OPA

Business, industry, and Government in the Washington, D.C., area now have a convenient source of Indian skill, talent and labor, Robert L. Bennett, Commissioner of Indian Affairs said, in announcing the opening of a Field Employment Assistance Office, in the Bureau of Indian Affairs building, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW.

This is the eighth such "Indian Employment Agency" to be run by the Bureau, the Commissioner pointed out. The others operate in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Oakland-San Francisco, and San Jose, Calif.

The Washington, D.C., office is headed by Mary Ellen Rawley, until recently director of the Seattle, Wash., Orientation Center, a Halfway House conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Eskimos, Indians, and Aleuts of Alaska relocating to the "lower 48."

Any Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut on or near a reservation or trust land may request the help of the Bureau in finding a job in Washington, D.C. and relocating here, Miss Rawley said. An Indian who relocates ordinarily does so because the economic base of his reservation is too small or too poor to provide sufficient new job opportunities; or because of interest in a field not available locally.

The Employment Assistance Office gets details of possible jobs from a prospective employer. It attempts to have interviews available for a specific Indian applicant before he arrives in Washington, D.C.

The Indian jobseeker makes his wish to leave his reservation known to his local Bureau of Indian Affairs agency. He is counseled on possible vocations to enter and suitable geographic locations available. Those who specifically request Washington, D.C., may be attracted by the type of work here or personal factors, Miss Rawley said.

The Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut may come to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area by automobile, bus, train, or airplane.

In any case, he is met by a member of the staff of the Employment Assistance office and taken to temporary housing.

Orientation is conducted by the Employment Assistance office before and after the relocate is placed in a job. The Bureau of Indian Affairs makes an effort to see that the newcomer has found permanent housing as attractive as he can afford, knows the fundamentals of budgeting a paycheck, has met a minister of his church, and located a suitable school if children are involved. Counseling to ease the transition from the previous rural environment to urban living is available.

Since the Washington, D.C. Employment Assistance office was opened in mid-summer, 31 Indian, Eskimo and Aleut jobseekers have been placed, Miss Rawley said. Among other employers, they are now working for the Department of State, Department of Defense, Indian Claims Commission, Philco-Ford Corp., U.S. Public Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Senator George S. McGovern of South Dakota, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, FBI, Giant Food Corp., the Girl Scouts of America, Smithsonian Institution, and the Department of the Interior.

Prospective employers who wish to consider "hiring Indian" are urged to get in touch with the Washington, D.C. Employment Assistance office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs by calling Mary Ellen Rawley, 343-3331.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today petitioned the Federal Power Commission seeking to intervene on behalf of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana in their application for increased payments from the Montana Power Company for use of tribal lands at Kerr Dam.

The Secretary is trustee for lands owned by the Confederated Tribes. The Kerr license specifically provides that any change in terms of the license that may affect the Indians' interest shall be subject to his approval.

By intervening, the Secretary proposes to show that the annual charges for the occupancy and use of lands of the Confederated Tribes by the Kerr Project should be substantially increased to reflect the true commercial value of said lands for power development. Amount of the increase was not specified.

The annual charges were originally determined by the Federal Power Commission, with approval of the Secretary of the Interior, when the Kerr license first was issued in 1930. The dam began operating in 1939 with one generating unit. A second generating unit was completed in 1949. Under terms of the license, charges were subject to readjustment 20 years after operation began.

A third generating unit was built in 1954 and the Confederated Tribes then applied to the FPC to readjust the annual charges to reflect the increased power output. After lengthy proceedings before the FPC and in court, the Tribes were awarded an increase based on the third generating unit. The Tribe now is paid $238,375 annually by the power company.

The increases now being sought by the Confederated Tribes would reflect the growth in commercial value of the entire project since 1939.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today appealed to the increasing millions of visitors to Interior-administered recreation areas throughout the United States to "arrive safely, play safely, and return home safely."

During the peak vacation period now beginning, areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Reclamation will experience more than 173 million visitor-days of use, far greater than the 1964 total, the previous record year, Secretary Udall said. The 1964 figure was approximately 162 million.

Secretary Udall said that newly opened Federal recreation areas, the bargain-rate Federal Recreation/Conservation Sticker, and the "See the U.S.A." campaign will motivate more people to seek the out of doors for enjoyment.

"The hundreds of sites we administer for the public have been freed of as many hazards as possible," Secretary Udall commented. "Safeguards have been increased, but protective devices cannot be installed for all the millions of acres, both in land and water, that form the public-use areas. The public 1 s regard for its own safety will be equally effective in curbing accidents."

