OPA

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that steps will be taken immediately at the Navajo Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Window Rock, Ariz., looking toward the establishment of five new subagencies covering the 15 1/2 million acre Navajo area in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Headquarters for the subagencies will be at Tuba City, Ariz., for the western part of the reservation with about 6,110,000 acres of land and 13,065 population; at Shiprock, N. Mex., for the northeast portion with about 2,772,000 acres and 17,052 population; at Crownpoint, N. Mex., for the eastern (mainly off-reservation) area covering about 1,235,000 acres and 16,934 Navajos; at Chinle, Ariz., for the central zone with approximately 2,106,000 acres and 11,133 Navajos; and at Fort Defiance, Ariz., for the southern area consisting of roughly 3,327,000 acres and 20,166 population.

Each of the subagencies will be headed by an assistant superintendent who will report directly to General Superintendent G. Warren Spaulding at Window Rock. All will be given broad authority to make spot decisions within the general framework of policy and procedure as a means of bringing the administration of Navajo affairs closer to the people, Each of the subagency headquarters will be staffed with Bureau employees who have previously been working in these areas under general supervision from Window Rock.

The Indian Bureau hopes to have the subagencies at Tuba City, Shiprock and Crownpoint established by June 30 and the other two later in the summer or early fall.

Marion A. South has already been selected for the post at Tuba City and Elvin G. Jonas for Shiprock. The other assistant superintendents will be designated as the subagencies reach the stage of actual operation.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, following consultation with officers of the Klamath Tribe of Oregon and in line with their wishes, will take over preparation of a tribal membership roll under applicable provisions of the Klamath Termination Act - Public law 587 of the 83rd Congress.

Under Public law 587 the Tribe was given six months after the enactment date (August 13, 1954) in which to prepare a roll for the purpose of determining individual entitlement to a share in the tribal property. A roll -was prepared by the February 13 deadline date, certified by the tribal enrollment committee, and submitted to the Secretary. More recently, however, the enrollment committee withdrew its certification and thus in effect, called upon the Secretary to take over the responsibility for roll preparation.

Public Law 587 provides for the elimination of all special trust and service relationships between members of the Klamath Tribe and the Federal Government on or before August 13, 1958. The pertinent section of the law reads as follows:

“Sec. 3. At midnight of the date of the enactment of this Act the roll of the tribe shall be closed and no child born thereafter shall be eligible for enrollment: Provided, That the tribe shall have a period of six months from the date of this Act in which to prepare and submit to the Secretary a proposed roll of the members of the tribe living on the date of this Act, which shall be published in the Federal Register. If the tribe fails to submit such roll within the time specified in this section, the Secretary shall prepare a proposed roll for the tribe, which shall be published in the Federal Register. Any person claiming membership rights in the tribe or an interest in its assets, or a representative of the Secretary on behalf of any such person, may, within ninety days from the date of publication of the proposed roll, file an appeal with the Secretary contesting the inclusion or omission 6f the name of any person on or from such roll. The Secretary shall review such appeals and his decisions thereon shall be final and conclusive. After disposition of all such appeals, the roll of the tribe shall be published in the Federal Register, and such roll shall be final for the purposes of this Act."

Among the people claiming membership in the Klamath Tribe are about 50 or 60 currently residing in Oklahoma.

The Department of the Interior has submitted to Congress a report recommending against enactment of S. 401, a bill that would require forced sale of all Indian tribal lands and complete liquidation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in three years, Secretary Douglas McKay said today. ''

Commenting on the departmental report, which was prepared under his supervision, Indian Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons expressed particular opposition to the requirement for mass liquidation of tribal land holdings in Federal trusteeship.

"In some cases such as among the Pueblos of New Mexico,” he stated, "this proposed legislation would sweep away tribal ownership of lands which the Indian people have occupied and used productively for countless centuries. Many other similar examples could be cited but this one should be enough to indicate the drastic character of the bill. I firmly believe that its enactment would be not only a tragic error but a flat repudiation of the most basic principles of fair and honorable dealing with the Indian people. I am opposed to it completely and utterly.”

In place of the wholesale liquidation embodied in S. 4.01, the Department recommends a continuation of the Administration‘s policy of full consultation with the Indians, constructive action to alleviate their outstanding health, education and economic problems, and a gradual readjustment of their special relations with the Federal Government.

In essence, the readjustment approach which the Department is now following is a selective one based on careful evaluation of each tribe's potentialities and limitations, its preparedness and readiness to assume full responsibilities for management of its own affairs.

