OPA

Our Bible history tells us that Noah and his ark were on the stormy seas for 40 days and 40 nights before the waters receded.

I can tell you -- I think I know what life on that ark must have been. This is my 40th day as skipper of another ark, the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We did not have the time to scrape the barnacles off her hull before we were hit by Hurricane Teddy, battered a bit by Hurricane Wendell, and sprayed again with a lot of salt by the militants, at the NCAI Conference in Albuquerque.

It's been a tough voyage from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City -- but one thing is certain: We're ready to put strong wind into our sails so we can keep ahead of future storms. Such thoughts led me to decide to speak out here to you in the heart of a great Indian area where the issues are understood and vitally alive. My message is directed to Indian people everywhere.

There's one big fear we can put aside from now on. At the NCAI meeting, Vice President Agnew, speaking as Chairman of the National Council on Indian Opportunity, said plainly:

The President's statement, delivered to the last NCAI convention in Omaha, still stands. This Administration opposes termination. This Administration favors the continuation of the trust relationship and the protection of Indian lands and Indian resources." This position was reiterated by Secretary Hickel at that Convention. This Administration will present a united front in opposing termination threats which have so severely damaged the Federal/Indian relationship these past 19 years.

How do we make the trust relationship more responsive and more flexible, so that it can meet the human needs of the Indian people? So that it is more effective in developing the maximum productivity from the rich natural resources to be found on Indian lands? So that we can eliminate the scars of poverty from Indian communities and Indian faces?

Indian involvement in decision-making is the only means by which this can be done and assured. I mean legitimate, formal, recognized, grass-roots Indian participation. I mean the kind of participation in which all tribal members turn out to vote on issues of concern at the local/regional, and national levels. I mean the kind of participation in which Indians volunteer and have opportunity to render their services on committees in their communities -- school boards, recreation and economic planning committees, social service committees, and such other activities as relate to your everyday lives.

It's going to require close liaison, working together to make sure that the proper groundwork is laid this kind of Indian participation. It is the kind of local action which Vice President Agnew asked for in his NCAI address.

We in Washington have spent the past 40 days examining the present structure of BIA to see how it can be adjusted to make more room for Indian input. We want to be sure that any conflicting lines of authority are eliminated. We want to be sure that funds are not frittered away through duplications of expenditures and for unnecessary purposes. And above all, we want to make sure that Indian betterment, rather than political expedient, becomes the basis for changes we will be making.

It would be no great problem, I assure you, to create a new organizational structure for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is a process that pockmarks Bureau history. I agree that changes are needed in the organizational structure of the Bureau. But, I also believe that the methodology used in reorganization in the past is as much of a problem as the problems that were being corrected.

Meaningful, legitimate, Indian directed and controlled involvement in these processes is not there -- it can't be there -- and it won't be there effective mechanisms for it to work are provided. As it is, Indians have been "used" to legitimatize the processes of bureaucracy.

I do not intend to fall into this trap. I do not believe that Indian people want to travel down the same old road again. I do not believe they will accept it. And I intend to provide the leadership required to ensure that changes are made in the processes associated with Indian administration and its policies that will ensure productive Indian participation under the test of time.

We Indians have been demanding the privilege of full involvement, and an opportunity to plan programs for our own destiny and that of our children for many years now.

The time has come for that to take place. I want to make it clear that the Bureau of Indian Affairs under my direction has no intention of laying out the decisions for you. I want non-Indians to stop telling us what is wrong, what to do, and how it should be done. We are as capable of deciding issues that affect us as are they -- but we the Indian people must take the initiative.

I've recently been accused of not exerting strong leadership -- of lacking a certain aggressiveness. I ask those who raise these questions -- why? Why should they want me, a Federal official, to exert strong and forceful leadership in your affairs?

I sense that those making these pronouncements do not seek any fundamental change in Indian administration -- that they are "hung up," as solidly as many of the "bureaucrats" they freely criticize, on the system as it has been administered during the past 140 years or so. Can this be true? Only you as members of the American Indian community have the answer.

For my part, I intend to provide strong leadership in my Bureau's activities. That leadership will be directed toward making the Bureau totally responsive and flexible to the needs and direction of Indian people, and as supportive of Indian effort and expression as is possible. I will help you put this thing together, not dictate its terms.

Where are we headed in the immediate future? We are not standing idle. Every stone is being turned to expose that method that can best serve to install legitimate, formalized recognized, Indian involvement in all activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, at all levels on a continuing basis. This requirement carries top priority and no other action will be taken until this is accomplished, whether we speak of reorganization, major policy questions and issues, or school operations. Indian participation and direction in all activities will be standard operating procedure in the Bureau from this day forth.

We may be able to bring this about through administrative action. But, to guarantee that its role will have the necessary legitimate recognition and authority, it may be necessary to secure legislation. We are prepared to seek legislation if that is what is required to put this over.

Indian people will be consulted on this, the most important move of all, in the near future. After that decision is made, the ball will be in your hands. All resources available under my administration will be organized and marshalled toward assistance to you and your people. But you must provide the direction: you must step out in leadership; and you must be ready and willing to accept the responsibility that comes with this leadership.

This is the age of youth -- I believe in it. It should be. They represent the majority of the Indian population, and the whole American population for that matter. Their destinies are the ones at stake when we make decisions. I have already begun to make changes in BIA to give Indian youth a chance for constructive participation. I expect Indian leadership to do this also. The recent NCAI action establishing a youth council is a fine example of this. It is amazing to me how much young, educated talent can be found by just a little searching. I've already uncovered some of it, and the search is on for more and more.

The work before us will not be accomplished in the next 40 days. Depending on our perseverance, and the presentation of a united front for action in these efforts, Indian people can be in command of their destinies in the next 40 months.

