operated under a written consitution approved April 19, 1938, with five subsquent amendments. The Confederated Tribes have a business council as th governing body. The business council is composed of 14 councilmen who ar elected from the 4 districts of the reservation.

TRIBAL ASSETS

Tribal trust lands totaled 1,014,629 acres as of June 30, 1960; 746,950 acres of timberland have commercial value. The June 30, 1961, balances of tribal funda in the Treasury of the United States are as follows:

Proceeds of labor on Colville Indian Reservation, Wash.: Fund No. 14X7219 amount as of June 30, 1961, $402,505.34; interest to date, none (interest being allotted).

Awards of Indian Claims Commission, Colville (Sampiol, Nespelem, Okanoga: Mephow, and Lake Indians of Colville Reservation, Wash.): Fund No. 14X7024 amount as of June 30, 1961, $900,000; interest account No. 14X7524; amount. ' $25,816.39.

Interest and accruals on interest, payment to Indians of Colville Reservation. Wash., for lands: Fund No. 14X7532; amount as of June 30, 1961, $116.95. The Confederated Tribes have operated a revolving credit program since 194 using their own funds. They have invested nearly $537,000 of tribal funds this program. Since the program was started, they have made 443 loans to mete vers totaling more than $1.1 million. As of June 30, 1961, there were 124 losts outstanding with a total balance of over $472,000. The cash on hand w $122,000 which is available for additional loans. The Tribes also have a revolvit, cattle loan program which is in the process of liquidation. As of June 30, 196. there were 8 contracts still in effect with individuals who owned a total of 8 head of cattle.

TRIBAL INCOME AND EXPENSES

The estimated income for the Confederated Tribes for the 1962 fiscal year: $1,586,200. The tribal budget for 1961 is $509,047, as follows:

This does not include a per capita payment which is usually made annust

CLAIMS

The various tribes that are resident on the Colville Reservation have filed clar before the Indian Claims Commission. This includes claims in petition No. 17] filed by the Colville Band covering land disposal at less than actual value; petiti 178 by the Colville Band, demand for accounting of trust assets; petition 179 by the Chief Joseph Band for pro rata share in trust assets of the Nez Perce Tri petitions 180 and 180-A by the Nez Perce Band for the taking of lands and t pass; petitions 181 and 181-A, 181-B and 181-C filed by the Colvilles for takilands, fisheries, hunting grounds, and for trespass; petition 186 filed by the C Joseph Band for the taking of land and trespass; petition 222 filed by the Pak Band for the taking of land, trespass, and withholding of pro rata shares in Y ima sssets; and petition 224 filed by the Moses Band for the taking of land s trespass.

Six bands of the Colville tribes have been awarded a judgment in docket ▼ 181, Indian Claims Commission. The net award was for $900,000 after the p ment of attorney fees. S. 2123 would authorize the use of these funds by business council of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. In sc tion, those Nez Perce Indians, who are members of the Colville Tribes, are shar in the award made by the Indian Claims Commission in petition 175A. P Law 87-24 (75 Stat. 45), authorized funds to be made available to the Col Business Council in the amount of 13.414 percent of a total judgment $1,157,605,06 after payment of attorney fees.

Mr. HALEY. I might say that the Department of Agriculture ubmits comments and suggested amendments in H.R. 6801 and ecommends enactment of H.R. 8469 if amended.

I might say that the chairman of the committee has been receiving little bit of correspondence from out in that part of the country. Dr. Taylor, what percentage of this do you think is opposed to this bill? Dr. TAYLOR. Well, that is an accumulation since last fall. I would hink 99 percent of it is favorable to the Tollefson bill, H.R. 6801. Mr. HALEY. Without objection the correspondence will be made a part of the file.

(The documents referred to may be found in the files of committee.) Mr. HALEY. I might say that the idea of the chairman here was to hold hearings here in Washington, and get the views of the Departnent. Many of these letters, wires, and resolutions suggest that we hould have some hearings out on or near the reservation so that the ndians involved would have an opportunity to express their opinion. n these bills.

I merely want to hear from the Department as to their views. I hink that it would be well if the committee at a later date visited the eservation and set up hearings in several parts of the community or hat particular part of the State so that these people would have an pportunity to come in and express their opinion on this legislation nasmuch as it vitally affects the economic way of life of many of them. We have up for consideration this morning Mr. Tollefson, your bill H.R. 6801. We are happy to have you here this morning.

