OPA

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, located in southeastern California, just north of Yuma, Arizona, will be transferred on January 1 from the jurisdiction of the Indian Bureau office at Sacramento, California, to the area office at Phoenix, Ariz.

The move is being made primarily because of specialties which the Fort Yuma Indians have with other Indian groups on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.

Fort Yuma Reservation was established in 1917 in the easternmost part of Imperial County, California, and comprises approximately 7,800 acres. The Indian population is estimated at slightly under 1,000.

Three career employees have been selected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for management training under the executive development agreement recently negotiated between the Department of the Interior and the Civil Service Commission, Secretary Douglas McKay announced today. They are: Carl J. Cornelius, relocation officer, Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn.; Grover C. Gardner, supervising loan examiner, Anadarko Area Office, Anadarko, Okla.; and Richard D. Butts, superintendent, Red Lake Agency, Red Lake, Minn.

The Bureau's program is designed to prepare selected career employees for high level management positions in Washington and the field through a series of assignments outside their regular positions. Candidates are selected from a wide range of specialties, including such fields as education, welfare, soil conservation, forestry and range management, as well as the administrative occupations. Assignments are individually adapted for each successful candidate, based on an appraisal of the experience required to fit him for advanced executive posts.

The program is directed by a Bureau Executive Development Committee comprised of W. Barton Greenwood, Assistant Commissioner for Administration; Ervin J. Utz, Assistant Commissioner for Resources; and Miss Selene Gifford, Assistant Commissioner for Community Services. The Bureau's chief personnel officer C. E. Lamson, management planning officer Theodore W. Taylor, and personnel staff officer Joseph C. LaSalle, assist the central committee.

Supervisors throughout the Bureau recommend employees in the middle Civil Service grades (GS-9 through 13) for participation in the program. Candidates are screened by area executive development committees on the bases of their education, experience, personal qualities, and potential for development. Area directors then make nominations to the Executive Development Committee in Washington, and also recommend a plan for the assignment of each of the candidates.

The central committee makes final selections and establishes training schedules for successful applicants, whose development is accomplished through a series of diversified assignments of sufficient length to enable them to gain competence in their new work and to be productive in it.

Employees in specialized fields are given the opportunity to get administrative and high level technical experience. Administrative employees are assigned work in additional phases of administration and program direction. Whenever feasible, they take appropriate courses at universities to round out their program.

There will be systematic appraisal and follow-up of each participant as the program progresses. Those who are fully successful in their work will be available for executive vacancies. It is expected that positions of area director, assistant area director, division chief, branch chief, program officer and similar high-level executive posts will be filled through the program.

Promotion of Elmo F. Miller on January 16 from the position of agricultural extension agent at the Colville Indian Agency, Nespelem, Wash., to the job of superintendent of the Northern Idaho Agency, Lapwai, Idaho, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Mr. Miller, Who has been at Colville Agency for the past three years, entered the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1941 as farm agent at Cheyenne River Agency, Lame Deer, Mont. and in 1947 was moved to Nome, Alaska, as administrative assistant. He was born at Nephi, Utah, in 1914 and graduated from the Utah State Agricultural College in 1939.

In his new position, Mr. Miller succeeds Frell M. Owl who transfers on January 16 to the position of superintendent at the Fort Hall Agency, Fort Hall, Idaho.

Secretary of the Interior Oscar L. Chapman today announced the appointment of Mr. Marcy Cully, Bowlegs, Oklahoma, as Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma for the period beginning December 10, 1952 through December 31, 1953.

Mr. Cully, who was elected Assistant Chief at a tribal election held June 3, 1952, fills the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. George Harjo, Sasakwa, Oklahoma, principal chief, on December 9, 1952.

Authority for the appointment of a principal chief of the Seminoles is contained in the Act of April 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 137).

Benefits accruing to the Navajos go beyond. the physical rehabilitation features of the long range program and reach many people through employment opportunities, Allan G, Harper, Navajo Area director reported.

Director Harper also reported to a recent meeting of the Navajo Tribal Council that Navajos have received $2,157,911.66 in wages since the inception of the long range program three years ago. This is 64.7 per cent of the total amount expended for wages. Harper compared this to $1,030,594.59, or 30.9 per cent, which has been paid to non-Indian employees. He also said that Indians of other tribes have received 4.4 percent, or $146,751.34.

"These figures disclose," he said, "that Navajos are receiving more than twice the amount paid to non-Indians. It is indicative of the large measure in which the educated Navajos are rapidly finding opportunity once denied them because of lack of skills."

The Area Director's report revealed that long-range appropriations during 1951 and 1952 totaled $15,320,620. Personnel costs, resources development, engineering, administration and community services have taken $3,335,257.59 of the sum.

