The Daily Alaska empire., 1950-06-12
THE STATEHOOD HEARINGS
 No. 5
By BOB DE ARMOND

at, the Alaska statehood hearing
 on provisions of the enabling bill i they were almost solidly in accorc ] on one vexing problem-Indiar
 reservations. They were against | them.
 And the Senators who heard the testimony also expressed themselves as against the furtherance of In dian Reservations. The Senators
 moreover, wanted to do something concrete toward the settlement oi
 Indian claims in Alaska, and tt do it in the statehood bill if pos sible.
 Here they ran into opposition from the pro-statehood witnesses who feared that the bill might bt delayed or even defeated by such an inclusion.
 T would like to see the time when the Indian reservations every where could be eliminatd,' sait Mrs. Essie R. Dale of Fairbanks. Would it please you if the bill was amended to include a clause ! to cover that point?" asked Sen- ator Butler.
 "No, sir, I want this bill enacted just as it is, unless it would be fol that one thing about the Prbiiloi islands which they say are bouno ID with the treaty" said Mrs. Dale Let us work these things out lol ourselves"
 Investigation Needed Father G. Edgar Gallant of Ska r way said he saw no need for In dian reservations in that sectior of Alaska and that the reservation vote at Hydaburg ought to be in- vestigated
 Tt is really a reflection on oul country that in all these years we
 have not assimilated the native people," Father Gallant said. "Wt have assimilated everybody else ] everybody who came to our shore!
 IS immigrants from all kinds ol
 countries
 Said 5snator Butler: Tt is due largely to the reser' arion system that was unfortm.ately adopted
 here some years ago. But we d not figure that the reservation laws apply in Alaska. I think
 H. R. 331 should be spelled out making that statement. There i. Ia provision I think in the bil whereby you people are admitting 1 that there is an aboriginal righ and that in fact parts of Alaska l if not every foot of Alaska, actu- ally belongs to the few native. 1 that were there when we took i over from Russia"
 Delegate Bartlett said that the question had been debated before the House Committee. The pro. vision Senator Butler referred to I the Delegate said, was inserted
 merely as an acknowledgement that 1 the statehood bill itself was not { proper vehicle for settling lane matters and Indian claims. Make Your Deal Now Senator Butler: But at the time the Territory becomes a state is ] the time to make your deal Fol the good of the people of Alaska all such subjects should be thor oughly covered in your contract
 with the Federal government wher | you become a state. And if yor do not do it now, I will almost guarantee that you will never get lit done"
 Senator Ecton: If we go aheac and grant Alaska statehood and yor f get the Indian reservations fast ened upon you like a great many of our own states, instead O.
 having fewer problems with you Indians think you will find that you will have even more compli.
 cated problems
 T agree" said Judge Anthony J
 Dimond.
 Settlement by Suit Senator Anderson wondered why all Alaska Indian claims could no
 be settled by lawsuit. We hay,
 an Indian Claims Court settling
 the problems of various groups wht | claim to own oil lands and variou. other things" the Senator said. ] w. c. Arnold who was on thu
 witness stand at the time, an. swered: Senator, I do not know IT thought that seven or eigh
 years ago when I was younger anl not as wise as I am now, but w never had any luck settling it witt
 a suit. We always win but nothing
 happens. The Circuit Court of Alp peals in San Francisco held tha these rights are non-eXistent ant that they were wiped out by thu
 treaty of purchase The case wa
 not appealed but they are stil pressing the claim"
 CIO FavOrs Reservations
 Only one person testified in ia
 vor of Indian Reservations in Al
 aska. The position of anothe
 group was announced by Senate