OPA

Indians can continue to maintain their tribal organizations and hold their lands in common for as long as they wish after termination of Federal trusteeship over their property and affairs, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons said in a statement released today by the Department of the Interior.

He said widespread misinformation among Indians and the public could be corrected by a further congressional declaration of policy on the matter, and added that he plans to consult members of Congress about it soon.

The text of the Commissioner’s statement follows:

"Recently there have been published comments that gave the mistaken impression that termination of Federal trusteeship over the lands of a particular Indian tribe means that the tribal lands must be sold off by the Government and the tribal organization will no longer be permitted to exist. Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually all the termination laws so far enacted--all the termination bills so far introduced on which this Department has reported favorably--have contained explicit provisions authorizing the affected Indians to continue holding their lands in common and maintaining a tribal organization after termination if they wish to do so. This can be done either through the formation of a corporation or similar organization under State law or through selection by the tribe of a nongovernmental trustee.

"This has been the policy actually followed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior and the Congress consistently since 1953. However, because there has been widespread misinformation and apprehension among the Indians on this matter, I believe it would be helpful if Congress could formalize this policy in some form of declaration at the next session. My intention is to consult with congressional members on this in the near future."

Award of a $648,685.59 contract for construction of 24.0909 miles of road on the Hopi and Navajo Indian Reservations, Navajo County, Arizona, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The project is part of the Indian Bureau's long-range program to improve roads on the two reservations. This is the final section of the road from Keams Canyon to U. S. Highway 66, about six miles east of Holbrook, and makes an all-weather road over this route.

Wells Cargo, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada, was the successful bidder. Fourteen other bids received ranged from $681,804 to a high of $870,464.

The principal items of work covered under the contract are approximately as follows: 428,776 cu. yds. unclassified excavation; 59,717 cu. yds. borrow excavation; 23,000 cu. yds. select borrow for topping; 38,000 cu. yds. special subbase; 2,035 tens liquid asphalt; 4,676 lin. ft. corrugated galvanized metal culvert; 266 lin. ft. corrugated metal pipe structural plate.

Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today called attention to the final roll of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin which was published in the Federal Register December 12, 1957.

The roll, comprising 3,270 names, was compiled under the Menominee Termination Act of 1954 and represents the final listing of tribal members after disposition of all appeals that have been made to the Secretary. Only those people on the roll are entitled under the Termination Act to share in the benefits of tribal property.

The Potawatomi Area Field Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been operating from both Mayetta and Horton, Kansas locations, will be consolidated in the near future into a single office at Horton, the Department of Interior announced today.

Up to now only the land operations personnel and the Bureau's field representative were stationed at Mayetta. Tho latter, however, served three days a week at Horton.

Horton was chosen as the location for the consolidated office primarily because it is more centrally located than Mayetta with reference to the four Indian reservations that are served. These are the Potawatomi and Kickapoo Reservations in Kansas and the Iowa and the Sac and Fox Reservations located partly in Kansas and partly in Nebraska.

Buford Morrison, the Bureau's administrative officer who has been supervising both Kansas offices, will continue in charge of the consolidated office. The staff will be augmented ln the very near future by the addition of an adult education specialist.

Indian Bureau activities on the four reservations are now largely limited to supervision of approximately 34,000 acres of Indian land held in trust by the United States. The Bureau also has contracts with the State of Kansas for the education of Indian children in public schools in Brown and Jackson Counties.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs awarded a $61,540.78 contract today to improve the entrance road to the Taos Pueblo of New Mexico, which annually attracts thousands of visitors.

The improvement will provide a bituminous surface for a little more than two miles with adequate drainage and right-of-way into one of the most popular and spectacular pueblos of the Southwest.

Floyd Haake of Santa Fe, New Mexico, received the contract. One other bid was received, for $86,860.41.

It is a pleasure to participate with you today for I truly believe that this session is the Forerunner of the truly unified, coordinated effort in providing the services that the American Indians not only wants but is entitled to have.

Early in my job as a Secretary of the Interior I promised to consult with our first citizens to discover not only what was wanted but how we should go about filling those wants.

