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Show 58 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AI'FAIRS. physicians. But it is somewhat remarkable as afact in the scientificworld that tho water is always bad in the immediate mining centers, but good in the adjacent neinhborhaads. But however this fact ma"r be.,it is certain that thesale of Choctaw beer ia s. fruitful aouree of evil, disorder, and crime. The Choctaw Nation haa legislated against it and done all in ita Dower t o su-n -p ress the monster, but, like ~ a n ~ u ig'hsos t, i t will not down a t its bidding. It is ia many-headed monster, and if it be true that i t doea not come under the ban of %he liquor traffic in the Indian Territory because it is not introduoed end sold. but onlv mam-faotured and sold in the 1nd;an Territory, there ought tobe additional~on&ssionnl legislation enacted to reach and eradicate it, and punish parties who sell it in the ooeu day and run saloons in violation of law. chictaw beer is an intoxicant iust as much so as lager beer and whisky, and while its unrestrained sale ia permitted we may expect in this agency an outcrop of all evils incident to the regolar traffio in ardent spirits. I found, on a recentviait to Coalgab and Lehigh, mining centers where thousands of "liners are employed, that Choctaw beer waa sold by various parties to miners, and e similar state of affairs at Alderson, Hartahornc, and Krabs. One difficulty in dealing with sellers of Choctsm beer is thst it ia manufactured and sold by women, who are more tsouhlesome to deal with and punish thsn a man. As to whether it ia prohibited by Chootaw law or not, I invite your attention to Choctaw statutes, page 261, act approved October 18,1886. September 13,1893, a report was made to the Department relative to the report that the United States district attorney had held that the manufacture of the beer within the Indian Territory was not a viola. tion of the statutes prohibiting the introduction of intoxicating bever-ages into the Indian country, and that the parties making and selling the beer could not be prosecuted by the Federal authorities so long as they did not sell it to Indians, and it was recommended that the Department of Justice be requested to communicate with the district attorney with a view to having him cooperate with the agent of the Union Agency in the suppression of the evil. Of this report to the Department Agent Wisdom was, on the same date, advised. September 20,1893, the Attorney-General advised the Uepartnient that the district attorney had been instructed to cooperate with the agent in the suppression of the manufacture and sale of Choctaw beer in the Indian Territory, if the same should be found to be intoxicating. November 6,1894, Agent Wisdom's attention wax again called to office letter of September 13,1893, and he was directed to report whether the district attorney had been requested by him to bring any suits in the courts to put a stop to the manufacture of this beer, and if so, whether any suits had been brought by him and the result thereof; and if no suits had been brought, whether the district attorney had declined to bring snih and had given any reasons for so declining. In February last a special report was received from Agent Wisdom, with which he transmitted a letter to him from Clifford L. Jackson, the United States attorney for the Indian Territory, dated February 14, 1895, holding to his original opinion that it is not an offense against the statute to manufactnre intoxicating liquors within theIndian conu-try. Mr. Jackson stated that he had submitted this matter to Judge |
