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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
<iongrcssional RccordPROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 89th
CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
VOLUME II2-PART 7
APRIL 19, 1966, TO MAY 2, 1966
(PAGES 8285 TO 9510)
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, 1966
April 21,1966 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-·•. SENATE 8715to prevent oll tankers fiyIng the fiag of anynation from delivering their cargoes to Rhodesia. Presumably If ships Ignore an orderto turn back they wlll be sunk "if necessary."The resolution directs Portugal not to permit oU to be pumped to Rhodesia throughthe Belra-Umtali pipeline. Britain alsoagreed to a demand by the CommunlstAfrican bloc that the latter's more drasticresolution, which calls for a British mllltaryoccupation of Rhodesia, a total blockade anda demand that South Africa prevent overlandshipments of oll to Rhodesia, may be considered later.
What Is the reason for this extraordinaryaction by the Security Councll? Ostensibly,It rests on chapter VII of the U.N. Charterwhich authorizes the use of force against athreat to International peace. But who Isthreatening the peace? Certainly not Rhodesia, which has asserted its independencebut which Is threatening no other nation.Portugal? South Africa? Not by any stretchof the Imagination.
The unstated truth Is that the SecurityCouncll has taken this action, not againsta threat to peace, but to prevent the whiteminority In Rhodesia from indefinitely dominating the black majority. This may be aworthy objective. But it cannot Justify aperversion of the U.N. Charter, or the consequences which may be expected to fiow fromIt.
It Is remarkable that the United Stateshas Joined unreservedly In this undertaking.Nothing evidently has been learned from ourpartlclpatlon In somewhat simllar abortiveefforts by the U.N. to coerce Spain and theCongo's Moise Tshombe. Britain and othernations even now Ignore our policy and continue to trade freely with Castro's Cuba.Where there Is at least some threat to thepeace of Latin America. And In Vietnam,Where the threat to peace long ago eruptedInto a grim and costly war, trade With Hanoigoes merrily on by many nations. includingBritain. And the Soviet Union, of course. Isactively assisting the North Vietnamese intervention. Have we sought to invoke thecharter's chapter VII? PerIsh the thought.
Ambassador Goldberg went on to say that"we [the U.N.] shall be making international law,"
Perhaps so. But it w1ll be a new form ofInternational law which is based on a disIngenuous premise and which, to state thematter bluntly, Is tainted With sham. A Security Councll authorization for the use offorce to deal with a genuine threat to international peace Is one thing. The use offorce to achieve some Internal reform. nomatter how desirable such reform may be,Is a horse of entirely di1Ierent color.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is therefurther morning business? If not morn-ing business is concluded. '
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT ACT OF 1966
The PRESIDING OFFICER. In accordance with the unanimous-consentagreement previously entered into. theChair lays before the Senate the unfinished business.
The Senate resumed consideration ofthe bill (S. 2934) to provide needed additional means for the residents of ruralAmerica to achieve equality of opportunity by authorizing the making ofgrants for comprehensive planning forPUblic services and development in commUnity development districts designatedby the Secretary of Agriculture.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President. Isuggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Theclerk will call the roll.. The legislative clerk proceeded to call
the roll.Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that the order forthe quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Withoutobjection. it is so ordered.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, I askunanimous consent that I may proceedon a nongermane subjp.ct.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Withoutobjection, it is so ordered.
AMERICAN INDIANSNEW DESTINY
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, I wishto address myself and call the attention of Senators to the American Indians,and the new destiny which I think canbe theirs.
Mr. President, the w,orst mistake theAmerican Indians ever made, someonehas said, was that they had too looseand slipshod an immigration policy.They ~et the bars down, and they havehad cause to regret it ever since.
Chief Powhatan might well have said,"There goes the neighborhood."
From the Indian's standpoint the bestremedial policy might be to start a colonization program to send all us nonIndians to some foreign frontier andlet us start anew. Or, perhaps, theycould propose our withdrawal to certaindefensive "enclaves" in this country, asGeneral Gavin and others have suggested for the Americans in South Vietnam.
But, not since the Comanche medicineman, Ishiti, failed to live up to his promise to drive all white men from theseshores, after running up against the reality of the long-range buffalo rifles inhis first test at Adobe Walls in the 1870's,has any Indian put much stock in eithersuggestion.
"We've got to learn to live with younon-Indians," my Comanche Indianwife, LaDonna, says to me with not quiteas much of a smile as I would like. "atleast until we Indians get the bomb."I am afraid that. too, will be a long timecoming, in view of the fact that we nonIndians do have the bomb, and we areagainst proliferation.
But, somebody must have thought theenclave idea had some merit, because itis the official Indian pollcy of the U.S.Government, and has been ever since webecame ashamed of the former "goodIndian is a dead Indian" polley. It isnot an enclave pollcy for the non-Indian, however. It is an enclave policy forthe Indian, himself.
We non-Indians have forced the Indians into withdrawing to defensive, isolated enclaves. We have done this, notjust in the obvious case of the reservation. but also-and here is the wholepoint--we have done it and we are doingit even though he sits next to us inschool or lives down the block.
We have meant well enough. No conquering people ever did more over alonger period of time to try to assuagetheir own guilty consciences and wipeout the ill effects of their conquest, thanhave we.
But, we have gone wrong-desperatelywrong. And we know it, and that makesus feel worse. When we feel worse, wetend to try all the harder in the same oldwrong ways. There is a wave of feelingworse going on all over the country rightnow.
So, what shall we do about the Indianproblem?
In the first place, we ought to stopthinking of it as an Indian problem. Itis not an Indian problem; it is a humanproblem, an American problem. We areprobably not going to solve it finally until we no more need a Bureau of IndianAffairs than we do a bureau of Italianaffairs or a bureau of Irish affairs.
That is a long way off, however. Wecannot abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs until it COmes much nearer to doingits job, but there is a hint of the solutionin that thought. In the meantime, theBureau must have a new sense of purpose, direction, and urgency, and that,fortunately, appears to be in the making,internally.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs all theseyears has been the official U.S. agencycharged by the Congress with the responsibility for Indian policy and programs.
As reported in April by the SenateCommittee on Interior and Insular Affairs:
The Indian Bureau has been In operationfor well over a hundred years, and since 1948almost $2 billion has been appropriated forthe agency. In the last half dozen yearsalone, $1.5 billion has been made availablefor Indian programs.