This joint meeting of officials of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Public Health Service of the Department of Health, Educations and Welfare will begin at 9:30 A.M., May 16, at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel. The conference was called for the purpose of advancing the orderly transfer of the Indian Health Program from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Public Health Service in accordance with Public Law 568, 83rd Congress. This transfer of responsibility becomes effective July 1, 1955.

Due to the fact that the conference will be concerned solely with administrative and technical problems and procedures relating to the transfer, attendance at all sessions will be limited to personnel of the agencies concerned and consultants.

Who Will Attend

From the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Miss Selene Gifford, Assistant Commissioner for Community Services, and John P. Kelly, Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for Administration (both from Washington); representatives of the Branch of Health, Headquarters Office; Area Directors; Assistant Area Directors; Assistant , Area Directors of Community Services; Area Medical Directors; and selected Agency Superintendents from each area.

Dr. James R. Shaw, Chief Branch of Health, Bureau of Indian Affairs, will orient the conferees with respect to problems involved in the transfer and will coordinate the planning. A Medical Director of the Public Health Service on detail to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Dr. Shaw has headed the Indian Health Program for the past two years. He will continue as head of this program as Chief of the Division of Indian Health Services, which will be activated as a division of the Bureau of Medical Services in the Public Health Service on July 1. Dr. Shaw is stationed in Washington.

From the Public Health Service (Washington): Dr. David E. Price, Assistant Surgeon General; Paul A, Caulk, Executive Officer; Dr. Vane M. Hoge, Associate Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services; and Dr. Mayhew Derryberry, Chief, Public Health Education Services. Dr. Derryberry will serve as conference chairman.

Fordyce Luikart, Deputy Director of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare‘s Office of Administration, is expected to attend. Kenneth R. Miller, Budget Examiner in this Office, will participate in the conference.

The conferees number approximately 700

The Indian Health Program

The Indian Health Program is responsible for the provision of medical and public health services to approximately 350,000 Indians. Fifty-nine hospitals are operated for the Indians, and there are about 3,600 employees of the program in the United States and Alaska. Assurances have been given to the employees of this program that its transfer to the Public Health Service will not adversely affect their employment.

Headquarters for the Menominee Indian Agency in Wisconsin will be transferred as soon as possible from Neopit to Keshena, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today.

Primary reason for the move, which has been discussed with Menominee tribal representatives over the past several months, is to separate the Indian Bureau's governmental functions at the agency from the operations of the Menominee tribal lumber mill located at Neopit.

The agency, which has been situated at Neopit since 1942, was transferred at that time from Keshena in order to facilitate Bureau supervision of the mill operations. Under legislation enacted by Congress last June, however, Bureau supervision over Menominee tribal affairs is boing gradually withdrawn and will be fully terminated by the end of 1958.

As part of this process, the Governmental operations of the agency were organizationally separated from the business activities of the mill last January and several important service functions of the Bureau were simultaneously transferred to tribal management. While the physical separation of mill and agency was scheduled to take place at the same time, it was held up because tribal officials handling the service functions were making use of the old headquarters building at Keshena.

The agency move was authorized only recently after alternative government quarters at Keshena became available.

Full independence from Federal supervision is being extended to an Indian Tribal group in the United States for the first time since 1909 under terms of a proclamation signed by Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay, it, was announced today.

The affiliated Alabama and Coushatta Tribes of Polk County, Texas, under terms of the proclamation, will be removed effective July 1, from the scope of all Federal laws specially applicable to Indians.

Acting- Secretary Clarence A. Davis explained that the proclamation was made possible by legislation signed by President Eisenhower last August. Under this legislation trusteeship responsibilities for approximately 3,100 acres of timbered tribal land is transferred to the State of' Texas with the full concurrence of Governor Allan Shivers and the State legislature.

Transfer of the trust responsibility will take place almost exactly 100 years after the State’s first official action on behalf of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes.

The ancestors of the present tribe broke away from the forced migration of the Creeks from their hunting grounds in Alabama and Georgia to Government reservations in what is now Oklahoma 1 and crossed over the border into Mexico to settle on lands that later became part of Texas.

In 1854 and 1855, the newly admitted State bought 1,100 acres in Polk County and had it deeded to the Indians in fee simple in perpetuity. The tribes still own this land. Special relations between the Indians and the Federal Government developed in the late 1920’s when the United States bought approximately 3,100 acres adjacent to the Indian-owned land and took title in trust for the Indian group. A quitclaim deed to this Federal trust land accompanied the proclamation.

