THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES.
A peculiar history is that of the five civilized tribes of Indians. It was supposed for a time that they had given the brightest example of the success of the Indian on his reservation. These tribes had forms of government modeled after that of the States. They had governors, legislators, and judges, schools and churches. Many of the members were highly educated. But the outcome has been a failure. The laws are inadequately administered, and crime has been rampant and unpunished. But now the general Government has taken the one decisive and initial step in the matter by directing that the United States courts should have civil and criminal jurisdiction over all cases arising in the Indian Territory, irrespective of race. Thus the wedge has entered, and the reservation system and the dream of Indian autonomy—an empire within an empire—will happily soon be a thing of the past.