Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons will be in a Portland March 4 and 5 for a meeting arranged by an unofficial committee of the American Bankers Association with trust officers of several banks in the Pacific Northwest region, the Department of the Interior announced today. The meeting will be concerned with problems involved in protecting the assets of Klamath Indians who are minors or otherwise not capable of managing their affairs after the termination of Federal trusteeship which is provided for in Public Law 587.
The committee which arranged the meeting consists of three members who will themselves be in attendance. It was appointed by the President of the American Bankers Association at the 1954 annual Trust Conference in New York the request of Commissioner Emmons, to advise and assist the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Indian trust problems.
Chairman of the committee is Edwin P. Neilan, President of the Equitable Security Trust Co., Washington, Del. The other members are John W. Remington, President of the Lincoln Rochester Trust Co., Rochester, N.Y., and Richard G. Stockton, chairman of the executive committee, Wachovia Bank and Trust Co., Winston-Salem, No. Car.
The major topic for discussion centers around Section 15 of the Klamath Termination Act of 1954 which provides that “prior to the transfer of title to, or the removal of restrictions from, property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of the members of the tribe who are minors, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conduction their affairs, by causing the appointment of guardians for such members in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate.”
The discussions will be concerned chiefly with the practicability and desirability of establishing private trust arrangements as one means of safeguarding the property of Klamath tribal members in the categories mentioned.
Commissioner Emmons will be accompanied by the Indian Bureau’s Legislative Associate Commissioner, H. Rex. Lee, and by Assistant Commissioner Thomas M. Reid.