We have to live with certain realities. One of them is the fact that a new way of life is being imposed upon all the people of this country, not just Indians -- a way of life that has been molded by science and technology; a way of life that we cannot turn back, and which we can control only it we work at it.

It is obvious that BIA cannot and should not do all the developing. For one thing, it does not have the authority for, nor any business in, regulating all aspects of Indian life. For another -- Indians don't need any more authorities imposed upon them. What Indians need is more authority to make their own decisions.

At the NCAI conference in Albuquerque, Senator Kennedy proposed a White House Conference on Indian Affairs, which was then endorsed by an NCAI resolution. I shall support the action of the NCAI and provide whatever support and assistance I can from the resources at my command.

A White House-sponsored conference is not a new idea. It was first proposed in 1956, as a follow-up to the first national Indian housing conference and the first national Indian youth conference. It would have stature if sponsored by the White House. But -- why couldn't it be a White House sponsored conference which is planned, organized, and run by Indians, and in which the participants are Indians, not just other people who have hopped on the Indian bandwagon? A conference about Indians suggests more paternalism in a new guise. A conference for Indians, by Indians, would keynote the new politics -- Indian Affairs directed by Indians.

I didn't accept the job as Commissioner because I wanted to be a big chief. Nor did I take it on as a ceremonial climax to my career. I accepted the job because I believe, there is a desperate need for something to be done, and because I want to be able to see to it that it is done the way Indians want it done. Let no one mistake the seriousness of my commitment.

My way is not the flamboyant way. I do not wave my arms or pound fists on podiums. I do not speak in glittering phrases. I do not employ catch phrases to catch the headlines. I do not shout. I do not wish to engage in or participate in power-struggles because I do not wish to be party to further fractionation of the Indian community and its interests. If Indians are divided, then Indian aspirations will be defeated.

There are issues on which all of us agree -- just as there are times when we disagree. But a united front must be maintained -- no one has put this any better than did Wendell Chino in his keynote address at the NCAI convention. If we can agree on major issues -- then we will experience a new stature on the American scene. We will discover the politicians following Indian directions, not trying to lead or use Indians in the manner of the past.

I thank you sincerely for your time and attention. I hope to have many, many more opportunities to discuss these matters with each of you in the future. Your views are always welcome and I invite your questions and your suggestions.

Thank you.

Since I first took office as Commissioner of Indian Affairs on August 10, 1953, I have received four invitations to attend the annual meetings of the Governors' Interstate Indian Council. And I have now managed to be present at three of these occasions. This gives me a percentage of 750 which, if I remember my baseball correctly, is a pretty fair batting average.

Seriously, though, it is always a pleasure to meet with this group. I enjoyed it at Carson City in 1953 even though I was then going through my apprentice period as Commissioner. I also have many pleasant memories of the 1954 meeting at Sun Valley and feelings of real regret because I was not able to join you a year ago at Santa Fe. So I have made it a special point to be on hand for this 1956 session in the community of Sheridan which has done such fine work over the past few years in developing a better public understanding and public appreciation of our American Indian people.

Right now I am in the midst of some rather extensive travels which I am making through the West this summer for the purpose of attending a series of meetings with Indian tribal officials. As some of you may know, this is the second time I have gone out on a major tour of this general type. The first trip took place nearly three years ago in the fall of 1953 when President Eisenhower himself asked me to take on the assignment of meeting with each of the major tribal groups in their home territory. In giving me this assignment, the President recalled the pledge which he made during the 1952 campaign that there would be full consultation with the Indian people and emphasized that he wanted this to be a basic principle in our administration of Indian affairs. From that day to the present time we have continually stressed the importance of full consultation and have made it the keystone in the whole arch of our policy structure.

The major purpose of my 1953 series of meetings with the tribal groups was underlined by the President in a letter which he wrote to me on September 2 of that year. Briefly stated, the primary aim of the tour was to learn first-hand from the Indian people themselves about their problems and needs, their hopes and aspirations. In other words, my assignment was to do a minimum of talking and a maximum of listening; and that is certainly the way I tried to carry it out. This time I have a twofold purpose. In addition to learning what is on the Indian leaders’ minds and receiving another first-hand report from them on present status, I also want to get down to brass tacks with these tribal delegates and discuss one topic which I regard as fundamentally and urgently important. It is the need for what I like to call “positive programming” to be carried out jointly by each of the tribal groups in cooperation and consultation with the. Indian Bureau.

Now, what do I mean by the term "positive programming"? Perhaps I can explain this best by referring first to the basic job which the Bureau of Indian Affairs is required to do under the provisions of the multitudinous Indian laws that have been enacted by Congress down through the years and under the treaties that were ratified prior to 1871. Despite all the comp1exities, that job, in essence, consists of two main phases. One is to exercise the trusteeship responsibilities covering about 54 million acres of Indian land. The other is to provide the Indian people with public services or community services, such as education and the like, where these are not available to them from other sources.

This double-barreled job is, of course, tremendously important and cannot be neglected. But the situation, it seems to me, clearly calls for something more than just trusteeship and community services if we are to move significantly forward toward the goal of a better future for the Indian people. This is what I have in mind when I talk about "positive programming". To me, the term means going beyond the day-to-day job of the Indian Bureau and, incidentally, the day-to-day job of the elected tribal officials. It means Bureau employees and tribal representatives sitting down together and coming to grips with the fundamental difficulties that have been retarding Indian progress for so many decades. It means cooperatively planning out the steps which are needed so that Indian people will at last have a chance to enjoy the kind of advantages and benefits which they clearly want to have and are unquestionable entitled to receive.