Secretary Udall said the intensified accident-prevention efforts in the Department are part of President Johnson's "Mission SAFETY -70," which calls for a 30 percent reduction in Federal work injuries by 1970. The program emphasizes not only increased safety among Government workers, but for all people who visit Federal parks, forests, buildings, and other sites.

The five Interior agencies administering public-use areas reported that .operative safety work with non-Federal groups has been exceptionally helpful handling a greater number of visitors. They range from cleanup campaigns to water-safety classes.

Following are summaries of the recreation opportunities, the anticipated 1965 use, and safety programs:

Fish and Wildlife Service

The Fish and Wildlife Service administers nearly 300 National Wildlife Refuges totaling about 28 million acres, including lakes and streams. These areas are managed primarily for various species of wildlife, but use by the public is welcome as long as the basic purposes of the refuges are not jeopardized. Picnicking, swimming, boating, fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, and wildlife observation are among the activities.

Visitor days this year are expected to total about 15 million in keeping with the steady eight percent increase per year in recent years.

Water safety and fire prevention are stressed. New-style wooden life preservers have replaced conventional preservers and loss to vandalism has dropped considerably. Public awareness is helping prevent damage to signs and other safety installations. Designated swimming areas now are roped-in during periods of peak use. Roads have been improved to curb vehicular accidents.

Bureau of Land Management

Although it has no method for making an accurate estimate of the number of visitors to public land areas, the Bureau of Land Management reports there has seen a "tremendous upsurge" in recreation use of the 464 million acres it administers in 11 Western States and Alaska. The Bureau now operates 112 recreation sites on the public lands in Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Alaska. Other public land areas available for recreation are in Washington, Arizona, Montana, and Colorado.

Picnicking, camping, hiking, water skiing, swimming, fishing, hunting, and even gold-panning are among the wide range of outdoor recreation activities found on the public lands.

Whenever possible, the Bureau of Land Management provides signs, guardrails, clean drinking water, comfort stations, boat-landing sites, and other facilities. BLM, however, must lean heavily on public cooperation in preventing accidents. This is because of the great expanse administered and the remoteness of many of the most appealing areas.

Many communities, recognizing the value of tourism, have helped the Bureau improve safety by removing broken glass and other hazardous materials left by visitors. In Las Vegas, Nevada, public-spirited citizens participated in a cleanup day at the Red Rocks Canyon site being developed by BLM.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Of the approximately 50 million acres of Tribal and Allotted Land administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the following are available for recreational purposes: More than 8 million acres of land, 332,000 water-surface acres, 363 miles of streams, and 66 miles of lakeshore.

Reservations offer outstanding opportunities for fishing, hunting, hiking, picnicking, camping, and nature study. In 1964 the public spent more than 2,800,000 visitor days enjoying recreational sites. This year's total is expected to exceed 3,000,000. At many locations on land under Bureau of Indian Affairs jurisdiction, public recreation facilities have been developed by commercial enterprises. These include resorts, motels, swimming and picnic areas, and boating equipment.

Whenever possible, the Bureau will utilize the services of Job Corps members to increase the number of safety installations to protect the public, including warning signs, fencing, and guardrails.

Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation administers more than 200 water-oriented recreation areas in the 17 Western States. These consist of 3.5 million acres of land and 1-1/3 million acres of water surface. Thousands of additional acres will be added this year when Yellowtail Reservoir in Montana-Wyoming and Clark Canyon Reservoir in Montana begin to fill.

Visitor-days' use of Reclamation recreation areas is expected to exceed 36 million this year, continuing a trend that has been a 50 percent increase since 1960.

For the ninth successive year, the Bureau is conducting "Operation Westwide,“ a safety program developed in cooperation with the American Red Cross. The program emphasizes water safety and accident prevention to reduce drownings in irrigation ditches, lakes, canals, and other installations built by the Bureau.

The Bureau reports that about $10 million annually is being invested by public agencies, concessionaires, camp operators, and others to build public-use facilities at Reclamation areas, such as access and interior roads, parking areas, beach equipment, camp and picnic grounds, comfort stations, drinking fountains, docks, and boat-launching ramps. In addition, fences and similar protective devices are being installed to supplement the large number already in place to protect the public.

Eight new or expanded recreation areas were opened at Reclamation projects during the past year.

National Park Service

The National Park Service administers more than 200 areas throughout the United States which are destined to handle a new high of 110 million visits this year compared with the 102 million total of 1964. In addition, visits to sites in the National Capital Parks area will total about 9 million.

