n
JANUARY 1958
KLAMATH TRIBUNE
Page 5
SENATOR NEUBERGER'S FEDERAL PURCHASE BILL
mined by the appraisal board.
The Forest Service of the De
partment of Agriculture would
administer this purchased timber
property, and the Fish and Wild
life Service of the Department
of the Interior would administer
the Klamath Marsh lands.
The bill further provides that
remaining agricultural and graz
ing lands would be sold on a
competitive bid basis with tribal
members enjoying the right to
meet the high bid.
S. 2047 will be discussed in
Washington by Government offi
cials rfnd tribal representatives
during the coming severalweeks.
The complete text of this bill is
printed bclo Since Congress
man Ullman's bill will also be
considered by Congress, the Tri
bune will carry a complete text
of that bill in the next issue of
the Tribune.
(S. 2047 is as follows:)
A HILL to provide for the acqui
sition by the United -States of
all tribal lands of the Klamath
Tribe of Indians.
He it enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That (a)
section 2 pf the Act entitled "An
Act to provide ftir the termina
tion of Federal supervision over
the property of the Klamath
Tribe of Indians located in the
State of Oregon and the individ
ual members thereof, and for
other purposes", approved Aug
ust 13. 1954 (68 Stat. 718), is
amended by striking out para
graphs (d) and (e) of such sec
tion and inserting in lieu there
of the following:
"(d) 'Tribal property' means
any personal property, or any in
terest in personal property, that
belongs to the tribe and either is
held by the United States in trust
for the tribe or is subject to re
striction against alienation im
posed by the United States.
"(e) 'Adult means a person
who is an adult according to the
law of the place of his residence.
"(f) 'Tribal lands' means any
real property, interests therein,
or improvements thereon, includ
ing timber and water rights,
which belongs to the tribe and
either is held by the United States
in trust for the tribe or is subject
to a restriction against alienation
imposed by the United States."
(b) The first paragraph of sub
section (a) of section 5 of such
Act is amended by striking out
"by practicable logging or other
appropriate economic units."
(c) Section 12 of such Act is
amended by striking out "trans-
(Continued From Page 1)
fer of title to tribal property to
a trustee, corporation, or other
legal entity pursuant to section
6 of this Act" and inserting in
lieu thereof "acquisition by the
Secretary of the tribal lands re
ferred to in this Act."
(d) Such Act is amended by
adding at the end thereof the fol
lowing new sections :
"Sec. 27. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this Act, the
Secretary shall purchase from the
Klamath Indian Tribe all tribal
lands of such tribe at the fair
market value thereof as deter
mined in accordance with the pro
visions of section 28 of this Act.
"Sec. 28. (a) There is hereby
established an appraisal board to
be composed of three qualified
appraisers who have had wide ex
perience in the valuation of tim
berlands, agricultural lands, and
grazing lands, one of whom shall
be appointed by the Secretary of
the Interior and one of whom
shall be appointed by the Secre
tary of Agriculture. The third
member of the Hoard shall be e
lected by the Klamath Tribe by
popular vote of the enrolled adult
members of the Klamath Tribe
taken by secret ballot.
"(b) It shall be the duty of the
appraisal board to determine the
fair market value of all tribal
lands of the Klamath Tribe, and
to report to the Committee on
Interior and Insular Affairs of
each House of the Congress dur
ing the Eighty-fifth Congress the
results of such determination.
Such report shall be submitted to
both committees on the same day.
In the event of disagreement a
mong members of the appraisal
board as to the fair market value,
such value shall be determined
by a majority of the board.
"(c) The appraisal provided for
under this section shall become
effective upon the expiration of
a period of sixty calendar days
of continuous session of the Con
gress following the date on which
the appraisal board reports to
such committees the results of
its determination in accordance
with the provisions of this section.
For the purpose of this section
"(1) continuity of session shall
be considered as broken only by
an adjournment of the Congress
sine die; but
"(2) in the computation of the
sixty-day period there shall be
excluded the days on which either
House is not in session because
of an adjournment of more than
three davs to a dav certain.