Let me emphasize, however, that I ant talking about opportunity for the Indian people and not about anything compulsive or coercive. I recognize, of course, that the Indian people are by no means all of one mind about the kind of life they want to lead. A substantial number of them, particularly in the younger generations and among the veterans of military service, have made it quite clear that they want to take their place in the non-Indian society of the Nation and make their way without discrimination and without special favors. Others, at the opposite extreme, prefer to go on living in the old tribal way, following the customs and religion of their ancestors, and having no more than necessary to do with what we call modern American life. Still others stand somewhere in between. They are the people-- and I suspect they constitute a majority of the whole Indian population—who want a kind of mixture of the two cultures. They like many aspects of modern American life and want to enjoy its benefits and its fruits the same as the rest of us. Yet, for wholly understandable reasons, they also want to preserve their tribal affiliations and maintain their heritage as Indian people.

I have stressed these varying points of view among the Indian population because it seems to me that we have had an unnecessary amount of confusion and emotional discussion revolving around such questions as the preservation of Indian culture and around words like "assimilation" and "integration”. As I see it, all matters of this kind - involving culture or religion or basic way of life - are outside the sphere of Indian Bureau action. They are strictly up to the individual Indian and should be decided by him in accordance with the dictates of his own personality. ·

By the same token, the Bureau has no intention of breaking up tribal Organizations or selling off reservation lands against the wishes of the Indian people. We are fully aware of the importance which many Indians place on their tribal membership and we respect these feelings completely, All we want to be sure of in this context is that the rights of the individual Indian are not overridden or sacrificed in the interests of the tribal group. And our primary concern, as reflected in this emphasis on positive programming, is to be sure that the individual tribal member really has a free choice and is not condemned to a disgracefully low standard of living through no fault of his own.

As some of you may know, the philosophy which I have been expressing here today is not exactly new with me. Long before I ever became Commissioner of Indian Affairs, I developed a strong feeling of warmth and friendliness toward the Indian people. I felt that they had capabilities and potentialities for constructive accomplishment in many fields of activity which had never been fully realized or brought to fruit. And I was emphasizing then, as I do today, the central, fundamental importance of providing them with a wider and fuller range of opportunity. In fact, I believe keenly that positive programs such as I have in mind should have been started about 40 years ago; and if they had been initiated at that time, I seriously doubt whether we would now have what some people call "the Indian problem". But that, of course, is water over the dam and it is certainly preferable to get started on such programming now than to wait another 40 years.

For at least several years before l took office in l953, I had worked out not only a general philosophy of what needed to be done in the field of Indian affairs but a more or less specific outline of just what steps should be taken. While my administrative experiences of the pa.st three years have undoubtedly "put some meat on the bones" - so to speak - and changed my thinking in some minor particulars, the broad framework still remains the same. In fact, I am now more convinced than ever of its basic soundness.

The first essential, as I saw it, might well be summed up in the old Latin phrase about "a sound mind in a sound body”. More specifically, I felt that a prime requisite to any real advancement by the Indian people was to see that they have the same kind of health protection and at least the minimum educational opportunities which are available to other citizens throughout the country. One of the most critical problems facing us when I took office was that so many Indian families on so many reservations had been denied these benefits and advantages for such a long time.

So in the winter of 1953 and 1954 we formulated plans for a two-pronged attack on this problem. On the health side our first action was to strengthen and expand greatly the disease prevention and sanitation phases of our work. Then we followed this up with a long-range look at the whole healt4 picture among the Indian people. One fact which stood out clearly was that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had never managed to get really on top of the Indian health problem. Chronically the Bureau had difficulties in recruiting and retaining well-qualified medical personnel for service in reservation areas; chronically it had been borrowing most of its key personnel from the United States Public Health Service. Since the big need was for a greatly invigorated drive in preventive medicine and since the Public Health Service is especially expert in this field, we felt that the logical move was a transfer of the whole Indian health program over to that agency. So we violated all the generally accepted rules of bureaucratic behavior and actually urged the enactment of congressional legislation which would shift over to another branch of Government something like one-fourth of all our personnel. and an inventory of real and personal property valued at about $40 million. This legislation was approved by the President in early August of 1954 and about eleven months later, on July l, 1955, the transfer was completed.

Since the transfer has been in effect only a little over a year, it is, of course, still too early to come up with any final judgments. However, the facts and figures which are available are both interesting and encouraging. For one thing the technical or professional staff working in the Indian health program has increased by about 85 percent-... from 328 in 1953 to 609 by the latest count. The appropriations have gone up in similar proportion--from a little over $21 million in 1953 to more than $38 million in the present fiscal year. The daily average number of Indians receiving medical care, either in Federal hospitals or in other hospitals under contract, has risen over the same period from about 3,200 to nearly 4,200 and the waiting list of tubercular patients, which totaled 1,100 for the Navajo Reservation and Alaska alone in 1953, has now been eliminated. In the light of facts such as these, I certainly have no regrets or misgivings about the decision we made over two years ago to push for a transfer of the Indian health program.

The second phase of our “sound mind in sound body" campaign was in the field of education. Here the biggest and most urgent area of need when I took office was on the Navajo Reservation where about 80 percent of the adult population was illiterate and roughly half of the children in the school-age bracket between 6 and 18 were growing up, through no fault of their own or their parents, as the potential illiterates of the future. To bring this critically important problem under control as quickly as possible, we initiated an emergency program in the early months of 1954 involving several different lines of approach. We expanded and enlarged our Federal school facilities for Navajos both on and off the reservation. We provided board and room in border towns such as Gallup, Flagstaff and Winslow so that Navajo children beyond the early grades could attend the public schools of these communities.

