it for me, but why should I be a relocation office for the Indian Bureau? Give us redevelopment on the reservation.

Hill 57 is a stopover for the cities of Helena, Havre, Butte, and Shelby. Especially in the fall, back and forth from potato picking they stop in with us. Lately, these cities have been chasing their Indians out and several families are on the hill.

Most of all in the wintertime, Hill 57 is deep in snow. We feed our reservation relatives and the ward Indians who cannot get help from the county, while the people of town clothe and feed us. Hill 57 is a deep freeze, too, up there in the wind, and not all the clothes from the closets are the right sizes at the right time.

In the spring, Hill 57 is as small as the smallest child who is an April fool on April 1. It is going to expect some eats in April and there won't be any because the county cuts us off relief then.

Lots of ideas are proved wrong on Hill 57 and one of them is that if a man is hungry enough he will find work. Senator Douglas knows better than that and we are hopeful his bill will change some of this for the Indians.

It seems as though nobody thinks what is happening to children if there is no work, but I have here a statistical report telling the situation on Hill 57 in April 1957.

Senator, we beg of you, give us the reedevelopment bill on the reservations so we can go home.

Senator DOUGLAS. Thank you very much. We appreciate your coming to testify. Very glad that you came out.

(The statistical report referred to follows:)

STATISTICS ABOUT HILL 57-APRIL 1957

(Collected by Mrs. Dave LaMere, BPW delegate, and compiled by Mr. Richard Charles, Great Falls, Mont.)

I went around Hill 57 and the wire mill area of the Anaconda Co., myself on Thursday, May 9, and this is what I found. (My friend, Dick Charles, did the number work for me.) There were 45 houses with 325 people living in them; 194 of these 325 people were children. Only 8 of the heads of the households had year-around employment. Twenty-four reported seasonal work. In 28, or 62 percent of the households the people were living on categorical assistance, like ADC and old-age pensions. County assistance was cut off in April. My next door neighbor had no job, no relief, and no food in the house. He had 13 children under 8 living with him last week. There were 186 children and only 72 were in school, that's 39 percent and most of those are in school only from November to April.

These figures of 62 percent living on the relief, show that Hill 57 is a real depressed area. The 39 percent of the children in school, and the state of their health the doctors tell us, shows that this is a crisis area.

STATISTICS ABOUT A MONTANA RESERVATION TOWN ABOUT 100 MILES FROM HILL 57 AT GREAT FALLS, MONT.

In this town there were 39 households in one part of the town, with 238 persons, of whom 147 were children. Fifteen heads of households, or 39 percent, were on some type of categorical relief. This left 53 percent with no visible means of support except the prospect of lease money from their own Indian lands which is due in June or July. There were 16 households, 42 percent, where there was less than a week's supply of food on hand, and these families had no credit at the store. The county relief program had been suspended April 1.

Is it any wonder that the reservation Indians come to Great Falls? Yet they are wards. They can't get relief in the city-county offices if jobs are not found. Who is going to help and feed them? The Indians of Great Falls, of course.

Senator DOUGLAS. The next two witnesses are Mr. Walter Wetzel and Mr. Peter Redhorn from the Blackfeet Tribe, and if there are any other members of the Blackfeet Tribe, we would appreciate it if they would come forward, too, so that we may have the collective testi

mony.

Are there any other members of the Blackfeet Tribe here?
Would you give your names for the record.

STATEMENTS OF WALTER WETZEL, PETER REDHORN, AND ARTHUR LAZARUS, BLACKFEET TRIBE

Mr. WETZEL. My name is Walter Wetzel. This is Mr. Arthur Lazarus, and this is Mr. Peter Redhorn.

Senator DOUGLAS. You represent the Blackfeet Tribe?

Mr. WETZEL. Yes.

My name is Walter Wetzel. I am chairman of the Blackfeet Tribe Business Council, government body of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, consisting of 8,000 Indians.

Senator DOUGLAS, Three thousand?

Mr. WETZEL. Eight thousand Indians.
Senator DOUGLAS. Eight thousand.

Mr. WETZEL. Yes. We represent 8,000 Indians in Montana.

I am a member of the Montana Intertribal Policy Board and an officer of the National Congress of American Indians and, as I stated before today, I have Mr. Redhorn here, who is a vice chairman of the Northwest Aliens and a member of our tribe and a member of our planning committee that we have on the reservation that is concerned with obtaining industry on the reservation, and also Mr. Lazarus, our tribal attorney.

I am here on behalf of my tribe to testify in favor of S. 964.

