Charles Evans Hughes

“ The court said: 'If this case depended alone upon the Federal liquor statute forbidding the introduction of intoxicating drinks into the Indian country, we should feel obliged to adjudge that the trial court erred in not directing a verdict for the defendant; for that statute, when enacted, did not intend by the words 'Indian country' to embrace any body of territory in which, at the time, the Indian title had been extinguished, and over which and over the inhabitants of which (as was the case of Culdesac) the jurisdiction of the state, for all purposes of government, was full and complete. ”

“ If having the liquor in his possession on the train on this right of way did not constitute such introduction, it is immaterial, so far as the charge is concerned, whether or not he intended to take it elsewhere. Nor is it important that the plaintiff in error was an Indian. The statute makes it an offense for 'any person' to introduce liquor into Indian country.
Our conclusion must be that the right of way had been completely withdrawn from the reservation by the surrender of the Indian title, and that in accordance with the repeated rulings of this court, it was not Indian country. ”

“ It was held that this was a valid stipulation, based upon the treaty-making power of the United States and upon the power of Congress to regulate commerce with the Indians, and was 'not inconsistent, in any substantial sense, with the constitutional principle that a new state comes into the Union upon entire equality with the original states.' Upon this ground the judgment of conviction was affirmed. ”