Now let’s take a quick look at the results. When we started planning on this program in the winter of 1953 and 1954, the total enrollment of Navajo children in schools of all kinds was probably between 14,000 and 15,000. We have to say "probably" because the exact figure for public school enrollment at that particular time is not available to us. But we do know that the enrollment this past school year was well over 25,000 and that no Navajo youngsters were turned away from the schoolhouse doors because of lack of space. This fall we are completely confident that school seats will be available for all. Navajo children of school age including the increase which is, of course, constantly taking place.

In the meantime we have also started a program for the benefit of those adult Indian people who missed the advantages of education in their youth. As some of you probably know, this is a critical problem in several tribal groups such as the Seminoles of Florida and the Papagos of Arizona. The program which we launched on a pilot basis last October is confined to five tribal areas—the two that I have just mentioned plus the Turtle Mountain Chippewa group of North Dakota, the Fort Hall Indians of Idaho, and the Rosebud Sioux of South Dakota. Here again it is still too early for any final assessment of results but the preliminary reports are encouraging and indicate a steadily growing interest among the tribal members. As we have already announced, the program will be extended to other tribal areas wherever there is a demand for such activity within the general framework of available funds and personnel.

In spite of the big advances that have been made in Indian health and education over the past three years, I certainly would not want to leave any of you with the impression that all problems in these two fields have now been solved or that we are planning to rest on our oars. We are fully aware of the many difficult local situations which still face us in Indian education and of the great effort that will be required just to keep abreast of the constantly increasing school-age population at places like the Navajo Reservation. The Public Health Service, I feel sure, would tell us much the same thing about the job ahead in the field of Indian health,

However, I believe it is fair to say that the most critical and urgent problems - the really big problems - that confronted us in health and education three years ago have now been surmounted and a good, solid groundwork has been laid for future improvements and advances. As a result, we in the Bureau of Indian Affairs can now concentrate a much larger share of our attention and energies on the third major problem of the Indian people which I have been emphasizing since I first took office. This is the problem of providing them with the same kind of opportunities for economic advancement - for making a decent livelihood and improving their living standards 1- which Americans of other races normally and typically enjoy. It is in many ways the most difficult and challenging phase of the three-point program which we have been carrying forward in the Indian Bureau since 1953.

There is, of course, nothing new in being concerned about the economic well-being of the Indian population. Much thought and study have been given to the problem; many plans and panaceas have been offered up. Without attempting to analyze all of these schemes and proposals, I would like to consider for the next few minutes two ideas which have, it seems to me, aroused a rather wide spread degree of support among some of the friends of the Indian people.

One is the proposal that there should be a tremendous expenditure of Federal funds to build up the land resources of the reservations and develop a farm and livestock base for the Indian people.

As I see it, there are three serious deficiencies in this proposal to build the whole economic future of the Indian people around the resource base on the reservations.

One is the fact that on most reservations there simply is not enough land to go around. Just as one example, if we should divide the whole Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota up into economic size livestock units, it would provide an acceptable standard of living for just about 500 families. And that sounds fine. The only trouble with it is that there are 1,800 families living on the reservation right now and the population is growing all the time.

The second serious deficiency is that there are definite physical limits to what can be done in the way of resource development. Irrigation projects, to pick one example, cannot be located wherever we might like to have them. The lay of the land, the soil type, and many other factors have to be considered. And so it goes with other types of resource development work. Actually I am not aware of one single instance over the past three years where the Indian Bureau has ignored or rejected a really feasible and practical proposal for resource development that could be carried out with the funds available. During this same period our appropriations for resource activity have increased by 51 percent-- from less than 11 million dollars in fiscal 1953 to approximately 162 million at the present time. The fact is that we are constantly seeking out potential projects for the development of reservation resources, exploring the possibilities, and doing everything that can feasibly be done. If you examine the matter closely, you will certainly find that a great deal has been accomplished in this field over the past several years. And I can assure you that much more will be done in the future. I am not by any means writing off or de-emphasizing the importance of sound resource development. But I do believe that the “shotgun" type of approach which has been proposed in some quarters would be both wasteful and ineffective.

The third deficiency in this heavy emphasis on the importance of Indian land resources is perhaps the most important one of all. I realize that there are many humane and warm-hearted individuals in this country who like to think of the Indians as a people of the soil and who grow quite distressed about the prospect of Indians working in factories or taking up homes in some of our larger cities. But the fact is that it's probably a minority segment – and perhaps a rather small minority--of our whole Indian population which has any real interest in or aptitude for making a living by agriculture. For over 25 years now the Bureau of Indian Affairs has had an agricultural extension program to provide Indian people with help and guidance in the field of farm and livestock management. Many loans have been made available for this purpose; much assistance and encouragement have been provided. Yet what do we find? Over wide stretches of the Indian country the Indian who actually works his own land and makes his livelihood from crop or livestock production is the exception rather than the rule. In many cases, of course, this pattern of the Indian as a petty landlord collecting his rent rather than operating his own land is a result of the terrific fractionation of' allotted lands which has come about over the years through the process of inheritance. But another, and perhaps even more important, factor is that large numbers of the Indians, particularly in the younger generations, have no real feeling of a tie with the soil and no desire to follow an agricultural way of life. This is not just theory; it is based on interviews conducted in our Indian Bureau schools and on many other types of direct contact by our personnel with the rank and file of tribal members.

In addition to the proposal for a massive development program on the reservations, there is another, closely related, idea which I want to discuss more briefly. This is the concept that the economic salvation of the Indian people lies principally in making loans to them on cheap and easy terms. I recognize that Indians, in some circumstances, have a need for special credit facilities tailored to their own requirements and we are continuing our credit program in the Bureau for Just this purpose. However, I never have believed and do not believe today that the Government should be called upon to finance unsound enterprises as a way of improving the Indians' economic status.