Mr. President, I might say parenthetically at this point that I have discussedthese remarks with the chairman of theCommittee on Interior and Insular Af':fairs, the distinguished Senator fromWashington [Mr. JACKSON], who wishedto be present and comment on them, butis necessarily absent because of his attendance at an important hearing in theArmed Services Committee. He does intend to comment on them hereafter, byMonday.
In 1965, the Bureau and the IndianHealth Division had $300.7 million towork with, as compared with $273.8 milllon the year before, and $269.2 millionthe year before that. In 1965 the Bureauand the Indian Health Division had21,025 employees on their payrolls toaccomplish the job, as compared with20,985 the year before, and 20,854 theyear before that.
Thus, each year Congress has worriedmore about Indian problems. and eachyear we have provided more money andmore employees to work on their solution.
This year, the Bureau of Indian Affairsand the Indian Health Division are asking Congress for increased appropriations totaling nearly one-third of a billion dollars and for 1,200 additionalemployees.
What are we buying for our money?What kind of results are we getting?
I know more about Oklahoma thanany other State, because it is my home.In many ways we are very fortunate inOklahoma. We have no reservations.
It has been much easier for OklahomaIndians to become apart of the total
8716 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -.·SENATE
community in Oklahoma than it has inreservation states, and we have producedIndian humorists, prima ballerinas, U.s.Senators' wives, and business executives.
But, for every Will Rogers, Maria Tallchief, LaDonna Harris, and W. W.Keeler, there are thousands of Okla.,homa Indians who do not even have achance-and, what is worse, will not,unless some real changes are made inAmerican thinking.
So, let us look at the facts about Bureau results in Oklahoma, where we haveone-fourth of all American Indians,recognizing that the Bureau has had abetter chance for success there than inmost reservation States.
What about education? Although theBureau of Indian Affairs, with properpride, reports that approximately 90percent of school-age Oklahoma Indianchildren currently attend local publicschools, a recent stUdy by the Universityof Oklahoma reveals that the dropoutrate among Indian children in publicschools is three to four times as high asamong non-Indian children. In threeeastern Oklahoma counties of high Indian population, the dropout rate amongIndian children in public schools wasrecently found to be 70 percent. Whereas the average American child completesbetween 11 and 12 grades, the 1960 U.S.census revealed that among OklahomaIndian children the median number ofschool years completed was only 8.8.
The principal of one Oklahoma publichigh school has indicated that about onethird of his students are Indians, butapproximately 80 percent of all studentabsences and dropouts in his school areIndian. Another western Oklahomapublic school district reports· that approximately 25 percent of its school enrollment of 400 are Indian, yet only 11Indians have graduated from that schoolin the last 40 years.
What about income? Among Indiansliving in rural areas in Oklahoma-andwe do not have complete figures on urban areas-the median annual hicomeis only $1,000, as reported by the 1960U.S. census. A study completed·· in awestern Oklahoma county recentlyshowed that, whereas the'average income for all males in that county· was$3,281, the average income for Indianmales in that county was half the nonIndian average, or $1,613.
Considering these facts, it is not sUrplising that Indian unemployment is atshocking levels.
Remember, the Oklahoma example isprobably better than the typical Indiansituation in many other parts of theUnited States. After noting that "American Indians are reportedly the most underemployed minority group in the United States," the Senate Committee onInterior and Insular Affairs officiallystated early this month: .
That Indians remain at the bottom of theeconomic ladder, have the highest rate ofunemployment, live in the poorest housing,and suffer chronic poverty, is a clear indictment of past programs and pOlicies pursuedby the Bureau.
That may be too harsh a statementunless we include ourselves, individually,tn the criticism.
Surprisingly, I was a long time realizing some of the facts I have cited, al.,though I grew UP and went to publicschools with Indian children in a community of relatively high Indian population. How I came to learn these factsis an interesting story.
My wife, LaDonna, and our three children are enrolled members of the Comanche Indian Tribe, once called thelords of the south plains, I am a betterthan average lay anthropologist, and Iam a self-admitted expert on ComancheIndian history and culture. I learnedto speak the language long ago and, inaddition to practicing law for a livingand serving in the Oklahoma State Senate, I have spent countless hours throughthe years in interviewing aged Comanches, with LaDonna's help, as a hobby.But, like many of those who are anthropologically inclined, I was more interested in the past than I was in the future;I was more interested in observing asituation than I was in helping tochange it.
LaDonna is different. Hers is 'an untrained kind of natural sensitivity,although until recent years, aninarticulate one, to the problems of Indians.She knows the problems because she haslived them, both in the Indian way andin the "white man's road."
Though now only 35, she grew up ina bilingual home, where Comanche wasthe dominant language spoken. Evenyet, that language sounds more explicitand expressive to her. Because hermother and "father were divorced soori.after she was born, and her mother untilrecent years was a live-in dietician at thenearby Fort Sill Indian Hospital, shewas reared by her grandparents.
Her grandfather,Tabbytite, while helived in a fine house and was an excellentand successful farmer in our country,could neither rean- nor write, spoke English only haltingly, never accepted orquite understood Christianity, and worelong braids until an illness late in lifecaused him to cut his hair. Son of anold~time medicine man, he himself,claimed and used curative powers andwas a leader in the peyote religious CUlt,introduced from Mexico among the Comanches in early reservation times,· theparticipants in which ceremonies use thehallucination-inducing p·eyote.
While the old man was always a goodstudent of current events-especially warnews-because of his avid interest inradio, and later" television. broadcasts, hehad a hard time making heads or tailsof some of the later technological developments.For example, when he diedat an "age in excess of 90 years in 1962,he still felt certain that the performerson teleVision could see the viewers and,therefore, he always dressed in his bestclothes to watch his favorite programs.
But LaDonna was'more fortunate thanmany, in thathel' grandmother, Mrs.Wickkie Tabbytite, now a frequent visitor to ,Washington who has been conducted through the White House by Mrs.Lyndon Johnson, was and is a wonderfully adaptive person. Mrs. Tabbytitesaw early and well· the merits of education and association with members of thetotal community, Indians and non,;,Indians.
",Someyears ago, because of our interest in 'human rights, LaDonnabecamea; 'member of the executive board of theSouthwest'CeIltet.foi:'·. Human RelationsStudies at. theUrrlversityofOklahoma.and I be~ame a member. of its advisorycouncil...The Human Relations Center,then, in 1963, was headed by Dr. WilliamR. Carmack, now my· administrative assistant in Washington, and was naturallyconcentrating its efforts· primarily onproblems of the Negro.
