OPA

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that he has asked the Solicitor1s Office of the Department of the Interior for advice on questions of law involved in a proposed 25-year oil and gas development contract between the Navajo Indian Tribe and the Delhi-Taylor Oil Corporation of Dallas, Texas.

The proposed contract, which covers about 5,000,000 acres or nearly a third of the entire Navajo Reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, was recently submitted to Commissioner Emmons by Chairman Paul Jones of the Navajo Tribal Council.

In submitting the matter to the Department's legal staff, Commissioner Emmons raised two questions. The first is whether the contract could be approved under Section 5 of the Navajo Rehabilitation Act of 1950, which is the statutory authorization cited in the document itself. If the answer to this question is negative, the second question raised is whether it could be approved under the Tribal Leasing Act of 1938 which requires competitive bidding for oil and gas leases on Indian tribal lands.

If it is decided that the proposed contract can be approved under authority of existing law, then the Commissioner, in accordance with his responsibilities as trustee for Indian lands, will have to determine administratively whether it is in the best interests of the Navajo Indians to approve it. This decision, of course, will not be made until the legal questions have first been resolved.

Because of competitive interest in their property, two Indians of the Spokane Reservation in Washington have recently been offered a $317,500 bonus for a 15-year mining lease on their 120 acre tract in comparison with an offer of about one-fourth this amount which they wanted to Accept several months ago, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons pointed out today.

The case, he added, emphasizes the significance of the trustee role performed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the importance of considering the competitive factor before completing lease arrangements on Indian properties.

Commissioner Emmons' comment was prompted by a bid opening made June 11 at the Colville Indian Agency, Nespelem, Washington. The bids were for mining leases on four allotments of the Spokane Reservation owned by various members of the Boyd family of Indians.

Interest in all of these allotments, especially the one drawing the high bonus offer, has been unusually keen since uranium was discovered on nearby property in the fall of 1954.

All four of the allotments were advertised for bids in June 1955, at the request of the Indian owners. At that time the high bid on the outstanding tract, which is identified as Allotment No. 156, was $167,850, The Indian owners, however, refused to sign a lease with the high bidder and insisted that they be permitted to negotiate with the second high bidder who had offered a bonus of $87,100. This negotiation proposal was presented to the Bureau last January and was rejected in favor of further advertising.

"Because of the competitive interest in the property," Commissioner Emmons explained, "the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not accede to the wishes of the owners in this case. As administrators of the federal trusteeship for Indian property of this kind, we had a clear obligation to act in the best interests of the Indian owners regardless of their own feelings in the matter. We believed strongly that competitive bidding would produce the best results for the Indians and our judgment has obviously been borne out by the results of the recent opening."

Since the Bureau refused to approve a negotiated lease, and the Indians refused to sign with the high bidder, all bids received in June 1955, were eventually rejected and the recent offering was made only after the Indian owners had given the local Indian Bureau superintendent powers-of-attorney to sign a lease on their behalf with the high bidder.

The high bidder on all four allotments was Dawn Mining Company of Portland, Oreg., which also holds leasing rights on the adjoining tribal property where the Midnite Mine is located. Bonuses offered on two of the other allotments were $2,500 each and on the third $17,500.

In addition to the bonuses, the Indian property owners will receive annual rentals of one dollar per acre and royalties on a sliding scale ranging from 10 to 20 percent of the mine value dry ton of the ore received.

Dear Sir or Madam:

In view of the special concern of all persons interested in Indian affairs in the extension of the Indian Claims Commission Act, I am attaching a copy of the Department's most recent report on this important legislation.

Sincerely yours,

June 25, 1956

My dear Senator Murray:

On February 9, 1956, the Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on H. R. 5566, a bill "To terminate the existence of the Indian Claims Commission, and for other purposes." The purpose of the hearing was to consider a proposed amendment to the bill that would restrict the present jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission with respect to claims that arise out of original Indian title. After the hearing, the Chairman of the Subcommittee asked Mr. H. Rex Lee, Legislative Associate Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs, to obtain the Department’s position on the proposed amendment.

