Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-09-08
BY Stuart Hazlett

Recently a raid was pulled off on
nearby beer parlor, the proprie-
tor being charged with the sale of
intoxicants to Indians. Without 60
ing into the merits of the case, the
question has arisen as to who and
what is an Indian.
BY congressional act, the Indian
has been declared an American citi-
zen, thereby securing all the bene-
fits accruing from citizenship. He
votes at all elections, national or
local, many pay taxes and accord
ingly vote if bond issue is at stake.
In other words, the Indian is an &C
tive participant in our body polite
Indirectly, by his vote, he helps
make our laws, the very laws that
govern states and nation today and
yet laws of ancient vintage state
that Poor Lo is and Indian and
therefore barred from certain per-
quisites of citizenship that his
white brethren enjoy.
The American Indian of today
occupies rather anolomus position.
He is citizen, and then he is not
he votes and pays taxes and yet he
is denied privileges enjoyed by his
white neighbors.
Holding no brief for the liquor
interests, am curious to learn why
an Indian, citizen and taxpayer,
a moulder of our laws is denied that
which is really his.
Ethnologists, psychologists and
other men of scholarly attainments
contend that the Indian race is par
ticularly susceptible to alcoholic in
fluence-in other words they argue
that the Indian as race is so con-
structed physically that he is I'M
able to handle or drink alcoholic
beverages and exist. In my eStima-
ton, this is just so much idle talk,
regardless of the sapient and wise
discourses put forth by our scholar
whose only knowledge of the Indi-
an probably has been obtained by
seeing a carved Indian statue in
front of a cigar store along the
Bowery or some similar places.
l am strongly in favor of liquor
on our reservation, Browning, the
local agency has an estimated pop
ulation of 800. Dame Rumor has it,
but am in no position to prove it,
that there are approximately 20
bootlegging joints here or to be
plain, bootlegger for every 40
men, women and children in our
town. This is no criticism of the
prohibition for-they will arrest an
individual today and his next door
neighbor opens tomorrow. The ma
tional government tried to enforce
prohibition throughout the nation
and failed. Alcoholic liquors are
back and are here to stay because
enforcement of laws derogatory to
free citizenship refuse to work out
regardless of all that is said and
done, and yet, we still have the In
dian problem. Shall he have his Ii
quor as any other free citizen or is
he still an outcast to be catered to
only when vote is at stake, liquor
being denied him simply because
he is an Indian and not an Italian,
a Jap, Filipino or negro. The
question resolves itself into but one
equation, racial discrimination and
a self assumed superiority on the
part of the governing race or races.
the government tried to enforce
prohibition throughout the nation
and failed-they have tried and are
still trying to enforce prohibition
among the Indians and it also has
proven a failure, not through lack
of zeal among the enforcement Off
GERS but because they are fighting
for a hopeless cause. The Indian
like the white man in prohibition
times, desiring drink Or bottle,
is going to get it regardless of cost
or consequences and without one
result, he pays fancy price for Ii
quor that no man, be he white,
black, yellow or red would ordinari
ly buy.
Prohibition is a failure regardless
of race as has been amply demon