After her first board meeting, LaDonna came home and said, "I'd like toget that group interested in Indian problems also."
I take no little pride in the fact that Idid not respond by saying, "Some of mybest. friends are . Indians," but I amafraid the effect of what I said was aboutthe same. '''What Indian problems?" Iasked. "I've lived all my life among Indians, and the, only Indian problems Iknow about is the one I married." WhenI had a chance to say something more, Isaid that, if it were true that Indianshad certain special problems, other thantho.se encountered by. all citizens, I hadthought the Bureau of Indian Affairs wassupposed to ,take care of such things.
The fact that, thereafter, over the nextseveral months,it took us so long toreally identify and articulate the basicproblems as we saw them, shoUldindi':cate how subtle and hidden, and, therefore, how hard to cope With, they are~
Primarily as aresult of LaDonna's interest, the Human Relations Center atOklahoma University in 1963 establishedan Indian education project in our hometown of Lawton. As its Indian participants commenced to "discuss themselvesand their problems together, the needto trade self-consciousness for self-confidence in dealing with the non-Indiancommunity became the. obviously dominant problem. Out of studies and interviews with Indian students which the Indian participants themselves originatedand. conducted, .greW self.:improvement~ourses in. the. sodal graces,'counselingservices, and career conferences for Indian young people, leadership trainingfor Indian adults, and,most important,the development of total community discussion and action projects to give In~h:m. adults and young people the opportunity for meaningful interactionwith non':'Indians..
It worked spectacularly. It workedbecause it was basically a self-help program developed by t1;le Indians themselves, and-this is the primary point-itwas aimed at the need for self-confidence,motivation, and the opportunity for active and worthwhile participation in thetotal community. with non-Indians aswell as with other Indians. "
Thereafter, under the leadership ofDr. Carmack and With the encouragement of local Bureau of Indian Affairsofficials, the Washington office of theBureau granted $25,000 annually to theHuman Relations Center to expand thissame kind of procedure and program, sothat it now,in its second year, includesfive such small project centers in westernOklahoma.
It is as aresult of this Indian education project of the Oklahoma University
April 21, '1966 CONGRESSIONAL: RECORD·"-.. SENATE '8717Human RelatioIis Center that we arebarely commencing to learn the facts,though we are stilhwoefully short on thedetailed and reliable statistics of Indianproblems-in Oklahoma and thr.oughoutthe United states: As a result of thiseffort, too, LaDonna later formed Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity, a statewide organization Of Indians and interested non-Indians,which has already inits first year held a statewide conference,attended by" morel than ',' 500 , OklahomaIndians, on Indian opport~nitiesin education, technical training, and emp!oyment, and has recently launched a project to train' Indians from throughoutOklahoma for leadership in totaL community activities. 'This latter project isbeing financed by the University of ;Utahwith a portion of funds granted to it forthat purpose by the U.S: Office of Economic Opportu~ity.,.f[
Harold Cameron; of. the University ofOklahoma Indian education project, whois responsible for discovering most of thereal statistics we have in Oklahoma, hasbeen carrying on some highly valuableand original research there. Indians today, he has written, unlike. their parentsand grandparents,do not have the reassuring and satisfying memQries of a timewhen the Indianway of;life Waf) the onlyway of life. For good or ill, moderncommunications have changed the oldway irrevocably.· .". . ',.
He has found that Indian childrenbegin experiencing real difficulty atabout junior. high school age, as schoolrecitations and other activities begin torequire competition in the non-Indianworld. Regular school attendance thenoften changes to absenteeism; absencesbecome dropouts. '. I am certai~ that theBureau of Indian Affairs is on the righttrack in its efforts to get the Indian children into public schools" because continued isolation would only be, delayingthe advent of the difficulties, but we mustrecognize the problems' which result.
Cameron states that at the seventh,eighth, and ninth grade levels, "Indianstudents usually do not take part inschool activities, such as athletics, musicand clubs, and they frequently do notseemingly have the confidence necessaryto allow them to enter into normal classroom activities" such as, group discussions."
Cameron further states that:The administrators of •two high schools
said that the Indian students were'so fearfulof being laughed at, they refuse to participate In any activity. Indian stUdents haverepeatedly said that they simply w1ll not takepart In any of the school's activities for fearof being l'1d1culed after making a mIstake.One student said, "I don't speak up 01' takepart because people don't like it when anIndian speaks up. People think that all Indians are dumb, so I might as well be dumb,too,"
Moreover, the Indian is frequentlyforced to choose between acceptance byIndians or aCceptance by n01~L,\'::lians.Cameron states:
In a recent lntel'View,'_flv~ Senior-yearhigh school Indian girls ofa. -westel'll Oklahoma community sald thatlt,'JIit Indian students are fearful that they wUl nClt be successful If they try to, partIcipate in theschool's actInties and. therefore, .they segre-
gate themselves whenever possible. Theseparticular girls are active in. their school'sactivities, and, as a result of tl!eu partIclpatiim, are forced to endure the ridicule ofother nonparticipating Indian stUdents.
It is not surprising that this isolationfrom the total community carries overinto adult life and follows the Indianwherever he goes.
Because of the lack of communicationbetween the Indian and the non-Indian,and because of the strong negative socialpressures from other Indians against the"white Indian" and the stigma some successful Indians feel is· attached to beingIndian, both of which latter pressurescause the successful Indian to removehimself from the Indian community, Indian young people have few Indian rolemodels of success-models with whomthey can really identify.
These conflicting and inconsistent internal and external pressures, identifiedin Oklahoma, are equally prevalent onthe Indian reservations. One Bureaureservation superintendent, who typifiesthe self-searching. basic thinking beingdone in the Bureau, recently wrote thatthese inconsistencies include:
A feeling of dependency on the non-Indianworld linked with a. hostll1ty toward it; theexpressed desire to maintain the values ofthe reservation subCUlture, at the same 'tlmeovertly expressing a desire to compete as aneqtlal In the non-Indian world; desire forauthority, yet fear of responsibll1ty; constant expressions of togetherness and concernfor community, linked with overt acts whichfrequently point to a strong self-ol'1entatlon;and, finally, a recurring demand for freedomof action, opposed by an almost morbid fearof cutting the umbll1cus linking the Indianto the Federal Government. Nothing muchof lasting value can take place In reservation developments so long as these dichotomies exist as strongly as they do; they arecertainly not consistent with the development of the values and skills whIch wlll benecessary to manage the huge estates ownedby • • • tribes.