Last week, the Blackfeet Tribal Council adopted a resolution in support of this bill. Unfortunately, I left the reservation to come to Washington before copies were available. So I would like permission to submit the copies at a later date.

(The resolution referred to follows:)

RESOLUTION No. 201-56

RESOLUTION No. 201-56

Whereas there has been introduced in Congress Senate bill 964 by Senator Douglas of Illinois and others which would provide for Federal assistance to economically depressed areas; and

Whereas this proposed bill also contains a provision for participation by Indian tribes in the program provided for therein; and

Whereas the Blackfeet Tribal Council is presently engaged in an intensive effort to attract industry to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in the hope that the ultimate result would be relief from an acute unemployment and welfare problem and the tribal council feels that passage of this bill would immeasur ably aid the efforts of the Blackfeet Tribe toward accomplishing this goal: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Blackfeet Tribal Council does hereby give its unqualified support to Senate bill 964 and further does hereby urge the Montana congressional delegation to lend every assistance in behalf of this bill by the Congress of the United States.

THE BLACKFEET TRIBE OF THE BLACKFEET
INDIAN RESERVATION,

G. G. KIPP, Vice Chairman.

Attest: [SEAL]

ILIFF MCKAY, Secretary.

if the

CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council at a duly called, noticed, and convened special session assembled for business on the 8th day of May 1957, with 10 members present to constitute a quorum.

ILIFF MCKAY, Secretary.

Mr. WETZEL. The Blackfeet Tribe is supposed to be a rich tribe in assets. We have very good farming lands. We have valuable timber, and except in very dry years we have plenty of water. We are next to Glacier National Park. We have some very beautiful recreational spots along the lakes and mountains. We have very good hunting and very, very good fishing also, I might state. Some oil has been found on the reservation, and at this present moment we delegates are awaiting word of their tremendous drilling of the well up there near the Pincer Creek in southern Alberta. The well is a deep test well going down to 13,000 feet, and from indications we have heard, it is very possible they will be striking gas, which is something that is very essential in obtaining industry on our reservation.

Senator DOUGLAS. Does your tribe go over into Canada?
Mr. WETZEL. No, it doesn't.

Senator DOUGLAS. Oh, this is simply the feeling that if gas is struck in Canada you may strike it in Montana?

Mr. WETZEL. The Pincer Creek is adjoining the Blackfeet Reservation. This is just near there. We are waiting very anxiously on that report.

Senator DOUGLAS. At the very border?

Mr. WETZEL. At the very border, yes.

We have had preliminary studies of our minerals, and we have been told that there is also iron and titanium on the reservation.

But now I want to state this: The Black feet Tribe is considered to be a rich tribe. Well, I would say we are very rich in resources. However, we have our problems, too. We have about 5,000 Indians living on the reservation and in towns nearby. Of this number, about half are children. Of the rest, we estimate that more than 15 percent are unemployed, and the majority of the others picked up only occasional work in the summer.

We find that the average income of the Blackfeet people is very low. Their income is derived mainly from trust lands, lease money, and in some cases some of the Indians have received oil bonuses, but that is not a continuous income. After a certain period, it is spent, and after that is spent there is no more income unless an oil well is struck. But at the present time we are going through or have gone through in the past 2 years a leasing program up there, and we are just now starting to get active drilling on the reservation.

I would like to state at this time I will state-that in the past year during a certain period of time the Blackfeet had 510 families receiving relief. Now the tribe's income is fairly substantial to take care of administration and medical donations, and what have you. But we certainly can't spend the money in relief.

We have given per capita payments to members of our tribe and that has taken quite a bit of expenditures, and we have donated to charity and we have set up educational programs up there.

The tribe has spent a considerable amount of money, and the money, I might state now, is not invested. The money according to the way

that the program is going is given to the Indians, and the income that we have cannot take care of the situation. We definitely need assistance.

That is what it means to be a rich tribe of Indians. What it means is that one of the richest Indian communities is poorer than the poorest Indians. What it means is that the Blackfeet Reservation, despite all its assets, is a depressed area. What it means is that we need assist ance and need it badly.

That is why I am here today, because my tribe feels that S. 964 will give us the kind of help that will put us on our feet, so to speak.

We are not looking for a handout-the Blackfeet. We are not asking that the Federal Government do everything for use while we do nothing. We want to help ourselves and, believe me, we are trying to help ourselves.

In a recent issue of the Journal of Commerce and Industry, for example I have a copy of that, Mr. Chairman. It is on page 76. That is a national magazine.

