to safeguard the fishery resources from excessive drains which would impair their future value to the Nation. In contrast to the situation at the end of World War I, the fisheries as a whole have been maintained in sound condition. The National Park Service The National Park Service, although operating throughout the war with greatly reduced personnel in the field and at its headquarters, experienced a steady increase in travel to the 169 areas that it administers. This increase became more rapid with the end of the war in Europe; next it became a flood. Not only did this suddenly increased use of the National Park System place a heavy strain on the organization of the National Park Service and of the companies operating concessions; it also forecast a volume of travel during the next season which may well surpass the record year of 1941. This prospect points to the necessity of bringing the Service's organization back to approximately its prewar size and functions. This will be impossible without funds to supplement those now available, since the present appropriation was determined in the expectation that the war with Japan would continue for another year at least, and that the wartime low volume of travel would continue. The National Park System has been weathering the war period without material damage to the resources of scenery and history and science which it is charged with conserving. Perhaps the most serious threats to such resources were found in the efforts to open parts of Olympic National Park to the logging of Sitka spruce and of Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the cutting of its virgin stand of red spruce. Proposed legislation, which would have compelled the opening of all national parks to the grazing of domestic livestock, aroused such widespread opposition that no action was taken on it in the Seventy-eighth Congress, neither was it introduced in the Seventy-ninth. Although the work of the National Park Service was not considered to be tied in directly with the prosecution of the war, the areas that it administers provided much-sought recreational opportunities for members of the armed forces and those engaged in war industry, and it is also fair to say that the system through war permits made its appropriate contribution to the victory. Immediately ahead of the National Park Service, as soon as funds can be made available for it, is a program of reconditioning of roads and trails and of the utilities and facilities that are used for administration and for direct service to the public. For this it is estimated that $1,200,000 will be required during the next year or two. Along with that should go an orderly program of needed developments. All construction has been halted for 4 years. A program should be started for the acquisition of non-Federal lands within the boundaries. of areas in the park system. These holdings, amounting to more than 600,000 acres, make it difficult to furnish adequate protection to Federal properties, add to the expense of providing needed developments, and are open to undesirable and destructive uses. The controversy over the establishment of Jackson Hole National Monument was marked by two important events: The late President Roosevelt's veto of the Barrett bill, which would have abolished the monument, and District Judge Kennedy's decision, in the Case of the State of Wyoming v. Paul Franke, affirming the legality of the President's action in establishing the monument. Representative Barrett has reintroduced his bill and Senator Robertson has introduced a bill to amend the Antiquities Act of 1906 by providing that the establishment of a national monument would require approval by the Governors and a majority of the congressional delegations of the states affected. No action has yet been taken on either of these nor on any of the four other bills now pending which would amend or abolish the Antiquities Act. I continue to believe that it is still true that only vision and perspective can be relied upon to save for Americans of future generations outstanding areas that belong to the whole people. The cooperative responsibilities of the National Park Service have been appreciably enlarged through the first appropriation to implement the Park, Parkway, and Recreational Area Study Act of 1936; by studies, underaken at the request of the Corps of Engineers, of the recreational values of reservoirs proposed to be built by them; and by a study, launched at the request of the Bureau of Reclamation, of the same sort with respect to their prospective reservoirs in the Missouri Basin. By agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Service is also undertaking the administration of the recreational resources of the Friant and Shasta Dams in the Central Valley project in California. The Office of Indian Affairs The Office of Indian Affairs reports some important gains during the past fiscal year. The program of land acquisition and consolidation has been continued; 257,000 acres, formerly opened for settlement but unclaimed, were restored to Indian use. Tribal funds, totaling $177,000, were used in purchasing 63,000 acres on 12 reservations, much of this land being from Indian estates complicated by heirship. The Jicarilla Apaches newly completed their program of consolidation, and the Southern Utes reacquired 40,000 acres at a cost of $83,000. The 673716-46- -8 Rosebud and Cheyenne River reservations have made notable progress in the exchange of heirship interests for use-rights in tribal lands, thus enabling many Indians to engage in, or enlarge, farming and livestock operations. Recent experience has demonstrated the facility with which the resources on Indian lands could be developed for the national benefit. Thus far during the war, 11,400 oil wells on Indian lands produced more than 70,000,000 barrels of oil, principally in Oklahoma, Montana, and Wyoming. During the past fiscal year Indian wells yielded 23,000,000 barrels of oil. The excess draft on this nonrenewable resource, however, was not too heavy, and conservation practices continued to be applied in the Osage field. The yield of the Cutbank field on the Blackfeet Reservation began to decline in 1945. War bonuses made possible the extraction of some low-grade lead and zinc ores from the Quapaw lands, which yielded 78,248 tons of zine and lead concentrates during the past year. The total production during the war years was 415,000 tons valued at $38,000,000. More than half a billion feet of timber were cut and removed from Indian forests, the major portion being for military use. Indian sawmill enterprises produced more than 30,000,000 feet of lumber, but the principle of sustained yield was maintained. Maximum production was maintained on 44,000,000 acres of forest and open range land, and overstocking generally was not permitted, although overgrazing still presents a difficult problem on the Navajo, Hopi, and Papago reservations. In the calendar year 1944, the Indians earned a total income of more than $15,000,000 from their beef and dairy herds-an increase of more than $1,000,000 over the previous year. In addition, the livestock and livestock products consumed at home had a market value of more than $7,000,000. Although about 45,000 Indians left their homes during the year to work in various industries, while 25,000 others were serving in the armed forces, those who remained at home produced nearly 5,000,000 bushels of cereal crops valued at $5,000,000. Other field crops with a market value of $3,500,000 were produced, while tree fruits, nuts, . and berries, sold and consumed, were worth $775,000. Garden produce, raised by 32,000 families, was valued at more than $1,000,000. Indians not only increased food production at home, but further contributed to victory by working for the Red Cross and by assisting in the war-loan drives. Many communities, in which income are small in terms of cash, made large contributions to the Red Cross, and war-bond quotas were frequently over-subscribed. Indians in the armed services won high praise for their conspicuous gallantry on all fronts. The Office of Indian Affairs has recorded two awards of the Congressional Medal of Honor, 51 of the Silver Star, 70 of the Air Medal, 34 of the Distinguished Flying Cross, and 50 of the Bronze Star. In April 1945, more than 400 Aleuts who had been evacuated to the mainland at the time of the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians returned to their island homes. The Army and the Navy, with the help of Indian Service architects, will rebuild their villages; and Indian Service teachers and special assistants are helping the natives to reestablish themselves. Because of the great exodus of Indians from the reservations, the attendance at Indian schools has decreased considerably, and many children who left home with their parents have been deprived of schooling. Much of this loss of education may be irreparable, but a new emphasis is now placed on the value of education by those who are returning from the armed services. During the year the Navajos demanded by resolution that the Government keep its pledge of 1868 to furnish a schoolroom for each 30 pupils. There are nearly 20,000 Navajo children of school age, but the school facilities will accommodate no more than 40 percent of them. Because of the shortage of personnel, the health service was compelled to limit its activities largely to curative and palliative measures. During the past year, 750,000 out-patient treatments were given, and 40,000 patients were placed in hospitals with a total of 865,000 inpatient days. During the year a judgment was entered in the United States Court of Claims, allowing the California Indians to recover $5,024,842.34 in partial satisfaction of claims arising from the Senate's failure in 1852 to ratify 18 treaties made with these tribes. The Menominee swamp land case was settled by the payment of $1,590,854.50 from funds of the Menominee Tribe to the State of Wisconsin for 33,870 acres of swamp lands within the boundaries of the Menominee Reservation. Reexamination of claims for losses of personal property by the Sioux Indians after the "Custer War" resulted in a departmental finding that the claimants were entitled to the additional sum of $101,630. Although the Colorado River Reservation was set aside in 1865 for the Indians of the river and its tributaries, colonization of the area was not feasible until, at the outbreak of the war, the completion of the Headgate Rock Dam and its distribution system made possible the irrigation of 100,000 acres of land. In May 1945, the War Relocation Authority returned to the control of the Indian Service 2,000 acres of developed land in the southern area, and 16 Hopi families decided to migrate to the reservation, taking over 40-acre units of irrigated land. The Division of Territories and Island Possessions The territorial areas-Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands-have been the active, strategic outposts of the American people at war. In the interest of the Nation at large, most of them have endured perils, hardships and losses exceeding anything experienced in the continental United States. All of these areas are trying to establish a more workable formula for their political relationship with the continental United States. Alaska and Hawaii have both had Statehood bills introduced into the Congress, and Puerto Rico has drafted and had introduced a bill which requests the Congress to authorize the people of the island to decide by a plebiscite whether they shall have independence, statehood or a dominion type of government. The Virgin Islanders are preparing amendments to submit to the Congress which would liberalize their organic act. We should support these 21⁄2 million American citizens who are trying to evolve a sounder relationship with us and who are, in effect, giving us the opportunity to maintain our leadership as a progressive nation. As you stated recently of the Puerto Ricans: "All Americans are grateful to them for their loyalty and service during the war such loyalty should now be rewarded by the opportunity to reinforce their local government and to settle by free choice their future relationships with the United States." * * * In addition to support from the mainland in the fulfilment of their political aspirations, it is obvious that the territorial areas will deserve our full cooperation in the restoration of their normal economic life. In Hawaii, agricultural production was hindered from the beginning of the war by acute shortages of labor and equipment. The flourishing fishing industry was practically suspended, and the great influx of troops and war workers caused a crisis in housing and public health. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, when shipping had been drastically cut, came very close to mass hunger. Shortages of food and essential consumer goods were critical during the early years of the war in both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; and throughout the war their own agriculture and industry have been seriously handicapped by the lack of equipment, supplies and shipping. The Philippine Commonwealth suffered great physical damage and severe dislocation of its industry and trade. At the end of the Japanese occupation, it was found that sugar cane production in the islands had been disastrously reduced; many sugar mills had been destroyed; and a violent inflation had set in, originating from the flood of Japanese pesos, and intensified by the dire scarcity of essential goods. In seeking remedies for their wartime losses and dislocations, the governments and people of these American outposts have proceeded |