In his report of employment by hourly wage and race, the trend was shown toward the higher brackets for· Navajo employees. 290 Navajos receive from $1.30 to $1.39 per hour and 275 Navajo workers get $1.40 to $1.49. The breakdown shows two Navajos receiving $3.00 per hour.

Total employment on the Navajo-Hopi Reservations is 21,200. This is made up of 1,119 Navajos; 212 Hopis; 169 Indians of other tribes and 620 non-Indians. Bulk of employment is in education, health and engineering, Administration employs 166 persons.

Mr. Harper's report included a test run" for seven, four and six pay periods on the Shiprock school construction, the Gamerco warehouse construction and the Ft, Defiance road improvement with the follow1.ng results:

At the Shiprock school during seven pay periods, Navajos received $46,909.20; other Indians. $5,400 and non-Indians $30,556, At the Gamerco warehouse during four pay periods Navajos received $11,204, other Indians $696.60 and non-Indians $5,440, The Ft. Defiance road job paid Navajos $31,522, nothing to other Indians and $6,873.60 to non-Indians. Percentages were 64.7 for Navajos; 4.4 for other Indians and 30.9 for non-Indians.

"These figures prove that 69.l percent of the payroll is going to Indians." Harper said. "I would like to increase that percentage in favor of the Indians and we can do so if we work together," he told the councilmen. "I believe on-the-job training and apprenticeship training, more high school graduates going on to college to learn technical trades, will change the picture even more in favor of the Indians."

Harper also reported on the critical shortage of nurses in the Navajo-Hopi hospitals. Only the Winslow hospital is fully staffed, he said. 100 tuberculosis and 100 regular patients at Ft. Defiance are being nursed by only 11 nurses on a 24-hour basis. Everything is being done to recruit nurses, but the Navajo isolation is not attractive. He said he has orders from Washington to reduce hospital load in order that patients will continue to receive good, professional care.

Mr. Harper pointed out that the Arizona legislature will consider a measure, creating an Arizona Commission for Indian Affairs made up of 11 persons, including five Indians. He recommended that the Council pledge its cooperation to this proposed commission.

The Area Director proposed construction of a new Tribal Motel at Canyon de Chelly as a tribal industry.

Division of the waters of the San Juan River will be discussed at Santa Fe, January 24, Harper reported. Another conference at Cheyenne, Wyoming, January 29, can determine the fate of the Navajo reservation in relation to development of the great San Juan-Shiprock irrigation project, He said the Tribal case will be strongly presented at both conferences.

The Area Director reviewed the 1954 long-range budget as recommended to the Congress by the President this month. The President has asked the Congress to appropriate a total of $13,931,500 for the Navajo-Hopi program. Of this amount, $9,272,000 would be used to build new schools and hospitals.

Under the proposed budget, day schools would be converted to boarding schools at Cove, Crystal, Dennehotso, Greasewood, Huerfano, Lake Valley Naschitti, Pinon, Standing Rock, Steamboat, Tolani Lake and Polacca. The new budget also includes funds for the Shiprock boarding school, the new Shiprock hospital, Ft. Defiance sewage improvements, Keams Canyon utilities distribution system, quarters for nurses and teachers at Tuba City.

For highway improvement, the budget set up $1,500,000 and for irrigation projects, $756,000.

Increased emphasis on the ultimate goal of transferring basic Indian Bureau functions either to the Indians themselves or to State and local highlighted the 1952 work of the Bureau, Commissioner Dillon S. Myer said today.

Among the major moves during the year were Indian Bureau-sponsored bills introduced in the last Congress to transfer civil and criminal jurisdiction over Indians to the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, California, Oregon and Washington;

Establishment of a new Division of Program in the Central Office of the Indian Bureau to concentrate on joint formulation of withdrawal plans by Indians and the Government;

Completing plans for the transfer of 25 Indian Service schools during the coming year;

Accelerated efforts to encourage Indians to seek loans from banks and other types of credit institutions instead of from the Bureau.

An important move in this direction was modification by the Bureau of regulations governing Indian trust land to permit mortgaging of such lands under certain conditions, thus allowing Indians for the first time to borrow from the private and public sources on a basis of equality with other citizens.

A survey of Indian finances during the year showed that in 1951 Indians received nearly $20,000,000 in credit from non-Bureau sources.

Total amount of loans from the Bureau and tribal sources outstanding at the end of the year was approximately $24,000,000.

Development of withdrawal programs for Indians will be preceded and based upon compilation of all relevant factual data, it was emphasized, such as an inventory of tribal and individual Indian resources, a study of the laws and treaties affecting any particular group, and many other factors. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has made known a "standing offer" by the Bureau to work constructively with any tribe that wishes to assume either full or partial control over its own affairs. During the year the Bureau and the Department of the Interior sponsored bills to facilitate withdrawal from supervision of Indian affairs throughout California, and from the Grand Ronde-Siletz area of western Oregon covering 41 Indian bands.