I believe that this is something interior and N.C.I.O. and all Indian related agencies must do.

At Albuquerque, at the National Congress of American Indians I met with many Indian leaders and delegates.

The one consistent theme of all our talks was that the American Indian wants to BIA to be more responsive and more effective.

To respond to the desire, I have signed an executive realignment which will greatly facilitate the flow of information from local areas to Washington.

This realignment will also give you strength and impetus to the important educational policies and practices so basic to social and economic development.

But more was said at Albuquerque not only do the people I have met with wanted change in the BIA they also want to participate in that change.

That is only right.

So far we have named individuals in acting capacities only and I have no commitments to fill any of the positions.

None have been filled, and now I need to know who the Indian Community wants in these jobs in the BIA.

The result of Indian demands for change within the BIA have been met with change. Now the American Indian must help me meet our other need to supply me with names.
This will always be how we will work together for we in interior or seeking to make Indian involvement paramount as a matter of policy and practice not merely as a matter of rhetoric.

You will see this emphasis right down to the local level, whether for Education, control of local school boards … greater relevance of curriculum …. For Effective methods of teaching.

Or for economic growth, which must be planned on a reservation by reservation basis bring new jobs and ownership to the reservation.

Or for increasing control of many activities such as utilities and Roads operation and maintenance which historically were carried out by the BIA.

This local input and control is basic to the Indian right the American birthright to determine one's own lifestyle.

This is not inconsistent with the special relationship that Indian people have and must continue to have with the federal government, and especially with the Department of the interior.

In that regard, neither President Nixon are I believe in a policy of termination.

But I'm equally strong in the belief that each and every American Indian wants far more than just that relationship.

Increased local Indian control, and a stronger, more effective voice within the bureau is the best way for this country to move ahead, with and for its Indian people.

Together, the Indian members and the department of government represented on this council can do much to Aid the American Indian as citizens of this country to move ahead.

My friends and fellow students;

You were kind to offer this platform today and invite me to present my views on issues and priorities affecting the lives and furniture of Indian Americans. Other commitments prevented me from attending the opening of the conference, but I have followed the proceedings by moccasin telegraph. It is apparent from all accounts that the conferees are doing what they set out to do – that is, baring the modern-day r duties of Indian life, good and bad. And who is more suited to undertake such a study than this assemblage of thoroughly modern American Indians?

Despite the fact that I have passed somewhat beyond the critical age of 30, I hope you will accept me, too, as a modern American Indian.* I accept these times -- not past history.- as being the reality for all living Indians; and I, like you, know that what we do and say in our conduct of Indian affairs will establish realities of the future.

You may think it whimsical of me to call myself one of your "fellow students." The dictionary offers more than one definition of the word. It says a student is "one who pursues Learning in school," (That fits you.) But a student is also described as "one who is an attentive and systematic observer." (That fits me as well you.)

I have been attentively and systematically observing the activities of Indian youth during the months since I became Commissioner of lndian Affairs. , My new office has given me the opportunity to travel and visit in many part of Indian America, and to become acquainted with the ''now'' generation of young Indian men and women.

One thing I have come to believe firmly: These young people should not be relegated to obscure functions, just because they are young. It isn’t the number of gray hairs that counts, it’s the gray matter under the hair we should value. Brainpower doesn’t necessarily improve with age – and youthful minds practice in the art of idea-making.

We are making room for youthful Indian men and women in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Young Indian lawyers, teachers, sociologists, trained business managers and others with more generalized backgrounds are being fitted into positions where their ideas and ideals can contribute to new policy. They are engaging in activities that will give them experience in administration and opportunity for leadership within Government and beyond Government.

Note to press: Commissioner Bruce is a Sioux-Mohawk aged 63.

I find their company and their style stimulating. I aIso find myself in agreement with nearly all the ''new thought" views. For this reason, I was particularly eager to take part in this conference. It offers me a chance to become acquainted with the segment of Indian youth who are not part of the bureaucracy and who have been vocal anti-establishmentarians.

We might have some differences of opinion here, but diversity of views is good when it results in the creation of fresh perspectives. We all can agree that a lot of stale stuff has cluttered Indian Affairs for a long time.