Although we understand the factors which led to suggestion of the proposed amendment, our careful study of it leads us to recommend that it be not enacted for the following reasons:

1. The jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission to adjudicate this category of claim has been fully litigated. After an exhaustive review of the issue, which was comprehensively briefed, the Court of Claims decided that Congress intended to give the Indian Claims Commission jurisdiction over this category of claim when it enacted the Indian Claims Commission Act in 1946, and the Supreme Court has declined to review that decision (Otoe and Missouria Tribe v. United States, 2 Ind. Cls. Comm. 335, aff'd. 131 Ct. Cls. 593, cert. den. 350 U.S. 848). The scope of the 1946 Act is therefore settled.
2. Many Indian tribes have incurred considerable expense in preparing their claims based upon original Indian title, and it would be construed by them to be a breach of faith to withdraw at this late date, ten years after the Indian Claims Commission Act was enacted, the jurisdiction of the Commission to adjudicate those claims.
3. Although the sums claimed in the pending claims based upon original Indian title may be several billion dollars, as represented, previous experience clearly indicates actual liability will be only a fraction of the potential liability, and we believe that this consideration should not be the determining factor when considering the most practical method of hearing and disposing of the claims.
4. The purpose of the Indian Claims Commission Act was to end the practice of passing special jurisdictional Acts on a tribe-by-tribe basis, and to provide for a final adjudication of all tribal claims. Claims based upon original Indian title have in the past been the subjects of special legislation, and if the Commission's jurisdiction were limited as now proposed Congress would be urged to return to that old and unsatisfactory system. That system is an expensive and inadequate method of dealing with the subject, and it lacks uniformity.

The Bureau or the Budget has advised us that there is no objection to the submission of this report.

Sincerely yours,

The Bureau of Indian Affairs office of education has become part of a network of 19 innovative school systems across the Nation.

Called ES' 70 (Educational Systems for the 70's), the group consists of school systems that have developed specialties in a variety of fields, above and beyond the standard curricula.

Some systems have set up new ways to teach mathematics; others have developed unique social studies programs, and still others are conducting experimental projects in bi-lingual education.

The purpose of the organization is to set up ideal environments for the teaching of each specialty, to note the most successful techniques, and to be able to pass on the knowledge to other educational systems.

The Bureau's contribution to the network will be a study of an integrated Arts and Academic curriculum, already highly successful at the BIA's Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M.

In a curriculum unusually rich in art courses, a student who may have become dulled to the excitement of personal accomplishment in his early years can be revitalized through the experience of his creative work, BIA educators believe.

The school's graduates include a novelist and a number of outstanding painters,
graphic artists and sculptors.

While training young Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts in a broad spectrum of the arts, along with formal education, the school works carefully to give the students pride in their ancestry and understanding of their cultural heritage. It teaches how these can become a valuable contribution to the world around them, whether expressed in painting, writing, drama, ceramics or other art fields.

When all teaching information has been assembled and the results tabulated, Bureau educators believe the same principles can be applied to other ethnic groups.

One of the anticipated tangible outcomes is a series of video tapes depicting the Indian arts such as the dance, painting and drama. The tapes then can be used as a unit in the arts curriculum in schools across the Nation.

The school systems involved in ES' 70 include that of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Ill, and public schools in the cities of Baltimore, Md.; Atlanta, Ga.; Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; Boulder, Colo.; Duluth, Minn.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Houston, Texas; Jacksort, Ky.; Mamaroneck, N. Y.; Mineola, N. Y.; Monroe, Mich.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Portland, Ore.; Quincy, Mass.; San Antonio, Texas; San Mateo, Calif.; and Willingboro, N.J.

Indian tribes put up about 28 percent of the total funds available last year for economic advancement in reservation areas, their participation increasing by more than $10.5 million over the 1967 tribal investment, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior reported today.

The dollar increase was an indication of increasing tribal initiative and involvement as Indian leadership moves toward greater self-determination.

A total of $92.3 million was put into economic advancement projects by the tribes last year, compared with $81.7 million in 1967.

Total financing by customary lenders also increased last year by $23.6 million, to $207 million from $183.4 million. The customary lenders furnished about 64 percent of the total.

Despite these increases, the Bureau pointed out that lack of capital continued to block Indians from full development and utilization of their resources.

The BIA Annual Credit Report says more legislation is needed "to provide Indians with more adequate credit, and with other tools to enable them to participate more fully in American social, economic, and political life, and to permit them to exercise greater initiative and self-determination."

Financing requirements over the next five years are estimated at $988 million, of which $98. 3 million is needed in 1969, BIA credit and financing officials estimate.

Under current laws, not more than $3 million can be taken care of from the revolving fund. It is estimated that tribes may provide about $14 million.

"The remaining $81.3 million would have to be furnished by customary lenders if the needs of the Indians are to be met," says the report. "It is unlikely that this additional amount can be obtained:"

The Indian credit program is now limited to administration of a revolving fund for loans, funded by appropriations of $25.1 million over a period of 34 years; use of tribal funds for the same purposes as loans made by the United States from the revolving fund; and help in obtaining financing from customary lenders, both governmental and private.

