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proposed amendment is passed it will materially lessen the effectiveness of the over-all health program. We desire to call your attention to the facts herein set forth in order that you can give your immediate attention to the matter.

Very truly yours,

B. K. KILBOURNE, M. D.,
County Health Officer, Secretary.

Board members: Roy O. Yeatts, M. D., Chairman, Hardin; Francis Curry, Lodge Grass; Carey Mabe, Hardin; L. C. Lippert, Crow Agency; J. I. Westphal, D. D. S., Hardin.

Mr. D'EWART. Mr. Chairman, under these circumstances, you will see the absolute impossibility of enforcing law and order on Indian country in the Federal courts.

CONCLUSIONS

H. R. 459 would confer jurisdiction on the several States named over offenses committed by or against Indians on Indian reservations to the same extent as the States have jurisdiction over offenses committed elsewhere within the State, when such action was requested. The need for this legislation arises from

(1) The complete breakdown of law and order on many of the Indian reservations, as I have shown;

(2) The fact that there is an area of no-man's land on Indian reservations as far as present law is concerned;

(3) The decision of the Supreme Court of Montana in the Tatsey case that in effect makes all State law nonapplicable on Indian reservations;

(4) The refusal, unwillingness or inability of tribal councils to deal with the present situation;

(5) The lack of Federal enforcement officers-I have shown two assigned to an area as large as Texas;

(6) The unwillingness of the Federal Department of Justice to act; (7) The unwillingness of Federal courts to clutter up their dockets with Indian cases;

(8) The desire of the Indians themselves for adequate law and order enforcement;

(9) The desire of all law abiding citizens living on or near Indian reservations for law and order; and

(10) The fact that it is unthinkable that the Congress would permit large areas of these United States to continue under the present breakdown of law and order when means are at hand to correct the situation.

It is my belief that we should establish a uniformity of jurisdiction in those States that desire it, to be used to enforce the law when held proper and necessary by State officials and when law enforcement by Indian courts proves unsatisfactory.

H. R. 459 would in no way discriminate against our Indian citizens. Instead it would afford protection to Indians who are now being harassed by an unruly minority.

As amended, the legislation would have to be accepted by a majority vote on each reservation before it could apply to such

reservation.

I urge the enactment of H. R. 459 as amended.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask that Mr. Marshall be called as the next witness.

Mr. MORRIS. All right.

Just before we call Congressman Marshall I want to extend my appreciation to you as chairman of the committee, Mr. D'Ewart, for your very comprehensive and careful statement you have made. You have brought a lot of information before this committee and we are grateful to you for having spent the time and effort in presenting this matter and we certainly are greatly in sympathy, as you know, of course, with the purpose of these bills.

As to just what we shall do I am not prepared to say at this time but the matter is of such magnitude and of such importance that this committee should in my judgment, and I think will, take action in the very near future in some manner or another.

Now you would suggest that Congressman Marshall be heard at this time?

Mr. D'Ewart. Yes, sir.

I would like to make one more statement and that is to identify those who requested the legislation be applicable in their States.

Mr. Marshall of Minnesota, and Mr. Aandahl of North Dakota, Mr. Berry of South Dakota, myself from Montana, Mr. Harrison from Wyoming, Mr. Poulson for California, and Mr. Cain did not request it personally but he introduced a similar bill in the last session. (The letter from Senator Cain is as follows:)

"The Honorable WESLEY A. D'EWART,

UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C., February 22, 1952.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. D'EWART: I am grateful for your note of yesterday which indicated that hearings will soon be held by the House on H. R. 459 and H. R. 3235. Good fortune and time permitting, I shall attend the hearings because I continue to have a real interest in the subjects covered.

With every good wish, I am

Most sincerely,

HARRY P. CAIN.

Mr. MORRIS. We will hear from Congressman Marshall and if members want to ask questions of Congressman D'Ewart later they will be permitted to do so. However, in order to accommodate a former and most distinguished member of this committee, one who was always diligent and always present on practically every occasion when we had business to transact, and one who contributed a lot to this committee, we welcome the appearance of and will now hear Congressman Marshall.