For example, there’s the thread bear slogan: “the only good BIA Indian is a dead one. such irresponsible statements as this stair Passions and obscure facts they're the tools of the professional Indians” and their fellow Travelers people who have discovered that it is both fashionable And profitable to use Indian misery as the Rocket Ride to personal publicity.

Despite their hammering and the BIA, The fact remains that the BIA what is the most enduring supporter Indians have. It is the means by which the special obligations of the government to work Indian tribes are administered. This is not to deny that there is plenty of room for New Perspectives and the administration. I hope this conference will produce some constructive recommendations for modernization of programs.

The Bia suffers from anemia it doesn't have enough Youngblood this by sizable budget in recent years, government policies and programs have been less than perfect in their social and economic successes partly because they are out in concept and partly because they originate from do not relate to the Indian way. The various kinds of human Salvage operations function at best a stopgap measures which temporarily need the Indians physical needs but they failed to anticipate future economic requirements and they failed to provide cultural and emotional substance for the distinctness of Indians.

The fault is not altogether with the white man at least not with the modern white man at least with missionary Zeal, he has tried to lead Indian Stewart the Great Society. But we Indians haven't really hard to explain that some of these meds and goals are just not out there. There's a short circuit in the communication system between Indians and Mom and Dad's, and it is time for you and me try to fix it. It is time for us to start thinking and talking about what we believe to be the course which the BIA and federal policies should follow for the future.

The Indians are miniscule minority, but we have power for in excess of that which all members who seem to Warrant. I will. Not just another minority, writing the momentary bandwagon of minorities, paraphrasing the slogans and taping the techniques of other groups. We are Indian. We know what it means, but it is time for us to articulate it for the rest of America.

The exercise of articulating it for others would also help us sort out our own thoughts. Boe to ourselves to strip away all the emotion from issues in Indian Affairs, and enunciate a set of priorities to which we can turn our closest attention.

The plain, unadorned fact, the front line priority problem, is that most Indians don't have enough income to live in decency and self-respect.

In many ways Indians were worse off in the affluent 1960s than they had been in the depressed 1930s. In the 1960s many Indians looked like the relics of the Great Depression, even though a lot of people kept telling Indians they were part of the so-called “Great Society”

With few conspicuous expectations, Indians are close to the bottom of the nation's economic totem pole. Even where ample resources exist, the resources have not been developed to their fullest and are therefore not producing the jobs or the income Indian tribal members need for Financial Security.

Indian unemployment is ten times and more the national average, which at present is under 4%. Children are suffering perhaps the repairable damage to their mental and physical Powers because of malnutrition, cold and inadequate Healthcare. Shacks and shanties are the shelter for entirely too many Indian Reservation families the same kind of miserable housing that existed 30 years ago.

The single most insistent issue in Indian affairs today is how can we eliminate the causes of Indian poverty?

Incredible though it may seem, the BIA has never in the past Define its priority goal as that of seeking to eliminate the causes of Indian poverty. The mission statements of such basic and all important programs as education and resources management fall short of stating that the ultimate responsibility is to create a job producing economy and employable people.

The BIA is currently undergoing a re-alignment that will result in giving priority attention to Priority needs. It seems that BIA had been organized into teams playing under various program banners. I want you to know that I don't regard Indian Affairs as a game, now the BIA as a political football. It must be reshaped into viable structure. I choose this word, viable, because it means capable of living. Instead of continuing to draw its life from the Indian people, the BIA must become capable of breathing new life into Indian communities making them viable.

Indians will never arrive at a happy level of association with the rest of American society after the last barrier to Economic Opportunity has been dropped.

There isn't going to be any real solution to Indian problems social or otherwise under there is a sound economic base and each and every family.

The perfectly obvious cause of Indian polity today is an employment. Indians in the rural reservation communities are jobless because Industrial and Commercial development of such areas has large floor behind the nation as a whole.

There has been pitifully little priming of the pump capital for development on the reservation from either, federal or private sources. However in the past I am pleased to report the rate of industrial growth in Indian areas has mushroomed. A new industry is opening up on the average of once every 10 days and many of them among the big five hundred in assets and growth rates.

