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SALT LAKE CITY TRIBUNE

Sept. 22, 1956

Emmons Asks Indians' Help In Programs

BOISE IDAHO (UP)-Glenn Emmons, U.S. commissioner of Indian affairs, Friday told leaders of six Pacific Northwest tribes that a government program for improving their way of life "will not work unless it has the fullest co-operation of the Indian people themselves."

The commissioner's comment came at the end of his two day meeting with the Spokane, Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce, Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai and Colville tribes here. He said he was hopeful the "historic meeting" had done "good, not only for the Indian people, but also for the bureau."

Receives Peace Pipe

The sessions ended with presentation of a peace pipe to Emmons by La Salle Pocatello and Frank W. Parker of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes for Fort Hall. Parker said the pipe was the symbol of the "continued trust and confidence" of the Indians in their commissioner.

During the two-day session, Emmons outlined his bureau's program to bring the Indians of America better health, education and economic development. Representatives of each tribe conferred with Emmons while the leaders of the five other groups conferred with each other to discuss their mutual problems and gain from each others' experiences.

'Go to People'

"Explain to your people exactly what we have said," Emmons told the tribal representatives Friday. "We have to go to them if they are to know our programs."

The commissioner said "full consultation" with the Indians themselves was a "firm policy" of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The discussions covered ways in which reservation lands could be developed agriculturally and industrially to better support the tribes. The Indians also brought their problems before the commissioner to outline specific fields in which they needed help for development of the human resources of the tribes.