ourselves to work with him in every way we can, and to say that we feel happy that a man of his fine standards should be appointed to the present position. Mr. MORRIS. Thank you very much. I want to say this to you: Although I have not had the opportunity to know you before I have talked to members of the committee who have been on the committee for a long while and they have expressed great appreciation for you and your work. Quite often, as you know, those who are designated as traders have a rather bad reputation. But I will say that you seem to have an organization, and you seem yourself to have a most excellent reputation and that speaks very highly of you and your organization. These gentlemen speak very highly of you. I just wanted to tell you that the members of the committee, who have been here for a long time, and whose judgment I respect, on both sides, regard you as an honest, square shooter, and as someone who has tried to render a service, and not just being out for the almighty dollar. Mr. LIPPINCOTT. Thank you. I hope that the organization and I can continue to merit that confidence. Mr. MORRIS. We are going to try to conclude the hearings at this time. We have heard some 20 witnesses at least. It is now about 10 minutes past noon. I take it that we have already heard the bulk of the testimony. We do have a few more witnesses who want to be heard. We will not be able to hear from them today. I believe we have heard all of the witnesses who have come from the reservation, all of the Indians, both Navajo and Hopi, and all of the agency representatives. I think we have heard all of the out-of-town witnesses. We have one or two other witnesses who can and will be called later. Some of them are here in Washington. If there are any others who wish to present statements, or to appear as witnesses before the committee, we will be happy to receive your statements or hear you. Leave your names and addresses with the clerk and we will notify you when another date is set. I think we can wind up the hearings completely in the very near future and then go into executive session and determine what we are going to do in the very near future. Before we conclude I do want us to hear from one other witness from the Golden West, whose father was one of the most famous men this country has produced. He was from the State of Oklahoma: The great Will Rogers, beloved by all, a great American citizen and patriot. He is one of two great men whose statues we have over in the Hall of Fame here in Washington, and of whom we are very proud in Oklahoma. We only have two over there. One is the Indian, Sequoyah, who was one of the truly great men from Oklahoma. In times past other men have developed alphabets with the aid of each other, but here was a man, Sequoyah, who sat down and worked out an alphabet all by himself, one of the greatest accomplisments of all time. The other is that great individual, Will Rogers, whose son is with us today, and who was for a time a Member of Congress. He is interested in this matter, and I understand that he has a short statement he would like to make to the committee. We would like very much to hear him now, and are happy to hear from him, after which we will conclude the hearings for the time being. STATEMENT OF WILL ROGERS, JR., BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee: I come from further west than the reservation, from Beverly Hills, Calif. My name is Will Rogers, Jr. I have here a telegram signed by a group of Navajos of Many Farms. I also have a statement signed by Mr. John Foley of Many Farms, which the Navajos themselves were not able to place in the record, and I should like permission to include that in the record if I may? Mr. MORRIS. Without objection, they will be made a part of the record. (The telegram and statement referred to follow :) Congress of the United States: We, the undersigned people of Many Farms, petition 1. That the advisory committee ask Congress to appoint an outside administrator to handle the 10-year program for the Navajo Indians. We do not wish to have the Indian Service handle the $90,000,000 if the Navajo people are to be benefited. 2. We object to resettlement of someone else's reservation. This $5,750,000 is needed on our own reservation. John Foley, Seth Begay, Hosteen Yazzie, Jr., Wade Hadley, Howard STATEMENT ON WELFARE AND PLACEMENT On page 33 of the printed copy of the long-range program we read: "In helping Indians obtain employment, emphasis will be placed on the resetlement of family groups in cities. towns, and other locations where they can have access to acceptable housing, schools, and other public services. "It is intended to avoid as far as possible the present practice under which an Indian leaves his home, family, and friends to take employment at some offreservation locality. In most cases the Indian stays in this employment only a few months, partly because of his nostalgia for his family, and partly because of the lack of acceptance in the foreign environment in which he finds himself. "Furthermore, from the economic standpoint, the record shows that, in general, when a Navajo leaves the reservation without his family to take employment, the family suffers rather than benefits. In many instances, there * * fore, the family must go on the relief rolls of the Indian Bureau." And on page 35 we read: * * it is essential to realize that duress or coercion, applied either as a firm ultimatum to move, or as a starving out process by failing to develop reservation