The program to provide Indians with greater economic opportunity which we have developed in the Bureau is based not on theoretical or abstract considerations but on the realities as we find them. One set of realities that guides us is the potentialities and limitations inherent in the 54 million or so acres of land which the Indian people now have available for development and use. Another is the actual desires and aspirations of the Indians themselves. The program, as we have worked it out, consists of three main parts.

The first of these involves cooperative action by tribal representatives and Bureau employees to develop those constructive reservation programs which I mentioned near the beginning of this talk, Each of these programs, as we visualize it, would be aimed at the fullest practicable development of reservation resources and at general improvement of the economic climate on the reservation proper. Each would be based on a careful and thorough analysis of the local factual situation.

On April 12, I sent a memorandum to all of our field offices emphasizing the importance of this programming activity and giving each of our superintendents a definite assignment to initiate such consultations with the tribal groups. One of the major purposes of the series of meetings which I am now holding with tribal officials is to discuss this April 12, memorandum with them and give additional impetus to the whole undertaking. Personally I feel confident that the programs which eventually emerge from this consultation process will be sound because they will be based on the needs and desires expressed by the Indians themselves and on a close-up knowledge of the unique pattern of resources, laws, customs and the like which prevails on each reservation. This, of course, is infinitely preferable to any master plan that might be drawn up in Washington.

At this point some of you may be asking how all of this relates to the plan which I have mentioned on previous occasions for having comprehensive economic surveys made by research engineering groups in some of the more important reservation areas. We have been hoping, you may recall, to have these surveys financed outside of Government by contributions from foundations and other similar sources to a nonprofit corporation known as the American Indian Research Fund, Incorporated, which was organized at my urging about a year and a half ago. My answer to the question is that cooperative programming should not be held in abeyance until we can get the economic surveys under way. It will be valuable and fruitful even if no such survey is ever made in the particular area. Then if a survey can be initiated later on, so much the better. It will tie right in with the cooperative program work, provide a greater wealth of data for the planning and strengthen the whole process.

The second major phase of our economic opportunity program involves the establishment of private manufacturing plants in the near vicinity of reservation areas. It is an important part of the whole program because of two underlying facts which I have already mentioned.

One is the strictly limited capacity of reservation resources, even after full development, to support a rapidly growing tribal population. This point is rather dramatically illustrated by the situation that confronts us on the Navajo Reservation. According to various surveys and studies that have been made, the maximum number of people we could ever expect to make a decent living directly from the reservation lands is somewhere between 35,000 and 45,000. When I first came to Gallup in 1919, the tribal population was generally estimated to be about 29,000-still safely within the limit. Over the past 37 years, however, the population has more than doubled and now stands around 78,000. In another six years, if our projections are correct, it will reach the level of 100,000; and by the year 2000, which is only 44 years in the future, we can expect a population of 350,000. And all of this on a reservation which will support at the maximum about 45,000 people! When you consider that we face a roughly similar situation on many, if not most, other reservations, it becomes almost painfully clear why we cannot afford to put all of our eggs in the resource development basket.

Another reason why it would be unwise to do so is because so many of the younger Indians, as I previously mentioned, have so little interest in and aptitude for agricultural pursuits. Yet many of these same individuals have shown a remarkable degree of manual dexterity and proficiency in mechanical processes. This has been demonstrated time and again in test after test. The real tragedy of the situation, as I see it, is that Indian people generally have had so little opportunity in years past to utilize these special skills in improving their living standards and adding to the total productive capacity of the Nation.

We have a number of examples indicating what can be done in this field. There is, for instance, the electronics manufacturing plant of the Simpson Electric Company at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, which has been providing Chippewa Indians with steady year-round employment for approximately a decade. There is the jewel bearing plant of the Bulova Watch Company at Rolla, North Dakota, where Indian workers from the Turtle Mountain group have established an outstanding record as employees. Their rate of absenteeism from the job has been about three percent as compared with national average of six. The rate of turnover has also been about three percent, which again is half the national average.

Another and more recent case in point was the action of Saddlecraft, Incorporated, in establishing a plant for the manufacture of leather moccasins, just a few months ago near our Cherokee Agency in North Carolina. Although the operations have been under-way at Cherokee for only a short time, the plant is already providing steady employment for 21 Cherokee workers and the weekly payroll is approximately $1,000. In time I feel sure that both of these figures will grow substantially.

The Navajo tribe, as many of you probably know, has shown an especially dynamic kind of interest in attracting industry to the vicinity of the reservation. In fact, the tribe has appropriated $300,000 of its own funds for this purpose and has, I might add ruefully, lured away one of our more able Indian Bureau employees to head up the program. The first tangible result of this operation came on June 15 when a contract was finalized between the tribe and the Baby Line Furniture Company of Los Angeles. Under this contract the tribe is furnishing the company with a site for a branch establishment and will spend considerable money for plant improvements, facilities, and services. In return the company is turning over one fourth of its profits from this branch plant to the tribe, is employing Navajo workers, and is training them for advancement to supervisory jobs. Inside of a year it is exl'8cted that employment will be provided for about 100 Navajo workers.