The result of all this, much too frequently, is the needless waste of greatand valuable hUman resources in America, needless but surely predictable unemployment and idleness, delinquency andcrime, alcoholism and despair, welfareand dependency. withdrawal and escapism, and human lives lived out withoutmuch feeling of belonging, of dignity, ofworth.
These insights and these few statisticswe have about Indians--and problemsthey face-must now be put to work inthe Bureau of Indian Affairs andthroughout the United States.
There are mostly good people in theBureau of Indian Affairs who ferventlywant to do the right thing. stewartUdall, Secretary of the Interior, the parent department, is a very good and exceptionally understanding man, who together with his wife, Lee, has a depth ofinterest in Indians not matched by anySecretary in recent times.
As a result of his leadership, stirringsof massive change within the Bureau canbe heard. They are most welcome. Theclimate for new urgency, purpose, anddirection in Indian policy has never beenbetter.
But, as we make this new beginning,we must be careful not to place all our
emphasis on treatment of symptoms andignore causes.
First. It is essential that we clearly de,;.fine and state our Indian polley and ourresponsibility to Indians; Just what is itwe are trying to accomplish? The factthat there is no training manual bt training: program f6r the new employee whocomes into the BUreau of Indian Affairsis not only an'error in management,,vhich must be corrected, but it is alsoindicative of the lack of real understanding or clear statement of what the goalof national Indian policy is.' When wecan clearly and succinctly define our Indian policy, theIi we will be able to stateclearly how each Bureau employee andofficial fits into that goal and what hisindividual responsibility or role is.
Second. OUr Indian' policy must beainied at people, not at areas; we mustbecome interested in the Indian withprobleIJ1I3,wherever he lives, in the townor city as well as on the reservation.
Indians with the same basic problemsarein a good many places in the UnitedStates where you would least expectthem. They, too, have been a part of therural-to-urbim shift, partly because of aconcerted Bureau effort which 'beganduring the Eisenhower years to relocatethem away from the reservation. Atleast as typical of the American Indianas the reservation'dweller; is more andmore becoming the Indian' who lives ina little-recognized ghetto in a huge city,such as Los Angeles which has one ofAmerica's large Indian populations, or inloneliness in a smaller city or town. Forhim the Indian way is gone, and he cannot break into the non-Indian way. Heis a man without a country,
As he moves into contact with nonIndians, permanently or occasionally,his isolation' moves with him. But theservices and interest of the Bureau donot always move with him. The degreeof the Bureau's interest in him has beenalmost in direct proportion to the degreethat he remains an Indian, isolated infact from the total community, separateand inferior.. Indians living in the urbari al'eas ofOklahoma City and Tulsa,. for example,two areas of large Indian population, areineligible for general assistance underthe Bureau's welfare program. What isworse, these Indians, while continUing tolive there, are also ineligible for theBureau's adult vocational training program. Indian children in the publicschools there receive no attention fromthe Bureau's educational services.
Third. The goal of our Indian policymust be that of helping the AmericanIndian become a full-fledged citizen, ableto move With ease into the mainstreamof the American economy and culture.Though all legal barriers, except too restrictive controls on use of trust lands,have long since been removed, the intangible, more real barriers to meaningful interaction between the Indian andthe non-Indian are still painfully present. The basic problem is the isolationof the Indian from the non-Indian community. partly self-imposed as a defensivemechanism and because of cumulative disappointments.
8718 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE April 21, 1966
While we must not try to transformthe Indian into a middle-class whiteman, because the right to be distinct anddifferent is inherent in this country, andpride of heritage, itself, can be apowerfully motivating factor, contact by theIndian with the non-Indian and participation in the total community mustbecome mutually easy, comfortable,worthwhile, and rewarding.
This goal is, of course, more difficultof achievement, but nonetheless essential, for the reservation Indian. Boldness, imagination, and real initiative willbe required in the execution of ourpolicies if this primary goal is to beachieved for and by him.
Fourth. We must understand that wecannot achieve our goal except throughthe change of attitudes. We must concentrate our attention on the Indianneed for self-confidence, motivation, andthe opportunity for active and worthwhile participation in the total community, with non-Indians as well as withother Indians.
Without this, we will be treating symptoms and not causes.
Further, in the past, our undertakings, dedicated to an attack on specificproblems of the Indian, have too oftensought to impose solutions and syntheticleadership from the outside. We havebeen doing things to Indians, ratherthan with them.
Greater control over the use and development of Indian tribal and individual lands, better provision for participation in tribal government by those awayfrom the reservation, continuation andintensification of emphasis on industrialdevelopment on reservations and thebuilding of job opportunities in Indianareas, more attention to the treatmentof alcoholism-all are required and arein the making..
But, all these programs, and more, willnot get us much further toward ourgoal unless attitudes are changed.
And, in all our undertakings we mustbe careful to understand that it is notjust Indian attitudes we are concernedwith. The attitude of the chamber ofcommerce executive who only thinks ofIndian jobs in the arts and crafts andbeadwork fields, "because they're all soartistic," should concern us also, asshould that of the public school guidancecounselor who says, "I just can't get anything out of these Indian kids, when allthey do is grunt, and they lie so much,"or the attitude of the businessman whosays, "Your wife is different becauseshe is part Spanish; these fullbloods justhave no ambition or desire to work."
It has been announced that we aregoing to have an outstanding educator,the best money can buy, to head up Indian education in the Bureau. We needhim. And, the new man must teachteachers,as well as children. Local public school teachers must be sensitizedto the problems of Indian young people,and imaginative guidance and counseling services must be inspired and initiated in the local public schools, as wellas within the Bureau. As we go to workat once with the facts we already know,we must also begin further research onthe causes of school absenteeism and
dropouts, so that better action programscan be initiated.
I understand also that we shall soonhave a new man in the Bureau whose jobwill be to help the Indian help himselftoward meaningful and worthwhile interaction with the non-Indian community, toward the development of skillswhich will permit him a leadership rolein the total community. This new man,therefore, must necessarily work as muchwith non-Indians as he does withIndians, a direction in which the Bureau,itself, must also move. Non-Indians areeager to be a part of this great new effort,but the Bureau must serve as the catalystto get us together in our local communities, not just in some momentarilysatisfying, "do-good, take an Indian tolunch" meeting, but in community actionwhich has real meaning and value andoffers opportunity for worthwhile andlasting interaction.