Thus far, 1965 visits to Park areas are running about 7 percent ahead of 1964.

Including the nine new sites authorized by the 88th Congress, the Park Service now administers more than 26 million acres of Federal land for public use.

Many additional safety improvements have been made in efforts to protect visitors during the 1965 season. These include handrails along danger zones, abrasive coatings on slippery walking surfaces, more fire-prevention equipment, a larger number of warning and direction signs. The Service is appealing again to feminine visitors to avoid wearing high heels while walking in rugged areas.

Water safety has been improved by providing rescue boats and maintaining air patrols at key locations. The popular Lake Mead Recreation Area, which had more than three million visits last year, will have 12 trained lifeguards at supervised swimming beaches. Wherever possible, latest weather information will be posted at boat-launching areas. To help keep water-based accidents to a minimum, the Park Service distributes safety leaflets, regularly inspects boating equipment of concessionaires, and maintains safety patrols at such special events as ski races, raft races, and regattas.

The U. S. Department of the Interior today announced the appointment of Doyce L. Waldrip to the post of Superintendent of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. He will replace Allan W. Galbraith who transfers to the Portland Area Office to become Assistant Area Director for economic development.

Since January 1960, Waldrip has served at the Seminole Agency in Hollywood, Florida, first as administrative officer and, since 1963, as superintendent. In fifteen years of service with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he has also been stationed at the Turtle Mountain Agency in North Dakota, and the Cheyenne River Agency in South Dakota.

During World War II, Waldrip served for three years in the Army Air Corps. A native of Hollis, Oklahoma, he attended New Mexico A &M State College and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1950 from West Texas State College.

Galbraith, in his new post in Portland, will participate in local administration of the programs of BIA’s Division of Economic Development. His responsibilities will involve land operations, real estate appraisal, forestry, credit and financing, real property management, housing development, road construction and maintenance and industrial development.

A native of Washington State and a World War II veteran, Galbraith had served as superintendent at the Warm Springs Agency since 1957. Previously, he held similar posts at the Klamath Agency in Oregon and the Jicarilla Agency in New Mexico. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters, and has served as secretary and treasurer of the American Society of Range Management, Northwest Section.

Action taken by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada to develop a major recreation center on their reservation 30 miles from Reno has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it was announced today.

Private developers throughout the Nation are invited to submit proposals for a water-oriented vacation and residential center on the shores of one of the last large undeveloped lakes in the Nation.

Pyramid Lake is a 175-square-mile body of water within a half million acre reservation owned by the Paiute Indians. The lake is in one of the Nation's fastest-growing recreation areas, located close to the vacation resorts of Lake Tahoe, Squaw Valley and Reno. New superhighways link this part of Nevada with the major western population centers. The pressure for recreational use of the lake has grown rapidly over the past 10 years.

The Department of the Interior has approved a water resource development program which has as a principal objective providing as much water as feasible for the preservation and enhancement of Pyramid Lake and its trout fishery. This program will be undertaken as part of the Washoe Project, originally authorized in 1956, for development by Interior's Bureau of Reclamation of the water resources of the Truckee and Carson River basins in Nevada and California.

One of the Paiute Tribe's major objectives is to secure job opportunities and job-training programs for its members. The area has been designated as eligible for Federal aid by the Area Redevelopment Administration. On-the-job training contracts and business development loan aids are available under this legislation.

The Tribe is offering up to 3,500 acres of its prime waterfront land for development under a long-term lease. Federal law presently limits the term to 50 years, but the Department and the Tribe have requested the 89th Congress to extend this period to facilitate financing by private lending institutions.

A brochure describing the development possibilities, and a lease agreement form are available from the Tribal Council, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Nixon, Nevada; and the Nevada Indian Agency, Stewart, Nevada.

Miss Indian America, Williamette Belle Youpee, spent four days in Washington this week, climaxing a cross-country personal appearance to Highlighting her stopover were meetings with government officials and a tour of the student exhibit of Indian and Eskimo art currently on display in the Department of the Interior's art gallery.

A Sisseton-Yankton Sioux from Poplar, Montana, she is the eldest of 12 children of William Youpee, chairman of the Ft. Peck Assiniboine-Sioux Tribal Council.