The significance of the proclamation is highlighted by a recent comment of Secretary McKay on Indian affairs emphasizing his belief that "wardship" or dependence on the Federal Government for protection and special services is fundamentally bad for any group of people.

"I believe deeply," he said, "that we must work toward the time when Indians will be able to manage their own affairs and receive services from the usual State and local sources the same as all other American citizens. I am, however, completely opposed to any wholesale termination of Federal responsibilities in Indian affairs or any mass liquidation of the Indian tribal lands. All of us in this Department who are concerned with Indian affairs are dedicated to the principle of full consultation established by President Eisenhower and to a selective approach based on real consideration for the problems faced by the Indian people.”

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons also commented on the Alabama-Coushatta action"

"In this particular case," he said, "the Federal Government is moving out of the picture in less than a year after enactment of the legislation because the State Government is fully willing and prepared to take over the trust responsibilities. Under the other five readjustment laws enacted last year, where the trusteeship is being dissolved and the Indians exe taking on unrestricted membership of their property, considerably more time is being allowed to work out the manifold problems. The mixed blood people of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in Utah were given 7 years for completion of the readjustment process; the Menominees of Wisconsin and the Klamaths of Oregon approximately four; the western Oregon Indians and the Paiute Bands of Utah two.

"As I have stated on numerous occasions, you cannot apply the same administrative or legislative yardstick to the nearly 300 Indian tribes throughout the country. That is one of the major reasons why I am opposed to legislative proposals which would attempt to treat these extremely varied tribal groups as if they were all alike. In our program work in the Bureau of Indian Affairs we make a careful evaluation of the progress which each tribe has made along the road to self- sufficiency, the special problems which it still faces, and other similar factors. In some cases, where progress has been good and problems are comparatively unimportant, we may be prepared to recommend that readjustment of relations with the Federal Government take place in the early future. In other situations it may take many years of additional Federal protection and assistance before the tribal membership will be adequately prepared to move forward on its own.”

The first steps leading to the proclamation were taken in early 1953 when Indian Bureau representatives conferred with Texas officials and tribal members concerning the tribe's future status. In February of that year the tribe unanimously adopted a resolution “to authorize the great State of Texas to assume full responsibility for the management, protection and conservation of our forest resources by applying to our reservation the policies and practices followed by the State in the management of State forests."

On July 1, the Texas Indians will become the first group to be completely divorced from Federal trusteeship since 1909 when the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribes of Wisconsin received fee patents for all of their land holdings and were classified as full citizens of the United States. The Stockbridge-Munsee group, however, later resumed special relations with the Federal Government by their acceptance of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

The two areas which the tribes have occupied in Texas have been treated as one reservation and supervised by a superintendent provided by the State. Indian Bureau responsibilities in the State of Texas have been confined to this particular area and have consisted chiefly of the land trusteeship and the contract payments to assist in the education of Indian children.

Rollins Fleet Leasing Inc. of Rehoboth Beach, Del., was the lowest bidder for two contracts by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for leasing of 39 passenger cars and station wagons for two field installations, the Department of the Interior announced today.

Nine bids from six bidders were received by the Bureau for the rental contracts for the vehicles for use at its offices in Cherokee, N. C., and Albuquerque, N. Mex.

For the Albuquerque contract, covering 30 sedans and four station wagons, Rollins bid was $46.05 and $54.63 a month, respectively, with an adjustment factor based on the price received for the cars at the end of the l2-month contract period. Other bidders were Central Motor Company, Gallup, N. Mex., Avis Rent-A-Car System, Albuquerque; Truck Rental Co., Inc., Baltimore, Md., and D. L. Peterson, Trustee, Baltimore, Md.

For the Cherokee contract, involving four sedans and one station wagon, the Rollins bid was $45.23 and $53.78, respectively, with the same adjustment factor as in the Albuquerque contract. Other bidders were Avis Rent-A-Car System, Knoxville, Tenn., Truck Rental Company, Inc., and D, L. Peterson, Trustee.

Following reported complaints regarding the bid specifications, the Department last week asked the Comptroller General for a ruling on the matter, Award of the contracts will await a reply from the Comptroller General to this request.

In a major step designed to improve and expand Federal health services to Indians in the United States and Alaska, the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior will transfer its entire health program to the Public Health Service on July 1.

