Jackson and Jesse L. Kirk, Sr., official tribal delegates, and myself dated July 26, 1954. The report was read to the general council and accepted by it (p. 9, minutes of July 29, 1954). Although this may be debatable, those conversant with the Klamath constitution and the customs of the Klamath Tribe have felt that this action amounted to nothing more than acceptance of a report from tribal representatives. As a minimum, there was certainly inadequate time for consideration of this complicated problem. A reference to the subjects covered by the general council on that day indicates that it was only then considering the bill which had been reported by the Senate committee on June 25, 1954-a bill which did not contain the voluntary withdrawal and related provisions contained in Public Law 587 as finally enacted. Respectfully submitted, GLEN A. WILKINSON. We, the undersigned, chairman of the election boards at Chiloquin, Sprague River, and Beatty precincts, certify that the following candidates were duly elected as officers of the Klamath General Council at the election held on June 28, 1956, for the terms and offices as prescribed by the constitution and bylaws of the Klamath General Council adopted February 3, 1950: Seldon E. Kirk, president J. L. Kirk, vice president Boyd Jackson, treasurer Edward Isom Mitchell, sergeant-at-arms J. L. Kirk, executive committee Delford Lang, executive committee KALMATH AGENCY, OREGON, Mrs. MILDRED MILLER, Chairman, Sprague River Precinct. Chairman, Beatty Precinct. We, the undersigned, chairmen of the election boards at Chiloquin, Sprague- We, the undersigned, chairmen of the election boards at Chiloquin, Sprague 40 69 80 48 117 30 10 16 109 13 7 52 123 44 49 29 14 14 6 56 134 at the above polling places on June 28, 1956, for officers of the general council To All Members of the Klamath Tribe: KLAMATH AGENCY, OREG., June 11, 1956. This is to give notice that in accordance with the constitution and bylaws and per resolution as approved by the members of the general council on June 9, 1956, there will be an election day on Thursday, June 28, 1956, to elect president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and sergeant at arms to serve on the Klamath Tribal General Council. Will also be an election for an eight member executive committee. President: Delford Lang, Seldon E. Kirk. Vice president: J. L. Kirk, Hirman Robbins. Treasurer: Boyd J. Jackson. Sergeant at arms: Edward Isom Mitchell, Bertram Hamilton. Executive committee: Boyd J. Jackson, Dorothy McKnulty, Bertram Hamiltion, Dice Crane, Sammy Hecocta, Evans Nelson, Hirman Robbins, Doris Richards, Wade Crawford, Clarice Lotches, Luke Chester, Dibbon Cook, Wernie Foster, Ida Crawford, Laurence Witt, Wilbur Eggsman, Sr., Mary Reyes, Theodore Crume, Marie Norris, J. L. Kirk, Delford Lang, Elnathan Davis, S. E. Kirk. S. E. KIRK, President, Klamath Tribal General Council. Secretary, Klamath Tribal General Council. OFFICIAL RULES FOR THE ELECTION As per practice for the past several years, voting at each poll shall be held under the supervision of an election board. This board shall decide upon eligibility to each voter and shall see that the voting is done according to the following rules: 1. All voting shall be done in secret as it is at any general election throughout the country. The board will hand the ballot to the voter after his name is registered. The voter then marks his ballot in booth secretly. Then voter himself is to fold the ballot and himself drop the folded ballot into the hole in the ballot box. 2. Those persons who can neither read nor write shall be assisted by at least two members of the election board. Neither of these members is to influence the voter in any way but shall explain to him the method of voting. 3. Only official ballots prepared by the agency office will be used in this election. (The ballots will be printed on specially prepared paper, manufactured by a special process.) 4. The election board shall keep a register in which shall be recorded the name and number of each voter. The number placed beside the name of the voter in the register will be the same as the number placed on the top of the ballot used by him. The top of the ballot, including the number, will be cut off as indicated thereon, and this portion of it shall be kept as a record. The remaining part of the ballot shall be placed in a box by the voter, and the box shall be securely fastened and locked and not opened until after the polls are closed. 5. After the polls are closed, the election board shall examine all ballots and shall segregate those which must be disregarded due to improper voting and shall count the votes on the remaining ballots. This board will then compile the votes in such a manner as clearly to show the results and shall sign a certificate as to the accuracy of its work. The board at each poll shall file in the agency office all ballots, including those disregarded due to improper voting, the register of all voters, and all slips cut from the top of the ballots, and the compilation of all votes cast. No information shall be given out by any member of the board until the persons in charge of the election at Beatty, Sprague River, and Chiloquin shall have agreed that the election was conducted the same as these places on the reservation and that the counting of the ballots is correct. 6. No electioneering will be permitted at or within the immediate vicinity of the polls. 7. Those eligible to vote: Minors, 18 years of age and legally married; others, 21 years of age. 8. Election board members will check at closing time to see if a voter has voted at more than one polling place. The polls will be open from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m. (Government employees who are members of the tribe and entitled to vote may take time off on election day sufficient to make the trip to the polls to vote and return to duty.) E. J. DIEHL, Superintendent, Klamath Indian Agency, Klamath Agency, Oreg. Hon. RICHARD L. NEUBERGER, United States Senate. VALE, OREG., February 19, 1958. MY DEAR SENATOR NEUBERGER: The Klamath Indian delegation now in Washington asked me to appear before your Subcommittee on Indian Affairs or in lieu thereof file for the record a statement of my views on Public Law 587 and pending bills S. 2047 and S. 3051. After attending the hearings and observing the limited time available to your committee it was thought best to file my statement. I have been closely associated with Indian affairs for more than 30 years having entered the United States Indian Service in 1920 cruising timber and topographic mapping of the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon. I organized the first area office of the Indian Bureau in Portland and served as its first director from July 1946 until April 1954, exercising general supervision over Indian reservations and tribes in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, and Nevada. I then served, until my retirement in 1956, in a similar capacity in the area office in Minneapolis with general supervision of Indian reservations and tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I have been on every Indian reservation in this country, principally during the time when serving as director of highways, a division of the central office which I organized. Having begun my career on the Klamath Reservation I have long been acquainted with that tribe and its reservation and my respect and admiration for the Klamath people has grown deeper through the years. As the then director of the region in which the Klamath Reservation lies I was consulted, as was the reservation superintendent, on the proposed legislative bill to terminate Federal supervision over the Klamath Tribe and to withdraw from them the rights guaranteed under the treaty of 1864. The practical effect of the termination bill as proposed to me would have disposed of the Indian lands and placed it on the public tax rolls which was the equivalent of disposition under the circumstances. Long experience among the Indians has taught me that one cannot and should not attempt to rush them into action, especially where they are not sufficiently organized, informed and prepared to make such serious decisions as giving up their reservation lands, in this case disposing of more than 800,000 acres of good land and timber. In this connection it is pointed out that the Klamath Tribe is and has for years been financially self-supporting. Income from their forest lands alone runs as high as $240,000 per annum with undeniable prospects of timber receipts going higher with continued sustained yield management. So why all the rush to terminate the Klamaths? Since the Klamath people were not ready for the treatment proposed the superintendent and I considered the bill ill advised and untimely. We finally suggested a number of changes including that of permitting more time for the tribe to consider termination and the sale of their property if that was the determined decision of the Government. The proposed bill contained some good provisions and seemed innocent enough on its face. However to persons long acquainted with the Klamath people and their reservation it was clear that in the final analysis and ultimate execution the legislation as proposed by the Commissioner meant the destruction of the tribe and disposition of the Klamath Reservation. It was obvious then that the Klamath |