OPA

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.

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.

Appointment of Herman E. O'Harra as superintendent of the Hopi Indian Agency, Keams Canyon, Ariz., was announced today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood.

The new appointee will take over January 28 succeeding Clyde W. Pensoneau, who joins the Indian Bureau's extension staff in Washington. Mr. O’Harra, who has been administrative officer in charge of the Pima Area Field Office at Sacaton, Ariz., for the past four years, came with the Bureau originally in 1931 as farm agent at the Crow Agency in Montana. Over the following 21 years he served as agricultural extension agent at the Menominee Agency in Wisconsin, the Klamath Agency in Oregon, and the Carson Agency in Nevada. He was born at Weston, Oreg. in 1895 and attended Oregon State College.

Mr. Pensoneau has been superintendent at Keams Canyon for almost two years. Before that he had 13 years' experience with the Bureau in extension work at agencies in Utah, Nevada and Arizona. He was born at Jones, Okla., in 1914 and is a graduate of the Oklahoma A & M College.

More Indians are being educated and receiving aid in voluntary relocation than ever before in history, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay pointed out today in commenting on the annual report submitted by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L, Emmons.

The Indian Commissioner told of the increased emphasis which the Department placed on Indian education and the voluntary relocation, as well as other facets of the Bureau's many-sided program for the year just ending,

Two other activities, formerly with the Indian Bureau, are receiving greater emphasis under a revised setup. The Public Health Service, which took over the improvement of Indian health on July 1 as authorized by Congress, has set up a special division for Indian health in its organization. In other fields, the Bureau has entered into contracts with various State farm and home extension units where Indians live to take over activities locally which were formerly handled by the Bureau.

By expanding education facilities for Indian youth, the Department is solving the problem of providing school instruction for the youngsters who want and need it. In the Navajo county, where 13,000 children were out of school just two years ago, the enrollment was stepped up, through the Department's Navajo emergency education program, from 14,765 at the end of fiscal year 1953 to 23,679 in fiscal 1955, All told, education is being provided for over 100,000 Indian children across the Nation in public schools, Federal schools operated by the Indian Bureau, and by mission schools on or near the reservations.

More Indians sought and received help in relocating themselves and their families in 1955 than ever before. Under the voluntary relocation program, Indians are aided in moving off their reservations to better employment areas, and helped to find jobs and housing. About 3,500 Indians were assisted to relocate during 1955. This included 2,656 persons in 708 family groups, and 805 unattached men and women, The total number of relocatees represents a 60 percent increase over any previous year since the program was begun in 1952.

Commissioner Emmons reported good progress in 1955 in carrying out the provisions of 1954 laws which provide for eventual termination of Federal trusteeship and special services at six tribal jurisdictions. In one of these areas, the Alabama-Coushatta of Texas, Federal responsibilities were brought to an end on June 30, 1955.

Other tribes affected by such laws were the Menominee Tribe of 'Wisconsin, the Klamath Tribe of Oregon, a number of bands and groups in Western Oregon, the mixed-blood Utes of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation of Utah, and four Paiute Bands of Utah. The preparation of tribal rolls, when called for by Congress, was made by the tribes or by the Department of the Interior when one tribe could not agree which names should go on the roll. The rolls designate those Indians who are entitled to a share in the tribal assets. Arrangements were made by the Bureau with State educational authorities in Wisconsin, Oregon and Utah for adult education courses to help the members of the tribe to earn a livelihood, to conduct their own affairs, and to assume their responsibilities as citizens without special services because of their being Indians.

Aside from termination, the Bureau continued its long-range rehabilitation program for the Navajo-Hopi Indians of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. The program, now in its fifth year, took further strides in education, conservation and survey of resources, irrigation and road improvement.

Social workers among the Indians helped provide foster homes for children of broken families, and helped find suitable guardians to watch over their affairs and property.

In the irrigation activities of the Indian Bureau, some 8,300 acres of new lands were provided with irrigation facilities; and, the expansion of other irrigation facilities provided another 19,500 acres with a stable and supplementary water supply.

The Bureau's forestry branch supervised the cutting of 518 million board feet of Indian lumber, which had a value of over $8.5 million.

The Bureau entered into contracts with 11 of the 18 States where it has extension and home demonstration programs for the States to take over the projects formerly handled by the Indian Bureau. Extension workers under this program assist the Indian in adopting better farm practices1 improving crop varieties, controlling insects and plant diseases, bettering the condition of their soil by fertilizing, and in producing better livestock.

The Bureau continued to build new and improve old roads on reservations. In 24 States, the Bureau graded and drained 264 miles of reservation roads, surfaced 349 miles, and constructed 950 running feet of bridges. In addition, the Bureau built 172 miles of new roads. The Bureau's road maintenance program for the year just past included surface maintenance, snow removal, flood damage repairs, and repairs to bridges on 18,446 miles of Bureau roads.