resources, will secure neither Navajo cooperation nor the support of the many nongovernmental groups interested in Indian affairs, whose interest and cooperation must be maintained." And on March 18, 1948, while our tribal council was in session, we were given a 2-page Navajo employment service circular, which said it planned to carry out the above ideals, namely, good off-reservation jobs, improve working and living conditions, provide education for children, skilled jobs for veterans, high school graduates and others, coordinate on- and off-reservation employment, see that all employable Navajos now on relief are given opportunities for work, standard wages, healthy housing, and good transportation. But, what happened? Less than a month later, namely on April 7, 1948, the Navajo service sent out a circular to district supervisors and social workers, attaching a list of the same menial jobs in vegetables and cotton fields and on railroads as we had before, and instructing: * remove every family which is classified as employable, also remove every employable dependent from all other cases of your relief rolls. This affects employable persons in the households of aged, physically handicapped, and aid to dependent children cases. *** Even after this careful cut is made by you it will be necessary for this office to reduce grants for those who remain on the relief rolls in May and June." Extremely drastic cuts were made, so that even blind and tubercular persons were cut off the rolls. Hundreds of applications and investigations covering eligible deserving cases had not yet been completed, but Window Rock ignored the pleas of our people, and even of their own district supervisors, welfare workers, etc., and many people suffered on account of this extreme action in cutting relief rolls. Such action was plainly duress and coercion and should not have been taken. It was entirely contrary to what we were told. It was hardhearted, unreasonable, and unjust to force all employable persons in the households of the aged, physically handicapped, and dependent children, to leave home, thus bereaving them of needed care. The Government had failed to provide medical attention, but now even the family care was taken away. Homes were broken. Babies and small children were left with aged and physically handicapped persons, while parents and older children went hundreds of miles away from home to work. Welfare workers complained that this was having a very bad mental as well as physical effect upon the children, as they were denied the companionship of their parents, sisters, and brothers, and weer constantly with old and often sullen persons. On August 31, 1948, Window Rock issued a circular which said in part: "Family groups should be discouraged from, or not permitted to, take more than one or at most two children under 10 with them. The health hazards to young children, particularly when cold weather starts, and the time lost by the mother in caring properly for the children, makes them a liability to the family and the employer. Placement assistants and recruiters should check carefully to see that workers are in good health and physically capable of hard outdoor labor." Mothers who were going to have a baby were told to stay on the reservation, and the fathers and older children had to leave, as they were denied assistance at home. We thought that the "other public services" included medical attention at off-reservation jobs, but were again disillusioned. Instead of providing off-reservation schooling, the above circular instructed on August 31, just before schools were to open, that children under 10 should be left on the reservation; although Window Rock knew very well that there wasn't room in reservation schools. Thousands of dollars of money needed for the relief of our people have been spent for high salaries, new automobiles, and traveling expenses, and now millions are asked for that same purpose. It is our opinion that our people can find their own off-reservation jobs if given the right kind of information, encouragement, and cooperation. Too much money is wasted the way it has been handled, and more harm done than lasting good. JOHN FOLEY. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, I am here as the representative of the National Congress of American Indians, and we represent some 85,000 paid-up Indian members, organizations, and individuals. We have studied this bill and we want to say that we are wholeheartedly in favor of it. We feel, however, that the bill could be strengthened in two places, which have been mentioned before. In section 6 we feel that the request of the Navajo Tribal Council, to make it stronger, so that the constitution can have more effect when finally drawn up and passed, is a justified request; and we favor the language as drawn up by the Navajo tribal attorney. That language, however, is subject to all kinds of modifications and suggestions. In our opinion the objective is to give this tribe the strongest possible constitution. The second suggested amendment is to section 9. We feel most strongly that section could be strengthened to provide for consultation, out on the Navajo Reservation, when the plans were made, rather than here in Washington. We do not want to see something drawn up and presented to the tribal council as an accomplished fact, when it is too late for the tribe to make any recommendation or suggestions to it. That seems to have been the practice in the past. As a result there have been frequent misunderstandings. If