STATEMENT OF HON. FRED MARSHALL, REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, STATE OF MINNESOTA

Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate those kind words and of course in having the opportunity to have served on this committee under your chairmanship, and I have nothing but the fondest of memories. I consider that I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity of serving on your committee because of the detail in which you went into legislative matters.

Since that time I have had the opportunity of sitting on the Appropriations Committee and I do wish to say that I wish all of the legislative committees of Congress took their responsibilities as seriously as your committee does, because occasionally we have problems

which come before our committee where the legislative work and the ground work was done rather scantily and rather hastily which throws an undue burden upon the Committee on Appropriations.

It is very unfair for the Committee on Appropriations to have to sit down and dig back into some of the questions that legislative committees could very well have taken care of, and I know, in remembering back how thoroughly your committee went into those things. I appreciate more than ever the fairness and consideration that you gave to legislative bills.

Mr. MORRIS. Thank you.

Mr. MARSHALL. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, I have a prepared statement that I could submit and if it might be your pleasure, I think that I might high light a few things that might be of interest and in the meantime it might save this committee some time. I realize that this committee, along with a lot of other committees of the House, are very busy and do not have too much time.

Mr. MORRIS. You may proceed in such manner as is convenient to you, Congressman Marshall, and we will be happy to hear from you at this time. You may proceed in such way as you may care to.

Mr. MARSHALL. I would like to say that I concur in the statement that I heard our colleague, Congressman D'Ewart make. I thought he made a very excellent statement before your committee this morning and we do concur with him in the things which he brought forth. We do wish that might be included in any legislation that this committee brings out in connection with law enforcement. We have had a State legislative committee which has gone into the matter very thoroughly. The recommendations that Congressman D'Ewart makes are very much in accord with their desires. Our former Governor, Luther Youngdahl, who was recognized in our area as an authority on law enforcement, working with the intercouncil of governors through the States in that matter, has urged that law enforcement be turned over to local authorities.

I introduced before the Congress H. R. 2494, relating to the liquor problem, which was referred to this committee. Our colleague, Mr. D'Ewart, mentioned the problem. I would like to submit for the consideration of this committee the wording in my particular bill which in your discretion might be made a part of this particular bill. Briefly, it provides that where a State legislature has taken action to remove the discrimination against our Indian brothers in the sale of intoxicating liquors, that then the State laws might prevail and that the Federal Government would step out of the picture.

I wish that I had a flow of words that could impress upon the Members of Congress the feeling that our Indian brothers have over this discrimination, and also the fact that it leads to a number of practices that are almost impossible to enforce and cause a breaking down of our laws.

People who are very much interested in prohibiting the use of intoxicating liquors certainly do not realize the problem that is created by that particular discrimination. In my district, in a little town in my district, it was found that a very serious problem existed in the sale of canned heat to Indians. It was a matter of enforcement, certainly, but it was brought about because of this discrimination of this liquor law and the enforcement was very, very complicated and under our present existing procedures not having a clearly defined

pattern as to law enforcement, it makes the enforcement of those Federal and State laws very, very complicated. Local people do not always know where their jurisdiction ends.

I would like to say that in our particular State we get along very well cooperatively in many instances where State authorities have stepped in and have enforced the laws that prevail, which perhaps they haven't had the legal right to do. It has been done in the interest of society, and our Indian brethren want to live up to our laws. Some of the finest citizens of our State-and I could mention them by name, are people of Indian descent and want to be considered fullfledged citizens. What they mean by that is citizens of the State of Minnesota, enjoying the rights and privileges of other prople of the State of Minnesota. They expect to live up to the State laws. They don't want any special consideration except to be equal and free and have the rights and privileges that other people of the State have.

I also want to mention a problem which is of much concern to me as a resident of the State of Minnesota. I have seen how the local people, how the State legislature, how the Governor and all of those people have been insisting that we make legislative processes work in order to bring about equality for the Indians. Yet we find that it is very difficult when we have what we feel is a fine working relationship in the State, to bring that to the Federal Government and have the Federal Government take the proper recognition of it. We have had problems along that line and we feel maybe we are a bit impatient, but we feel at times the Bureau of Indian Affairs is too reluctant to let our Indian brothers proceed and accept the responsibilities of citizenship.

