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Show S l7TES Roosevelt, Utah Dear Editor: I was somewhat disturbed by a recent resolution passed by the Commissioiners of Duchesne County "whereasing" the Indian people of the State into full citizenship. I am wondering, were they really concerned with the welfare wel-fare of the Indians, or were they motivated by pecuniary interests? in-terests? Do they know how many tribes of Indians there are in the State, where they live, their financial condition, or whether or not they are ready to' be thrust into the responsibilities res-ponsibilities of full citizenship? Apparently they know Very little about the Utes, other than the fact that they now have money and land. This money was paid them in compensation for valuable lands taken from them many years ago. The fact that they now have! money doesn't necessarily mean that they are all fully prepared to assume the responsibilities of citizenship, and it will surely require more than a resolution from the County Commissioners to raise them out of their present pres-ent condition. Apparently the resolution has only one motive behind it and that comes under the second "WHEREAS", which states, in effect, that they want Indian people given full citizenship in order that they may impose a property tax upon them. It is true that there are untaxed Indian In-dian lands in the county of Duchesne, but the Federal government gov-ernment compensates the county for this in various ways. The Indian people didn't make the law. The resolution fails to mention that there are no Indians In-dians on the county welfare rolls, that the Ute Tribe has relieved them of this burden. Indians pay gasoline taxes that should be used to construct and maintain the roads they drive on. The Federal government pays the county a generous amount in addition to' that paid by the State, for luxury tax, excise tax, automobile tax and liquor tax (through his local bootlegger, of course). So the Indians really aren't a burden on Duchesne County, financially or otherwise, that I can see. I wonder how the economy of Duchesne County would be affected af-fected if it weren't for the thousands and thousands of dollars dol-lars the Indian people spend therin. In view of these truths, it seems to boil down to the plain fact that the Indians have something and Duchesne County wants to get a share of it. This action on their part falls into the old familiar pattern the Indians have something of value so let's take it away from them. That is one of the reasons the Indian people are in their present pres-ent condition. The Indian has been discriminated discrim-inated against, deceived, taken advantage of and hoodwinked for so long and for so many times that he doesn't have much faith in his white neighbor. Now we have money, we would like to' use it to educate our people and to teach them gradually the responsibilities associated with full citizenship. We want to provide a means whereby they may acquire homes, livestock, machinery and other things that will teach them the responsibilities responsibil-ities of citizenship. We can't do it over night, and we will depend de-pend on our white neighbors for their understanding and .assistance .as-sistance in teaching the Indians these responsibilities Right now we are being supported by crutches provided by the Federal Fed-eral government. Give us a chance to acquire our own crutches before the present ones are taken away. If the non-Indians of Duchesne County had been tax exempt for the past 1000 years, I doubt very much if they would be able to grasp, over night, the rudiments of taxation. In fact, in looking over the delinquent tax list published in a recent issue of the Roosevelt Standard, it seems to me that a great many prominent non-Indian residents res-idents of Duchesne County are having difficulty in adjusting their thinking to the payment of taxes, and they have been subject to this principle practically prac-tically all their lives. The Ute Tribe owns most of the lots on which the new Duchesne Du-chesne County Courthouse is being built, and in order to be cooperative, they have agreed to sell them to the county at a fraction of the cost paid to non-Indians non-Indians who owned lots there also. The Ute Indian Tribe owns the entire block on which the Duchesne Elementary School is situated and they have permitted permit-ted the county to use it rent free these many years, out of a spirit of cooperation. Perhaps, the Tribal Council should pass a resolution demanding payment of rent which hasn't been charged. To me, the resolution passed by the County Commissioners seems to have been written on the spur of the moment without any investigation being made and without consulting the Indian In-dian people who will be affected. affect-ed. It seems to me that too' much legislation has been enacted enact-ed affecting Indian people, without with-out their having been consulted or being given a chance to voice their opinion. It is my sincere desire that they reconsider their action and for the present time, rescind their resolution. Sincerely yours, Ab Harris |