We non-Indian church members needto be led to see that, while it is good tobuild an Indian mission, it is at least asgood to encourage Indian membership inour own church. We non-Indian civicclub members need to be helped to seethat, at least as important as providinga scholarship for an Indian student togo to college, is inviting an Indian tojoin our own club· so that he may helpmotivate us to better understanding andhis children toward vital self-confidence.
So, it is not a matter of Indian Affairs;it is a matter of human relations, amatter of attitudes.
If the Bureau of Indian Affairs cannow furnish the spark to help the Indianget himself outside his own problems andbecome a part of the solution to largercommunity and world problems, I amconfident that we will not just havehelped show the way to real hope and oppor.tunity for these human beings involved. More than that, I think it isthe destiny of the American Indian, himself a product of two cultures, to showAmerica, and perhaps the world, the wayto better human understanding andbrotherhood.
Catch a glimpse of what we could bedoing-and should be doing. For example, consider the mlllions of desperately deprived, unassimilated, unaccuIturated South American Andean Indians, who now live out their terrible,cocaine-numbed, half-starved, workwracked, isolated lives and die of oldage at 35, and who, my friends, will notbe docile always. They may yet shakethe foundations of this hemisphere's security. Already there are rumblings inthose mountains, and Peking and Moscow have heard them and are todayteaching the Indian languages and customs, along with subversion, to some oftheir agents.
Think what an advantage with thesepeople America has; we have got Indians ourselves. That is a boast brandX cannot make. American Indianscould have a mission with these AndeanIndians which no other people couldcarry out nearly so well. And, if withthese people of South America, why notwith the other deprived, nonwhite people of the world, who make up most ofthe population of our globe?
There is no reason why not, except wehad better start here at home. And, itis here at home that the Indian can leadus all-as he sees it more clearly himselfand as, by working with him, we see itmore clearly-to a fuller realization ofthe real and inborn worth and dignity ofevery single human soul.
Mr. MONRONEY. Mr. President,during many years in the House and theSenate, I have heard many speechesabout the problems of the American Indian and the programs and efforts necessary to bring about the needed "lift" ofthis great race of people who were herewhen the latecomers arrived on thevarious shores of our country. Neverhave I heard a speech so moving, one sofilled with the delicate understanding ofthe personality of the American Indianand the failure of the governmental approach to this good day, in reaching acompatible understanding of the Indian,of filling his needs, his aspirations, hisambitions, and the .task to which hisgreat quality and talents entitle him.
I congratulate my colleague fromOklahoma for this excellent speech, onethat I commend to every Member of theSenate and the House and to the educators throughout the country to studycarefully. in order to devise a programthat will be worthy of the time and effort of the people who inhabited thisland for many years before the othersarrived.
I thank my colleague.Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President, I am
highly honored by the generous remarksof my distinguished colleague fromOklahoma. They are made doublymeaningful to me because long before Icame to the Senate-and since-my distinguished colleague had displayed agreat interest in and understanding ofthese problems and has been of greatservice in working for their proper solution.
Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I wishto join in· the compliment the distinguished senior Senator from Oklahoma[Mr. MONRONEY] paid his distinguishedjunior colleague [Mr. HARRIS] for thespeech he has just delivered in the Senate. The junior Senator from Oklahomahas rendered a service to the Nation andto the State in which he lives.
Although I was aware as I read thespeech and listened to it as it was delivered that it was especially directed tothe people whom the Senator knows best,it is a matter Clfinterest to me, as well,because although I cannot command alovely Comanche wife, I can say that myUncle Dick married a Shoshone Indian.SO I can at least say that I have an Indian relative.
We in Wyoming have a different situation than exists in Oklahoma, due to thefact that we have no segregated schools,although farther north there may besome. Both thef:\hoshone and ArapahoeTribe~;,9.t''l,represented in Wyoming. Infact, my 'l1~aternal grandfather came towyomil~ iil1865. with the Connor expedition, 'l;:hi~h was"~ent to quell disturbances inJh~lV':l;est. So I have a deep andabiding ~no\Vledge of the work done forthe Indians,· as ;well as of their hopesand aspirations.
April 21,1966 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE 8719
I am haPPY to say; as I am sure thedistinguished Senator from Oklahomaknows, that the newly appointed Directorof the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mr.Robert Bennett, is himself a fullbloodedIndian and gives promise of doing anoutstanding job. .
But better than that, we have assur-. ance from the Secretary of the Interior,
Mr. Udall. that he will. seek to educatethese people and will'seek to provide fortheir needs. . ..
'Ihe good Lord knoWs•. as the Senatorhimself knows. that more officers are notneeded in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.Almost 22.000 employees of the FederalGovernment are now handling Indianaffairs. and there are only. 380.000 Indians on reservations. When we includeIndians who live off the reservations,over whom we have little control, thatmeans that 1 bureaucrat is in chargeof every 14 Indians. One member of ourInterior Committee suggested that therewere more chiefs than Indians: Wehave asked the Secretary Qf the Interiorand the new Director of the Bureau totry and remedy that situation. I amencouraged by our discussions, and I amhopeful that Mr. Bennett.will be able tostraighten out the bUreaucracy .thatexists in his agency. One thing can besaid with certainty, and that is that thesituation cannot deteriorate further.
'Ihe employees of the Bureau haveestablished one of the worst records ofbureaucracy in the entire Government.Fortunately, Secretary Udall has nowrecognized the serious nature of the problems that exist in the Indian agency andhas promised to back Mr. Bennett in aneffort to clean UP the mesS which existsin the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
I might digress to comment that I amleaving the Capitol shortly to meet mymother, 92 years old, who is flying toWashington today. She liVed on aShoshone reservation most of her life.She speaks the Shoshone and Arapaholanguages. I wish she could have beenhere to listen to the marvelous presentation of the senator from Oklahoma [Mr.HARRIS]. .
I again wish to compliment the Senator. He has rendered a great service tohis State and to the Nation. I am proudto be affiliated with him and to knowthat he has undertaken to express himself on the situation at this time.
Mr. HARRIS. I thank the distinguished senator from Wyoming. I amgrateful to him for remaining in theChamber while I made my speech.
In Oklahoma, approximately 95 percent of the Indian children attend thepublic schools. That, as I am sure theSenator from Wyoming would agree, is amarvelous advancement in Indian policy.But I emphasize again that we cannotforget those young people once they enter non-Indian schools. That is precisely my point: That they go t9 thoseschools \\1th the handicap of~reir ownattitude and the attitude ot.~le nonIndians with whom they come in 'Contact.That is a situation which must be givenspecial attention. •
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, will theSenator yield?