Miss Youpee - "Willi" for short - has already established herself as a leader in Indian youth activities. While attending Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana, where she is now a senior majoring in commerce, she was instrumental in organizing and was the first president of the Council of American Indian Students. In 1962 she was a member of her college's delegation to the National Indian Youth Conference at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. She is a Board Member of the newly-formed Foundation of North American Indian Culture, in Bismarck, North Dakota, with special responsibility for youth work. Among her hobbies is writing children's stories in Indian lore.

The tenth Indian girl to be named Miss Indian America, Willi was crowned last August at the annual All American Indian Day festival in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Miss Pearl “Nugget” Johnson, 18 year old Eskimo girl from Nome, Alaska, came to town on May 3 for a whirlwind schedule of events capped by a visit with Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash. In the friendly Eskimo tradition, she brought the Interior Department officials gifts of small gold pans reminiscent of Alaska’s prospectors in the early gold rush days.

Pearl is on her way to the New York world’s Fair, where she will represent her State as Miss Alaska Savings bonds in 1964. She was selected for the honor by the Savings bonds Division of the U.S. Treasury on the basis of character, intelligence, personality, appearance, and ability to meet the public.

In addition to winning her title, Miss Johnson also required a new nickname. World’s Fair Official Jack Anderson and Mrs. Helen M. Fischer, Alaska Director of the savings Bonds Division, have dubbed her “Nugget Machutnik” the latter an Eskimo word meaning ‘little darling’. This petite and charming “Machutnik” is a gold nugget as priceless as savings bonds are to the Nation and to the individuals who buy them, according to the Savings Bonds Division. Those who have met her are in complete agreement with this opinion.

“Nugget’s” job for the duration of the Fair will be to sell savings bonds at the Alaska Exhibit. Her transportation and subsistence expense from Anchorage to New York are being paid by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a part of the Bureau’s vocational training and job placement program.

Miss Johnson recently completed a business course at the Anchorage Business College under the adult vocational training program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The program provides occupational program of Bureau of Indian Affairs. The program provides occupational training opportunities for Indians and Alaskan natives, primarily between the ages of 18 and 35.

Commissioner Mash expressed enthusiasm for “Nugget’s” accomplishments under the program.

“I consider the Bureau’s adult vocational training program one of the best activities we have under way to help young people,” the Commissioner said. “Miss Johnson did fine work in her business courses. She has a good future ahead of her. We are extremely proud of this young lady.”

Miss Johnson will be on salary as a teller in the Savings Bonds booth in the Alaska Exhibit at the world’s Fair, and when the Fair closes for the winter she will return to Anchorage at her own expense to employment as a bank bonds tellers.

Another highlight in the final day of “Nugget’s” visit to Washington included luncheon with members of the Alaskan Congressional delegation.

I am grateful for the opportunity of discussing our mutual concern for a sound program for American citizens of Indian ancestry at this conference. The backdrop of our discussions is a national concern, and national action, on what John Kenneth Galbraith has called "insular poverty". Insular poverty, as distinguished from "case” poverty, is the poverty of an area or a region, of a community or of an Indian reservation. It has its roots in economic dislocations, changing technology, declining resources of water or soil, or geographic or cultural isolation.

Such poverty, "grinding, soul-shattering poverty" in Secretary Udall's words, is the overt symbol of the so-called Indian problem.

Such cancers can never stay isolated. Conditions on a single Indian reservation reflect, for good or ill, on all the Indian people, and on all the efforts of government directed to that segment of the population. And by government, I mean State and local as well as Federal.

The temptation to be superficial is great--Americans don't like to concede that their affluent society contains these pockets of poverty. So they retreat to the Biblical rationalization ("the poor ye have always with you") or to the vague charge of Federal responsibility (When is the Government going to cease forcing the Indians to stay on those miserable reservations?).

Misconceptions of the American Indian today are extremely widespread. At dozens of different kinds of meetings, the same questions are asked about our Indian programs: Can Indians vote? Are Indians permitted to leave the reservations? Are Indians entitled to go to public schools? When is the Government going to do something for the Indians?

Can it be that the American people, as preoccupied with civil rights as with any other public question, really believe that Indians don't have citizenship? That they are “wards" of the Government? That they are savages?

Unfortunately, it can be. Deep in our national psyche is hidden the reasons why Americans don’t think of Indians as full-fledged citizens, albeit there is not the slightest hint of prejudice in their blindness about them. In no Federal program is there a greater public interest, and in no Federal program is there greater public ignorance.

In such an environment it is hard to formulate and carry out programs and policies. The present administration--and I'm proud to be a part of it and proud to speak up for it in the matter of Indian programs--started with an exceptional awareness of the needs in this area.

