CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

activities. For the balance of the transitional period it will be a learn-by-doing

process for the Menominees with counseling

and general trust supervision as the Bureau's

interim role.

ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF 84THs CONGRESS LEGISLATION

Through their voluntary request more than 2,000 Indians in Oklahoma, members

of the Peoria, Ottawa, and Wyandotte Tribes,

were placed upon the road to final t(rmination of special Federal controls by the

84th Congress. For each group a complete

membership roll was to be prepared early in

1957, and it was expected that decontrol

would be complete by August 1959 for each.

No large administrative problems appear

evident.

During October 1956 a delegation of the

Confederated Tribe of the Colville, Wash.,

reservation met with Bureau officials in

Washington to prepare a 5-year decontrol

program for 4,189 Indians. The 84th Congress had provided that the tribe should submit proposed decontrol legislation by July

24, 1961.

VOLUNTARY INDIAN ACTIONS TOWARD FEDERAL

DECONTROL

The Commissioner of Indian AffairE, Glenn

L. Emmons, has noted that one of the most

helpful and promising courses towcrd ter- mination is by voluntary request of the Indian groups themselves. In an informal statement on January 31, 1956, at a House

subcommittee hearing on appropriations,

Emmons remarked:

*"* * * In a number of areas, tribes have

taken the initiative in exploring the means

of programing their way toward eventual

self-determination, that is, the SissetonWahpeton Tribe in the Aberdeen (S. Dak.)

area, the Makah and Colville Tribes in the

State of Washington several urban colonies

in Nevada, the tribes in the Quapaw jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma. * * *

"* * * in order for projects to be meaningful to the tribal groups, they raust be

developed at the local level in consiltation

with the tribal groups affected, and there

must be a continuous follow-through in the

development and implementation of the program proposals."

On April 12, 1956, in a major memorandum to all of the Bureau area directors and

superintendents, Commissioner lmmons

again referred particularly to the value of

voluntary Indian group action. :.ie said

In part:

"A good program is one which results

from the desires of and fits the needs of

a particular group of Indians. In whole or in part the program should, if possible.

be the work of the Indians themselves."

As to the question of legislation Emmons

noted that " * * * In some cases, it may

specifically develop that special leislation

will be necessary to forward a group's basic

program. In other cases the Indian group

may feel that the group's cultural assimilation and integration into the community life

about them has progressed to the point where

they desire early Congressional consideration

of termination legislation. In either case,

the area director should advise the Commissioner with a view to arranging for special guidance and assistance."

ROLE OF THE INDIAN CLAIMS COMMItSION IN

DECONTROL

Completely within the historic l olicy of

Congress in working toward the elimination

of special controls over Indians is its concept of the role of the Indian Clairs Commission. The Commission assures legal settlement of long-standing claims for redress

against the Federal Government which

many Indians believe should be a necessary

condition precedent to effective decontrol

consideration. The Commission, set up in

1946, was then empowered to accept petitions until August 13, 1951, and was directed

to conclude judgments on all claims by

April 1957. Because of the large number of

claims filed it had become necessary to extend the life of the Commission, and Congress-intent on providing judicial determination of all claims-passed legislation in

1956 to continue the Commission until the

spring of 1962. However, the fact that all

claims are not settled does not forestall

present decontrol planning.

ACTION OF SUCCEEDING CONGRESSES TOWARD

DECONTROL

The basic principle enunciated so clearly

and approved unanimously by the Senate and

House in House Concurrent Resolution 108

of the 83d Congress continues to be the overall guiding policy of Congress in Indian affairs. In view of the historic policy of Congress favoring freedom for the Indians, we

may well expect future Congresses to continue to endorse the principle that as rapidly as possible we should end the status

of Indians as wards of the Government and

grant them all of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to American citizenship.

With the aim of equality before the law

in mind, our course should rightly be no

other. Firm and constant consideration for

those of Indian ancestry should lead us all

to work diligently and carefully for the full

realization of their national citizenship with

all other Americans. Following in the footsteps of the Emancipation Proclamation of

94 years ago, I see the following words emblazoned in letters of fire above the heads

of the Indians-these people shall be free.