As you note in that advertisement, we took a full page ad, offering a free plant site to any industry that wanted to locate on the reser

vation.

I would also like to submit to you, Mr. Chairman, an article that appeared in the Spokesman-Review.

First I want to mention that through the actions and initiative of our tribe there were articles that appeared in Time magazine where we wanted industry on the reservation, and also there was an article in Fortune where the Blackfeet wanted industry on the reservation to take care of the

Senator DOUGLAS. Have you been able to get industry?

Mr. WETZEL. No. We are just in the process now of trying to get it. We know that industry will give steady employment to our people. I might state here also that there is a major railroad that runs through the reservation, right through the center, more or less, and also we have a good airline system, and we do not have any transpor tation problem at all, I would say. We have the resources and we have good workers, although in your bill I notice that there is a vocational program more or less set up. That is very important, to teach the Indian who is willing to work to adjust himself to work in industries that we hope to get on our reservation. That is very good.

We have resources, as I stated, and good workers to do the job, but the people who wrote after the article appeared in the Journal of Commerce need other inducements to come to Browning, Mont., which is on the Blackfeet Reservation. That is where S. 964 comes into the picture.

If we could get Federal loans to make it attractive for a factory to locate in a depressed area such as the Blackfeet Reservation, we feel sure that industry would come and we would have a source of steady work for our pople. That is what we need, and that is the only way the Blackfeet Tribe will ever raise their economic standards, which is our dearest concern.

Thank you.

Senator DOUGLAS. Thank you very much, Mr. Wetzel.

Mr. WETZEL. Mr. Chairman, I might state also I have an article from the Spokesman-Review and also some pictures of our reservation.

Senator DOUGLAS. Be very glad to see the pictures, and then we will return them to you. Have you finished your testimony? Mr. WETZEL. I have finished my testimony.

Senator DOUGLAS. Do you have anything to add, Mr. Redhorn? Mr. REDHORN. Mr. Chairman, my name is Peter Redhorn, also a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and planning committee, as Mr. Wetzel introduced me here.

I take it a genuine pleasure to be present at your hearing this morning. Especially I want to stress that the bill you now introduce we feel is the measure to be taken in order to correct the problems that underlie the reservation. Poverty is one of these problems.

It would contribute to the social welfare if employment can be given to the Indian people whereby they can find their livelihood. That is all we want, just that opportunity to go out and seek our livelihood where we can buy clothing, bread for the table, and to live comfortably as the rest of our great Nation shares through the prosperity of this great country.

That is the reason we strongly urge that this bill be considered very favorably by Congress and to be passed.

I also want to thank our Senators and Congressmen from our State, Mr. Murray, Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Metcalf, and Mr. LeRoy Anderson for taking interest in our problem as well as the great Senators from the various States who are giving attention to our problem. This is very helpful. We are indeed finding friendship amongst our neighbors and great white friends. So this is indeed helpful; and by going along with this, by furthering our understanding, we can share the genuine pleasures of our great country here.

I would like to go on and say a little more, but I think I will submit a letter to you at a later date and share my time with other members who are present here.

Senator DOUGLAS. Thank you very much. (The ad referred to appears on p. 174.)

(The article referred to follows:)

[Spokesman-Review, February 24, 1957]

THE BLACKFEET ADJUST-IN THE STORY OF THESE MONTANANS IS THE Saga of TRIBE'S MEETING THE PROBLEMS OF GREAT CHANGES

(By Charles R. Stark, Jr.)

The coming of the railroad brought settlers and prosperity to the Pacific Northwest, but to the Blackfeet Indians of Montana it brought misery, hunger and want.

It was the old story of the quick dollar. Hundreds of construction workers and soldiers had to be fed; buffalo herds were everywhere; Indians could line their pockets with cash money by killing the buffalo and hauling the meat to the camps. They did, and in 1884, when the last big hunt was staged, the buffalo were gone and the Blackfeet went hungry and cold all through the winter, and for many winters thereafter. That year a quarter of the tribe starved to death.

The Blackfeet Tribes-Piegan, Blood, and Blackfeet proper-held dominion over a vast territory. It stretched between Saskatchewan in Canada to the northern branches of the Missouri and from the Rockies 300 miles eastward. Villages were small, and few, for the Blackfeet were seminomads, depending on the buffalo for their existence, and they followed the herds of great clumsy beasts wherever they went. Their lodges were made of buffalo hide, stretched over poles, and there was no furniture, soft piles of buffalo skins being used as beds and daytime couches, with other hides to use for bedcovers.