Iditarod pioneer., 1911-11-25
l HH INDIAN QUESTION

According to the construction warranted by the meager reports ot the recent rulings by the circuit court of appeals i'll the case o one Thomas Nagle, from Wrange Alaska the question of the citizenship non-citizensip of Alaska aborgines is of fact to be decided jury The court holds, is stated that the treaty of cpssion of 1867 gives to the civilized tribes the rights of full citizelsiD expressly setting forth in it's language civilized uncivzd native tribes and also stating what be enjoyed by one and what shall be done for the other In the question bar, the whole hinges upon the fact Was the Indian to whom Nage sold liquor citizen of the United States der the treaty did he belong to the native tribe tribes cassed uncivzed! The jury will have to determine that fact
 If the courts ruling has been correctly construed an- other UnwaTraned difficulty has been placed tle way of the already oVeraned jury system applies Alaska. Formerly United States commissioners disposed to ignore the law of the treaty dealing with such cases Up to two or three ago the sauten the same section we beeverovded penalties for the sale supply of arms and ammunition to lndans in the as for lqnor The clause against furnishing and amm, hilton ignored; and the quorcase cases were nearly always complicated by jealous rivalry bus ness considerations Convictions sometimes had; but the situation grew worse instead of better Meantime, the remedy provided by the law against selling liquor without license was not applied.
 When the statute was changed so as to make the sell
 Ing or giving of liquor to Indians felony the district atOr ney of this division beleived it afforded means whereby hf couo stop the procurement of liquor by natives After putting the government and many people along the Yukon nos ot whom were nnocen to great trouble and expense he found out his mistake Then he got from the Atto1e, General an opinion that retail liquor dealers per init the liquor sold by them be carried from the premises Where sod Since then he has been hammelng away oD this theory temporarily stopping the bottle trade in some places and permitting to go oil nhindered in others until the imputaon open that law has than it ought 10 Go "ll IIquor privileges. For than year tht osct attorney has been active in his opposition to tn granting CT IquOr licenses to applicants Tn following from the Fairbanks News-Nner of October l4 will throw additional light his peculiar modes of pro- ceedure:
 In the matter of the objections by district attorney to the application o the N C. Co. for liquor license Ia3ana motion filed the company attorney Johr A. Na to make the objections of District Attorney Crosse more definite and certain.
 The district attorney repeats that law alow> the sale Of not more than five galons this th eHlse and the attorney for the company exception ths on the ground that the recent fulng of the court which has not altered
 The district attorney charges per of tn, quof that into the rom the N C store It is asked therefore, the dsrc
 attorney be compelled to set forth uo comes also Tn what manner the N C. Co., has
 lh sae or that there has in fact any liquor the Indians. ' Ni ~
 It strange that the Indian question should be allo wed to seriously disturb the business and other the territory as It does especially in this divson The Indians nave no law but that of the white man, they ought be al before the law Instead of the district at0rney