Mr. HARRIS. I am pleased to-yield tothe distinguished Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I wishto commend the distinguished juniorSenator from Oklahoma for his eloquentspeech. which focused needed attentionon this most embarrassing, depressing,human problem. .
Although we in Hawaii do not havemany Indians in our community, I am,like many other Americans, concernedabout the problem.
Today, we pride ourselves in meetingcommitments and fulfilling treaties. Yetmy stUdy of history shows that we havemany dark chapters in which we havecompletely disregarded our treaties withthe Indians. We have at times very conveniently forgotten our obligations. Yettoday we are telling our people that ourcommitments are sacred and that theintegrity of the United States is mostprecious.
Today. we pride ourselves on havingthe most educated people on the face ofthe earth residing in the United States.Last year was called Education Year.But I am depressed to learn that the original Americans have about the lowestrate of literacy in the United States.
We consider ourselves the wealthiestof all the people on earth, but I am depressed to learn that our original Americans have about the highest mortalityrate in America. We consider ourselvesaffluent and wealthy. Yet we find ourgallant original Americans with the lowest average income in the United States.But I suppose many Americans have notbeen concerned about this problem because for so many generations we Americans have been brought up to look uponthe cowboys as the good people and theIndians as the bad barbarians. But alittle stUdy of our history will show thatIndians have been great, and are still agreat people. Numbered among themare Tecumseh. Sitting Bull. and Powhatan. 'Ihey were great statesmen. Theywere statesmen upon whom we shouldlook as the very best in our Nation. Ifwe have a national conscience, the timehas come that we undo this wrong.
I wish to join the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma in his remarks andto pledge to him personally and to assurehim that I shall be following him in hisleadership. I shall do whatever I can tojoin my fellow Americans to undo thiswrong.
'Ihe Great Society is a great program.It is a program of human rights. It is aprogram of justice. It is a program ofopportunity. The time has come whenthe programs of the Great Society shouldbe extended to our great Americans.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President. in conversations with me several times in thelast month or two. the distinguishedSenator from Hawaii has evidenced agreat and abiding interest in this subjectand in the welfare and lives of the American Indians.
I know that he will have a great influence on the improvement of this situation. His very presence here today andhis excellent statement on what we mustdo and what our attitudes must be towarn this problem will in itself help focusattention on the problem and move usin the direction of solution.
I thank the Senator very much.I am pleased to yield to the dis
tingUished Senator from Utah.Mr. MOSS. Mr. President. I join with
my colleagues in congratulating thejunior Senator from Oklahoma on thethought-provoking and penetratingspeech he has made today on the floorof the Senate.
He has articulated for us a policy thatwe should adopt in this great country ofours to help the original citizens of thisland, our Indian brethren.~. As I listened to the speech of the Senator today. I felt that it was not only agoed speech but also a great sermon. Itpointed out that we>as a people all toooften in the past have thought of theIndians as being different and as beingpeople who should be treated as a groupunder some group policy rather thanrecognizing the individuality, worth. andpotential of every single Indian, as werecognize the individual worth of allother citizens of our country.
These people deserve an opportunityto develop their individual talents. 'Iheyshould begiven all the opportunities thatother citizens have.
Mr. President. I serve on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs andalso on the Indian Affairs Subcommittee.We have been puzzled and troubled overour policies. We are even now goingthrough a reexamination of the policiesthat have been adopted by this Government concerning Indians who are wardsof the Government or Indians who havebeen terminated as tribal members.They are still deserving of our consideration and concern.
I believe that what the junior Senatorfrom Oklahoma has said today will be agreat guideline for us to follow. Wemust seriously consider his statement.
The Senator made a most importantstatement in his magnificent speechwhenhe said that it is not a matter of Indianaffairs. that it is a matter of human relations and attitude. He said in his speechthat we have so often forgotten thisguidepost in our attitude in dealing withthe Indians of our land.
I congratulate the Senator. A greatneed exists to give these people their fullopportunity. It behooves us to move inthe direction in which the Senator haspointed us.
I congratulate the Senator for hissympathetic, understanding. and penetrating speech.
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. President. I thankthe distinguished senator from Utah.
I am especially impressed and pleasedby his remarks because of his years ofable and dedicated work as a member ofthe Committee on Interior and InsularAffairs. his special expertise, and his interest in this subject.
As I mentioned in my remarks, theUniversity of Utah has taken a greatleadership role not just in the greatState of Utah, but also throughout theUnited States wherever Indians are located, in trying to arrive at a fresh andnew solution of some of the problemsthat we have discussed.
The University of Utah heads a consortium of universities financed by funds
8720 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE :April ,21, 1966
granted by the Office of Economic Opportunity for work in this kind of field.
It is from those funds that the Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity Organization was recently financed for aleadership training program in Oklahoma.
That brings up another separate question which I did not mention in my remarks. I believe that the Bureau ofIndian Affairs and all of us must be willing to accept the fact that the Bureau ofIndian Affairs is not the only agency ordepartment of the Government which isor must be involved with Indians. TheBureau must not feel jealous of theirjurisdiction of Indians. Every department should be and is involved with Indians. Indians are citizens, as we allare.
I believe that the Bureau and the officials of the Office of Economic Opportunity have made some breakthroughs inour thinking and actions having to dowith Indians. The University of Utahhas had a real and vital part in thatprogram.
I am pleased to yield to the distinguished Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. MONDALE. Mr. President, theSenator from Oklahoma has performedan important service to our Nation in delivering this fine speech on the problemsfaced by the American Indian today. Hisaddress has been warm and human,drawing deeply from his own rich experience, but his message is urgent. Fordespite a wide variety of Federal programs, despite the efforts of many dedicated people, we have not succeeded inbringing the majority of Indians remotely close to what we call the mainstream of our society. So we must givefull support to the Senator when he urgesus to take a hard look at the objectives ofour Indian policies, and how we arecarrying them out. .
The Indian population of my StateMinnesota, is 15,793 according to th~1960 census.. Of these 10,259 were receiving public assistance in 1964, approximately two.,thir~sof the total population. And this number on welfare hasbeen rising, 150ing up by 11.3 percentsince 1960. , " .'
