Viewing page 39 of 41

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

such a purpose?

Sec. 2114 Revised statutes authorizes the President to exercise general superintendance over Indian tribes and protect them on their reservations ^[[from] interruption and disturbance from other tribes of Indians. Sections 2146 – 2147 - 2148 – 2149 – 2150 – 2152 –. 2149 authorizes the President and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior to remove from Indian reservations and from the Indian Territory any person found therein without authority, and the military force may be employed for that purpose. Now if these Indians were on the Omaha reservation without permission and such is clearly the case, because the telegram of Agent Vose set forth in the return of Gen. Crook announces their arrest, could not the army be employed to return them to the reservation? To conclude otherwise might be attended with serious consequences. It would be inviting invasion from all the Indian tribes. It would be saying that there is no power in the government to keep an Indian on his reservation. Let the decision of the court go forth that the hands of the government are tied, that the Indians tribes are at liberty to leave their reservations at pleasure
[[margin]] 361 [[/margin]] and trespass upon our soil and the reservations of other Indians, and you will see most serious trouble.