Involved in the transfer will be about 3,600 Indian Bureau employees and about 970 buildings. The real property inventory, estimated to be worth about $40,000,000, includes 56 hospitals, 21 health centers, 13 boarding school infirmaries, and numerous other structures used in the health program.

Acting Secretary of the Interior Clarence Davis said that it is believed that the transfer is the largest shift of Government installations and personnel made in recent years. “It is in keeping with the earnest aim of the administration to provide the best possible health services for our Indian citizens,” he said.

The transfer will take place under legislation strongly urged by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and endorsed by the Department of the Interior in recognition of the chronic difficulty facing the Bureau in recruiting and retaining qualified doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel for service in its field hospitals and other installations.

Public Law 568, which was passed by the 83rd Congress and approved by President Eisenhower, was also supported by many prominent medical groups and by Indian tribal organizations.

The first congressional appropriation specifically designated for Indian health was passed in 1911 and totaled $40,000. In fiscal 1955, the appropriation totaled $23,418,898 and accounted for about one-fourth of the Indian Bureau's budget and about the same proportion of its personnel.

In the 31 years since the Indian health program was established on a formally organized basis, many important achievements have been made in meeting the health problems of the Nation's 400,000 Indians.

These include the development of an effective treatment for the eye disease, trachoma; the widespread use of BCG vaccination for protection against tuberculosis and of isoniazid for control of the disease; and the provision of hospitalization for thousands of Indian tubercular and other patients through contracts with non-Federal hospitals.

Recently, a greatly expanded preventive medicine program was launched with the aim of bringing the benefits of modern sanitation directly into Indian homes and communities.

During the first century of relationships with the Indians, some health services were provided by the War Department and later under the Department of the Interior.

In 1924 a Health Division was established with a chief directly responsible to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Later, arrangements were made with the Public Health Service to provide health personnel for certain key positions, and these assignments have been greatly increased in recent years. The July 1 transfer is a culmination of this process.

A list of the Bureau's hospitals being transferred July 1 follows:

Transfer of Melvin L. Robertson, superintendent of the Western Washington Indian Agency, Everett, Wash., on July 14 to the comparable position at the Menominee Agency, Keshena, Wis., was announced today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood.

Robertson replaces Raymond H. Bitney who moves to the position of assistant director in the Bureau's area office at Anadarko, Okla.

Mr. Robertson was born at Kalispell, Mont., in 1900 and has had 26 years of continuous service with the Bureau. From 1928 to 1948 he served in various capacities from timber scaler to forest ranger at the Colville Agency, Nespelem, Wash., and the Klamath Agency in Oregon. In 1948 he was named assistant to the superintendent of the California Agency at Sacramento, Calif., and later was made district agent at the Hoopa Subagency at Hoopa, Calif. He was appointed superintendent at Northern Idaho in 1950 and transferred to Western Washington in May 1954.

Mr. Bitney joined the Bureau in 1926 as forest assistant at the Klamath Agency, Oreg., and in 1930 was promoted to the superintendency of Neah Bay Agency, Wash. When this agency was abolished in 1933 he served for six years as superintendent at Red Lake Agency, Red Lake, Minn. In 1939 he was transferred to the Taholah Agency, Taholah, Wash. From 1942 to 1946 he was in military service and spent 15 months overseas as Battalion Commander of the 796th Engineer Forestry Battalion. After returning to the Bureau in 1946 he was superintendent for two years at Red Lake, two years at Klamath, and tour at Western Washington before going to Menominee in spring of 1954.

A successor to Mr. Robertson at Western Washington has not been named.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay announced today that he has appointed a three-man team to investigate the collapse of a footbridge on the East Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina on July 3.

Members of the team left today to confer with James H. Baley, Jr., United States District Attorney at Asheville, No Co, Richard D. Butts, Superintendent of the Cherokee Indian Reservation, and Frank Parker, General Counsel for the Cherokee Indians.

Members of the team are Theodore H. Haas, Acting Assistant Solicitor, Branch of Claims and Contract Appeals; Rodney M. Dunlap, Assistant Chief, Branch of Roads, Bureau of Indian Affairs; and Edward P. Rennie, Chief, Safety Branch, National Capital Parks, National Park Service.

The accident is reported to have been caused by children jumping on the Indian bridge which caused it to buckle and throw about 60 sightseers into the bed of the Oconaluftee River.