COL. BENJAMIN AXELROAD-VETO

MESSAGE (S. DOC. NO. 51)

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.

MORTON in the chair) laid before the

Senate the following message from the

President of the United States, which

was read, and, with the accompanying

bill, referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary and ordered to be printed:

To the United States Senate:

I am returning herewith, without my

approval, S. 1008, for the relief of Col.

Benjamin Axelroad.

The bill would provide for the payment

to Col. Benjamin Axelroad, of Tullahoma, Tenn., the sum of $2,799.50 as

compensation for legal services performed and expenses incurred by him in

securing the enactment of private relief

legislation to compensate certain claimants for a death and for personal injuries

sustained by others in a motor-vehicle

accident involving an Army truck.

The private relief legislation involved

was Private Law 498, 83d Congress, approved July 1, 1954, entitled, "For the

Relief of Chester H. Tuck, Mary Elizabeth Fisher, James Thomas Harper, and

Mrs. T. W. Bennett," which provided

compensation to the named beneficiaries

in the aggregate amount of $27,999.50.

That act also provided that no part of

the money appropriated therein should

be paid to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services rendered

in connection with such claim and specified a penalty of a fine of not more than

$1,000 for violation of such prohibition.

When that act passed the House of Representatives, it provided that no part of

the amount appropriated therein "for the

payment of any one claim In excess of 10

percent thereof" should be paid to any

attorney. This language was stricken in

the Senate, however, and the measure

was finally enacted carrying the complete bar against the payment of attorney's fee in any amount from the sums

appropriated.

The relief proposed by this measure is

most unusual. It would require the Government to compensate counsel for

claimants in private relief legislation,

whereas claimants themselves should

bear the cost of attorneys' fees for such

services. Indeed, the enrolled bill here

under consideration contains an identical prohibition against the payment of

attorneys' fees for services rendered in

connection with this legislation. I am

unable to find any justification for the

payment by the Government of attorneys' fees on behalf of claimants in private relief legislation. Committee re- ports on this bill (H. Rept. 498 and S.

Rept. 210, 85th Cong.) advance, as a

basis for this legislation, the fact that

original language would not have prohibited the payment of an attorney fee

by the claimants. This language was

stricken from the bill and, as a result,

counsel could not obtain compensation

under the bill as finally enacted. If the

original language of the former meas- ure, prohibiting the payment of attorneys' fees from the amount appropriated

in excess of 10 percent thereof, had been

enacted, Colonel Axelroad might have

been entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees from claimants out of the

amount appropriated-but in no event

would he have been entitled to a fee from

the Government. If the Congress wishes

to undo what it did in enacting legislation prohibiting Colonel Axelroad from

receiving any compensation from the

amounts of the several awards, it may be

done by appropriate legislation. I can- not, however, approve legislation which

would cast upon the Government the

burden of paying the fees of counsel for

claimants in private relief legislation,

and which would establish a most undesirable precedent.

For these reasons, I feel obliged to

withhold my approval from this measure. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, July 1, 1957.

ADJOURNMENT TO 11 A. M.

TOMORROW

Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, under the order previously entered, I move

that the Senate stand in adjournment

until 11 o'clock a. m. tomorrow.

The motion was agreed to; and (at

6 o'clock and 16 minutes p. m.) the

Senate adjourned, the adjournment being under the order previously entered,

until tomorrow, Tuesday, July 2, 1957, at

11 o'clock a. in.

NOMINATIONS

Executive nominations received by the

Senate July 1, 1957:

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION

Erle Cocke, Sr., of Georgia, to be a mem- ber of the Board of Directors of the Federal

Deposit Insurance Corporation for a term

of 6 years, vice Maple T. Harl, deceased.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Frank A. Southard, Jr., of New York, to be

United States executive director of the In10680 July I