Proposed legislation would authorize incentives to private lenders to encourage them to finance Indian loans.

Total financing for Indians increased from $290.9 million in 1967 to $324.5 million in 1968. The increase was due to tribes using more of their own funds and more financing by customary lenders. Loans from the revolving fund actually showed a small decrease during the year, the total being $25.2 million.

Ground is being broken for a new Indian vocational-technical school at Albuquerque, N.M., the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today.

An $8,778,185 contract for the school's construction recently was awarded to the Lembke Construction Co. of Albuquerque, which submitted the lowest of three bids.

Bureau officials said the program will remain continually flexible to meet the changing needs of Indians, Indian communities, and society at large. The new school will not rest content to place an Indian in front of a turret lathe and let him graduate with a skill that may be obsolete before he is out of the classroom.

These officials said further that even the buildings, featuring a post-tensioned concrete structural system with exterior masonry walls and demountable interior partitions, will allow the flexibility which is required by changing educational concepts.

The school will teach basic skills for entry level jobs, while at the same time it may also act as an interim school to help a young Indian go on to college.

It will work with the Indian who wants to change the kind of job he is now doing, the Bureau officials said, as well as help the one who is under-employed and needs. new skills to obtain a better job.

The present contract includes construction of physical education facilities as well as classrooms; a dining and institutional services center, and dormitories for 500 students.

The school is scheduled to open in the Fall of 1971.

Awards totaling more than $45 million were granted American Indian groups through judgments of the Indian Claims Commission during 1969, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported today.

Congress has appropriated funds for $25.7 million of the total granted. The appropriated funds earn interest for the tribes involved while the funds are on deposit to their deposit.

The Indian Claims Commission, an independent agency, was established by the Congress in 1946 to hear and determine the claims of tribes and other identifiable groups of American Indians living in the United States. These claims represent attempts by Indian tribes to obtain redress for any failure of the Government to complete payments for lands ceded under treaty, for the acquisition of land at an unconscionably low price or for other failure to comply with a treaty or legislative action regarding Indian lands that grew out of the westward expansion of the United States.

The present commissioner are John T. Vance, Richard W. Yarborough, Jerome K. Kuykendall, Margaret H. Pierce, and Brantley Blue, a Lumbee Indian appointed by President Nixon.

Most of the claims filled with the Commission are for “fair value” of Indian lands ceded to the United States or taken by the Government in the past. Increasingly, the funds received through judgements are now being invested by the tribes for projects to improve the social and economic conditions of their people.

Typical projects include scholarships for the education of Indian youth, social services for reservation dwellers, construction of community centers, funding of community development, industrial parks, and other projects designed to bring new sources of income and employment to the Indians.

Awards granted to the tribes in 1969 by the Indian Claims Commission included:

The following awards had not been certified to the U.S. Treasury, and were subject to appeal, as of Jan. 1, 1970:

Assistance provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to Indian families and individuals voluntarily relocating away from the reservations to metropolitan centers will be much greater in the fiscal year starting July 1 than ever before, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

"Our funds for relocation assistance,” Mr. Emmons said, "have been more than tripled from a level of $1,016,400 available this past year to $3,472,000. This will make it possible for us to broaden the scope and range of our relocation services along lines that we have had in mind for many months.”

The plans contemplate the opening of two new city offices in communities to be selected from several cities being surveyed to determine their suitability for relocation, the establishment of a small staff in Alaska for exploration of relocation prospects, enlargement of relocation guidance staffs both in existing city offices and on the reservations, and the initiation of six new types of assistance not previously provided to relocating Indians.

In addition to opening the two new city offices, the Bureau will increase its staff at each of the existing four city offices at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Denver, and will convert the San Jose, California office from a sub office to a full city office.

Mr. Emmons emphasized that the relocation staff in city offices will be considerably increased to provide a more personalized and more extensive guidance service to relocating families and individuals.

Additional emphasis will also tie placed on better preparation of the families and individuals before leaving the reservation through increasing the staff at the reservation levels to more than double the number now employed.

The six new types of assistance which will be provided in accordance with need are:

(1) grants for the purchase of medical and hospital insurance up to one year for relocating workers and their dependents who do not have such coverage from other sources;

(2) grants up to a maximum of $50 per person for the purchase of clothing and other items that may be needed to bring the personal appearance of relocating people up to a standard acceptable in metropolitan communities;

(3) grants up to $50 per family for purchase of household wares such as linen and kitchen equipment;

(4) grants up to $250 per family for the purchase of furniture;

(5) full coverage of tuition costs for one year to provide night school training, of the vocational or “3 R'' type, for relocated Indians wishing to pursue such studies; and

(6) a pilot program to assist about 100 of the "more settled" city-dwelling Indian families in the purchase of homes.