With the interest which is being shown by all people, white, Indian, legislative people, and so forth, if some action isn't taken soon, when the interest of that is at the peak that it is at the present time, I am fearful that we will be making a step backward.

I appreciate the opportunity of appearing before your committee this morning, Mr. Chairman, in support of bill H. R. 459. It is my understanding some amendments may be considered to protect the fishing rights, and so forth, which have been long traditionally a part of the Indian custom that we do not feel ought to be changed in the welfare of our Indian brothers. We understand also that other amendments may be proposed upon the particular bill, H. R. 459, and I have full confidence, having been a member of this committee, that this committee will bring out when it does a bill that is of the best possible interest to the Indian people, citizens of this country. I merely wanted this morning to impress upon you as fully as I can that Minnesota wants to be a part of it. We also want to be considered in anything that you have to do which goes to the end of segregating this group of very fine citizens that we have.

Mr. MORRIS. Mr. Marshall we are mighty happy to have you with us, that you would take your time and give us the benefit of your thinking. We appreciate that a lot. Are there some questions? Mr. Murdock?

Mr. MURDOCK. May I ask our colleague a question or two? You referred to an incident in your district, Congressman Marshall, regarding selling canned heat. Is canned heat a fuel containing alcohol? Is that what you had in mind?

Mr. MARSHALL. That is a fuel containing alcohol that campers use and it is a very poisonous type of alcohol, principally wood alcohol as I understand it, and of course our area is a great resort country. Certain people having immoral tendencies who come into that area make use of selling canned heat to our Indian brothers who do not understand the full import of it and once that habit is acquired, it has a terrific effect upon them and it then leads to the next step, which makes law enforcement very, very difficult.

Mr. MURDOCK. Do I understand that the sale of canned heat is facilitated because it is not supposed to be a drink, but for fuel only and it can be sold readily to Indians?

Mr. MARSHALL. That is correct. Our attorney general has ruled that it is a very difficult product to rule as illegal, but after it is sold the problem of law enforcement becomes much more acute because local people do not seem to have the full authority that they need to enforce their local laws, and secondly, it is my feeling that every Indian who desires to get an alcoholic drink in our area, gets it. Now what I object to more than anything else is the way he goes about getting it, and the way that it is supplied to him, which causes great disregard for law and leads, I think, to a practice which is extremely bad.

Mrs. BosONE. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MORRIS. Mrs. Bosone.

Mrs. BOSONE. Congressman, I believe it is true that it was prohibition that stimulated the desire and the taste for canned heat. The only white men who drink canned heat now are those who are residents of skid rows in all the cities. When you think that the good Indians of these States are drinking canned heat, what the habitué of the skid row drinks, it certainly isn't fair, is it? It is just about the worst drink that Indians can consume, and it makes them far more delirious than alcoholic beverages. In canned heat the oil has to be burned up before it can be drunk. There isn't very much to the alcohol but it will still satisfy them and give them a terriffic wallop. So when you figure the Indians may have access only to canned heat, which our people on skid rows in all the cities drink, it certainly is not fair.

Mr. MARSHALL. I think we might say one other word, that the use of canned heat is just beginning to break into these areas, and judging from what has happened in the past in the breaking down of law, once one of those inroads gets started it progressively gets worse and worse and worse, and I am concerned that unless something is done about making procedures available to take care of that situation we may get into and I know we will-far worse problems.

Mrs. BOSONE. A canned-heat addict will not come back to drinking bourbon or scotch. He stays with the canned heat, so you are right about that. My goodness, if it is just now making inroads into the tribes, I think that is very alarming. I thought maybe it had made its inroads. All of that makes it more important that this committee and Congress do something about it.

Mr. MARSHALL. In my district it is just getting started.

I have the statement, Mr. Chairman, which I desire to make a part of the record.

Mr. MORRIS. All right. That will become a part of the record at this point.

(The information referred to is as follows:)

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