And when we look at the income figureswe can see why. Indians in :Minnesotalive with an average family income' ofunder $1,000 a year, less than onEl-thirdof what we have set as the"minimumpoverty level in America. The 'unemployment rat,e for Indians in Minnesotaand Wisconsin is 55percelltaccor~ingtothe last completed figures of the Bureauof Indian Affairs." Or if wecQlfsider housing, we find that
of the approximately 2,500 indian families in Minnesota, 2,250,01" 90 percent,live in substandard housing. '" '
_With appalling conditions like these,I feel it is clear that we must not neglecta single Federal. program that can beeffective in helping Indian Americans toovercome them. We must work to makesure that pClVei·ty programs,job tniining,aid. to education, health and housingassistance, antidiscrimination laws--allof the/le are '. fully utilized .in helping Indians build better lives for themselves.And as Senator HARRIS so rightly empha-
sizes, we must work with Indian leadersin making these effective. We must bedoing things with Indians, not doingthings to them.
I have been working for many monthsnow on getting adequate housing forsome of our Minnesota Indian reservations. Our aim is a modest one to start350 units, or roughly 15 percent of theneed. It has been a slow process, notbecause of any lack of interest on thepart of the Inctians--they have beenworking on developing these projectssince its outset-but rather because ofdelays brought about by problems in Federal housing regulations, and insufficientcontact between officials working on thisand the Indians involved.
For this reason I was most gratified toparticipate last week in a meeting inMinneapolis, called by the Indian leaders in my State, that brought togethervarious officials of the Federal Government to discuss Indian housing projects.This meeting was called by the Indiansand for the Indians. Initiative such asthis must not go unanswered and unrewarded. We know the Indians are readyto cooperate, and I am hopeful that aidedby the direct communication that tookplace last week, we will be able to moveahead on these Indian housing projects.
This meeting was the culmination ofwell over a year's effort by my office tourge the Bureau of Indian Affairs andU.S. Public Housing Authority and othersto develop and approve low-income housing for Indians and Indian reservations.
Although the meeting was helpful, Imust in all candor comment that in manyrespects the public housing authoritiesand others who have been working onthis problem are no nearer to an answertoday than they were a year ago.
They claim that we have a programavailable to provide public housing, butwhen they get down to the details ofworking out the' actual construction ofthe housing, there always seems to besome delay, some reason to put housingout on further bids, some reason for further discussion; and still at this point,even after this meeting, I wonder whenthe day will come when construction ofthis needed housing for our MinnesotaIndians will begin.
As some of you may know, it can getrather cold in northern~Minnesdtain theearly months of the year, a.nd these Indians go through winter after winter ondirtfioors, with six, seven, eight peopleto a room, no sanitation facilities, carrying water to their homes in buckets: Ido not think we woUldneed a very careful study to determine what this does tothe peopleis health, particularly youngchildren. ...
I have seen aetualhealthhistorycardsprepared and kept by oUr u.s. PublicHealth Service on Minnesotalndian reservations. These cardswould shock theaverage American with what they revealabout the repeated and cpstly healthcarerequired. for American Indians,in Minnesota and elsewhere, simply because ofthe dilapidated angunsanitary housingin which they live. . I visited some ofthose homesin late November, and I sawit happening. ,
We have a studY,'conducted by the Division of Indian' Health of the Public
Health Service, that, shows we, will getback. every dollar we spend on minimumdecent housing for Minnesota Indians inreduced costsQf<Jovernmentprograrnsfor Indi~n health. Over the long run, itwill not cost us a penny more to providedecent housing than to allow the presentdisgraceful situation to continue.
And yet it does continue.It is my hope that we can get moving
on these projectS and make a start toward helping Indiaris in my State andelsewhere get decent housing for themselves and their families.
Once again, may I express my gratitude to my distinguis:-Ied colleague andclose friend for the excellent address hehas made this afternoon on one of themost neglected problems in the UnitedStates.
I would also commend my distinguishedcolleague for marrying wisely. His lovelywife, LaDonna,is a warm, clear-mindedAmerican who happens also to be of Indian descent. I have heard her speak onthis problem; and know of her leadershipand interest Jnthe issue.
It is good news for the American Indian, as well as for alldecent Americans,that FRED HARRIS is ill the Senate.
Mr. HARRIS., Mr. President, I ammost grateful for the warm and generousremarks of my distinguished friend, theSenator from Minnesota [Mr. MONDALE].I think that his rising here on the fioorof the Senate to add his own facts andstatistics about the problems in Minnesota will add greatly to our understanding of tpe subject, and will add much tothe record of this discussion.
Mr'.President, I came to the senate atapprox~mately the same time as did thedistinguished Senator fioin Minnesota.He and his wife, Joan, are very closefriends of my wife, LaDonna, and me. Iwould join with the distinguished Senator from Minnesota: in saying that weboth probably -overmarried ourselves.
But,Mr. President, almost from thefirst moment thatweha've known eachother, the distinguished Senator fromMinnesota and his wife have shown greatinterest'in the plight· and problems ofthe Indian people of Minnesota andthroughout the United States. We havediscussed these matters with .them atgreat IE)ngth anliIhber -of times sinceour coming here.
I can say with all assurance, Mr. President, that the'Indian :peopleof Minnesotaandofthe 'United States will behappier and healthier people, and moreproductive citizens, 'because of the presence in this body of the distinguishedSenator from Minnesota,because of hisknowledge and because of the things heis doing and will continue to do in thisbody in their behalf.Mr.MANSFIELD.~'jMr.President, will
the Senator yield? 'Mr.HA,RRIS. , I.Qtnmost happy to
yield to the distinguished majorityleader, ,-" ","',;. ':Mr,~~SF'IEI.D, .1 :Mr. President, I
Wish, tq!Joi:{1.with()ther E;enators in commendiil~tl~e distlJ:lgmshed Senator fromOkll\hOnlljl-' tOr the. outstanding speech hehas' jus! mllde. It is a speech long overdue....,.,...indeed. decades ~overdue.Too
many of us 'tend to take 'the AmericanIndian for granted, to ignore his real
April 21 ,1966 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-' SENATE 8721wants and his vital needs, as has beendisclosed so cogently by the distinguishedSenator from Oklahoma [Mr. HARRIS],the distinguished Senator from Minnesota [Mr. MONDALE], and others.
I am delighted that the Committee onInterior and Insular Affairs is lookinginto the matter, and am very pleasedthat Mr, Bennett, an Oneida Indian fromWisconsin, is now the Commissioner forIndian Affairs. I am confident he willaccomplish those objectives which are solong overdue and which are so vitallynecessary. And, too, it is my sincere hopethat the day is near when the Indianwill share fully in all of the benefits ofAmerican society.
