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Tuesday evening - Banquet.

ADDRESS BY HON. N. B. JOHNSON, PRESIDENT. 

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow tribesmen: At various times students, mostly from our eastern universities, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and others, have gone out West to study Indian questions and many theses have been written on the subject as to where the Indian came from. Helen Hunt Jackson, that great friend of the Indian people, once said in speaking of the Indian's origin: 

"From whence he came and how long he has been here are much discussed questions which must remain forever unanswered. Whatever his origin, one thing is certain - he has been here for thousands of years."

The Indian today is not as much concerned with the question as to where he came from as he is the question as to where he is going. 

We are here in numbers, delegates from many tribes, strong in purpose and determined to help our people. I welcome you most heartily and urge your cooperation to make this Convention the biggest and best we have ever had. We want to know about the problems of your respective tribes and exchange ideas and offer plans for their solution. 

Indians will never be adequately represented or have their views properly expressed and will never receive proper consideration of their needs unless they speak out and act for themselves. We need a strong, nation-wide organization of Indians, through which Indian thoughts may be expressed. A nation-wide organization of Indians is most imperative. Jurisdiction over the Indians reposes in the United States Congress, with a Federal agency to administer the laws passed by it. Indian affairs, in comparison to national affairs, are small indeed. Few men in Congress have the time to make a thorough study of the needs and desires of the Indian people. The few who do seriously study these matters are generally lost in the great storms and struggles which fall upon Congress. The Indian Service, as an administrative agency, is not always in the best position to influence Congressional policy. Indeed, there are times when this Federal agency is under fire by the public or by Congress. On such occasions, the Indian Service is often partisan and its recommendations must be viewed with skepticism by the Indians. Thus, in moments of crisis, Indian tribes and the Indian people generally are left without an effective champion. The Federal Government has failed again and again in its dealings with the Indians. In dealing with the various tribes in the past, it has followed almost every conceivable policy and has made numerous mistakes. It followed the policy of extermination, forced migration, isolation, and then, in an apparent effort to make restitution, came a policy of extreme paternalism. Time has proven that none of the policies were for the best interests of

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