Viewing page 106 of 157

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

November 4, 195[[/strikethrough]] 5 [[strikethrough]] 1954
Mr. Jess Stevens
Chairman, San Carlos Apache Tribe
San Carlos, Arizona

Dear Jess:

This will confirm our telephone conversation this afternoon. Please let me say again how very much I appreciated the opportunity of being able to talk with you and Oliver. It is a shame that all of us are scattered so far apart that we can't get together and discuss things much more often. I keep wishing that I could find time to write letters like I would like to to all of you whose tribes belong to the National Congress, but it has been such a difficult job to keep enough funds coming in here to keep your doors open and to try to keep up with the legislation and other matters that you expect me to do that I find it leaves me no time to write to you like I would wish to.

We are very hopeful that this year at the convention each of the tribal councils will instruct their delegates as to the matters of greatest concern to that tribal group. Even if your Tribal Council passes a simple resolution stating the problems about which you are most concerned, it gives us all guidance and direction in formulating the general resolutions and in laying out a program for the coming coming year for the National Congress of American Indians. I am sure that your tribe, like many others, must have many questions and much concern about the transfer of hospital administration and medical care to the United States Public Health Service which was passed in the last session of the Congress last summer. It would be very helpful if your tribe would write down as many of the specific questions or suggestions as you can possibly think of, so that we can try to do a good job of consolidating the recommendations of the various tribes when we meet in Omaha.

We hope, too, that you will get a genuine expression from your Tribal Council on the whole question of withdrawal and termination legislation. As I told you over the phone, I have always felt that the National Congress of American Indians ought to be a genuine organization of the Indians, with each tribe carefully instructing its delegates they send to the Convention. Then, if all of you who are official delegates at the Convention will express yourselves in clear terms as to your real feelings and your general recommendations on the work and the legislation for the coming year, I will know exactly what you expect me to do by way of carrying out your instructions.

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-02 15:45:48 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-02 22:10:11 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-11-03 11:22:10