we want to strengthen the tribal council, our suggestion is that the Navajos ought to get in at the beginning, to participate in the discussion, and I think there should be written into section 9 the provision that in the very early stages of planning the Navajo Tribal Council and the executive committee should be consulted. We have no wording to suggest, other than to try to strengthen it by stating that when anything is started it shall be done in cooperation with the tribal council. Mr. LEMKE. Have you consulted with Mr. Littell concerning his suggestions? Mr. ROGERS. I have talked with Mr. Littell, and I am not satisfied with his wording. I think it could be better done. Mr. LEMKE. Do you think that it ought to go further and say that before anything is done they be offered opportunity? Mr. ROGERS. I think they should sit in on the planning at the earliest possible time, and I think Mr. Littell perhaps could suggest an amendment that would go further. Mr. MORRIS. Mr. Rogers, as soon as you have the wording of your suggested amendment actually worked out, would you be kind enough to send it to me as the chairman of the committee and, of course, I will advise the other members of the committee of it. Mr. ROGERS. I will be only too glad to do so. Mr. MORRIS. We want to have your suggestions; of course, we are not saying that we will adopt all of them, but we will certainly give them consideration. Mr. ROGERS. I might say this, Mr. Chairman, that in this the Bureau of Indian Affairs has also been quite cooperative, and I am sure they want to cooperate in the early planning stage, but these amendments, as important as they are, are not important whatsoever compared to the passage of this bill. It is exactly like Mr. Lippincott has said, we do not want anything to hold back the passage of the major parts of this bill. In my opinion, until this bill or some rehabilitation bill like it is passed, the Navajos and the Hopis will have to continue to live on public charity, which I think is a shame and a crime. The Red Cross last year spent $100,000 on the Navajo Reservation. Right today, this year, they are spending $250,000 on the Navajo Reservation. Until this bill or one like it is passed they will have to continue to do so year after year. Now, the Red Cross makes it a policy not to come back to the same area twice if it can be avoided. They are a disaster organization. But here we have an area where it will continue to be a disaster area until some rehabilitation bill is passed. In my opinion, the Congress is wasting much of the money that they spend on the Navajo Reservation until they pass a reorganization bill, a bill which is going to get capable organization on the reservation. The local Navajo service is doing gallant work against insuperable odds, but they barely receive enough funds to keep matters on a level. Until a bill like this is passed, and only when this bill is passed, or one like it, can Congress feel that the money it is spending is actually working to eliminate the Navajo problem. say our National Congress favors this bill, and we do, but we feel that it does not go anywhere nearly far enough. It is just the simplest step, I feel, toward trying to correct the disastrous condition which exists. Even with this bill, 40 percent of the Navajo and Hopi children will still be without adequate school facilities. Even with the full passage of this bill it only envisions two paved roads across that area. This is totally inadequate. Even with the full passage of this bill the health standards on that reservation will not be sufficiently adequate. But it is a start. I am well aware of the difficulties that have existed sometimes in the Indian Bureau, but we feel, and our association feels, and I think all of the people who have been working on Indian problems feel, that with the appointment of Mr. Nichols as the new Commissioner we are going to enter into a new era on Indian affairs. We feel that we now have a capable, courageous, and able Indian Commissioner, and we hope that in the future Indian matters which have been delayed year after year will be handled with skill and dispatch. Eighty thousand American Indians, through their association, ask that you come to the aid of 60,000 of America's worst-off citizens and do pass this bill. Mr. MORRIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers. We appreciate your taking your time and voluntarily coming here, and we appreciate your interest in this important matter. Mr. Murdock, do you have any questions? Mr. MURDOCK. No; I believe not, Mr. Chairman. Mr. MORRIS. Mr. Lemke? Mr. LEMKE. NO; I have no questions, Mr. Chairman. Mr. MORRIS. Mr. Welch? Mr. WELCH. I have no questions. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, if I could say one final word: The need for education is desperate. Until these Navajos have an adequate educational level, practically none of the other features of this bill can take effect. We get Indians in Los Angeles often, and I could get jobs for them, but I am unable to do it because they do not have the educational qualifications. The education part of this bill is basic. It means more than all of the rest of the bill put together, in my opinion. Mr. MORRIS. Thank you a lot, Mr. Rogers. I will advise with the members of the committee later and ask them to suggest the things that they want brought out and that have not yet been brought out. I think they especially are interested in some matters that they want to inquire of some of the witnesses from the |