The 10-year rehabilitation program for the Navajo and Hopi tribes, initiated during fiscal year 19511 moved forward on several fronts to improve and expand (school facilities at seven key spots on the reservation, to improve basic health installations, enlarge irrigation facilities and to improve transportation and communication.

Prospects for further progress under the 10-year program were encouraging since a total of $9,259,000 was made available by the Congress for fiscal year 1953, as compared with $8,645,520 in 1951 and $6,675,100 for 1952. However, it became increasingly apparent that, because of inflationary factors, the full program contemplated when Public Law 474 of the 81st Congress was enacted could not be carried out with the $88,570,000 authorized by that Act.

Leasing of Indian lands for oil and gas production reached an all-time high during the past year. Activity was especially pronounced at the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, at several of the Sioux reservations in North and South Dakota, and at the Ute Mountain, Southern Ute, Jicarilla Apache and Navajo reservations in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico.

A total of some 600,000 acres of Indian lands were leased for oil and gas production during the year, as compared with some 400.000 during the previous fiscal year. The amount received by Indians in bonuses as compensation for the signing of oil and gas leases almost doubled, increasing from less than $4,000,000 to more than $7,000,000, while the total income realized from such leases, in the form of bonuses, royalties and rentals together, rose from about $13,000,000 in 1951 to more than $15,000,000 in 1952.

During the year, the Bureau continued administration of schools and hospitals and other social and economic services for Indians.

The highest number of physicians and dentists for the past 20 years - 19 -were on duty during the year at the Bureau's 62 hospitals and 10 out-patient dispensaries. On duty also were 711 nurses, and 140 practical nurses. Approximately 40,000 Indian children received dental services during the year.

The Bureau continued its activity under the Johnson O’Malley Act to provide public health and preventive medical services to Indians by county health departments, bringing to 30 the number of contracts of this kind totaling $155,000 in payments to States, counties or local health units.

The Bureau also sponsored enactment of Public Law 291, approved April 3, 1952, which authorizes transfer of Indian hospitals to appropriate State or local agencies, as well as admitting non-Indian patients to such hospitals where other facilities are not available.

Welfare assistance dropped during the year, averaging 6,059 cases a month compared with 6,392 monthly cases in 1951.

The trend of Indian children being accepted into the country’s public school system continued, Of the 37,000 Indians enrolled in public schools, 7,000 received no aid from the Federal Government. Aid was supplied for the remainder - 30,000 children - to local school districts unable to assume the full cost because of non-taxable Indian lands within the districts.

The Indian Bureau has withdrawn from direct school operation in the States of Idaho, Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin. Bureau responsibility in these States (excluding Michigan) is exercised through financial assistance to the States under the provisions of the Johnson O'Malley Act.

In 1952, 14 State contracts and 27 district contracts were in effect. This is an increase of one State contract over the preceding fiscal year. A decrease of 1.5 district contracts from the preceding year was because of the consolidation of district contracts on a county basis in one area.

The Bureau operated during the year a total of 93 boarding schools, 233 day schools in 14 States and Alaska with an approximate enrollment in all schools of 38,000 Indian children. Of this number, 40 are high schools offering both vocational and college preparatory courses, and are accredited by the States in which they are located. Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas is also accredited by the North Central Association of High Schools and Colleges.

Since many of the pupils entering these schools could not speak English and were unfamiliar with many phases of modern living, emphasis was placed on the acquisition of English, and the development of habits, knowledge, and skills that would enable the students to make the adjustment necessary to their economic welfare.

Placement of Indians in employment took place in fiscal 1952 at an encouragingly high level and on a much wider scale than ever before. Out of a total of approximately 59,000 Indian placements reported during the year, the Bureau's placement staff participated directly in about one-third. In contrast to the Bureau-assisted placements of 1951, which involved mainly Navajos and Hopis, those placed with Bureau assistance in 1952 were from a large number of tribal groups throughout the western United States and Alaska. Nearly 6,000 of the placements reported were in permanent employment and about two-thirds of these involved Bureau participation.

In order to assist Indians leaving reservation areas for permanent employment in becoming established in their new locations, the Bureau initiated a program of financial aid for such re-settlers in January 1952. During the balance of the fiscal year assistance of this type was extended to approximately 1,000 Indians, including some 480 family units.

In the field of training to provide Indians with skills which they need for permanent employment, the most significant development of the year was the establishment of an apprenticeship program in the Navajo-Hopi area to teach 27 skilled trades. This activity, which was part of the ten-year rehabilitation program for Navajos and Hopis, was initiated in cooperation with a number of labor unions, the State Employment Services of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Labor Department's Bureau of Apprenticeship Training. It is being operated under the direction of a joint apprenticeship committee consisting of Bureau officials, Navajo and Hopi Tribal representatives, and officials of the Arizona and New Mexico State Federation of Labor.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay will present the Special Award in Human Relations of the American Public Relations Association to the community of Sheridan, Wyoming, at 7 p.m., Monday, March 2, 1953, at a banquet to be held in the ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel. The APRA is holding its annual convention here, March 1-3.

