Mr. ILIODOR MERCULIEF. In addition to that I have copies of the letter concerning Mr. John Tetoff that were referred to here. Here is a copy of it and an original copy of what we got from the district representative of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. And I have a copy for Mr. Bowman. Senator BARTLETT. We won't incorporate these in the record. We will maintain them in our personal possession and act upon them as speedily as possible. Thank you. Mr. ILIODOR MERCULIEF. That is all I have to say. Thank you. Senator BARTLETT. We will get the transcript back to you as soon as possible, so that you can write to Juneau, and I hope Juneau will write to you promptly. Mr. ILIODOR MERCULIEF. As long as it is on paper, I don't think they will be close enough to holler at me. Senator BARTLETT. Thank you. Who will be first at bat for St. George? I would like to announce now, after the St. George witnesses have concluded, the following witness will be Mr. Bowman. I mention that because many of you will want to hear him, and I don't want to depart without giving him an opportunity to do so, since Mr. Bowman has been here so frequently and is so particularly interested in your problems and has been, as I understand, so helpful to you. Susie, are you going to be the only witness? STATEMENT OF MRS. SUSIE MERCULIEF, ST. GEORGE COUNCIL; Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. I will answer some questions. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. If you need dates, some of the oldtimers can give the dates. May I call on Father Michael for some dates? Senator BARTLETT. Surely. Will you give the reporter your full name. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Susie Merculief. Senator BARTLETT. Susie, do you have a statement you desire to make to the committee? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. As you know, we weren't prepared. You were supposed to come over to St. George. Senator BARTLETT. I know. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. We had to come over on short notice. Senator BARTLETT. I want you to know, and the others from St. George, and everyone who is here, that this isn't the way we wanted it. We were tremendously anxious to get over, and had it not been for the weather we would have been there. But we are happy that even on short notice you and the others came. Have you had a chance to look at the bill at all since you arrived here around noon today? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, I did. Senator BARTLETT. In general, do you and those who came over with you, have any opinions about the bill? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. I think they feel the same as people do here about the bill. Senator BARTLETT. We have referred constantly to the omission of St. George from the arrangements that are provided for in the bill for land and residential ownership. How does this strike you? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. I can't very well answer that for the people in St. George. Senator BARTLETT. Let me approach it another way and ask your personal opinion. First, do you think the people of St. George will want, gradually, family by family, individual by individual, perhaps, to move over to St. Paul? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. I don't think so. As a matter of fact they told us this morning we were leaving to tell you that they will stay in St. George. Senator BARTLETT. Is this because as the father said, it is the homeland? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. That, too. Another big problem is people are being laid off here after the sealing season. Other than your plumbers, carpenters, and those they have to have, mechanics, year round, for maintenance. Senator BARTLETT. They feel if they came over there would be no opportunity for employment. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Senator BARTLETT. How many people are there on St. George? Senator BARTLETT. What does the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries do on St. George? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Workwise? Senator BARTLETT. Yes? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. The same thing as the staff is doing here. Senator BARTLETT. How many people in the village have year-round work with the Bureau, about? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. I don't know. Mr. EUNEAU. Senator Bartlett, I think there are 24 permanent positions year round on St. George. Senator BARTLETT. Thank you. Susie, there will be four or five more laid off in September, is that right? Mr. EUNEAU. I am not sure. I am just quoting a figure that I know exists today, as far as permits are concerned. Senator BARTLETT. During the sealing season do the St. George people come to St. Paul for employment? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Not yet. Senator BARTLETT. They haven't at all? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Senator BARTLETT. Not even on a temporary basis? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Senator BARTLETT. How many are employed over there? Everyone who wants to work? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Only those that they can use, that they can find jobs for. (The names referred to follow :) ST. GEORGE DELEGATION Peter Lekanof, vice president Alvin Lestenkof, secretary Susie Merculief Alexey Merculief Senator BARTLETT. If you will, before the evening is over, Susie, will you draw up a list of the members of the village council so we can place those names in the record also? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. All right. The list is as follows: Alexander Galanin, president Laurence Galanin Feona Merculief Vera Chercasen Anfesa Galanin Innokenty D. Lestenkof Daniel Malavansky Mr. FOSTER. One of the reasons that the members of the council are not here tonight is because you had an epidemic of the mumps over there, is that right? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, sir. Mr. FOSTER. But they are very much interested in this legislation and what this might mean for them in the future, but they just weren't able to come over because of that, and we weren't able to get over there, which we very much wanted to do. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes. Mr. FOSTER. What does the council think about the possibility of moving to St. Paul in the future? Is there just the fear that if you come over here that there will not be a sufficient number of jobs, that everyone here doesn't have employment, and if you come over from St. George to St. Paul it is quite likely that you wouldn't be employed either? Is that the real fear? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, that is true. It think there are three or four families that moved here, that were supposed to have been promised to have year-round jobs. One is a plumber, a carpenter, and electrician. They moved over here. The carpenter had been, I understand, laid off last winter. Mr. EUNEAU. None of the three you mentioned have been laid off. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Peter Prokolief was our carpenter over there; he was laid off. He came over with the assumption that he would have a year-round job. That is the reason he moved over here. Mr. FOSTER. Did he have a year-round job over there? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No, he didn't. He had been laid off one winter before he came over here. Mr. FOSTER. He came over here thinking he would be able to work Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Have a year-round job. Mr. FOSTER. And he wasn't able to? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Mr. FOSTER. What is the difference in the housing here and the housing over there? Senator BARTLETT. Yes, that is the point he made, that they would need that money for that reason, is that correct? So St. George wouldn't necessarily feel too badly about that? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Senator BARTLETT. Mr. Foster? Mr. FOSTER. This bill is directed toward attempting to give to the Secretary of the Interior some authority to, at the appropriate time, not necessarily this year, not necessarily next year, but at the appropriate time, whenever he thinks and the community thinks that they are ready for it, to give them the possibility of owning their own land, owning their own home, not forcing it upon them but permitting this to happen whenever they would be ready for it, and the Secretary was in a position that he could do it. That is the only thing the bill does. It doesn't, in effect, complete anything. It just gives to the Secretary something that the Secretary of the Interior now does not have, and that is authority to give to the people here responsibilities and rights that they now don't have. It doesn't say do it in 5 years or 10 years. It just says when the time comes he could do it. So in a sense it would certainly be possible to have the Secretary under this legislation, if amended, to include St. George, to help the community here, first establish a city, a township, a community, and give to the people here land, and next year, 2 years later, 5 years later, whenever it might be appropriate, at a later time, do the same thing for St. George. I think you should keep in mind, and particularly when you discuss this back at St. George, and realize that if this bill passes it will not mean automatically anything will happen, but it could mean something could happen in the future that can't happen in the future unless the bill does pass. So if it does pass, and if it passed with an amendment including St. George, it would mean that the Secretary next year could do something here and 5 years later could do something there. Without some amendment giving him authority to do the same thing in St. George, it might be that the effect would be to draw the two communities apart. It might be that then St. Paul would have an opportunity and would be growing even more rapidly, and more rapidly away from St. George, and St. George would not have the ability to keep up and grow also if you did want to have two communities. I wanted to make that point because I thought that you had the understanding that if the bill is passed and St. George is in there, that somehow this might be forcing something upon you. I think if you correctly understand the bill, it would not do that. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes. Mr. FOSTER. You have a council in St. George; is that right? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, we have. Mr. FOSTER. How large is that? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Twelve, I think. Mr. FOSTER. Twelve members? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes. Senator BARTLETT. Let's put in the record at this point the names of all of those who were good enough to come over to St. Paul today from St. George to be present at this hearing. (The names referred to follow :) ST. GEORGE DELEGATION Peter Lekanof, vice president Alvin Lestenkof, secretary Susie Merculief Alexey Merculief Senator BARTLETT. If you will, before the evening is over, Susie, will you draw up a list of the members of the village council so we can place those names in the record also? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. All right. The list is as follows: Alexander Galanin, president Benjamin Merculief, Jr., treasurer Laurence Galanin Feona Merculief Vera Chercasen Anfesa Galanin Innokenty D. Lestenkof Victor Malavansky Daniel Malavansky Mr. FOSTER. One of the reasons that the members of the council are not here tonight is because you had an epidemic of the mumps over there, is that right? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, sir. Mr. FOSTER. But they are very much interested in this legislation and what this might mean for them in the future, but they just weren't able to come over because of that, and we weren't able to get over there, which we very much wanted to do. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes. Mr. FOSTER. What does the council think about the possibility of moving to St. Paul in the future? Is there just the fear that if you come over here that there will not be a sufficient number of jobs, that everyone here doesn't have employment, and if you come over from St. George to St. Paul it is quite likely that you wouldn't be employed either? Is that the real fear? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Yes, that is true. It think there are three or four families that moved here, that were supposed to have been promised to have year-round jobs. One is a plumber, a carpenter, and electrician. They moved over here. The carpenter had been, I understand, laid off last winter. Mr. EUNEAU. None of the three you mentioned have been laid off. Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Peter Prokolief was our carpenter over there; he was laid off. He came over with the assumption that he would have a year-round job. That is the reason he moved over here. Mr. FOSTER. Did he have a year-round job over there? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No, he didn't. He had been laid off one winter before he came over here. Mr. FOSTER. He came over here thinking he would be able to work Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. Have a year-round job. Mr. FOSTER. And he wasn't able to? Mrs. SUSIE MERCULIEF. No. Mr. FOSTER. What is the difference in the housing here and the housing over there? |