Lack of preparedness for the skills and professions of today's job market is another obvious cause of excessively high Indian unemployment. This is the fault of chronic efficiencies in elementary and secondary schools serving Indians whether they be BIA schools, public schools are most Mission schools. According to some of our best Indian teachers and administrators the quality and modernity of education programs actually declined below pre-World War II levels Indian cultural center curriculums and English as a second language were commonplace in many BIA schools a quarter-century ago and they're just now this year and last, again being provided for in the federal budget for Indian schools.

Weather the Indian man or woman worker chooses to remain in the home Community or move to an urban and industrialized area the need for skills in order to get a job remains the same capability of the BIA to fund and operate unemployment assistance program is limited by an annual authorization of no more than $25 million. But there are other sources of training forms that I do not believe have been tapped to their fullest by Indians the National Council on Indian opportunity under the chairmanship Vice President Agnew, is the coordinating body for federal efforts and much attention has been given this past year to the crisis problems of the thousands upon thousands of Indians now drifting into cities in search of new jobs and new lives.

I have outlined a four-point set up goals that seem to me to be the ones deserving priority effort from this moment forward. I hope we will work together toward their fulfillment.

Our goal is that each Indian community be given an opportunity to expand into an economically viable and socially progressive environment a place that can pridefully be called home, a place that emanates the spirit of modern Indian America.

Our goal is that no Indian shall be relegated to the ranks of unemployables because of lack opportunity for training in occupations that are relevant to these times and relevant to Indian hopes. This means that the land and all that resources will be put to good use as a base for the Indian economy -- In the spirit of the old Indian ways but in the forms that are meaningful for today and the future.

Our goal is that every Indian child shall have the best in education suited to his needs and talents and interests and that all the signs of the second rate in teaching methods, curriculums, materials and facilities will be replaced

And our goal of course is to provide the base within government and within the private sector for Indians to be full participants in the planning and execution of all policies and programs affecting their destinies.

In conclusion may I offer a reminder: In 6 years this nation will be celebrating its 200th anniversary of Independence. In the ensuing two centuries since the Declaration of Independence, the spiritual and economic independence of Indian Americans has declined. Let us pledge that the year 1976 will signal the re-emergence of Indians to the Forefront of American life.

Appointment of James F. Canan as superintendent of the Consolidated Ute Indian Agency, Ignacio, Colo., succeeding Robert L. Bennett, who transfers to the Indian Bureau's Aberdeen, S. Dak., area office as program officer, was announced today by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons. The transfer will be effective January 29.

A native of Altoona, Pa., Mr. Canan graduated from Haverford College, Haverford, Pa., in 1949 and later that same year entered the Department of the Interior as a trainee in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management. In October 1950, he joined the Washington staff of the Indian Bureau as a business economist and four months later was called for military duty. Upon his return in March 1953, he became a member of the Bureau's program coordinating staff and one year later was assigned to his present position as administrative assistant in the area office at Gallup, N. Mex. In his new assignment he will supervise operations at the adjoining Ute Mountain and Southern Ute Reservations in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico.

An Oneida Indian, Mr. Bennett was born at Oneida, Wis., in 1912 and attended the Haskell Indian Institute, Lawrence, Kans., from 1929 to 1931. He came with the Bureau in 1933 as a clerk at the Uintah and Ouray Agency, Ft. Duchesne, Utah, and five years later was promoted to senior clerk in the Bureau's Washington office. In 1943 he transferred to the Navajo Agency, Window Rock, Ariz., and was promoted to administrative assistant later that same year. In 1945 he was inducted into the Marine Corps and served one year, returning to the Navajo Reservation as District Supervisor at Ft. Defiance., Ariz., for a few months in 1946. This was followed by three years of service with the Veterans' Administration at Phoenix, Ariz., two years as placement officer with the Indian Bureau at Aberdeen, S. Dak., and three years as a member of the Bureau’s Washington staff as program officer prior to his appointment as Consolidated Ute superintendent in 1954.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that he has instructed the Indian Bureau’s area office at Billings, Montana, to withhold approval of additional sales of restricted Indian lands on the Crow Reservation in Montana that violate limitations imposed by the Act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. 751).