That the Indian people shall have a voice--which they shall be listened to with open mind as well as ear--and that something shall be done in response to their voiced needs--these are the principles upon which the Kennedy-Johnson Administration has for the past four years been guiding legislation and inaugurating programs for the Indian people.

President Kennedy understood--and President Johnson understands--the basic facts of our economic and social life. This Administration that has not offered mere words and promises, but has produced laws and programs.

These efforts have been directed at all groups within our society; and some have been tailored particularly for groups with the most urgent and desperate needs. The Indian people have urgent needs and I should like to review the record of efforts in their behalf.

You may recall that, during his campaign four years ago, President Kennedy offered a 10 point program for improvement of conditions on Indian reservations. Let us take a look at the ten point program as it has shaped up: (1) we would, John F. Kennedy said, enact an area redevelopment measure to give Federal help for the development of industry and training of people in depressed areas. Federal help came with enactment of the law in 1962 and Indian reservations have been aided in developing industry and training workers.

(2) We would, the candidate said, provide adequate credit for Indians by expanding the loan fund, The Indian Revolving Loan Fund has been doubled--and, because credit pyramids, the presence of more Federal funds for business, industrial and land improvement investments has generated tribal and private investments to--the combined total now being $150 million.

(3) We would, Senator Kennedy promised, "help Indians retain their land by rendering credit assistance and by removing the elements of economic pressure and desperation that have caused them to sell their land." Stepped up programs in real estate appraisal, land management, forestry management, irrigation farming--all have helped the Indian people to hold their lands and make the lands work for them.

(4) We would, it was pledged, make the benefits of Federal housing programs available to Indians. We have done it. For the first time in history, Indian reservations began to participate in the Federal housing program, now, 63 reservations have housing authorities; 3,200 units were approved last year for reservations--almost ten percent of the national total; and 400 have actually been constructed, or under way.

(5) We would, President Kennedy further pledged, give young Indian people on opportunity to share in a youth training program. The youth conservation corps as it was originally conceived did not materialize--but camps for education and training are provided for in the new Economic Opportunity Act which President Johnson signed into law last month. There will be job corps camps all across the country, for young people who have not benefitted from schooling and who, as a consequence, are untrained and out of work. Some of these camps will be on Indian reservations.

(6) Support to vocational education was promised, support so necessary in this age of demand for skilled workers and a declining market for the unskilled. Not only has there been enacted a new Vocational Education Act to benefit public schools, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs has stepped up its own program of vocational training, in the two technical schools it operates - Haskell and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Moreover, a vocational training program for adults provides an opportunity for young men and women to acquire the many and sometimes highly specialized skills in which there are shortages of trained manpower. Thousands of Indian families - once living on the edge of chronic poverty - are now established in comfortable homes, their children well-fed and well-clothed because the head of the family is bringing home good wages every week.

(7) We would, it was promised, "develop a better health program for Indians." During the four years of the Kennedy-Johnson Administration the Indian health program has worked steadily to cure disease, improve the environmental health, and increase hospital and medical services for the Indian people. Clean water, sewage disposal, control of disease-bearing insects, maternal and child care - 11 have resulted in market improvements in the health of the new generation of Indian children.

(8) We would work toward improvement of educational opportunities. School construction at a pace that is designed to make up for long years of neglect; new teachers; a variety of new vocational offerings; improved methods of teaching English to children who do not hear it spoken at home; financial aid for those who wish to go to college; basic education for adults; summer enrichment programs for children--all of these are in evidence, the results of four years of concentrated effort.

(9) Community development programs--the crux of any effort to help people improve themselves--were also pinpointed in President Kennedy's ten-point pledge, as he promised assistance to tribal leaders. New community buildings, improved community services by the tribal governments, carefully planned programs of economic development and education financed with tribal funds, a widespread and growing interest in encouraging the education of youth--all of these are evidences of community development on Indian reservations, in which specialized help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been provided. And now, with establishment of the Office of Economic Opportunity, much more can be looked for.

(10) Finally, we said we would emphasize genuinely cooperative relations between Federal officials and Indians." I sense, everywhere among Indian groups that I go, a new confidence in the Government and faith in themselves--and much of this new feeling can be attributed to the genuine concern and special efforts of Philleo Nash, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Philleo Nash has earned the sobriquet lithe Indians' Commissioner.

On an overall basis, in the past four years the Bureau of Indian Affairs has moved away from the purely custodial approach to its responsibilities and has begun to stress programs that help people to help themselves. Materially speaking, at least, there are some distinct evidences of success.

