly the situation here has brought thia matter more forcibly to my attention than to most agents. Just 08 the reserva-tion, on om side, is Yakima City, and on the other Goldendale, xud our Indiaus am often there for pnrposee of trade. When there they find themselves subject to a lam different from that on thereservation; a, lam. prompt and swift to punish, htlt power-less to protect them. They wit,ness it8 administration, and plaoe a far higher value on it than on the decisions of their oonnoils, and oases have ooourred where Indians, thinking themselves aggrieved by the adverse deci~ionof their connoils, have wrtohod their opportnnity, and, when their srlversary happeued in town, have procured a re-trial of the oase before the ju~t ioeo f the peace. I t doea not atfect the oase that the original decision was affirmed. The fact illustrates tha higher value placed ou tile United States law, and the desire of the Indians to be judged by it. Someof tho more ~ ~ n w ~I~ndtiahnys claim to have taken out "citi%nn papers," pay taxes, work the county roada, and, boasting that they ace no longer under the jurisdiotiou of the agsnt or eonneil, give themselves up to all manner of license, and before the police oau reach and arrest them are across the line, and defy all mres*rvetion authority. It is plain that these things must be utterly destructive of all authority of the agent or oonncil, and eonally plain that slwh a state of affairs o&nnat much longer continue. ~ i t aikl in dianu should he placed under the sole jurisdiction of the agent and the oouuoil, or hli ahould be brou.gh t eq-n ally under the operation of United States 1 s ~ . On this point, officers of the law, oitizens, agent, and Indians are agreed, and it is strange that 80 obviously proper and necessary a measure has not long since been adopted. Criminals and paupers have always existed, and I know no reason why the Indian should not he expected tg furnish his proportion of thae olssse;l; hut I do claim that when satisfied that equally with the white man he is secure in the possession of his home, and that the same law %hatju dges m d protects the white manthrowsits broad shield over him also, ho will furnish no more than his proportion. |