The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-11-23
Fight COMING ON
INDIAN LID ORDER
INDICATIONS POINT TO LONG LE-
GAL BATTLE OVER ENFORCE.
MENT or DEPARTMENTS RUL-
ING--ATToRNEY FOR BREWERS
EXPLAINS THE SITUATION.

ST. Paul Dispatch: Although "a meet
ing of many of the principal brewer
and wholesale liquor dealers Of tn
resulted In formal announcement
that the liquor manufacturers an,
dealers would obey to the letter tn,
order of the bureau Of Indian affairs
shutting all liquor out of a large por
ton of northern Minnesota, there ap
pears to be no doubt that the Who'll,
controversy will reach the courts il
some shape. Just what form the liti
cation will take is not yet known.
statement given out by f. w. zollman
attorney for the Minnesota Brewers
association, points plainly to the con-
clusion that there will be a legal bat
| lie. Mr.. zollman said:
Effect of the Lid Order.
very few people realize the force
Of the Indian lid order. Taking the
treaty proviso and the Indian statute
| together, as construed by the COM
missioner of Indian affairs and the sec
rotary of the interior, it means that
no citizen within the affected territory
can carry into 1t, or have shipped or
| carried to him in any manner either
for personal, medicinal or sacramento
use, any spirits, wines or other liquors.
| The shipper, the carrier and the re-
| ceiver of such liquors are alike gull
| ty, and the punishment is a term Of
| not exceeding two years in the pehi-
| Tertiary, and fine not exceeding $500.
| The order of w. r. Johnson of Oct.
%, 1910, directed particularly to tho
railroad and express companies, prom
ises a vigorous prosecution, without
discrimination as to persons or
territory throughout the entire coun-
try covered by the treaty with the
Chippewa Indians.
This treaty was made Feb. o.
1856. 1t takes in about one sixth of
the entire state and covers all of Cass,
Hubbard, Becker and Mahnomen coun
ties, almost all Of Itasca, Aitkin, Grow
Wing, Wadena and Norman coun-
ties, considerable portions of Clay OF
ter Tail, Beltrami and Koochiching
counties, and portions of ST. Louis and
Carlton counties. The territory has a
population of about 275,OOO whites, as
against 5000 to 1000 Indians, the ma
jority of whom are citizens of the
United States and citizens of the state
OF Minnesota, with the right of fran
chise and eligible to any office within
the gift of the state or nation.
Refers to Equity Rights.
Minnesota was admitted into the
Union in 1858 on an equal footing with
f1a al 1fn
til now period of fifty-two years, has
continuously exercised the police pow
er of sovereign state in and
throughout the entire territory in
question, actual Indian reservations, of
course excepted. During all of this
time the country has grown to its
present proportion and a license policy
has prevailed. Three breweries are
operated within the territory-two of
them at Brainerd and Perham, con-
tinuously for more than thirty years
These breweries have complied with
all the requirements of the federal
law as to location, manufacture and
sale of their product. Other dealers.
both wholesale and retail, have taken
out and each year paid their so-called
government licenses-in other words.
the federal government has acquiesced
In all these things, and from. the max
ing of the treaty until the present
time has never taken single step to
enforce the treaty provisions. Natur-
ally. on the strength of his asuui-
escence, extensive investments have
been made, which at least constitute
equity considerations of great weight
a nj
regard these things, especially in view
of the purpose for which the Indian |
intercourse act was included in the |
treaty. Primarily it was intended |
for the protection of the whites during |
the sparsely settled period of the cuun- |
try. This necessity has ceased to ex-
list.
Indian Now a Citizen.
LAS already said, most of the In |
dams living in this territory are citi- |
zens and eligible to any Office within
the gift of the state or nation. The
court of the United States. in
the case of In re Heff, u. S. 1877. ass. |
held that the Indian citizen is no |
longer ward of the government and |
Is entitled to equal rights and privi- |
eges with the white citizen. That de- |
cision is the law of the land as much |
as the treaty or the statute and should |
at least receive some consideration. 1t |
might, therefore, be argued with some |
propriety that an executive officer |
should not construe the law so as ia |
deprive the Indian citizen of those
rights to which the supreme court has |
declared him to be entitled.
Il am not now arguing for an open |
door for the Indian. | am simply CALI |
Ing attention to the federal statutes |
and federal decisions. because the or |
ders in question are issued by the fed
eral authority. The statutes of the
state of Minnesota are fully as drastic !
on the subject in question as the fed /
eral statutes. 1t is an open question
rs to whether the order is not an in
yasion of states rights.
THE entire uupstfon In ffS xya 49, /