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Show weservation News ... I l About The & I UINTAH-OURAY INDIAN RESERVATION ( former" .superintendant DIES IN ARIZONA NOV. 1 Word was received this week ' .i,t L W. Page, former super-Sndant super-Sndant of the Uintah and Ouray Agency, died at his home Tuscon, Arizon, of a heart iltack on November 1. Mr. Page as the superintendant at the rrfntah and Ouray Agency from J933 to 1937. Mr Page was frequently referred re-ferred to as the practical an-t an-t thropologist of the Indian Ser- 'e perhaps the outstanding achievement of his Indian Service Ser-vice career was the approval hv the Ute 'Tribe of the Indian Reorganization Act. He worked almost constantly night and day for a period of six or eight months in explaining the Act to the Indian people and advis-L advis-L them as to its benefits. It was in this work that his health began to fail. He retired from the Indian ere w 1939 because of ill Kh made his h in Tuscon. Mr. Page will be missed by his many friends on the Uintah and Ouray Jurisdiction R-N TURKEY SHOOT PLANNED BY TRIBE NOVEMBER 21 A special invitation is extend-et!1Lall extend-et!1Lall trlbal members along with others living in the Uintah Basin to join in a Turkey Shoot Saturday, Nov. 21, at the it. Duchesne rifle range Sponsored by the Ute Indian Recreation Department, the Ft Duchesne Gun Club and the American Legion, Post No. 126 there will be all kinds of prizes on the docket turkeys, ashing and hunting equipment along with many others. The twenty top scores will win and there will be an entry fee of 50 cents for high powered rifles, and 25 cents for .22 rifles. R-N MATURNITY CLINIC On October 28, 1953, a weel-baby weel-baby and maturnity clinic was held at Ft. Duchesne with an attendance of 79 infants and children. Health supervision and immunizations were given for diphtheria, pertusis (whooping cough), tetanus, and vaccination for small pox. All parents of school-age children are urged to have their boys and girls receive booster shots, either by attending the clinic at Ft. Duchesne or by contacting the nurse in the scool he or she attends. The next well-baby and maturnity ma-turnity clinic at Ft. Duchesne will be held November 25 between be-tween 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. R-N INDIAN BUREAU IN WASHINGTON By Robert L. Bennet Program Officer Washington, D. C. The Ute Indians are at the crossroads where they must choo'se a- course which will affect their future and their children's future for all time to come. I say that because of developments de-velopments in Washington, bothi in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and in Congress which indicate that action of one kind or another an-other will be taken in Washington Washing-ton which will vitally affect your lives not only as to your money and lands, but in everything every-thing you do. Whatever action is taken in Washington will depend de-pend upon you. If you don't get together on a program, then Congress might do what they think is best for you regardless of how you feel about . it. I think that any program to be a good program for you should have some of your ideas in it. I know that the Commissioner will consider your ideas very seriously and I am sure that Congress will also give your ideas a lot of attention. But you must get together and work "out a program or Congress and the Bureau may just develop one for you and it may be one that you might not like. Already Congress has done certain things which gives you some idea as to the future. They have repealed re-pealed the Federal Indian liquor liq-uor law, but you are. of course, still subject to the State Law and Tribal Law. They have repealed re-pealed the law that all Indian cattle must be branded I. D. They have also made Indian Tribes in 5 states subject to all the laws of those States. In all these things the Commissioner and Secretary have agreed with Congress. There were 2 sections in the Law and Order Bill, however, how-ever, which Congress put in by itself and these were that any other states who wanted to, could pass the necessary laws to come into any reservation for law and other purposes without with-out even asking the Tribe if it iir,Mii-i Congress also approved House Concurrent Resolution No. 108 in August which stated that it is the policy of Congress, as rapidly as possible, to make the Indians within the territorial territor-ial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilites as are applicable ap-plicable to other citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and perogatives pertaining to American citizenship citizen-ship and that the Indian should assume their full responsibilities as American citizens. The Secretary Sec-retary of the Interior was directed direct-ed to present to Congress not laer than January 1 the legis lation which would do that for the Klamath Tribe of Oregon, the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, Wiscon-sin, the Potawatomie Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, the Turtle Tur-tle Mountain Chipewa Tribe of North Dakota and all Indians in the States of California, Florida, Flor-ida, New York and Texas. The Bureau of Indian Affairs would then be abolished at all those places. In additon, the House Appropriations Appro-priations Committee of Congress which makes recommendations to Congress for giving money to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to manage Indian matters and furnish services has asked for a statement from the Commissioner Commis-sioner of Indian Affairs this spring about the Tribes that are capable of taking care of themselves and have the money to do it. This committee has said, in effect, that the Government Govern-ment should not be spending Government money where the Tribes have money of their own like you people have. I think you can look for less and less help at Uintah & Ouray Agency from the Government than you have had in the past. The Southern South-ern Ute and Ute Mountain people are already getting ready for that in their program. So, it is important that you do the same. There are other things which Congress is considering such as a bill that anyone 21 years of age or over may apply for a certificate of competency so that any Indian who receives such a certificate will be no longer i subject to Federal laws applicable applic-able to Indians. This means he could control his own property, be subject to taxation, etc., but this would not have any effect on his share of tribal money and property. In other words, tribal money and property would still be subject to control of the Tribe and the individual could not draw out his share just because he had a certificate of competency. I know that some of you might be thinking only in terms of asking for control of your funds without regard to other items of responsibilty. In other words, some of you may think, "Just give us our money and leave everything else the way i it is." For those of you who are thinking only in those terms I would like to tell you about the experience of the Menom-inees Menom-inees of Wisconsin. For some i years, the Government has been asking them to prepare a sound program for the reservation with gradual taking over of responsibilities of management of their affairs, but the Men- ominee Tribe did not heed the i suggestion of the Bureau and instead they just went to Congress Con-gress and asked for a $1500 per capita payment. When Congress got the Bill, the Senate Sub-Committee Sub-Committee under the chairmanship chairman-ship of Senator Watkins of Utah drafted an amendment providing provid-ing for the termination of Federal Fed-eral supervision over the property prop-erty and members of the Menominee Men-ominee Tribe and for the termination ter-mination of the responsibility of the Federal Government to furnish furn-ish special services to Indians. This would take effect on December Dec-ember 31, 1956. So, this is a case of a Tribe going into Congress Con-gress asking for money only and being given a bill which would turn everything over to the tribe and relieve the Government Gov-ernment of any responsibility I to the Indians of that Tribe within three years. In other words, the Indians did not have anything to say about this bill; it was written for them. I think there are many things you can do now in managing your affairs and the Government Govern-ment will go a long way with you in that direction, but it all has to be based upon a sound and adequate program. A gen eral council was neia. on me reservation on October 14 in which the planning organization was outlined to you. I hope that in the meetings we will have together at Randlett on this afternoon and at Whiterocks tomorrow to-morrow afternoon that you people will get together and select se-lect your representatives on the Planning Committee, so that the Planning Committee can meet and discuss your ideas and also' bring back home ideas for you to consider in developing the program for this reservation. The Ute Tribe's present three-year three-year program expires in August 1954. We should have a concrete con-crete positive plan to present to' Congress by January of 1954. j |