National headquarters for the Indian Bureau's relocation program, involving guidance and help for Indian workers and their families seeking to establish new homes away from the reservations, will be moved on August 1 from Washington, D. c., to Denver, Colo. Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.
Charles F. Miller, Chief of the Bureau’s Branch of Relocation for the past two years, will continue to direct the program from Denver. However, Charles B. Rovin, Assistant Chief of the Branch, will remain in Washington as a liaison with the Bureau's Central Office.
The move, which will place the Bureau's top relocation staff in closer proximity to the major centers of Indian population, points up the increased emphasis which the Bureau is now giving to this phase of its operations.
Two other recent developments also underline the growing importance of relocation activity.
One is the focusing of attention by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons on the urgent need for providing reservation Indians with wider and more diverse opportunities for economic advancement. Commissioner Emmons has stressed this theme frequently and has pointed to the Bureau’s relocation program as one practical answer to the problem.
Relocation was also featured prominently in the report of the survey team which completed an organization study of the Bureau in late 1953. "More attention,” the report stated, "should be given to Indians' needs as individuals and in helping them earn a livelihood in much the same ways as the majority of American people who are working for salaries and wages in towns and cities."
