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PROMOTING THE REHABILITATION OF THE NAVAJO AND HOPI TRIBES OF INDIANS AND THE BETTER UTILIZATION OF THE RESOURCES OF THE NAVAJO AND HOPI INDIAN RESERVATIONS

JULY 1, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. MORRIS, from the Committee on Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT

To accompany H. R. 5208

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5208) to promote the rehabilitation of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes of Indians and the better utilization of the resources of the Navajo and Hop Indian Reservations. and for other purposes, having considered the same. report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Page 2. line 14, strike out the figures "$90,000,000" and insert in lieu thereof the figures "$89,320,000".

Page 3, line 7, strike out all of line 7.

Page 3, line 8. strike out the figure "9" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "8".

Page 3, line 10, strike out the figure "10" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "9".

Page 3. line 12. strike out the figure "11" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "10".

Page 3. line 14. strike out the figure "12" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "11"

Page 3. line 16, strike out the figure "13" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "12".

Page 3. line 18. strike out the figure "14" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "13"

Page 3, line 20. strike out the figure "15" and insert in lieu thereof the figure "14".

Page 6. lines 15 to 25, strike out all of lines 15 to 25, both inclusive.

Page 7, lines 1 to 7, strike out all of lines 1 to 7, both inclusive, and insert in lieu thereof the following new section 6:

SEC. 6. In order to facilitate the fullest possible participation by the Navajo Tribe in the program authorized by this Act, the members of the tribe shall have the right to adopt a tribal constitution in the manner herein prescribed. Such constitution may provide for the exercise by the Navajo Tribe of any powers vested in the tribe or any organ thereof by existing law, together with such additional powers as the members of the tribe may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, deem proper to include therein. Such constitution shall be formulated by the Navajo Tribal Council at any regular meeting, distributed in printed form to the Navajo people for consideration, and adopted by secret ballot of the adult members of the Navajo Tribe in an election held under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at which a majority of the qualified votes cast favor such adoption. The constitution shall authorize the fullest possible participation of the Navajos in the administration of their affairs as approved by the Secretary of the Interior and shall become effective when approved by the Secretary. The constitution may be amended from time to time in the same manner as herein provided for its adoption, and the Secretary of the Interior shall approve any amendment hich in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior, advances the development of the Navajo people toward the fullest realization and exercise of the rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities of American citizenship.

H. R. 5208 is a revised version of H. R. 3476, the bill which was submitted by the Secretary of the Interior, and includes several changes made by the Committee on Public Lands. The major changes are as follows:

(a) The amounts of capital expenditures authorized for the various purposes listed in the subsections of section 1 were inserted in the bill. (b) Section 8 was revised to give the Indians a greater voice in the administration of the long-range program.

(c) Section 9 was added to the bill providing that all Indians within the Navajo and Hopi Reservations shall be subject to the laws of the State where they reside. (The details of this provision are set forth below.)

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL

The committee is convinced that a comprehensive long-range program for the rehabilitation of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes of Indians is essential. The emergency relief appropriations of recent years have partially alleviated the desperate condition of these tribes but have not attacked the basic problem of helping them improve their economic and social status in order that such periodic relief measures can gradually be reduced.

This bill was submitted by the Secretary of the Interior, at the direction of the President, with an urgent recommendation that positive action be taken at the earliest possible time. The Secretary of the Interior also submitted in support of the legislation an extensive report, The Navajo. which sets forth the present conditions, the background of the problem, and the proposed measures of rehabilitation. This bill represents a new approach in the field of Indian affairs. For the first time, there has been placed before the Congress in one bill a composite statement of the needs of the Indians in a specific Up to now, the needs of the Indians have been presented by function, such as education and health, on a Nation-wide basis, rather than by area. This new approach, which affords the Congress an opportunity to apply a concentrated effort to a given area, has considerable merit.

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The committee held extensive hearings on the bill on April 18, 19, and 22, and May 16, 17, and 18, and considered every phase of the proposed long-range program. Numerous witnesses testified in favor of the bill, and none opposed it. Among the witnesses were the chairman and vice chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council and the nine members of the advisory committee of the Tribal Council, two representatives of the Hopi Tribe, the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the General Superintendent of the Navajo Agency, and other representatives of the Indian Service. The witnesses testified in great detail on the different aspects of the over-all program and also laid great emphasis on the interrelationship of the various parts, such as the fact that effective education and health programs are completely dependent upon the construction of roads on this reservation, which is equal in size to the State of West Virginia. The program is designed first to develop the reservation resources in order to support as many Navajos and Hopis as possible, and, second, to assist the remaining Navajos and Hopis in finding employment and homes away from the reservation. A third, and equally important part of the program is to provide adequate education, health, roads, and other public services which are now completely inadequate. Among the major provisions of the bill are the following:

Education

There is unanimous agreement as to the desperate need for additional educational facilities. Although in its treaty of 1868 with the Navajo Tribe, the United States promised to supply a schoolroom and teacher for every 30 school children, there are at present schools available for only 8,000 of the 24,000 Navajo children of school age. Eighty percent of the Navajos are illiterate and 65 percent cannot speak English. The authorization of $25,000,000 in the present bill for educational facilities would not provide schools for all the Navajo and Hopi children, but would bring the total school facilities, on and off the reservation, up to 13,500 pupils, including 2,000 to be accommodated at the former Bushnell Army Hospital, near Brigham City, Utah, which is now being converted into a Navajo boarding school in accordance with the act of March 17, 1949 (Public Law 20, 81st Cong.). An additional 1,000 pupils are being accommodated in mission schools. The construction of schools for the remainder of the Navajo and Hopi children must be related to the results of the other aspects of the program, such as off-reservation resettlement and the development of additional irrigated lands, since the schools must be built where the children are located. However, the school facilities which can be provided with the $25,000,000 authorized by this bill will definitely be needed regardless of future developments, and in addition to the facilities at Bushnell. The committee feels that education is basic to the entire rehabilitation program and that this item in the bill is vitally important. The committee also feels, however, that the Department should continue and intensify its efforts to arrange for the attendance of Navajo and Hopi pupils above the fifth grade in public schools, outside the reservation. Pursuant to the wishes of the Navajo Tribal Council, the new bill provides that the Department shall, wherever feasible, utilize State school curricula in the Navajo and Hopi schools as minimum standards.

Health

The bill would provide for construction and improvement of hospitals and other medical facilities needed to combat the deplorable health conditions of the Navajos and Hopis. The tuberculosis rate is one of the highest in the Nation, and the infant mortality rate is more than four times the national rate.

The committee also anticipates that the Department will expand and intensify its field medical service which, while not a capital expenditure covered by this bill, is equally as important as hospitals in relieving the over-all health problem:

Roads

The need for roads is unquestioned. All-weather roads, which are practically nonexistent today, are essential to the Indian economy and to the health, education, and other phases of the Navajo-Hop rehabilitation program.

Soil and water conservation

Conservation of the soil and water resources of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations will protect the range lands, which are basic to the Navajo and Hopi economy, and which must continue to support 8 large segment of the Indian population. Verv serious soil erosion is now widespread. It is estimated that silt from the Navajo Reservation entering Lake Mead formed by Hoover Dam represents an annual loss of $10,000,000.

Irrigation

The Navajo economy would be greatly improved by the increase in irrigation facilities provided by this bill. This would include the extension of 78 existing projects of various sizes on the reservation and the subjugation of additional acreage on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in western Arizona, where some 1,000 Navajo families could be resettled. The bill does not include authorization for construction of the Shiprock-San Juan project which might ultimately contain 100,000 or more acres of irrigated land, but merely provides for continuation of the surveys to determine the feasibility of this project. The committee recommends that the surveying, design, and construction of this project be done by the Bureau of Reclama tion, upon a reimbursable basis, under agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Off-reservation employment and resettlement

The committee is convinced that, even with full development of the reservation resources, the Navajo Reservation cannot adequately support the 62,000 members of the Navajo Tribe and that more than onethird of them must find a livelihood elsewhere. The committee was gratified by the results of the off-reservation employment program instituted last year, when some 14,000 Navajos and Hopis obtained work outside the reservation, and urges its continuation and expansion in cooperation with the States and other agencies. The committee heard testimony from some of the Navajo delegates to the effect that uncertainty of land tenure at the Colorado River Indian Reservation was deterring Navajos from resettling there. A representative of the Department of the Interior stated that there have been no complaints from Navajo settlers as to land tenure and that the number of Navajos

who have applied for resettlement at Colorado River far exceeds the number that can be assigned land in the near fiture; also, that under the present system of land assignment, an Indian may sell his interest in his assignment to another Indian and may bequeath it upon his death to an Indian of his designation. The committee still feels that land tenure is an obstacle to resettlement and that the Department should take steps to overcome this obstacle in order to prevent any delay in relieving the present overload on the resources of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations. Unquestionably permanency of tenure and inheritance under State laws would be in the interest of better settlement of this project. The committee also urges that other Federal agencies responsible for construction projects make every effort to afford greater employment opportunities to Indians.

Water supply

The committee recommends that all ground-water investigations be carried out by the Geological Survey, on a reimbursable basis, under agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Further, the committee expresses the desire that no major construction be undertaken without assurance in writing that there is adequate and suitable water available for the project.

Navajo-Hopi relationships

The committee heard considerable testimony on the conflict between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes as to the boundary between their respective reservations. While the committee does not feel that this subject could be dealt with in this bill, it recommends that the two tribes and the Department of the Interior take positive action toward settling this serious and long-standing dispute. If court action is necessary, it is the expressed intent of this committee that such action be initiated at once. The Department is also expected to make an equitable division between the two tribes and reservations of all funds authorized by this bill on the basis of the respective populations, areas, and needs, and to include a statement of such division in its annual report to the Congress as required by the bill. Air transport facilities

The authorization of $680,000 for air transport facilities was stricken out by the committee, because it believes that such facilities are not essential to the rehabilitation of the Indians at this time. However, this action does not constitute any permanent disapproval of air transport facilities on the two reservations and does not bar the Department of the Interior or other agency from seeking authority for such purposes in the future.

Application of State laws

As previously stated, the committee has added a section 9 to the bill providing that all Indians within the Navajo and Hopi Reservations shall be subject to the laws of the State where they live, which would be Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah. However, the existing exemption of Indian property from taxation by the States is continued until otherwise provided by Congress. All Federal and tribal laws respecting such lands govern if in conflict with State law. The terms and obligations of existing Federal laws and treaties are not impaired by this amendment.

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