OPA

The Bureau of Indian Affairs today awarded a contract to Southern Cafeteria Operating Company, Birmingham, Alabama, for the provision of noonday meals during the coming school year at five Federal day schools on the Cherokee Reservation in western North Carolina.

Southern Cafeteria’s bid of 44 cents per meal was the lowest of those received in response to invitations issued by the Indian Bureau on July 22. The bids were opened August 15.

Signing of the contract, which will go into actual operation September 6, was largely based on experience gained under a short-range pilot contract at Cherokee last spring which developed food service costs of $0.47085 per meal over a period of 98 days. The Bureau's own operating costs for a comparable period immediately preceding were $0.4884 per meal.

The quality of the food and service provided under the pilot contract was widely praised by the Indian students, their parents and the local school officials. Under the new contract, which covers the full school year of 180 days, Southern Cafeteria is obligated to provide the same kind of food ~d service as the pilot contractor.

The five schools covered by the new contract are located at Cherokee, Big Cove, Birdtown, Soco and Snowbird.

Robert Bruce McKee, Administrative Officer at the Sisseton Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was named today by Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. Barton Greenwood to be the new Superintendent at Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Mr. McKee succeeds Ralph M. Shane who resigned effective July 29 to go into the newspaper business in New Town, North Dakota.

The vacancy at Sisseton caused by Mr. McKee's promotion will be filled by Wray P. Hughes who is now Administrative Officer at Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Mr., McKee, 61, was born in Dwight, North Dakota. After graduating from North Dakota State College in 1916, he taught and coached for two years in high schools of North Dakota and Montana. From 1918 to 1937 he served as county agriculture agent in two Montana counties, Flathead and Yellowstone. In 1937 he joined the Indian Bureau as agriculture extension Agent at the Pine Ridge, South Dakota Agency and served there until 1950 when he was named superintendent of the Crow Creek Agency in South Dakota. In 1954, he was named administrative officer of the Sisseton Area Field Office.

Mr. Hughes entered Federal Service in 1935 with the Census Bureau in Washington, D. C. and subsequently worked for the Agriculture Adjustment Administration and the Soil Conservation Service before joining the Interior Department in 1940. With the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he has been stationed at Fort Washakie, Wyo.; Pierre, S. Dak. and Aberdeen, S. Dak. He was chosen administrative officer at Cheyenne River in 1953 after working his way up from clerk, assistant property and supply officer to property and supply officer at Aberdeen in 1951. He is 49 years old.

A successor to Mr. Hughes at Cheyenne River has not been named.

The Indian youths of America are going to college and other institutions of higher learning in ever-increasingly numbers, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glen L. Emmons said today.

According to a nationwide Indian Bureau survey, there are over 2,300 young Indian men and women who are now taking courses in schools above the high school level. The total twenty years ago was about one-third that number.

Many of these education-seeking youngsters are able to pay their own ways; others are being aided by scholarships, grants and working in nonclass periods.

The financial aid given the young Indians who need it comes from many sources. Some scholarships are granted by their tribes; others by church groups or benevolent organizations, by individuals or their estates, by the States, and by the Indian Bureau.

The Navajo Tribe of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah is the leader in offering tribal scholarships. The Navajos have set aside ($100,000 this year from their tribal funds to provide scholarships to enable qualified youngsters of the tribe to continue their education after leaving high school. The 213 Navajo youths in college this year is a remarkable advance considering that there were only seven in college 20 years ago, Commissioner Emmons said.

The Navajos granted 84 new tribal scholarships for the 1955-56 school year, with 51 of them going to freshmen. The Navajo students do not have to repay the money granted for their advanced education; the only stipulation is that they work with their own people on the Navajo Reservation one year for every year that the tribe pays their way through college.

Scholarships for numerous Indians are granted from other sources outside the tribe. The Indian Bureau granted 114 to Indian students, 62 to freshmen. Churches and benevolent organizations gave 72 scholarships, 29 of them to freshmen. From all sources - the Indian Bureau, the States, churches, benevolent organizations and individuals - 512 scholarships were provided for Indian students for the current school term. Of this total, 237 were for freshmen.

In Oklahoma, Indian Bureau officials estimate that 600 Indian young men and women received degrees last year. They also report that there are about 1,500 in college now - many of them paying their own way, others attending school with the help of scholarships or grants.

One Indian in Idaho, who had only a ninth grade education himself, has made it possible for outstanding high school graduates of his Nez Perce Tribe to attend college. Isaac Broncheau, who was wounded in both legs in World War II and who died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis, willed his $23,000 estate to be used to provide $500 yearly scholarships so that young members of his tribe might have a chance for educational advantages which he never enjoyed"

Congress approved $50,000 for Indian Bureau scholarships and grants for the 1956 fiscal year. This amount more than doubles the figure for 1955, $22,935, which was the largest previous appropriation for Indian higher education. However, Commissioner Emmons said, the 1956 appropriation still falls short of filling the requests for aid that have come to the Bureau.

Twenty years ago, the money available for Indian Bureau scholarships and grants was only $10,000.

Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay today announced the reappointment of Floyd E. Maytubby, Oklahoma. City, Okla., as Principal Chief of the Chickasaw Indian Tribe tor a two-year term beginning October 18.

Mr. Maytubby has occupied the position tor the past 16 years. In his present four-year term, expiring at midnight, October 17, he has received a salary of $3,000 a year from tribal funds and an expense allowance of not more than $2,500 a year. Under the new appointment, however, he has agreed to carry out the duties of the office without salary as a public service to the tribal members.

He will receive an expense allowance of $12 per day when on actual duty.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that five of the Indian Bureau's key personnel will move to new assignments on November 1.

James W. Kauffman, superintendent of the Minnesota Agency, Bemidji, Minn., will take over the comparable position at Pine Ridge, S. Dak. This job has been vacant since last August when former Pine Ridge Superintendent Benjamin Reifel was promoted to Area Director for the Bureau at Aberdeen, S. Dak.

Wendell W. Palmer, superintendent at Klamath Agency, Oregon, will move to Bemidji replacing Kauffman.

Allan W. Galbraith, superintendent at Jicarilla Agency, Dulce, N. Mex., will move to Klamath replacing Palmer.

Guy Robertson, superintendent at Rosebud Agency, S. Dak., will move to Jicarilla replacing Galbraith.

Graham Holmes, program officer at the Aberdeen Area Office, will be detailed to Rosebud as acting superintendent.

Mr. Kauffman originally came with the Bureau in 1929 as agricultural extension agent at Consolidated Chippewa Agency, Cass Lake, Minn., and subsequently served in this line of work for 21 years. His service also included assignments at Minneapolis, Spokane, and Oklahoma City. He was appointed superintendent at Cass Lake in 1950 and was named superintendent at Bemidji last November. He received his B.S. in Horticulture and Animal Husbandry from Pennsylvania State College and his A. B. from Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota.

Mr. Palmer joined the Bureau in 1950 as superintendent at Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyo., and was transferred to Klamath in April 1954. Before coming with the Bureau he had many years of experience with the Bureau of Reclamation, the War Relocation Authority, and the Idaho Extension Service. From 1945 to 1947 he operated his own farm at Malad, Idaho, where he was born in 1898. He is a graduate of the University of Idaho.

Mr. Galbraith first came with the Bureau in 1940 as a forest guard at Wellpinit, Wash., shortly after his graduation from the University of Idaho. He subsequently served at Nespelem, Wash., Harlem, Mont., Chelan, Wash., and Klamath Agency, Oreg., before joining the armed forces in World War II. Returning to the Bureau in 1946, he was range conservationist at Klamath Agency, Colville Agency in Washington, and Rosebud Agency, South Dakota. He has been superintendent of the Jicarilla Agency since 1952. Born in Wellpinit, Washington, in 1917, Mr. Galbraith attended public schools there. He received a B. S. degree in forestry from the University of Idaho in 1940.

Mr. Robertson, who has been at Rosebud Agency for the past year, entered the Government service in 1942 with the war Relocation Authority at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. In 1946 he became Wyoming district manager for the United States Department of Commerce. After one year he became property supervisor for the Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., for two years and then was general manager of the Noble Hotel, lander, Wyoming, for several months. He joined the Indian Bureau in 1950 as superintendent at Blackfeet Agency, Browning, Mont., where he remained for four years until his transfer to Rosebud. Prior to his Government employment he was in business in Wyoming, Texas, and Nevada. He was born in Quincy, Mo., in 1890, was educated in the public schools of Wheatland, Mo., and is a graduate of Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Business College.

Adult Indians on reservations who missed the advantages of education in their youth and are now handicapped by lack of ability to read, write, speak or understand the English language will be given an opportunity to develop these basic skills under a new Indian Bureau Program announced today by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons.

The program will be initiated at five tribal jurisdictions where the need is especially acute: Seminole of Florida, Papago of Arizona, Rosebud Sioux of South Dakota, Turtle Mountain Chippewa of North Dakota, and Fort Hall (Shoshone-Bannock) of Idaho. Operations will begin at Seminole in the next few weeks and at the other four localities around the turn of the year.

“For many years,” Commissioner Emmons explained, "I have felt that one of the biggest factors holding Indian people back and retarding their advancement has been the lack of educational opportunities. Our first job, of courtesy was to make schooling available to all Indian youngsters of normal school age, and I am happy to report that we are now within striking distance of that objective" The next step is to provide some type of elementary schooling for grown-up Indians who have never had this advantage.

“There are thousands of such people living on reservations today and their needs were forcefully re-emphasized to me in Florida last December when Seminole Indians on the reservations were almost unanimous in asking us for an adult education program. These people, like those on many other reservations, are at a definite disadvantage because they are separated by a language barrier from the modern world in which they find themselves. As a result, they have great difficulties in earning even a minimum livelihood and are not able to enjoy the kind of benefits which most Americans take for granted.

