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ADDRESS BY JARLE LEIRFALLOM
Director of Minnesota Division of Social Welfare,
Chairman, GOVERNORS' INTERSTATE INDIAN COUNCIL.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I have come a long way to attend this meeting, listen to your discussions, learn what I can, and to speak to you about Indian problems.*** Having come this far and having been invited to talk, I am going to speak plainly about one or two things on my mind.***

We must find a solution to the Indian problem. When I say "Indian problem," I mean the sad state of affairs under which most American Indians live today. The wretched houses which do not keep them warm; the run-down communities lacking, in many instances, law and order; illness and disease; poor personal and social habits in many Indian communities; lack of work and a seeming lack of ambition: all of these deplorable things and many others which have come to be known as the Indian problem, and which are the result of a century of bungling, not only by officials, but, I'll be frank to say, in some instances by Indians themselves. 

When I say we must solve the Indian problem, I use the word "must" as a relative thing. ***To illustrate, let us say I have a checking account at the bank. I have written and cashed a check which overdraws my account by $50. I become alarmed; I call home to say that we must get some money in the bank before my last check arrives to be paid, otherwise our credit would be ruined.** Although it seems to be almost a matter of life and death to get money into the bank so that my check does not bounce, and I use the word "must," we could let the check bounce and take the consequences and everyone would still be alive tomorrow and the bank would not close its doors.*** When I say that we must solve the Indian problem, I say it much in the same way. We can let the thing ride for another 100 years if we want to, but if we do there will be thousands of Indian children who fail to get a proper education and waste their lives, or men and women who spend months in hospitals, ill from tuberculosis, while their families long for them to get well, and many old folks will die poverty-stricken. In short, thousands of people, just like you and I will continue to live in illness, misery, insecurity and unhappiness if we do not solve the Indian problem. ***

The Indian cannot save himself alone: he needs a good deal of help, at least at the start. However, since becoming interested in this Indian matter, I have observed one thing about which I am going to speak very plainly. We speak freely about the Indian problem. I think it would be much better if we were to say the Indians' problem. *** It is more the problem and the responsibility of you Indian leaders than it is of us white folks to work out a solution. It is more the responsibility of you Indians than it is the responsibility of the Federal Government, to find the answer to your problems. Perhaps it isn't proper for me who have never lived on a Reservation and who have no Indian blood, to be talking so pointedly to you Indian folks, much better acquainted with your problems than I. However, I feel very strongly that it is the responsibility of you Indian leaders, to tell these things to your people in such a plain

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