| OCR Text |
Show Cattle.-This position as to the repeal of the laws of the nations by the Curtis Act was more strongly urged by parties who desired to intro-duce cattle into the Indian Territory wntrary to the qnarantine laws of the nations and without the payment of the tax provided by those laws. Much correspondence was had as to the power of the Depart-ment to enforce the quarantine laws of the nations, especially the law of the Creek Nation prohibiting the introduction of cattle therein during cartain times of the year. This contention waa based on the supposi-tion that it waa intended by Congress to repeal the laws of the several nations when by section 26 of the Cartis Act the courts of the United States were prohibited from enforcing any of the laws of the various tribes or nations, either at law or in equity, after the passage of the act. The office took the position that in prohibiting the courts from enforoing the laws of the nations Congress did not necessarily repeal my of those laws whiuh were not inconsistent with the Curtis Act and conld stand and be executed without interfering with its opera-tions; and, furthermore, that even if the effect of the Curtis Act were to repeal the quarantine laws of these nations, section 2117 of the Revised Statutes of the United States would operate to prohibit the introduction of cattle illegally into the Indian Territory, and the courts of the United States wuld be'appealed to for the enforcement of the penalty provided in that section. This question was further complicated by the position taken by parties interested in introducing cattle into the Creek Nation, to the effect that thecurtis Act, having given to each citizen in the nation the right to use or to receive rent from his proportionate share of the lands of his nation, suspended the operations of the Creek quarantine laws to the extent of permitting the introduction of cattle to be held on tracte occupied by individuals of the nation without liability to paying the permit tax imposed in tribal permit laws. It was held that if any other view were taken of the situation, the provisions of the Curtis Act which authorized the individual to lease his proportionate share and.the share of his wife and children would be nullified by a tax being charged on the cattle introduced, or at least the rental value of such proportionatt shares would be materially aud unfavorably affected. The office did not take this view of the question, but held that t b c quarantine laws of the Creek Nation were valid and that the tax imposed therein for the introduction of cattle should be collected Any other view would permit the indiscriminate introduction of cattlc into the Creek Nation on the theory that all or nearly all of the Creek public domain was in the possession of the various members of t h ~ tribe, and conseqnently the whole nation would be liable to be grazed by foreign cattle withont the payment of the tax imposed by the lawr of the nation. In a letter of May 18,1899, addressed to the inspector for the Indk Territory, the Department held that the collection of the tax imposed |