Now that may not sound like a very large figure in a tribe of 78,000 people but it is something like an iceberg where only a fraction of the total bulk shows above the surface of the 'Water. A recent study by the United States Chamber of Commerce entitled "What New Industrial Jobs Mean to a Community" illustrates quite graphically, what I have in mind. According to this study; which covered a number of sample areas in the southeastern part of the country, when 100 new jobs in basic industry are provided in a community, a kind of chain reaction of economic benefit is set in motion, The figures cited in the study are, of course, not universally applicable but are indicative of the kind of results that can be expected. They show that for every 100 new jobs in the basic industries, we have 74 additional new jobs in the community in retail establishments, service trades, and the like. We have four new retail outlets established, $360,000 more per year in retail sales, 107 more passenger cars registered, $270,000 more in bank deposits (maybe I should have placed that item last), and $590,000 more per year in personal income. These figures, indicative as I say, will perhaps give you some idea why we are now placing an increasing amount of emphasis on the industrial phase of our economic opportunity program.

The third phase of the program is what we call voluntary relocation. As some of you may know--if you have been reading your magazines lately - that word "relocation" seems to upset certain people - apparently because it suggests uprooting the Indians from their serene pastoral environment and plunging them down in some kind of a nerve-wracking asphalt jungle. Actually, relocation of Indian people away from the reservations is not new at all. For at least a generation, and probably longer, Indian families have been moving away from the impoverished environment of reservations and seeking better opportunities elsewhere. And I have no doubt that they would still be doing so in increasing numbers even if the Bureau of Indian Affairs had never established a voluntary relocation program. The main trouble with the earlier unassisted relocation movement "Was that the migrating Indian too often ended up in a slum environment and found himself eventually defeated by the complexities of big-city life.

It is precisely this kind of situation that we are trying to avoid through the Bureau program. What we are doing, in essence, is to guide and channelize this voluntary movement along healthy and beneficial lines and assist the relocating families in the many admittedly difficult personal adjustments which they are called upon to make. I believe we have been doing a highly creditable job in this and I have no doubt that we are getting better all the time. In 1953 thirty-two percent of those who relocated eventually returned to the reservations. In 1954 this was reduced to 28 percent and last year it was down to 24 percent.

What's more, in the current fiscal year our funds available for relocation are more than three times greater than they were a year ago. With these funds we are making available for the first time this year certain new types of services—such as grants for night-school training, grants for the purchase of health insurance, and a limited number of matching grants to help in the down-payment on the purchase of a home. We are also greatly enlarging our staff of relocation counsellors, both on the reservations and in the city offices. Thus we should be in position to provide a much more intensive and personalized kind of guidance than has been possible in previous years.

But what, you may ask, about this charge that the voluntary relocation program is merely a subtle plot to separate the Indian from his land resources? Although we were not aware of any such sinister motives, we decided several weeks ago that it might be interesting to find out whether we were accomplishing such results unwittingly. So we took a couple of hundred cases at random from the files in our Los Angeles office and ran a check. We found that 80 percent of these relocated families had never had any land holdings to worry about in the first place. As for the other 20 percent, none of them had given up their land holdings prior to relocation and all of them were continuing to receive rental income just as they had been all along. In short, the effect of relocation on the land holdings of these 200 families was precisely zero. Yet we read in a national magazine an article which refers to the relocation program as "the raid on the reservations".

And now I would like to recapitulate and summarize very briefly the major points in our program. First, we have taken the necessary steps in health and education to insure that Indian people will be as well equipped as possible, physically and mentally, for a more productive and enjoyable kind of living than many of them have known in the past. Through resource development and encouragement of industry, we are working to provide the highest possible level of economic opportunity in and around the reservations. Through guidance and help in voluntary relocation, we are furnishing a productive and beneficial outlet for what may be termed "the surplus population.”

Personally I have great faith in this program and great expectations of the benefits it will eventually produce. As we carry it forward, I feel confident that large numbers of the Indian people will benefit not only through an improvement in their basic living standards but through pride of accomplishment and greater feelings of self-respect and self-reliance. The States and local communities will benefit from the increasing financial independence of the Indian people and the general invigoration of the economic climate in and around the reservations. In time the whole country will benefit by a reduction in the Federal expenditures which will be needed for Indian affairs and by a steady increase in purchasing power and productivity among the Indian segment of the population.

Over and above these potential benefits, however., there is one consideration in particular that keeps me enthusiastically at work on this job. It is the prospect--the real probability, As I see it -- of finally working out a sound and decent and humane resolution or this most difficult problem in human relationships which has perplexed us since the earliest days of the Republic. I believe that it can and will be done and that we are now making big and important strides in the right direction.

A $1.6 million contract for expanded school facilities at Choctaw Central School, at Pearl River, Miss., has been awarded by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contract calls for the construction of a 16-classroom building with offices and an instructional materials center; a combination music and industrial arts building; an addition to an existing dormitory building; a food storage building, and remodeling of some existing facilities.

The project includes related on-site improvements such as paving and utility systems.

It is estimated that work will begin within 30 days and will be completed by the end of 1970.

The successful bidder was Delta Construction Co. of Jackson, Miss., which submitted the only bid on the project.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel announced today that he has approved an “executive realignment” of top positions in the Bureau of Indian affairs.

“These changes will help make the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the Indian people and will provide the necessary flexibility in developing and carrying out programs to meet those requirements.” Secretary Hickel said.

The realignment creates the positions of Associate Commissioner for Education and Programs and Associate Commissioner for Support Services. They replace the Deputy Commissioner and the six Assistant Commissioners. The two positions have, between them, line authority over all Bureau programs.

Assisting the two associate Commissioners will be five staff directors. The Offices of Education Programs, Community Services and Economic Development will be under the Associate Commissioner for Education and Programs and the office of Management Services and Operating Services under the Associate Commissioner for Support Services. The staff directors will not have line authority.

Secretary Hickel said that he and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce nave been consulting with tribal leaders in the selection of the personnel for these positions and that appointments will be announced as soon as possible.