I have already mentioned the increase in loan funds for development purposes. Paralleling loans has been technical aid of various kinds. About 75 feasibility studies have been undertaken since 1962 to evaluate the potential of reservations for tourism, lumbering, recreational site development, and mineral resource development.

Several tourist recreation projects are now in operation--picnic areas, marinas, hunting preserves, the spectacular ski lift on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, and the already-famous new mineral springs resort at Warm Springs, Oregon.

Even beyond these tribal enterprises are the 40 or more industries that have encouraged and assisted in establishing themselves on or near reservations, providing new jobs for many Indians who never before knew what it meant to have a steady, year-round pay envelope. Jobs have also been created through construction of roads and from other projects financed with funds from the Accelerated 'Public Works Program.

A sound economy is the basis for a solid society--whether it be a reservation society or any other. The Bureau's effort to help the Indian people establish a sound economy--and, thereby, become participating citizens--is premised on the belief that the Indian people, as Oliver LaFarge once said, wish to become “whole people in our world without ceasing to be Indians."

It hardly needs stating for this audience that Indians are citizens of the United States, and of the State Wherein they reside. That they register and vote has become a fact of political significance. They are not tied to their reservations in any way different from the way all of us are tied to our homes and the familiar places of our childhood and youth.

Furthermore, all of you understand that Indian reservations are not public lands, but private lands. Title held by the United States is a trust title, and the beneficial interest is either in the Indian tribes or in individual Indians. Insofar as “ending the reservation system” is concerned, no one could advocate a policy which would have the effect of depriving American citizens of private property.

What could be advocated, and frequently is advocated, is that the restrictions upon the alienation of Indian property be ended by ending the trust responsibilities of the United States.

Without meaning to criticize or to commend the action which is going on all the time in this direction--either at Congressional behest, or in the furtherance of existing authorities to terminate the trust relationship--let me discuss with you some of the implications of such a policy in terms of the State and the local units of government.

We can start by remembering that in legal theory at least, it is the umbilical cord of trust control over the land which justifies the existing Federal programs for Indians, not just ethnic differences. Ethnic difference is an offensive basis for governmental policy, and I for one hope we never base our Indian programs on that basis solely.

How many times have you, in your States, found yourself automatically assuming that any governmental service needed by Indians should be furnished by the Federal Government? Undeniably almost every kind of governmental service is furnished to Indians--education and health services to the tune of $140 millions of dollars a year each; welfare services and relocation and adult vocational training amounting to twenty-five million dollars a year; law enforcement costing nearly $3 million; forty million dollars’ worth of forestry, extension, soil and moisture, road and building and irrigation maintenance and more than $50 million dollars a year of construction, including schools, buildings and utilities, and irrigation systems.

What I would like the States to do is indulge in a little informal arithmetic. Would the nontaxable Indian lands yield as much money for the same services, if they were on the tax rolls? The question of course answers itself.

It answers itself in the same way that the equivalent question is beginning to answer itself in terms of the public lands. Recently in Utah, for example, I spoke to the Western Association of State Land Commissioners, and discussed the reinvestment by the Federal Government in the West under generous policies prescribed by Congress. On a per acre basis, Utah received, in fiscal 1963, 16 cents from lease of minerals on Federal lands; 38 cents "savings" on highway matching funds; 25 cents payment into the Reclamation Fund (whose benefits are by law confined to the Western States; and 12 cents program expenditures on Federal grazing lands. Ninety-two cents an acre is the equivalent of an assessed valuation of $18.50 per acre, on Utah's tax rates--and Utah taxes its own equivalent land at $2.50 per acre.

The amounts of the expenditures on the Indian programs are substantial in States like Arizona, for example. There, in this fiscal year, the Public Health Service will spend over $11 million. The Bureau of Indian Affairs will spend more than four times that amount--$20 million on education; $7 million on resource management; and half million on law enforcement; $12 million on utilities and other public facilities and irrigation systems, and $6 million on Federal highways through reservations. What would the reservation land in Arizona have to be taxed at to yield this kind of money? More, I suspect, than equivalent private land is being taxed.

These moneys aren't begrudged. A generous Congress appropriates every dime of this money, and the test applied isn't the crass one of payment in lieu of taxes.

The point I hope I am making is that the Indian program, as so many programs of the Federal Government, represents an affirmative determination on the part of all the people of the United States to assume certain kinds of obligations as national obligations. The net effect in many situations, but particularly in the Western States, is a net benefit to the State or local governments which otherwise might be charged with furnishing such things as health or education, and a net benefit to the local economy, as in the case of the construction of irrigation' projects, and the carrying on of sound programs of forestry, agricultural extension, and soil and moisture work.