I happen to come from a State whichhas nearly 30,000. Indians. There areFlatheads, Blackfeet, Sioux, Rocky Boy,Chippewa; there are Cree, Crow, andCheyenne. And I am sure, being, fromOklahoma, that my distinguished friendrecalls the fact that after the defeat ofCuster about 91 years ago, the Cheyennewere forced by this Government, throughthe Army, to go from Montana to Oklahoma. A branch of the Cheyenne, theNorthern Cheyenne, made this momentous 2,500-mile trek on foot. They wereharassed by the Army and by the Government. What few remained finally didarrive in western Montana. Their descendants are there today, living on theNorthern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
I speak of the Cheyennes particularlybecause I have an especially warm placein my heart for them. They have littlein the way of resources, but a great deal,indeed, in the ,way of initiative. Theyare trying to lift themselves up on thebasis of that initiative alone. It is noteasy. They have coal deposits, but thedemand for coal has decreased in recentyears. They have timber and carryona lumbering business' as well as theycan. Over a million dollars has beenexpended on a cattle herd,which istribal property, and they have one ortwo small industries, ',In short, theirprogress has been tremendous in comparison with the resources at their disposal.
It would be well if private initiativewould develop an interest in ourIndians For they need help to helpthemselves. They must be given the opportunity to raise themselves by theirown bootstraps. And I am hopeful that,as a result of the hearings by the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs atthe time the nomination of Mr. Bennettwas being considered, and, even more, asa result of this magnificent speech, therewill be a new deal-a good deal for theIndians. And I hope also, as the distinguished Senator has so cogently stated,that the benefits of the Great Society,will be extended to them, not only inOklahoma and Montana, but in everyState in which they live.
Again, I commend the distingUishedSenator for a remarkably good ,,·z.~ ,'>:'~
a perceptive speech-and r re$eat,' aspeech that was long overdueiahd' greatlyneeded. "
Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Preside~t, I amdeeply humbled by the statement of thedistinguished majority leader, Who is my
leader not only in the Senate on thisside of the aisle, but also a leader for thecountry, for many years, in the field ofthe subject upon which I have spoken.He represents the great State of Montana, which has long been proud of anduplifted by its great history and heritageinvolving our Indian citizens.
Recently we had in our home for dinner a young man named John Al'tichoker,who is a Sioux Indian. He is superintendent of the reservation at Lander,Mont.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Of the NorthernCheyenne.
Mr. HARRIS. Of the Northern Cheyenne, Mr. President. I am much impressed by him. He was chosen withinrecent years-he is still a young manas lof the 10 outstanding young men ofthe United States, by the U,S. JuniorChamber of Commerce.
But I am also impressed, and wish theSenate to know, by the fact that JohnArtichokeI' was tremendously impressedwith the special wisdom and interest andactivity of the great Senator from Montana [Mr. MANSFIELD] in this field.
.Artichoker is typical of the freshthinking going on. He was here inWashington recently, working on bringing in industry to that reservation for theemployment of those Indian people there.The distinguished Senator from Montanahas been an integral part of the progressive efforts being made on that reservation and among Indian people generallyin Montana and throughout the UnitedStates.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.Mr. McGEE. Mr. Pre~ident, I not only
share with the Senator from Utah [Mr.Moss] the thought that the key sentencehere is "So, it is not a matter of IndianAffairs; it is a matter of human relations, a matter of attitudes/' but I alsothink that sentence should go one stepfurther and say that it is not even amatter of Indians but of Americans. Itis time we stopped thinking about Indians as being separate. They have surely lived here long, enough to meet theresident requirements for full-fledgedAmerican citizenship,
Likewise, let us stop being so patronizing about Indians. Let us start callingthem Americans. The sooner they become, with the rest of us, "just people,"a part of the melting pot that is theUnited states, the sooner will we be onour way toward a successful solution ofthese questions.
I want to salute the Senator fromOklahoma [Mr. HARRIS] for havingstaked out such a clear, strong, and wiseguidepost which can achieve these longdelayed goals.
Mr. YARBOROUGH. Mr. President,I have listened with great interest to theremarks of the distinguished junior Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. HARRIS] on aproposed new destiny for American Indians. How timely his remarks are. Ifour U.S. American Indians were fully educated in both cultures, what a greatforce we would have for America andfor the world.
We need this cultural and economicforce at home; we"need it badlyabroad.
Senator HARRIS has mentioned the highcountry of South America, the "altiplano" of the Andes, where tens of millions of Indians, from Colombia, throughEcuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile speakthe Indian language, and dream of thatfar-off Inca Empire where the averageIndian was better of economically, socially, and governmentally, than he hasbeen. under Spanish-speaking governments this' past four centuries. TheInca Empire stretched from Colombia toChile.
Our American Indians, of the UnitedStates, properly educated and trainedfor, this leadership gap, could render agreat service to South America, to thepeople of the altiplano, to ourselves,and to the free world, if they were butgiven this opportunity.
FRED HARRIS has knowledgeably pointedup the problem of the American Indianin. our culture. His beautiful, cultured,charming, highly intelligent wife, herself of part Comanche lineage, grew uppartly in and fully understanding thatculture. FRED HARRIS knows the historyof the former Comanche culture, whichplayed such a large role in the history'of the Southwestern States.
He has narrated how they were calledthe lords of the south plains. Of interest, too, is the fact that the Comancheword for themselves meant "the people,"or, we might give it a free translation,and it would be "we, the people." Soproud were they of their strength andsupremacy and so complete was theirdominance in most portions of Texas,New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, andKansas, that it was often marked on theearly maps as "Comanche country," or"Comancheira."
With his knowledge of Indian culture,Oklahoma, the America of the past andof the present, the American Indian ofthe past and of the present, SenatorHARRIS has special opportunities to render a special service to American Indians.In rendering that service, he is doing agreater service for all of us and for allthe world. I salute him for his leadership.
Mr. MONTOYA. Mr. President, Iwant to compliment the Senator fromOklahoma [Mr. HARRIS] for his eloquenceand precision in stating the case so wellfor a rededication and reinvigoration ofour policies concerning American Indians. I join with him in asking "whatare we buying for our money?" As theSenator so well points out, we are a woefully long way away from our longstanding goal of full integration of ourIndian citizens into the mainstream ofAmerican society.
Again, my congratulations to the Senator from Oklahoma for a timely andforceful statement on one of our mostserious domestic problems.
FARM INCOME IN 1966Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent to have printedin the RECORD a statement by the Secretai"y' of Agriculture Orville Freeman at apress conference on April 15, 1966, onthe subject of farm income in 1966.