Viewing page 15 of 75

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

units.  The Bureau in lots of places has taken the stock just because the stock are in excess. The Navajos in lots of instances have gotten very little money with no subsidies, and we believe the Government should put on a give and take program. We wouldn't have been in the fix we are in today if that was put in force. Most of the Navajos want to take care of their families, and a lot of them can and want to help their neighbors, but the heavy sheep owners they are down to where they can't make very much money themselves and they are not able to help their neighbors. Of course with the Navajos the clan comes as one family. We can not marry into our own clan. The clan works somewhat like the name is in English. This clan goes many years back from a woman, so the clan stays on the mother's side. The Colonel this morning, I believe, was right when he said we go to the wife's family. We mean when we marry we go to the wife's family. We are very glad that there are lots of kind-hearted people donating clothes and food to help out the families in the Navajo country who needed help throughout the winter. Already lots of the people are asking when the clothing, the food and money will be available so they could get some benefit. And, also, a lot of the Navajo families have been coming to the district supervisor's office because they heard the Council had approved of giving $143,000 of the timber money for immediate relief. This money, $143,000 of the timber money, went before the Council at the last meeting and took quite a bit of discussion. Some speakers on the floor said it was not our fault that we are where we are today. It was the fault of the Government and the Governments's job to correct that. Then there was another speaker on the floor said we want to keep that money to help our own children because that timber money is their own money.  It is every Navajos money whether they will be dead tomorrow or they will be born tomorrow. It was brought out that lots of the old people probably will not see Spring and it will be a shame that they had not used their funds to help themselves. So in that sense it was brought out that the money should be given, and too it was brought out that we should give that money for immediate relief for the reason that we are the children of the Government, and we will let the Government now that the children are going back on their small resources to help themselves, and in that we we probably will shame the Government.  So with that the money was approved by the Council, and those Navajos that are getting the $5.00 a month allotment would increase their allotment to $20.00 a month, and I believe that a lot of them have already gotten this money. Mrs. Smith, I think, will talk on the schools so I will not talk very much on the school problem.

The Navajos in the past have sent many delegations to Washington, which have asked Congress for schools for the Navajo children - and hospitals - but today there still are thousands of Navajo children who are not in school because there are no schools to be had. We sent out 1500 of our boys and girls to off-reservation schools last fall, but there is where we do not understand, probably the Indian Bureau representing the Government they are not distributing the money equally among the Indians. Maybe there's a little too 

-12-