The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-22
The NEW LIQUOR DECISION.

tlOnlS-s ana lawyers, the United STATES 4
circuit court Of appeals at ST. Louis |
has announced that eastern Oklahoma
is Indian country and that the laws
Of the United States prohibiting the
transportation OF liquor into such ter
ritory are effective here. says the
Times Democrat
The more that decision is studied the
more sweeping becomes its meaning
Judge Ralph E. Campbell has an Off
cial copy of the decision. He as well
as all Of the attorneys who have read
the decision closely, are astonished al
its import. II means that added TO the
state prohibition Law, which is declar-
ed by experts to be the most ironclad
ever adopted by commonwealth, is
TO be supplemented by the most dras-
tic prohibition law the federal govern
ment has ever conceived. 1t not only
brings us back to the days of Bud Led
better and red ink, but goes farther
still and makes it felony for any
transportation company to introduce,
Cship) liquor into the prohibited terri
tory.
introducing, That word had al
most dropped from our vocabulary, in
this sense. Time was when half Of
the cases on the criminal docket of In
dian Territory were docketed as lin
PRODUCING. 1t meant that someone
was accused Of bringing liquor into
the Indian Territory 1t might have
been half a pint or a car load The
penalty was the same. But in those
days express companies and railroads
we're not restrained from shipping the
lliduor. The man who sold it and the
Imam who bought ii took his chance on
ever getting it past the argus eyed
deputy marshals, but it was no con
eern Of the railroads or express com
panies,
Students of prohibition had several
times suggested that the enabling act
Of itself continued Indian Territory as
Indian country, but no lawyer or Judge
had ever had the hardihood to raise
such question in a court, until the
Fort Smith case was decided. II would
appear to mean that there is to be
real prohibition. The old Indian coun-
try liquor law made it crime for a
person to introduce liquor, and pos
session was prima facie evidence Of in
PRODUCTION. The state law did not pro-
hibit introducing. Thus the state and
the federal law would seem TO dove
tai. to nicely to the nndoing of the
bootlegger. And this too. just when
the state criminal court Of appeals had
decided that the law limiting the
amount OF liquor person is entitled
10 is unconstitutional. and thereby
breaking the backbone Of state prose
lcntion against the persistent bootleg
ger, who hitherto had been convicted
right and left If more than the stated
lawful amount OF liquor was found in
his place Of business.
The federal court decision means
that the federal courts again will be
called upon to enforce the liquor law
The palmy days Of the United States
commissioners and deputy marshals
viii return in all their glory. Hundreds
OF thousands OF cases viii be docketed
and the federal court. already over
crowded with important business. viii
again become gristmill for grinding
out cases charging violation of tbs
liquor Law
Again the ingenuity of the bOotleggei
lwll be taxed. The railroad and ex
press companies viii undoubtedly taks
cognizanee OF the court decision anC
refuse to accept shipments Of liquor
So the bootlegger will have to get
in some other way. if he gets il at all
z It is supposed that under this decision
2 IL VIII be crime to bring it in sun
leases. the old style. OF to haul it across
a the state line from Fort Smith ii
J. wagons. but it is a pretty safe bet tha
+ when the railroads and express com
t Ipanies stop shipping. which they vii
e do Immediately. the agitation for stat
+ roads from Fort Smith to Oklahom
S City. and from Joplin to Fort WORT
i Twill take on new life
r Further complications are added b
e the fact that only half Of the state !
e Included in the Indian country, Will
S the enabling act and the prohibition
e act voted into he constitution apple
Ito al the state.