The old cry that the Federal Government should withdraw--that there should be less government--is a blind and shortsighted one in the West. It is strange that this is where most of it is heard.

The point has now been reached, I am convinced, at which further accomplishments, further planning, will depend very greatly upon increased coordination among local, State and Federal Governments--and upon more and more participation by the Indians themselves.

Concerning the participation of Indians in programs to aid them:

We are not far away from the time when giant steps can be taken, grand concepts put into action. I sometimes sense, however, that many of the Indian people themselves are unaware of how greatly their ultimate destinies rest with themselves. Government aid can build a floor of programs to alleviate poverty and the other human miseries that poverty engenders. Government aid can create an atmosphere in which the human will and spirit may thrive. But government aid cannot manufacture the special lens that people need to see opportunities that surround them. The people must develop enough faith in themselves to see themselves as creators as well as beneficiaries of their environment.

The Indian people contain within themselves the basic elements for their own resurgence as a self-supporting segment of our society. They are secure in the knowledge of who they are and what they need to retain their identity--and that is more than can be said of some of the rest of us. The Indians also have another advantage. They have an economic base on which to build. They own 50 million acres of land. True, some of it was worthless 50 years ago, but most of it is laden with potential for the years to come, in mineral reserves that might lie beneath the surface, and in leasing value that may derive from urbanization and reclamation, as the whole country melts slowly into a city.

The greatest of all opportunities for action by the people themselves comes by way of the new Economic Opportunity Act. This is the legislation that is premised on the assumption that people want to help themselves. Embodying the President's anti-poverty crusade, it provides funds and technical aid to the people in those communities who are ready with plans but lacking the means to undertake construction projects and education projects and other programs conceived from local need and nurtured by local hope.

“What the anti-poverty program should mean to Indians, I! Senator Humphrey, our Democratic candidate for Vice President says, “are increased opportunities for employment in Indian country; new educational opportunities; better agricultural opportunities; better health; new industries and a happier and better life. The Democratic Party will not write off any reservation as hopeless.

The Indians are a proud and able people. They don't want handouts. They want, in their innermost hearts, to be in control of their own destinies. This hope can become reality both for the Indians who prefer to live on their reservations and for those who prefer to leave. In either case, the thing they need remember--or learn, if they have not yet learned it-is that poverty is not necessarily the price to pay for retaining their Indian identity. The whole American culture can be strengthened with fibers drawn from the Indian culture. The Indian life can also be strengthened by the addition of some of the good things that the modern world offers.

The great Chief Joseph, warrior and leader of a day long past, left a thought for all Indians of all times. He said:

“Let me be a free man--free to travel, free to stop; free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers; free to think, talk and act for myself-- and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty. Whenever the white man treats the Indian as he treats his own kind, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike--brothers of one father and one mother, with one sky above us, and one country around us, and one government for all. For this day the Indian race is waiting and praying.

There is nothing I can add to those eloquent words, except to say that I believe the vision is at last within reach--if we stand as tall as we might.

MAJOR COMPANIES TO BOOST INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN COUNTRY

Executives of an electronics company, a petro-chemical company and several other major corporations have reported to BIA that they have arranged to sponsor meetings of business leaders to inform them of industrial development opportunities in Indian areas. Six such meetings will soon be scheduled for various parts of the country, at which more than 300 industrial executives will consult with Indian tribal leaders about advantages available to industries in Indian population areas. Financing, land leasing, and manpower availabilities will be major discussion topics. The BIA operates an industrial development program Which assists industries in all three phases of plant relocation and expansion.

NAVAJOS HAVE NEW MONUMENT VALLEY INN

Kayenta, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation, has a $1 million, 80-unit luxury motel, complete with swimming pool, restaurant, and curio shop, and employing about 40 Navajos. The Monument Valley Inn is located at the junction of Navajo Route 1 with the paved highway leading to Monument Valley. The owner-operators leased the land from the Navajo Tribe for 25 years, with a 25-year renewal option. The Tribe will receive seven percent of the gross income from room rentals and li percent on restaurant and curio shop sales.