In conformance with this Act the Commissioner is requesting the potential buyer to certify that he owns less than 1,280 acres of rangeland or 640 acres of agricultural land on the reservation, and that he will not own more than 1,920 acres of rangeland or 1,200 acres of agricultural land on the reservation if the transaction is completed.

Commissioner Emmons stated that approximately 60 days ago he had been advised by John M. Cooper, the Bureau’s area director at Billings, that there may have been violations of the 1920 statute prohibiting any single owner from acquiring more land on the Crow Reservation than the acreages indicated.

Following receipt of this report the Commissioner immediately suspended all land sales at Crow Reservation and ordered a full investigation. The investigation has now been completed and shows that the 1920 law has apparently been violated in a substantial number of cases.

The violations occurred as early as the 1S'20's and were continued through the 1930’s and 1940’s to the present time. In some cases they resulted from sales of land by non-Indian owners who had previously acquired tracts of Indian land on the reservation. In other instances they were the result of direct sales by Indians who received fee patents either by congressional enactment or administrative action. In still further cases they came about through Government-supervised sales made at the request of Indian owners.

The investigation indicates that apparently the violations occurred unintentionally. Many persons stated that they were aware of the 1920 statutory limitations but had been certain for years that these limitations were no longer effective since they were removed by subsequent acts of Congress. Explaining that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is governed by literally thousands of statutes which have never been fully codified, Commissioner Emmons stated that an exhaustive study has thus far not revealed any such amendment.

As a result, the Commissioner is now ordering Bureau personnel in the Billings area to observe strictly the 1920 act restrictions in all future sales over which the Bureau has any control, Mr. Emmons also cautions all persons buying Crow land in private sales and all title companies involved in Crow transactions to check carefully for possible violations of the 1920 statute.

Commissioner Emmons said that his instructions will remain in effect until someone can produce proof that the 1920 act has been amended as alleged or unless Congress should decide in the future to remove the limitations.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that, in accordance with a decision jointly reached by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons and himself, a three-man departmental committee has been appointed to hold hearings in the State of Washington beginning February 13 on the controversial Yakima tribal election held last December 6.

To give all tribal members full opportunity for expressing their views, the hearings will be held in six different localities. Starting on February 13 at Yakima, the committee will move on the following day to White Swan, and then on succeeding days to Satus and Toppenish. Additional hearings will be held in Tacoma, February 18 and Seattle, February 19.

William V. Kastler, Acting Assistant Solicitor, Indian Legal Activities, will serve as chairman of the hearing committee. The other two members are George Robinson, Assistant to the Administrative Assistant Secretary and Newton w. Edwards, Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management.

The central question involved in the hearings is whether the Secretary should formally recognize the tribal council elected at a meeting held on the Yakima Reservation last December 5 or whether another election should be called at a later date by the Secretary.

Election of the tribal council was originally scheduled for July 15, 1955. Since a quorum was not present at that time, the date was later set as November 29 and notices to this effect were widely circulated to tribal members both on and off the reservation. Members living off the reservation emphasized the importance of holding the election before winter weather made travel to the reservation difficult or hazardous.

At a general meeting of the tribal members held on the reservation November 28, it was decided to postpone the council election for one week because a member of the council had died the preceding weekend and his funeral had not yet been held. Since this postponement created serious problems for tribal members who had planned to come to the reservation from places such as Seattle and Tacoma to take part in the election, Commissioner Emmons wrote the tribal chairman suggesting further postponement of the election until April 17 1956. This, he emphasized would provide adequate time for employed members living off the reservation to arrange for participation and would also permit fuller attendance because of improved travel conditions. The Commissioner agreed in the interim to give full recognition to the then existing tribal council.

On December 6, however, the tribal members still present proceeded with the election of a council. Because of the intense controversy which has developed among tribal members over this election Secretary McKay and Commissioner Emmons reached the decision that hearings should be held and recommendations submitted by an impartial committee before determining whether a Secretarial election should be conducted.