The realignment expands the Bureaus Office of Congressional Relation to become the office of Congressional and Tribal Relations. It will assist tribes in presenting their legislative needs and keep them informed on Congressional matters.

An Office of Intergovernmental Relations is created within the Bureau to stimulate maximum participation of Indian and Alaska Native people in interagency and intergovernmental programs and to be a for Bureau cooperation with the National Council of Indian Opportunity in the Vice President's office.

In a letter to tribal leaders, Commissioner Bruce said the realignment “will permit me to obtain a group of individuals in top management positions who will generate new directions and flexibility of policy in Indian affairs. The new team will include established Indian leaders, many of whom have been recommended by the various tribes and Alaskan Native groups.

"With this new team, I hope to make the Bureau totally responsive to your needs. We shall actively seek your thoughts and ideas on how to bet organize so as to make it an Indian Bureau not only in name but in fact."

In accordance with their own expressed wishes, about 2,100 Indians of western Oregon are taking over full control of their ow property and will no longer receive special Federal services because of their status as Indians under a proclamation signed this week (August 13) by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton.

The proclamation was issued in line with a 1954 Congressional law (Public Law 588 of the 83rd Congress) and covers three major Indian groupings: The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, and numerous other small bands located in the southwestern corner of the State.

"In a very real sense the Indians of western Oregon are pioneers," Secretary Seaton commented. "They were one of the first Indian groups in the country to request full responsibility for the management of their own affairs. They have given the Bureau of Indian Affairs excellent cooperation in carrying this program through to completion. I personally extend my warmest commendations and best wishes to them on achieving this most important milestone in their lives."

The western Oregon Indians are the second tribal group in the country to reach the stage of divorcement from Federal trusteeship under the so-called "termination laws" enacted by Congress in 1954. On July 1, 1955, trusteeship over the property of the Alabama and Coushatta Tribes of Texas was transferred from the Federal Government to the State. The present action, however, is more in the nature or a true termination of trust.

The Federal trust relations which are being brought to an end today are just about 100 years old. In the case of the Siletz Tribes, they date back to an 1855 executive order establishing a "coast reserve" which later became known as the Siletz Reservation. The Grand Ronde Reservation was established by executive order two years later. The southwestern group consists mainly of "mixed blood" people descended from Indians who did not move to one of the two reservations.

Down through the years, and especially in the period after 1938, these Indians took advantage of public schooling provided by the State of Oregon, moved into steady jobs in lumbering and other operations of the area, and substantially improved their living standards.

In reporting to Congress in 1954 on their social and economic status, the Department had this to say:

"Ancient customs still inherent in many Indian tribes of the United States are not readily apparent among the present members of tribes residing on the Oregon coast. In fact, the native language is seldom spoken. The habits of these people are not unlike those of their non-Indian neighbors. The clothes they wear, the pursuits they follow, the desires they express, and their reactions to their environment all attest a degree of acculturation which provides little, if any, evidence to distinguish or identify Indians apart from the person next door.''

The first official discussions about the possibility of terminating Federal trusteeship in western Oregon were held with the Indians of the area by the Indian Bureau's Portland area office staff in 1948. Three years later, with the approval of the major groups involved, legislation to accomplish this purpose was introduced in the 82nd Congress but not enacted.

In 1953 a new draft of legislation was presented to the Indians and discussed with them over a period of several weeks. In this process it was revised many times and finally submitted to Congress in early 1954. After Congressional hearings at which the Indians were given an opportunity to be heard, it was eventually enacted and approved by the President as Public Law 588 on August 13, 1954. The law provided two years for completion of the termination process.

Under the law the tribal groups were given a choice of four methods for handling the property they own in common: (1) forming a corporation under state law to take over the management, (2) having it transferred to a private trustee of their own choosing, (J) having it parceled out among the individual members, or (4) having it sold and receiving their individual shares of the proceeds.

The Siletz Tribes, with tribal holdings that totaled 2,561 acres, elected to have all the land sold and received proceeds of about $500,000. This was recently distributed among the individual members in shares of $542.50 each.

Of the 597 acres owned by the Grand Ronde tribes, 253 were sold at the request of the tribes, bringing in individual shares of $35 each. The remaining 344 acres have been transferred to Harold Fuller, a Sheridan, Oreg. Attorney, who will act as private trustee.

A 37-acre tract of so-called "administrative reserve" land formerly used by the Indian Bureau on the Siletz Reservation has been transferred, at the Indians' request, to the city of Siletz and will be used as a park. Another tract of about six acres located in Empire, Oreg. has been turned over to that community.

In addition to the tribal holdings, the Indians of western Oregon also owned 8,418 acres in the form of allotments ma.de years ago to individual tribal members. Thirty-nine of these tracts, totaling 2,493 acres, have been turned over to the individual owners in fee simple title. The remaining 5,925 acres of allotted land have been sold at the request of the owners.

The western Oregon law, like other termination laws recently passed by Congress, provided vocational training and adult education at Government expense for Indians desiring such assistance. About a fourth of the adult Indians of western Oregon took advantage of this provision.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel leaves Washington today for an “on the scene” environmental inspection tour of three National Park System areas in Wyoming and Montana and a meeting with tribal chiefs of the Crow Indian Reservation.

His trip will include official visits to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks Wednesday, July 1, through Saturday, July 4, followed by a meeting with the Crow Indian leaders—with whom he will smoke an “environmental peace pipe,” at a ceremony in the Bighorn Canyon National Recreational Area.

The secretary announced plans for a series of environmental inspection tours Saturday, June 27, in a speech dedicating the new Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on the Maine coast.

“I intend to take a hard look at the progress that is being made,” he said. “I will do this through a series of environmental inspections around the Nation….