PROSPECTING AT COLVILLE

The Bear Creek Mining Company, Kennecott Copper Corporation's exploration subsidiary, is prospecting the 20,000 acres it holds under an exclusive prospecting permit on the Colville Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington. Two staff geologists are currently mapping the Mount Tolman area and supervising the shallow drilling operations of a two-man portable drill. This summer, two University of Idaho graduate students, under contract to the Bear Creek Mining Company, will prepare detailed geologic maps of the Mount Tolman area. The Company is seeking a major molybdenum deposit in the area.

POTAWATOMI AWARD

The Indian Claims Commission recently granted a $2,094,573 award to the Potawatomi Nation of Indians on behalf of the United Nations of Chippewas, Ottawas, and Potawatomi Indians of the Waters of the Illinois, Milwaukee, and Manitoocuk Rivers. The award represents additional compensation for more than 3.5 million acres of land in Illinois and Wisconsin ceded to the United States by the Indians under a treaty in 1829.

RECREATION MEANS INCOME TO THE MESCALERO

The Mescalero Tribe of southern New Mexico estimates that one-third of the annual tribal income is derived from outdoor recreation opportunities on the reservation. The estimate includes fees charged by the Tribe for fishing and hunting permits and for use of picnic areas and campgrounds. It does not take into account additional income from a tribally-operated ski resort.

One lake alone – Eagle Lake - contributes $10,000 annually to tribal coffers through the sale of fishing permits. Almost two and one-half acres in size, this manmade lake was constructed in 1961 for $15,000 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under its Soil and Moisture Conservation Program. A multipurpose project; the lake supplies good trout fishing, provides water conservation, flood control, and a water supply for livestock and wild game.

In 1964, Eagle Lake supplied 5,000 "angler-days" of fishing during the 4-month season. For a lake of its size, this approaches the saturation point for angler use, and is a good indication of its popularity with fishermen.

The many potential sites for similar manmade lakes on the reservation, plus the scheduled opening in July of a new fish hatchery, indicate further opportunities for development of recreational fishing areas.

Where can a vacationer enjoy camping facilities, excellent hunting and fishing, while witnessing the pageant of a colorful and ancient pattern of life?

Indian reservations are the answer. Today, many tribes include recreational facilities in their plans for the economic development of their lands. Tourists are warmly welcomed to such areas, and, each year, the tribes play host to increasing number of visitors of all ages.

To whet the traveler's appetite for Indian life, two publications will soon be issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U. S. Department of the Interior. Both will be available from the Superintendent of Documents.

Vacationing with the Indians (30¢) is primarily a guide to campgrounds on the reservations. Listings are given for 17 States and 42 reservations, including facts about location of campgrounds, available facilities and services, fees and regulations, and restrictions on pets. Each section opens with a capsule description of the reservation and the kinds of Indians that live there. For the visitor who doesn't like to “rough it" the booklet indicates more elaborate-- sometimes even luxurious--accommodations.

The second BIA publication, American Indian Calendar, (20¢) lists outstanding events that regularly take place on the reservations through the year. It includes ceremonials, rodeos, fairs, feasts and celebrations, as well as noteworthy exhibitions of Indian art and crafts where visitors may watch artists at work and purchase authentic Indian products.

For Americans who benefit from President Johnson's advice and explore the vacation delights of the United States, these two publications should be kept handy in the glove compartment if the trip swings through Indian country.

Where can a vacationer enjoy camping facilities, excellent hunting and fishing, while witnessing the pageant of a colorful and ancient pattern of life?

Indian reservations are the answer. Today, many tribes include recreational facilities in their plans for the economic development of their lands. Tourists are warmly welcomed to such areas, and, each year, the tribes play host to increasing number of visitors of all ages.

To whet the traveler's appetite for Indian life, two publications will soon be issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U. S. Department of the Interior. Both will be available from the Superintendent of Documents.

Vacationing with the Indians (30¢) is primarily a guide to campgrounds on the reservations. Listings are given for 17 States and 42 reservations, including facts about location of campgrounds, available facilities and services, fees and regulations, and restrictions on pets. Each section opens with a capsule description of the reservation and the kinds of Indians that live there. For the visitor who doesn't like to “rough it" the booklet indicates more elaborate-- sometimes even luxurious--accommodations.

The second BIA publication, American Indian Calendar, (20¢) lists outstanding events that regularly take place on the reservations through the year. It includes ceremonials, rodeos, fairs, feasts and celebrations, as well as noteworthy exhibitions of Indian art and crafts where visitors may watch artists at work and purchase authentic Indian products.

For Americans who benefit from President Johnson's advice and explore the vacation delights of the United States, these two publications should be kept handy in the glove compartment if the trip swings through Indian country.