Mr. TOLLEFSON. Mr. Chairman, as you may know I have introluced these two bills by request and if it meets with the committee's pproval I would just as soon submit a statement for the record and eave the testimony to the departmental people who know this subject nuch better than I do.

Mr. HALEY. That would be perfectly all right sir. If you will ubmit your statement, without objection it will be included in the record at this point.

(The document referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF HON. THOR TOLLEFSON

I introduced this bill (H.R. 6801) at the request of the Colville Indian Assoiation, which association is incorporated under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Washington, and which association consists of enrolled members of the Colville Indian Tribes living within and outside of the boundaries of the Colville Reservation. This association claims to represent a vast majority of the enrolled nembers belonging to the Colville Tribes.

It was the understanding that this bill should be introduced for the purpose of study with the hope that the Indians would discuss and familiarize themselves with the provisions of the same and come forward with their views and with roposed amendments. I am pleased to be informed that these Indians have been very active in their study and discussions of the provisions of this bill from very angle.

The form and text of this bill follow that of the so-called termination bills which ave heretofore been introduced in both Houses of the Congress, and in line with he present declared policy of the Congress, which, among other things, declares hat all legislation dealing with Indian affairs should be directed to the ending of a egregated race set aside from other citizens, and as rapidly as possible, to make he Indians within the territorial limits of the United States subject to the same aws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to >ther citizens of the United States, to end their status as wards of the United States, and to grant them all of the rights and prerogatives pertaining to American itizenship.

84202-62-3

It has been said by high officials of the Interior Department that this bill ca not be amended. Such a statement is preposterous. Any bill can be amended It also has been stated by some of the witnesses for and on behalf of the Interi Department that the bill was defective because it did not contain a "sustaine yield clause" concerning the sale of the timber. The Indians who are the pr ponents of this bill specifically asked that such a clause be eliminated, because, such a clause is embodied in the bill, qualified private concerns would not b interested in submitting bids for the timber, and the timber would have to be sold to the Government at a much lower price.

The Indians contend that if the Government desires to purchase the timber it should be made to meet the highest legitimate and qualified bid, otherwise they (the Indians) would be deprived of millions of dollars.

I respectfully ask that, if it is possible, for your subcommittee to visit the Colville Indians and conduct hearings at suitable places on and adjacent to th reservation at an early convenient time, at which hearings, Indians and person representing local communities may be heard.

Also I respectfully ask that before the approval and adoption of this bill, any other termination bill, the enrolled members of the Colville Tribes may be afforded the opportunity to determine by a vote at a free election as to the acceptance or rejection of the same.

Mr. HALEY. Does any member of the committee care to direct any questions to Mr. Tollefson?

Thank you very much.

Mr. TOLLEFSON. While I am here, Mr. Chairman, it was my under standing from your clerk on the committee that you might also tak up one of my other bills which has to do with the enrollment covering the Yakima Indians.

This measure had the approval of the committee and of the House of Representatives in the last Congress and if it is perfectly permis sible with the committee I would like also in that case to submit a statement or to let my letter to the chairman be made a part of the record at an appropriate point in the hearings on that measure. Mr. HALEY. That is H.R. 2581?

Mr. TOLLEFSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. HALEY. All right, sir.

Dr. Taylor, will you call my attention to it when we get to this bi I might say also that we will discuss your bill H.R. 6802 this mort ing if time permits.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. HALEY. Thank you very much for your statement.

Now, then, we have the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Phille Nash. Mr. Nash, if you and your good right and left arms or tw right arms will come forward we will be glad to hear from you, s STATEMENT OF PHILLEO NASH, COMMISSIONER OF INDIAS AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY MARTIN P. MANGAN, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR LEGISLATION; AND LEWIS A. SIGLE ASSISTANT LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

Mr. NASH. I would like to have both my right and left arms, s I appreciate it.

Mr. HALEY. I might say that they are pretty good right arms. I were at the witness table I would like to have them alongside of r too. They take care of themselves very well.

Mr. MANGAN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin if I may. have arranged a little division of labor here today.

Our remarks on H.R. 6801, on which you have received the Departnent's report recently, are in a sense prefatory to the consideration of H.R. 8469, which is in effect the bill submitted by the Business Council of the Colville Confederated Tribes in response to the Public Law 772 enacted by the Congress in 1956. It required that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation submit to the Secretary of the Interior within 5 years a legislative proposal which would accomplish he termination of the Federal trust within a reasonable period there

ifter.

The tribes did submit their proposal in a timely fashion within the 5 years required by the act and it has been introduced by Mr. Horan is H.R. 8469.

Mr. Nash would like to address himself to that bill, but as a prelude o that I would like to discuss the provisions of an earlier bill, H.R. 5801, which was introduced by Mr. Tollefson on May 3, 1961.

The Department recommends against the enactment of H.R. 6801. It finds the bill really not susceptible to amendment in any form out rather recommend strongly that the bill not be enacted.

We find that it presents some real problems for which there is no solution in the legislation itself. Its basic purpose is to effect the sale of certain tribal lands, principally the forest lands of the reservation. Those forest lands are, of course, the economic backbone of the operations of the Confederated Colville Tribes. The bill directs the Secretary to appraise the timbered lands of the Colville Reservation and thereby determine the fair market value of the timber lands, o offer them for sale within 1 year of the enactment of the bill and to listribute the proceeds of the sales to the enrolled members of the ribes.

It enables those who have allotments on the reservation to apply or patents in fee to their allotments; and, if the Secretary deteraines that they are capable of managing their affairs, he is required o issue that patent in fee.

In those instances where applicants for patents are determined by he Secretary to be incompetent to manage their affairs, the allottees hay petition the U.S. district court for a determination of their cometency and if the court determines that they are in fact competent, he Secretary of the Interior would be required to grant their applicaion for a patent in fee.

We think that the enactment of H.R. 6801 would have several very nfortunate results. The two principal ones which we have indicated 1 our report are that it in effect liquidates the principal tribal assets. hat now finance practically all of the tribal activities and yet it does ot in effect terminate the entire Federal trust and would leave the nited States and the tribe with all the problems of trusteeship withut the economic footing, so to speak, to manage these residual trust ctivities.

Again we would have to call the committee's attention to the fact at the Colville Reservation contains some 4 billion feet of timber. t is approximately the same size forest as the Klamath Forest, which his committee has grown to know well over a number of years. There is no provision in this legislation that would require the ontinued sustained yield management of the Colville forest.

We think that the loss in terms of a real resource, should that forest e clear cut, is of such import that the committee would want to

consider very seriously permitting the disposition of that fore without provision for a continued sustained yield management.

Beyond these considerations we think the bill in its present for... almost in any form that it might be amended, is unworkable. Sectio 7 provides that the provisions of the bill will be ineffective until s least 60 percent of the enrolled members who vote in a referendum te be held for such propose approve the provisions of the bill.

Section 7 then authorizes the tribes to hold such a referendum within 60 days after the enactment of the bill and provides furthe that the Secretary shall hold a referendum immediately after the 60-day period if the tribes fail to act.

Yet section 3 provides a 6-month period for the enrollment proces with the tribes under this bill. It provides a 90-day period after the 6-month period for the preparation of the roll by the tribe for any aggrieved persons to file an appeal from their failure to have bee enrolled and necessarily entails a reasonable time thereafter for the Department to determine those appeals.

This obviously is going to require a year at the minimum or more to determine who are those persons entitled to be enrolled by the Colville Tribes.

Yet this referendum is to determine the fate of the tribal property and must be held within 60 days after the effective date of the act, or many months before it is known who is entitled to vote in this refererdum. The value of the tribal properties, and the prospects for th future management of those properties, would also be unknown at that time.

Meanwhile, while this enrollment process is going on and whi this referendum has already been held, the Secretary is required unde the terms of this act to determine the tribal lands that are valuab chiefly for timber purposes, to divide such tribal lands into appropriate units for sale, to appraise the land by units to ascertain the fair marke value of each such unit, to advertise and sell the units at not less than the appraised fair market value, and to accomplish the purchas by the Secretary of Agriculture of such lands that are not sold.

So, here again, while we are trying to determine who are entitled " make these decisions for the tribe, the Secretary must proceed con currently within the same span of time with these dispositions of th property.

In other words, we feel that the members of the tribes must vote accept or reject the provisions of the act before the identity of all th members is determined, and the process of the selling of the lands ma be well advanced before some of the members of the tribe, present. unidentified, have expressed their wishes for the referendum vote. We would also like to call attention to the problems we had in t administration of the Klamath Act over the meaning of fair mark value.

As you know we finally had to come back to the Congress an reach a new determination of values called realization values. Th is presently being litigated in the Court of Claims of the United Stat because the Klamath people contended that the so-called realizat was not just compensation for the value of their forest properties th were acquired by the United States. There is also the factor ths presumably this appraisal that the Secretary will accomplish is fact the fair market value.