The award, given only twice previously in the history of the APRA, is in recognition of Sheridan 1s two-year campaign to improve relations between the non Indian members of the western community of 12,000 population and the nearby Indians of the Crow and Cheyenne reservations.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Sheridan community will be the 1952 Rodeo Queen Miss Lucy Yellowmule, Crow Indian girl, who was chosen by the community to preside over its traditional rodeo celebration, and four Indian girl attendants chosen by her--Miss Joy Old Crow, Miss Alta Drift Wood, Miss Regina Spotted Horse, all from the Crow Tribe, and Miss Dolores Little Coyote, Cheyenne, who is taking the place of Miss Evangeline Whiteman who was unable to make the trip.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Dillon S. Myer will introduce the girls to Secretary McKay in his office prior to the banquet.

During the noon hour of March 2 the Indian girls will be the guests of Representative William Henry Harrison, a resident of Sheridan and Chairman of the Indian Affairs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, at a luncheon in the Speaker's dining room at the Capitol.

The presentation ceremony at the Mayflower Hotel will be recorded by the State Department's Voice of America for presentation in the overseas information programs.

Appointment of Ralph M. Shane as superintendent of Fort Berthold Indian Agency, New Town, N. Dak., was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.

Mr. Shane has been supervising highway engineer at Fort Berthold for three years. He joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in November 1936, as an engineering draftsman at the same agency and a year later was promoted to junior road engineer. In January 1939, he transferred to the Sacramento, California agency as chief of road survey party.

Two years later he became road engineer at the Fort Belknap Agency, Harlem, Mont. He was given a military furlough in 1943, and after serving four months as an ensign in the Navy, returned to duty with the Bureau as road engineer at the Standing Rock Agency, Fort Yates, N. Dak.

Until his appointment as supervising highway engineer at Fort Berthold, Mr. Shane served as road engineer successively at the Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn.; Uintah and Ouray Agency at Ft. Duschesne, Utah, and at Warm Springs Agency, Warm Springs, Oregon.

A graduate civil engineer, Mr. Shane was born at Edelstein, Illinois in 1910, and received his early training in the Pipestone, Minn., public schools* He attended the University of Colorado and received his B. S. from the South Dakota School of Mines in 1935. Following graduation he worked for the South Dakota State Highway Commission drafting right-of-way and strip maps.

Mr. Shane succeeds Benjamin Reifel who was transferred to the superintendency at the Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, last January.

W. Barton Greenwood, Federal career man today became acting commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the resignation of Dillon Myer became effective, the Department of the Interior announced.

Mr. Greenwood, a resident of Washington since early boyhood is a veteran official of the Indian Bureau where he has been executive officer since June 1949.

Born in McKeesport, Pa., Mr. Greenwood came here with his family when he was ten years of age. He was graduated from McKinley High School and studied at Cornell University for two years when he enlisted in the Army in World War I as a cadet pilot serving until after the Armistice. When he was discharged he entered George Washington University and on finishing a course in economics enrolled in National University Law School where he received a law degree. He is a member of the D.C. bar.

He first entered the Federal service as a clerk in the District Post Office in 1919 and later worked as a clerk in the War Department. He became a fiscal clerk in the Indian Service in 1920 and rose through the ranks to the position of chief of budget and executive officer. In 1943 he joined the Bureau of the Budget where he remained until 1949 when he returned to the Indian Bureau as executive officer.

He resides at 5229 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.

Hopi farmers who have cooperated with conservation and livestock technicians of the Indian Service and increased the productivity of their farm and ranch operations were honored at a recent ceremony at Polacca school on the First Mesa in Arizona.

John C. McPhee, representing the Window Rock Area of the Indian Service, presented the United States Department of Interior Conservation Service Award certificate to Andrew Seechoma, chairman of the First Mesa village delegation. Herbert Seeni, George Cochise and Samuel Shing, Hopi leaders, reviewed the progress of their farm and stock efforts.

Government representatives who spoke included Dow Carnal, superintendent of the Hopi agency; L.W. Rogers, Jr., soil technician; Paul Krause, range technician; Howard Johnson, chief of the extension branch; Jean Fredericks, water supply branch; Otto K. Weaver, conservationist and James S. Beck, extension agent.

The award was based on a record of achievement which began 10 years ago. On 242,463 acres of land, the Hopis have saved the soil through erosion preventive measures; have improved the range and marketing methods and increased production of crops and orchards. Fleeces now weigh approximately eight pounds, an increase of four pounds. Lambs now weigh 75 pounds when marketed. In 1933 they weighed only 40 pounds.