Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert L. Bennett will be in New York Friday, March 8, for an Indian Industrial Forum.
They will be among the guests of honor at a luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel sponsored by 14 industrial firms which have plants operating on or near Indian lands and by two banks interested in industrial development in Indian areas.
William W. Keeler, president of the Phillips Petroleum Company and Principal Chief of the Cherokee nation of Indians, will be master of ceremonies.
Other guests of honor will include 20 Indian tribal leaders and Miss Indian America XIV, who is Miss Sarah Ann Johnson, a Navajo.
Following the luncheon, a news conference will be held at the Waldorf Astoria, at 2:30 p.m. by Secretary Udall, Commissioner Bennett and Mr. Keeler, the Indian leaders and Miss Indian America.
Prior to the luncheon, at 10 a.m., Commissioner Bennett, Miss Indian America and the Indian leaders will be guests at a coffee at Girl Scouts of America headquarters at 830 Third Avenue.
One purpose of the sessions centering on the luncheon, according to Keeler, is to acknowledge the help that the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have given industries which have located plants on or near Indian lands. Another purpose is to tell their success story to firms which have shown an interest in making the same move.
Keeler invited 16 nationally known organizations to act as co-hosts for the occasion. These are: Phillips Petroleum; Amphenol Corp.; Bulova Watch Co.; Western Superior Corp. (BVD); Eisen Brothers, Inc.; Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp.; General Dynamics Corp.; Navajo Forest Products Industries; Peabody Coal Co.; Rayonier, Inc.; Sequoyah Carpet Mills, Inc.; Burnell Nytronics, Inc.; Harry Winston, Inc.; Vassar Corp.; Marine Midland Trust Co. of Western New York; and Crocker-Citizens National Bank of Los Angeles.
Tribal leaders and the Branch of Industrial Development of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have helped to establish more than 100 manufacturing plants in Indian country.
Eventually these plants are expected to employ nearly 10,500 persons, more than half of whom will be Indians. Based on the annually computed minimum rate of pay, these plants will yield a payroll-income of more than $34 million annually, with earnings for Indian workers expected to reach about $19 million yearly. The 4,000 Indian workers employed at the end of 1967 stand to earn $13 million in wages during 1968.
During the past four years, 94 manufacturing plants were established in Indian areas, and the Indian wage earners were paid about $28 million.
Other industrial operations, based on the development of Indian resources such as fish, forests and minerals, bring the total number of industrial firms operating on or near Indian lands to over 450.