All of these new services will be in addition to the six types of assistance which have been provided in previous years. These include (1) transportation from reservation to city; (2) shipment of household goods up to a maximum of $50; (3) subsistence expenses en route; (4) subsistence expenses at destination up to a maximum of four weeks, as needed; (5) supplemental subsistence where a relocated worker loses a job through no fault of his own and is not yet eligible for unemployment compensation, and (6) grants up to a maximum of $50 per person to cover the purchase of tools and equipment needed by apprentice workers.

“With this substantial increase in financial assistance and enlargement of our relocation staff to provide more services," Commissioner Emmons said, "I am confident that our relocation program will reach a new peak of effectiveness in terms of warmly sympathetic guidance and tangible help for relocating Indian people. We have always recognized that the transition from a reservation environment to big city life is a most difficult and exacting kind of adjustment for many Indian families and individuals. But the amazing thing to me is that so many of them have made it so successfully.”

The Department of the Interior has recommended against proposed legislation which would narrow the jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission over claims by Indian tribes against the United States which are based on original Indian title, it was announced today.

In a letter of June 25 to Senator James E. Murray, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Assistant Secretary Wesley A. D'Ewart gave four reasons for opposing the proposed amendment of the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1976.

“1. The jurisdiction of the Indian Claims Commission to adjudicate this category of claim has been fully litigated. After an exhaustive review of the issue, which was comprehensively briefed, the Court of Claims decided that Congress intended to give the Indian Claims Commission jurisdiction over this category of claim when it enacted the Indians Claims Commission Act in 1946, and the Supreme Court has declined to review that decision (Otoe and Missouri Tribe v. United States, 2 Ind. Cls. Comm. 335, aff’d.131 Ct. Cls, 593, cert. den. 350, U.S. 848). The scope of the 1946 Act is therefore settled.

“2. Many Indian tribes have incurred considerable expense in preparing their claims based upon original Indian title, and it would be construed by them to be a breach of faith to withdraw at this late date, ten years after the Indian Claims Commission Act was enacted, the jurisdiction of the Commission to adjudicate those claims.

“3. Although the sums claimed in the pending claims based upon original Indian title may be several billion dollars, as represented, previous experience clearly indicates actual liability will be only a fraction of the potential liability, and we believe that this consideration should not be the determining factor when considering the most practical method of hearing and disposing of the claims.

“4. The purpose of the Indian Claims Commission Act was to end the practice of passing special jurisdictional Acts on a tribe-by-tribe basis, and to provide for a final adjudication of all tribal claims. Claims based upon original Indian title have in the past been the subjects of special legislation, and if the Commission's jurisdiction were limited as now proposed Congress would be urged to return to that old and unsatisfactory system. That system is an expensive and inadequate method of dealing with the subject, and it lacks uniformity."

In an earlier report to Representative Clair Engle, Chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Department recommended that the life of the Indian Claims Commission, which is scheduled to terminate April 10,1957 under existing law, be extended. Without recommending a specific termination date, the Department's report called attention to the fact that 750 of the 852 claims filed by tribes are still pending before the Commission and urged that, in fairness to the Indians who have filed the claims, it be given "adequate opportunity to finish its work”.

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior today announced the signing of an agreement on extension work with American Indians. The agreement, which goes into effect July 1, gives the Agriculture Department responsibility for rendering technical advice and guidance in extension work formerly carried on by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

During the past two years the Bureau of Indian Affairs has carried on its extension program in agriculture and home economics through State extension services by contract arrangements in 16 of the 18 States where it formerly operated. The Bureau has not, however, signed contracts in Arizona or Mississippi and the contract in New Mexico covers only the Navajos of McKinley County and the Jicarilla Apaches.

The new agreement gives the Department of Agriculture's Federal Extension Service over-all responsibility for assisting State extension services in this work.

In announcing the agreement Administrator c. M. Ferguson of the Federal Extension Service and Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons of the Bureau of Indian Affairs expressed confidence that the agreement will bring about more effective guidance work in agriculture and home economics for Indians.

"Our experience under these contracts over the past two years," Commissioner Emmons added, “indicates that the State extension services are better organized, better staffed, and better equipped than the Indian Bureau to render the needed service.”