Navajo times., 1961-07-26

NACdA w Oil oA ca VI Pei IloPo OiIOCI
standable confusion. AS some of
; you may know, was born just a
few years back at a place called
Salem, Mis- souri,. Since it is the
custom to focus some attention on
birthplace in the offiCia bio
graphical sketches that are handed
out to the press and public when
you are named to some public Of
: flee, the impression seems to have
gotten around that am Mi SSour-
ian in the full sense of the term.
Meaning no disrespect whatever to
our distingui shed sister State,
would like here and now to set
the record straight.
A most important point the Of
= ficial press release failed to men,
tion was that l left Salem at
very tender age and actually did
most of my growing up at Com
merce, Oklahoma. That is where
Il got the major part of my school,
! ing, where started playing foot
ball, and where most of my boy
-hood memories and associations
are firmly centered. So | have
always thought of Oklahoma as my
{ home State. | still do today. And |
I have no doubt that | always will.
! With this kind of background,
perhaps / may be forgivenfor pre-
Stunning that understand the local
= moreS and patterns of behavior
better than some folks might. And
4 have no doubt thar all of you are
eagerly chatting right now to get
back to your respective places of
= business just as fast as possible.
So have no plans to make Il long
and eXhauStiVe--or exhauSrlng--
= speech on this occasion. But
Il would like to take advantage of the
4 opportunity to touch on a variety
of topics that may be Of interest.
First, want to offer few
personal observations and refleC-
tions on the nature Of the basic
' task that confronts US in the Bu-
/, reau of Indian Affairs. Secondly, !
4 propose to take a look at some Of
!. the outstanding items of concern
that Sc m to be worrying and
Z bothering Indian people throughout
H the country today. And finally,
would like to foCuS--at least brlet-
: lyon the unique and distinctive
Z Indian situation which we have here
in ca stern Oklahoma.
2 AS for the nature of the basic
task that ConfrontS us in the Bur-
4 eau, let me enpha size at the out
q set my deeply felt conviction that
H there is no "golden formula" for
: the solution of all Indian problems
= and that no really sound Or au-
thentic one can be manufactured.
j. 1t would be nice, of course, if we
had such aformula; with it We could
u undoubtedly dramatiZe our opera
tions and capture public imagina-
tion and public understanding in a
= way that has never been possible
i during the entire 137-year history
Of the Bureau. But long eXper-
III, ienCe COnvinCeS me that this is ar
E unbelievable dream~-like perpe-
Il tual youth. The less exhilaratin&
reality is that Indian problems
are just too diverse, too complex
too intricately interviewer TO be
y solved by any "golden formulas.
Il Solutions come, when they do, az
= result 0f careful D3jnSra XII no
& sometimes exc ruCiating proc 0
Z "grinding it out" little by little
over a period Of months OF per
q hapS even years.
Another thought | want TO cas-
4 out here about the basic task of the
Bureau is that we necessarily op.
4, crate in an environment which al
4 ways includes at least three mail
y elements These elements are tht