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-7-

With or without a confession of sins, we can all start out anew. The Governor's interstate Council on Indians which has gotten off to a fine start and about which I want to talk to you about in a moment is an invitation for all of us to let bygones be bygones and work together in a fresh, cooperative, endeavor. Progress is some places than in others. We have Indian groups within the State of Minnesota where there really isn't much of a problem because the children have been educated for several generations the same as Whites. These Indians have moved into the economic and social streams in a perfectly acceptable way and, as years go on, less and less will be heard from these folks about any special problems. We also have other places within the state where the same is not true and where the Indians must figuratively be lifted up out of their squalor by the boot-straps, starting way back with the education of little children and planning to spend a whole generation or two to get results. 
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Let me congratulate the National congress of American Indians for the excellent work this organization has been doing. You are the nucleus of Indian leadership. Your organization is a wonderful thing if for no other reason than the fact that is displays to the whole country, at least once a year, the excellent Indian leadership in men such as Justice Johnson and your other officers and members who are as prominent and well thought of in the affairs of our country. These men and the members of your organization are the best testimony in the world to the fact that there is no difference between the Indian and the White man, except that of nationality and I think we'll have to admit that if it comes to a questions of which nationality is best, a man would hesitate to say that the genuine American should take second place to any person. 
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While I think of it. Why doesn't your organization solve for all of us the question of who is an Indian. You can best define an Indian. I have been told that some persons with 1/100 blood now pass as Indians. Other with fractional
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