“Through this new program we want to help these people so that they will be able to broaden their opportunities for employment and improve the living standards for their families. In my opinion, their needs represent a real challenge to the Bureau and a great opportunity for constructive accomplishment.

While the program will be limited initially to the five tribal areas mentioned, Mr. Emmons emphasized that it will be expanded later if satisfactory results are achieved and the Indians of other tribes indicate an interest in such operations.

No additional construction will be required as present facilities will be utilized.

Three Indian Bureau superintendents will interchange assignments in Arizona and Utah on November 20, Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons announced today.

John O. Crow will move from Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz., to Uintah and Ouray Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah.

Albert M. Hawley will shift from Papago Agency, Sells, Ariz., to Fort Apache.

Harry W. Gilmore will transfer from Uintah and Ouray to Papago.

Mr. Crow, a graduate of the Haskell Indian Institute at Lawrence, Kans., first came with the Bureau in 1934, as clerical assistant at Fort Totten, N. Dak. After several months in this assignment he transferred to the Truxton Canon Agency, Valentine, Ariz., where he was given increasing responsibilities and finally named superintendent in 1942. Four years later he became superintendent of the Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, New Mex., and remained in that post until 1951 when he was designated administrative assistant of the Colorado River Agency, Parker, Ariz. Later that same year he was appointed superintendent at Fort Apache.

Mr. Hawley came with the Bureau in 1935 and for eight years as a boys’ adviser at the Carson Indian School, Stewart, Nev. After Navy service during World War II he returned to the Bureau as principal of the Carson School in 1946 and one year later was named reservation principal. In 1950 he became principal of the Tuba City Boarding School on the Navajo Reservation and subsequently served as reservation principal at Carson and at San Carlos Agency, San Carlos, Ariz., prior to his appointment as superintendent at Papago in September 1954. He received a bachelor's degree from Davis and Elkins College in West Virginia in 1932 and a master’s degree from Stanford University in 1951.

Mr. Gilmore, a veteran of 18 years' experience with the Bureau, served from 1937 to 1952 as assistant to the superintendent, district agent, and program officer at Bishop and later Riverside, Calif. He has been superintendent at Uintah and Ouray for the past three years. Before joining the Bureau, he served for four years with the Works Progress Administration as state director of the Arkansas Transient Bureau. He has a bachelor's degree from Arkansas Teachers College, Conway, Ark., and a master's degree from Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons announced today that Allan M. Adams will move on November 20 from Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota, where he has been real property officer, to be superintendent of the Winnebago Agency, Nebraska, replacing Victor E. Godfrey.

Godfrey, who has been in charge at Winnebago for nearly two years, will transfer on the same date to be real property officer in the Bureau's area office at Aberdeen, S. Dak.

The new Winnebago superintendent first carne with the Indian Bureau in 1931 as farm agent at the Cherokee Agency, North Carolina. After eight years in this assignment he served for five years as assistant extension agent at Muskogee, Okla., for three as extension agent at Concho, Okla., and for three years in the same position at Philadelphia, Miss. Since 1950 he has been in real property work at agencies in North and South Dakota. He was born in Rockville, Ind., in 1895 and has a B.A. degree in agronomy from the University of Illinois.

Victor Godfrey has been with the Bureau since 1926 and served in a variety of assignments throughout the Indian Service before his appointment as Winnebago superintendent in January 1953. He was born at Alpena, Mich., in 1899.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons today wired his and the Bureau's congratulations to the Southern Ute Tribe of Colorado as they prepared to sign a contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield to provide health protection for the Southern Ute Indians.

In his telegram to Tribal Council Chairman Sam Burch, Commissioner Emmons praised the Council for its far-sightedness and progressive attitude.

Although the care of Indian health has not been under the Bureau since it was transferred to the Public Health Service in July of this year, the Commissioner is vitally interested in any programs that tend to better the Indian state of wellbeing.

The Southern Ute Tribe will pay for the group health insurance from its own tribal funds. The Utes are one of the first tribes in the Nation to undertake such a self-sufficient health insurance program. Over 500 Southern Utes are covered by the contract.

Here is the text of the Commissioner’s congratulatory message:

A similar telegram of congratulations was sent to the Southern Utes by the Public Health Service, the agency which was named the guardian of Indian health by Congress last July.

The aim of the present Administration in the field of Indian affairs is not to "detribalize" the Indian or deprive him of his identity but to give him a wider range of choice and a greater opportunity for fulfilling his own potentialities than he has previously enjoyed, Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay emphasized today in making public a letter he wrote November 30 to Oliver La Farge, president of the Association on American Indian Affairs, Inc.

The Secretary's letter was in response to a letter addressed to President Eisenhower by Mr. La Farge on November 10 criticizing many aspects of current Federal policy and practice in Indian affairs.

In his reply Secretary McKay covered a broad range of topics. These include the Indian Bureau's voluntary relocation program, efforts to improve economic opportunities near the reservation, the right of Indians to retain their tribal identity if they wish, the policy of consultation with Indians, background of the so-called "termination" policy, the Indian Bureau's credit program, fee patent policy, and several other matters.