A credit program for those Indians who were unable, because of a lack of acceptable collateral or for some other reason, to obtain financing from private sources was maintained by the Bureau. The Bureau's credit program is conducted mainly from two funds - tribal money and a revolving loan fund appropriated by Congress. For the first time in history, the amount of tribal funds used for credit purposes exceeded the amount of loans made from Government money.

The building program conducted by the Bureau was mainly the providing or expanding of school facilities for youngsters who previously had no satisfactory school opportunities.

The Arts and Crafts Board continued to promote the economic welfare of Indians by focusing education on better commercial methods, encouraging high quality products, and protecting the Indians and the buying public from cheap imitations.

Only guardians appointed under State law will be entitled to receive the property of enrolled members of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon who are minors under the laws of the State where they reside or otherwise incompetent to manage their own affairs, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay said today.

The Secretary's statement was made to clarify the Department's position on one important phase of the readjustment program which is now being carried out at the Klamath jurisdiction under Public I.aw 587 of the 83d Congress, the so-called ''Klamath Termination Act." Section 15 of the law directs the Secretary to "protect the rights of members of the tribe who are minors, non compos mantis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conducting their affairs."

Under the law adult members of the tribe will eventually have the option of deciding, on behalf of themselves and their minor children, either to withdraw their proportionate shares of the tribal estate or to remain in the tribe and participate in the benefits of the tribal management plan. Since about half of the approximately 2,000 enrolled members are minors, there has been a question about who could receive the property on behalf of such members.

Secretary McKay's clarification was made following conferences held in Washington with departmental and Indian Bureau representatives by John Brugman, Assistant Attorney General of Oregon, and Andrew Juras, Oregon State Director of Child Welfare. Glen Wilkinson, attorney for the Klamath Tribe, also participated in these conferences.

Under Public Law 587 the Federal trust relationship to the affairs of the tribe and its members is to be terminated on or before August 13, 1958. Following termination Oregon State laws will apply in all respects.

In an effort to learn more about the problem of alcoholism among Indians, and how to deal with it more effectively, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today announced the appointment of a special three-man commission which will begin in the near future a three-month study on the Navajo Reservation (of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah) and other Indian reservations of New Mexico and Colorado.

Appointed to the commission were O.K. Armstrong, Springfield, Mo., former member of Congress; Earnest A. Shepherd, Avon Park, Fla., administrator of the Florida State Alcoholic Rehabilitation Program; and Rev. David A. Works, North Conway, N. H. Miss Selene Gifford, Assistant Commissioner (Community Services) of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will serve as an ex-officio member.

In announcing formation of the commission, Commissioner Emmons pointed out that most Indian reservations have not up to now had the benefit of facilities and services for dealing with alcoholism which are available in many non-Indian communities throughout the country. The underlying purpose of the commission 1s study will be to take the first steps toward an eventual filling of this gap. If the results warrant, similar studies may be undertaken later in other Indian areas.

Initiation of the new study, Commissioner Emmons emphasized, does not mean that the Bureau advocates any change in existing Federal law governing sale of alcoholic beverages to Indians. The present law, he added, was enacted in 1953 to eliminate old statutory provisions which discriminated against the Indians solely on the grounds of race.

While the commission's study will be conducted under general supervision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the United States Public Health Service, which has been responsible for health work among Indians since last July, will take part by providing technical assistance and cooperation.

Mr. Armstrong, in addition to representing the South District of Missouri in the 82d Congress, has had a long and noteworthy career in both journalism and public service. For the past 12 years he has been a staff writer for the Reader's Digest and has contributed numerous articles to other magazines and periodicals. Following military service in World War I he did welfare work in Europe for two years and later taught journalism from 1925 to 1930. In 1931 and 1932 he was executive secretary of the Missouri Century of Progress Commission and subsequently was secretary of the Missouri Farmers Association Committee on Taxation. Beginning in 1932 he served three terms in the Missouri House of Representatives. In recent years he has been a world traveler and lecturer on international relations. He was born in Howell County, Mo., and is a graduate of Drury College, Springfield, Mo.; Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn.; and the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri.

Before moving to his present position in Florida in 1954, Dr. Shepherd served for seven years as Director of the Division on Alcoholism of the New Hampshire State Department of Health. He has also been both a fellow and lecturer at the Yale School of Alcohol Studies and served as chaplain of the New Hampshire State legislature in 1945. Following his graduation from the School of Theology at Boston University in 1934, he was pastor for 13 years at Methodist churches in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. He was born at Mount Sterling, Ohio, and has a bachelor's degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master's degree from Boston University.

Reverend David A. Works has been rector of Christ Church in North Con-way since 1948. Prior to that he was for three years seminary assistant at Christ Church, Alexandria, Va. In 1952 he successfully urged the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church to establish a Study Committee on Alcoholism, the first action of this kind to be taken by a national religious body. For the following three years he served as assistant to the chairman of the Committee, Bishop Charles F. Hall of New Hampshire.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1920, Mr. Works served with the Marine Corps in World War II. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., Virginia Theological Seminary, and the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies.