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for several weeks, there was work to persuade SEnator Watkins that this Indian Claims Commission should be extended a reasonable length of time . And without crippling amendments. And finally Senator Watkins agreed that this was essential in the good Indian program. Then wehn [[sic]] we thought it was coming up on Consent Calendar and almost through again of all people, Senator Langdor of North Dakota, deeply believing that he was serving the Indians best interests,knocked it down from 5 years to 2 years again on the floor of the Senate. We were told [[strikethrough]]to [[/strikethrough]] that if it went to the Committee the Committee would probably put it back up to five years but if Senator Langdor, again when the Senate had to confirm the Committee's report, still stood by two years, it was again lost. And this was getting very late in Congress. So one of our jobs was to go to Senator Langdor and help him see that to put a two year limit on it only played into the hands of the Justice Department attorneys who used delay as a means of defeating Indian claims. The delay of justice is a denial of justide. [[sic]] This is only one bill. There was a great deal of work on the Indian Water Rights Settlement Act in 1956, which contained no provision in the beginning to protect Indian Water Rights. This would have affected the water rights of all tribes where water is a problem. There was a great deal of work on many other bills, some ofwhich you know about and may mention later this evening. When the Competency Bill came up, we've mentioned this beofe, [[sic]] the committee was rather heavily in favor of the Competency Bill, It was heard not once in one Congress, not twice, but it came up a third time. Between the second and third times, there was an amendment that the tribes of Oklahoma ARizona, and new Mexico, who were organized politically, should be deleted from this bill. It looked as though there was an attempt to pull off the worst political pressure and get the bill through. The Indians of SouthDakota and the Indians of Idaho changed enough Congressmen from being for that bill to being against that bill to defeat it by a 76 vote. Its the Congressmen from the states where you vote and where you take an active interest in the politics, that they listen to what you want. And this is what we are talking about tonight. This is the most important work that we have beofre us, especially from now until November 6.