The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1961-12-21


the Bureau no longer operates
schools in these communities
which have public schools. The
Bureau maintains schools in
many of the native villages, most
of which are too small to justify
more than a grade school. Par
ents are faced with a dilemma
they want their children to go to
high school, but they do not
want them to go to boarding
schools as far away as Wrangell,
Mt. Edgecumbe, and Chemewa in
Oregon. Usually these boarding
pupils are away from their fam
lilies for the whole of the school
year. Suggestions have been made
that several high schools be
nearer home, perhaps at Beth
ell, or at some point on the Sew
ard Peninsula. There has also
been talk about a system of re-
gional high schools which would
be open to all qualified children
in the area.
4. Currently vexing problem
results from the efforts of Fed
eral officials to enforce the pro-
visions of the migratory bird
treaty in areas where hunting
and fishing out of season have
been common practice because
game and fish are necessary it
ems in the diet of these people.
Article III of the Treaty of 1916
(39 Stat. 1902 provides a closed
season for migratory game birds
between March 10 and Septem-
Der 1. The treaty permits Eski-
mos and Indians to take at any
season certain named non-game
birds and their eggs for food and
their skins for clothing. 1t seems
that the treaty should be modi-
fled to permit the taking of
game birds as well as non-game
birds for subsistence.
5. Attention should also be
given to the desirability of ex-
panding the reindeer herds.
Many of the community herds
which were established in the
1905 have disappeared, but
some flourishing units are still
owned by individuals, and they
are important in the village econ
omy. The owners are provided
h clip from their neighbors in
herding, rounding up and slaugh-
terlng, and in return give parts
of the carcasses, including the
hides, to needy members of the
community.
w. CONCLUDING STATEMENT
Longer than any other agency
of the Federal Government, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs has car
ried out directives to arbitrate
cultural differences between the
American society and one of its
segments. AS it is the fate of ar
biters seldom to please everyone
and often to please no one COM
pletely, the Bureau throughout
its history has been under con-
slant attack from some quarters
and, occasionally, has been criti-
cized from all sides at once. The
need for its very existence has
been continuously challenged by
those who feel that differences
should be arbitrated naturally"
through the processes of conflict
and competition, rather than ear
officially" through Government
Intervention.
Yet, in spite of the many diff
culties which the Bureau has
encountered in discharging its
often conflicting directives, the
assistance which ii and other
agencies have provided to the In
dams has made it possible for
this group of Americans to pro-
gress toward fuller and more eff
fective participation in the social,
cultural, political and esthetic
life of the United States. A great
er percentage of the Indians to-
day vote, seek elective office, at
tend school, enjoy good health,
have attained prominence in the
arts, and are socially accepted
by their non-Indian neighbors
than at any other time in the
nations history. On the other
hand, the number of Indians for
whom these changes have not
taken place is still large, is In
creasing rapidly, and presents a
continuing challenge.
Much of the progress which
the Indians have made has oc-
CURED during the past forty
years. They have been consider
ed citizens only since 1924 and,
in Arizona and New Mexico, their
right to vote was not confirmed
in the courts until 1913. Statutory
authority for the organization of
tribal governments was provided
by Congress just a little over IS
years ago, and Indian youth have
been drafted for military service
only since World War III.
The events of these past forty
years have done much to make
Indians atuara of tho foot that