"Sec. 29. (a) Any part of the
tract of tribal lands acquired pur
suant to section 27 of this Act
which consists, of timberlands
under sustained-yield manage
ment shall be transferred to and
administered by the Forest Ser
vice of the Department of Agri
culture as national forest lands.
Such lands shall be administered
in the same manner and to the
same extent as are other national
forest lands, and shall be subject
to the same laws applicable to
other national forest lands.
"(b) The Secretary of Agri
culture is authorized and em
powered, under general regula
tions established by him, to per
mit the use of rights-of-way
through lands referred to in this
section for beneficial purposes.
"Sec. 30. (a) Any remaining
tribal lands acquired pursuant to
section 27 of this Act, other than
lands referred to in subsection (b)
of this section, shall be sold on
a competitive bid basis, except
that any member enrolled under
section 3 of this Act who wishes
tos purchase any of the agricul
tural or grazing lands comprising
such remaining tribal lands shall
have a priority right to purchase
any part of such lands for not less
than the highest offer received
by competitive bid, and to apply
toward the purchase price all or
any part of the sum payable to
such member pursuant to section
31 of this Act.
"(b) That portion of the tract
of tribal lands acquired pursuant
to sectioif 27 of this Act com
prising approximately seventy
thousand acres of Klamath marsh
lands shall be administered by
the Fish and Wildlife Service of
the Department of the Interior.
"Sec. 31. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this Act, the
Secretary shall pay, at the earli
est practicable time but in no
event later than one year after
the acquisition by the United
States of the tribal lands referred
to in this Act, to each member
of the Klamath tribe enrolled pur
suant to section 3 of this Act,
or to his heirs, his pro rata share
of the purchase price of such
tribal lands.
"Sec. 32. There arc hereby au
thorized to be appropriated, such
sums as may be necessary to car
ry out the provisions of this Act."
; 0
Voter: "Senator, you promised
me a job."
Senator: "Hut there are no jobs
open."
Voter: "Well, you said you'd
give mc one."
Senator: "Tell you what I'll do;
I'll appoint a commission to in
vestigate why there are no jobs,
and you can work on that."
Dept. of Interior Bill
Explained to Council
"Only land for the withdraw
ing members will be sold at reali
zation value at the present ap
praisal", stated Lewis A. Sigler
in explaining the Departmental
Hill (see article concerning de
partmental bill elsewhere in this
issue of the Tribune) to the
General Council on January 24.
Under Neuherger's Hill', "all
tribal land will be sold to the
United States and put in a
National Forest. There will be no
laud left for the Tribe," he said
in pointing out the difference be
tween the two bills.
Lewis Sigler, representing the
Secretary of the Interior, appear
ed before the General Council on
Saturday. January 21, with an
explanation of the Departmental
and Neubergcr bills at the re
quest of the Tribal Kxccutive
Committee.
Under NTeuberger's bill, "there
will be a new appraisal by an ap
praisal board. Whatever price
they come up with will be the
purchase price," he explained. He
then said to the council that the
question is whether "you want a
new appraisal or do you want the
present appraisal."
A question was raised regard
ing the present status of the ap
praisal and Sigler replied that the
results will be made known to the
tribe within the next few days. He
emphasized that he could not in
form the people about the ap
praisal at this time because he
does not know what it is.
The Departmental Hill provides
that the tribal property to be
sold will be "put on a competitive
market. If no one will buy it at
the appraised price and practice
sustained yield, the United States
will buy it." Sigler stated that
under the Department's bill, the
"Tribe is guaranteed at least the
appraised 'price while under Neu
berger's, there is no chance of
getting more than the appraised
value."
Sigler spoke before a packed
council house of about one hun
dred forty Indian and non-Indian
people and answered many ques
tions raised by tribal members
from the floor.
Several times during the meet
ing, Sigler emphasized to tribal
members that "your wishes will
control what Congress will do.
You have the right and duty to
make known your wishes to the
Senators and Congressmen."
Xorthing is impossible to the
man who doesn't have to do it
himself.