“I will investigate such environmental and pollution problems as over-crowding… The ‘pollution of the spirit’ that can destroy even our great National Parks, if we allow them to become just ‘parking lots in the woods.’

“Through these on-screen inspections, we can gain the knowledge we need to make the decisions we need,” Secretary Hickel said.

His trip will put him in two of the most heavily visited parks in the Nation at a peak time for visitors—the July 4th weekend.

On Sunday the Secretary will inspect the Yellowtail Reservoir, a project of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, and see the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, which surround it. The scenic canyon area is maintained by the National Park Service for the visiting public.

The Crow Reservation borders a large part of the area, and the Secretary will inspect tribally operated recreation developments on the reservoir shores.

The symbolic peace pipe ceremony will symbolize his commitment to the Indian concept of a national life in peace and harmony with nature. Secretary Hickel then will be adopted into the Crow Tribe.

The Crow Reservation has an Indian population of almost 4,000. In addition, to its recreational enterprises, the tribe has helped establish a carpet factory. There is traditional farm and ranch employment and there are Crow Indians working also at an Alfalfa pellet mill and at arts and crafts production.

Secretary Hickel will return to Washington, D.C. via Denver Monday, July 6.

Awarding of contracts totaling $240,000 to three Arizona public school districts for the provision of additional classroom space to accommodate Navajo Indian children from reservation areas not now served by the districts was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

A contract of $120,000, covering space for 120 Navajo children, goes to Holbrook High School District No. 3, Snowflake Elementary School District No. 5 received $80,000 to accommodate 80 youngsters. Taylor Elementary School District No. 6 is being awarded a $40,000 contract for 40 students.

These contracts will serve a twofold purpose by providing classroom facilities in the immediate future for Navajo children who previously lacked educational opportunities and by contributing toward achievement of the Department of Interior's longer-range objective of public school opportunities for all Indian children.

Enrollment of Navajo children in schools of all types has nearly quadrupled in the last 10 years, rising from 6,543 in 1946 to 24,163 in the school year that ended last June. Over the same period enrollment of Navajo children in public schools has increased even more markedly from 656 to 6,525.

To help the Colorado River Indian tribes of western Arizona in a fight against juvenile delinquency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proposing to give the Indians a 10 percent discount in power rates for lighting a tribal recreation area, Acting Commissioner w. Barton Greenwood announced today,

"The Indians of the Colorado River Reservation,” Mr. Greenwood explained, “have already spent about $18,000 in developing this recreation area to provide their young people with a wholesome and health-building outlet for their energies. We believe the tribal leaders should be commended for this action and given tangible assistance in every feasible way."

Electricity for the Colorado River Reservation is furnished by the power distribution system of the Bureau's Colorado River Irrigation Project. The discount proposed, Mr. Greenwood added, will not seriously affect the economical operation of the project but should contribute in an important way to the success of the tribal recreation program.

Notice of the proposed discount was published in the Federal Register August 24. All interested persons are given 30 days from that date to submit views, data and arguments to the Area Director, Phoenix Area Office, P, O. Box 7007, Phoenix, Arizona.

The discount proposed would be limited to a maximum of $25 in any one month.

The Department of the Interior today announced issuance of an order restoring to tribal ownership a large number of scattered lots, comprising about 253 acres, on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana.

The lands being restored are comparatively small parcels designated as townsites and villa sites which have not been disposed of. The action was originally requested by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, was recommended by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and was concurred in by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.

Income received by Indian tribes and individual Indians from oil and gas leasing of their lands reached the record total of more than $41,000,000 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton reported today.

This compares with an income of about $28,000,000 in 1955 and approximately $13,000,000 in 1951.

Nearly $36,000,900 of the 1956 total was accounted for by ten tribal groups. The great majority of tribes, as usual, received little or no oil and gas income.

Three factors are chiefly responsible for the 1956 upsurge: (1) the intense renewal of interest in leasing on the Osage Reservation in Oklahoma; (2) the stepped-up search for oil and gas on Navajo lands around the ‘four corners" area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado; and (3) the potential expansion of gas development on Indian lands in the San Juan Basin of the Southwest.

In addition to the Navajo and Osage Tribes, the other eight groups receiving substantial oil and gas income in 1956 included those on the Jicarilla Reservation, New Mexico; the Ute Mountain and Southern Ute Reservations, Colorado; the Fort Peck, Blackfeet, and Crow Reservation, Montana; the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; and the Uintah-Ouray Reservation, Utah.

About $33,600,000 of the total Indian oil and gas income was received by tribal organizations and the balance of approximately $7,300,000 by individual Indian landowners. Nearly $21,000,000 of the total income was in the form of bonuses paid for leases. Over $15,400,000 represented royalties on production and about $4,000,000 was annual rental from the leaseholders.

Bonuses on the Osage Reservation alone amounted to about $9,700,000 in comparison with approximately $6,600,000 in the preceding five years combined. The increase was principally due to the discovery of new pay formations in the old partially developed areas, shallow-depth drilling to production, and favorable results from water-flood projects.

Nearly 4,000 oil and gas leases on Indian lands were approved during the year bringing the total in force on June 30 up to 17,627 embracing a total area of roughly 5,400,000 acres. On June 30 there were nearly 13,000 producing oil wells and 555 producing gas wells on these lands.

Income received by Indians from other minerals in fiscal 1956 amounted to nearly $2,900,000. Mu.ch of this was a result of interest in uranium leasing on the Navajo Reservation and the Spokane Reservation of Washington. In addition there was a small but steady production from lead and zinc mining leases on the Quapaw Reservation, Oklahoma, and from phosphate leases on the Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho.