IRRIGATED LANDS AND INDIAN SELF-SUPPORT

The effect of irrigation facilities on the ability of the Indians to support themselves is shown by the example of the 12,000 Pueblo Indians who have produced crops under irrigation for at least a thousand years. For several years, drought conditions notwithstanding, the Pueblos have not received direct relief assistance from the Federal Government, not even Social Security benefits for the aged. On the Fort Peck, the Fort Belknap, Blackfeet, Crow, and Rocky Boy's Reservations in Montana the production of reserve forage on irrigated land is beginning to rebuild the livestock economy of these tribes on a sound foundation. At the same time irrigation for forage production will make possible the correction of improper land-use practices by returning to grass large areas optimistically plowed for wheat production.

In the Plains area the development of water for the irrigation of hundreds of truck gardens varying from 5 to 200 acres is assuring subsistence in drought years to numerous groups; larger irrigation projects in this problem area will in time enable a number of the Sioux Tribes to rebuild their cattle economy on a safe basis and provide an avenue of escape from an almost hopeless situation. By the same token the Navajo Tribe of 50,000 souls must look to irrigation for its eventual salvation. Even though the cost of constructing irrigation works on Indian lands is in the nature of a subsidy. the money is well invested as it helps to keep Indians off a permanent Federal dole and at the same time removes the necessity for destroying the range on the watersheds by overuse and misuse.

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PENSION TRIBES

It should be emphasized that the United States has never as a matter of national policy supported or pensioned its Indian tribes. The Government is not supporting the Indians now. Because the Indians are the special concern of the Federal Government and because their lands are held for them in trust by the United States, and therefore, are not subject to State and local taxation, the Federal Government under the terms of various treaties has assumed the cost of educating Indian children, of rendering the Indians medical and hospital service, of building roads on Indian reservations, of constructing irrigation facilities on a reimbursable basis, of administering Indian lands and Indian estates, and of supplying agricultural advice and credit for Indian enterprises. Aside from a small amount for the relief of aged and indigent Indians, no money has been appropriated for the unearned use of able-bodied Indians since the beginning of the century except an insignificant amount in ful

Observance of old tribal customs and increased opportunity for self-government by the Indians is a fundamental policy of administration under the Department of the Interior. Upper: Indians of Taos, one of the 19 ancient villages of New Mexico, perform a religious ceremonial dance. Lower: The Santa Ana Pueblo Tribal Council in session.

fillment of certain treaty obligations. Approximately $15,000,000 a year, almost one-half of the regular appropriation, is spent for the education of 80,000 Indian children of school age and for the Indian Medical Division. The construction and maintenance of roads, irrigation works, schools, hospitals and quarters absorb another $8,000,000 annually.

In these appropriations for Federal services to Indians there are no funds for a general Indian pension system, and the appropriations to help the Indians make more effective use of their land, expenditures for agricultural extension work and for credit operations, have averaged not quite $1,000,000 a year for the last 7 years. Yet it is through the wise, effective expenditure of the appropriations for agricultural extension and credit that the Indians can be lifted out of the economic subcellar and placed in a position to earn a decent livelihood by their own efforts on their own lands.

INDIAN HEALTH

Good health being one of the prime essentials of any program of national defense, the rapid advancement of Indian health work, and the recently accomplished results of the Indian Service program of research and treatment, constitute an important contribution to the national cause. Striking success in the treatment of tuberculosis and trachoma has been recorded within the past year.

The conservation of Indian health, the improvement of Indian morale, and the betterment of the physical, social, economic, and spiritual conditions among the Indians of the United States proper and Alaska cannot be told in detail within the space of a brief report Only a few of the highlights and some of the interesting background features can be told. It is a story of human conservation, scientifically applied through the medium of medical workers whose application of modern methods must continually be adjusted to the ancient beliefs, ceremonies, traditions, and taboos of the many Indian tribes and bands.

As a privilege of free peoples, tolerance in the practice of local customs and beliefs is essential to a democracy. Yet for generations, religious liberty was not permitted to the Indian tribes, while the curing ceremonials, an essential part of their faith, were discouraged. Few persons considered of value the mental stimulus produced by the powerful song prayers and the fact that through generations of testing, these "Medicine Men" had acquired an extensive knowledge of medicinal herbs and the use of practical therapeutics in the form of massage, sweat baths, cathartics, and cauterizations.

Years ago the Indian people were reluctant to accept modern medicine, because it was in direct conflict with centuries of superstition. The

white doctor performed treatment without ceremonial prayers. And because it was customary with some tribes to abandon the house of the dead it was hard for the Indian to accept the hospital principle. Medicine men among some tribes, particularly the Navajo within the last decade, began a campaign of chants and ceremonies against doctors and nurses. But gradually, as skilled treatment brought the ill back to health and as health education proceeded in the schools, the Indians themselves began demanding new hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities.

As evidence that it by no means wished to interfere with or belittle the Medicine Man's religious role in tribal life, the Government recently invited Navajo medicine men to participate in the dedication of two Federal hospitals. The fact that the Navajo medicine men offered the prayers with which they bless their own homes in the dedication ceremonies demonstrated a reciprocal appreciation and realization of their own limitations in the face of modern science. Of similar interest, a full-blood Osage Indian, Eugene Butler, Jr., presented the Indian Pawhuska Municipal Hospital in Oklahoma a few months ago with an X-Ray machine of the latest model.

HEALTH THROUGH EDUCATION

Care is taken never to force the patient, but to see that he or she completely understands and is willing to undergo the treatment. Native attendants act as interpreters. Parents are consulted in the care of children. No operation is performed, except in the case of accident or emergency, without the written consent or thumb-print signature of the patient.

The increased development of community day schools has assisted this program of health education, bringing both children and adults into closer and continuous contact with health objectives.

Instruction is readily available and not academic, but adjusted to meet local conditions.

In the belief that it is neither necessary nor desirable to change the dietary habits of Indian children simply because these do not coincide with our own tastes, studies of native foods and native ways of preparing foods have been made in certain areas. Indian schools have then included these foods on their menus, thus giving dignity to native customs and encouraging children to evaluate their own practices before discarding them for new ways. Because of the high infant mortality among Indians, instruction in infant care is given in high schools, the class often adopting an infant and giving it full care.