Evening star., 1934-03-31
TAKES WAR PATH
To AID INDIANS
False Propaganda Charged
to Foes of Legislation by
Commissioner Collier.

Charges of misrepresentation and
false propaganda against"the Wheeler
Howard bill to protect the future in
terestS OF the Indians are made by
John Collier, commissioner of Indian
affairs, who has returned to Wash
ington after explaining the new
deal" to thousands of red men in
the greatest series of tribal councils
held since the frontier days of the
West.
For years Collier has been cham
pionlng the rights of his In d i a n
friends most single handed but
now. armed with the authority of the
Federal Government. which had op-
posed him before in his fights. he has
taken the war path anew against the
land grabbers. oil, mineral and power
interests opposing his Indian rights
bill For l6 days and nights the
commissioner of Indian affairs trav-
eled the plains and mountains Of the
West. addressing huge tribal councils
and telling them what he is trying to
do here to protect their rights.
Found Misrepresentation.
Interests seeking to defeat the pend
ing legislation. Collier charged yes
, terday. have n c e d missionaries
against the measure by telling them
| ii would return the Indians to pagan
ism Throughout the West, Collier
said missionaries had protested to
him that the legislation would deprive
the churches of their mission lands
! ond ;oto H.
claimed, had so bewildered the In
! dians that he encountered great diff
flculty in overcoming these miSrepre-
sentations.
There are still $1,000 600. 900 worth
of Indian lands left, Collier declared
"Unscrupulous interests already have
taken 96 100000 acres away from the
| tribes he said, and they want the
rest Part of Golfers present task
is to preserve this land for the de-
termination of the Indians
At Rapid City S. Oak. Collier ad-
dressed thousands of the Plains tribes.
Elsewhere. in Phoenix. Ariz; Salem.
, Greg. Oklahoma and other strategic
points, the braves donned their feath-
cred head-dresses or their best store
clothes and assembled for tribal coun-
cils They were addressed in at least
30 Indian languages.
Testimony Taken at Councils.
Collier said 100000 words of written
testimony was taken down at these
councils.
He told the Indians they must de-
| termine for themselves whether they
want to seek the protection of the
proposed legislation or do without
it. Fully 80 per cent of the tribes.
he declared, are now in favor of it.
The big news we took tc them
vas that they had the choice in the
matter" he said. Some of the tribes
accepted the bill right in the coun-
Gil. We wanted them to talk it over
in detail, but we know now that 80
per cent are prepared to support it
next month when they put it to
tribal referendums
There are still some tribes ION the
fence Collier pointed out. Among
these are the Umatilla tribe of Wash
ington. the Yakimas of Washington.
the Crows of Montana, the PaWnee
tribe of Oklahoma, the ShaWnees and
others.
Although he is highly pleased with
the general attitude of the Indians,
Collier threatens to go before Con-
gress to lay before it his charges
that selfish interests are at work to
defeat the new bill of Indian rights"
He is taking these matters up with
his own chief, Secretary of Interior
IckeS.