The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-08-09
REPORT NAVY PLANE WRECKAcE FOUND
Banfie|d Gives Report
 On Washington Battle
 For Pulp Legislation
Effect of Statements


 Since it is impossible for any
 Senator to read every bill which reaches the floor, and very few had
 ever read this bill, which had
 just come from the House, these
 statements had very strong ef-
 feet on a great number of Sena-
 tors who had never seen the bill
 and who never would see it. More
 over, most Senators though this was
 an attempt to take away reserva-
 tions or the timber from reserva-
 tions already established by treaty
 with the natives. Such bills are
 constantly being passed when the , United States takes land out Of
 an Indian reservation for flood control, lakes, behind hydroelectric dams or military reservations. Such bills carry special compen- sation for depriving the natives of their treaty rights or land actual ly occupied and controlled by the Indians through continuous use. It took a great deal of diplomatic
 talking to convince the Senators that no native would be dispossess- ed of land he was using, and that if the natives had any valid claim, they could still recover either in
 court or by Congressional action.
 Many western Senators pictured
 our natives as being like their
 own, living off the grazing of sheep or a few cattle and unable
 to. compete with white men in the labor markets or industries of the Territory. They wanted to give them some special advantage to enable them to earn living. We
 had a hard time convincing them
 that our natives would never con- sent to being placed on reserva- ton and isolated from the place
 they occupy in the economy and
 government of Alaska.
 Steal Alleged
 The Congress of American h. ldians, Civil Liberties Union and
 other organizations began to send protests that big corporations were trying to steal this timber. Even
 the Garden Club of America in- terested itself in the destruction of the beauty of Alaska.
 Senator Gordon of Oregon
 amended Senate Joint Resolution 118 (which had been identical to H. R. Res. 205) to exclude from sale any timber actually possessed and used by any person. This would mean that the pulp com- panies would he left with the same uncertainty of title as result of
 the natives claiming to possess
 vast tracts of land as the Inter-
 for Department, contrary to all other legal opinion, asserted that , hunting, fishing, berry picking and wandering over the woods over long periods of time constituted pos l session over the farthest limits of such occasional visits. The Sem } ate was about to adjourn when we , arrived. It was quite impossible } to get all suspicious and cautious : Senators to look into the legal definition of Possession
 . Could Block Sale
 , One Senator proposed to amend l the Senate Bill to exclude all , areas Ickes had determined to
 be owned by native tribes" and all areas hereafter claimed by any : individual or tribe. Under it's ? provisions a claim filed with the 7 Interior Department by native 5 claiming Prince of Wales Island, would effectively block any sale : of timber from that island even
 though the Forest Department had
 advertised it for sale.
 Senator O'Mahoney proposed an amendment which would set up native council in all places where natives reside. These councils
 would select up to 160 acres of 5 land for each native in the com- Il munity and the Secretary of the
 Interior would determine the boun- daries and allot land in the vicin- ity of each village or city for ex- 7. elusive use of the natives in such . manner as the council would de- termine. This Soviet system of n collectivized use of the land would have resulted in setting aside 16O, ,O0O acres along the beaches for a the 1000 natives in Juneau and Douglas. There would be no chance ' to expand the Townsite or roads, }. or to build industrial structures, 2 Harm or homesites on any unpat- U ented land in this vicinity. In &C.,
 cordance with Interiors policy of selecting areas one mile deep from J salt water, this would have frozen . 258 miles of beachland for use
 of natives who could not even sell what they had been given and they II could only use it with the per
 /C0ufjunod O37 p0Oo .r7DOl