A Fateful Time: The Background And Legislative History Of The Indian Reorganization Act

Chap. 9: After the Summit: Final Form of the IRA

Chapter Nine After the Summit The Final Form of the ira The Indian congresses, the unequivocal letter of support from President Roosevelt , and the Wheeler-Zimmerman summit meeting had by May 1934 made it all but certain that some kind of Indian Reorganization Act would become law. The precise content of this new, wide-reaching statute still remained to be decided, however. The Wheeler-Zimmerman meeting had determined that several key parts of the original bill would be deleted—Title IV (creating a new court), the provisions authorizing large-scale contracting of national services to Native American governments, and the major proposals to force consolidation of allotted lands. Moreover, the decision to drastically simplify the draft bill meant that other portions would have to be rewritten to some extent. But the provisions halting allotment, the self-government provisions, the education sections, and a number of other topics remained in some form. This chapter will examine many of the changes that resulted in the eventual form of the act and summarize the law as it cleared Congress. After the public hearings, legislative consideration of the bill took place entirely in closed meetings, except for the brief floor debates in both Senate and House, which resulted in few changes. For this reason the entire process cannot be reconstructed ; but much of it can, including the portions of the bill having most effect on Indian self-government. The Final Form of the ira: Land Issues This study has argued that from at least 1928 John Collier understood that ending the allotment policy was crucial to preserving the reservation land base for many Native societies, which was in turn vital to preserving the distinctive cultures and social structures that still characterized much of Native America. It has also been argued that uncertainty over the precise form of the change in allotment laws was a principal factor explaining why Collier did not simply 255 09-N1289 6/21/2000 5:16 PM Page 255 reintroduce the 1932 package of reform measures that had been approved in principle by the Cosmos Club conferences in 1933 and 1934. The centrality of the allotment issue and related questions concerning resource ownership and use is supported by the fact that these issues make up the bulk of the ira in terms of number and length of sections as well as the complexity of the provisions.1 On matters affecting land and resources, the ira: declared that “hereafter no land of any Indian reservation . . . shall be allotted in severalty to any Indian” (section 1); extended existing trust periods on already allotted lands “until otherwise directed by Congress” (section 2); authorized the secretary of the Interior to “restore to tribal ownership the remaining surplus lands” of any previously allotted reservations, with some exceptions (section 3); prohibited the secretary of the Interior from selling or exchanging “restricted Indian lands or . . . shares in the assets of any Indian tribe or corporation organized” under the ira except to Indian tribes, with certain exceptions (section 4); provided that constitutions adopted under authority of the ira had to “prevent the sale, disposition, lease, or encumbrance of tribal lands, interests in lands, or other tribal assets without the consent of the tribe” (section 16); authorized the secretary of the Interior to acquire by purchase or other means lands and water rights inside and outside existing reservations (including trust lands) for use by Indians and authorized annual appropriations of up to $2 million for such purchases, except that additional lands could not be purchased for the Navajo Reservation if pending legislation to enlarge this reservation passed (section 5); declared that newly acquired lands or rights would be held in trust by the United States for Indians and that these lands would be “exempt from State and local taxation” (section 5); authorized the secretary of the Interior to “proclaim new Indian reservations ” or expand existing ones (section 7); directed the secretary of the Interior to promulgate regulations to govern “the operation and management of Indian forestry units on the principle of sustained-yield management, to restrict the number of livestock grazed on Indian range units to the estimated carrying capacity of such ranges,” and make other regulations “to protect the range from deterioration , to prevent soil erosion, to assure full utilization of the range, and [for] like purposes” (section 6); and 256 A Fateful Time 09-N1289 6/21/2000 5:16 PM Page 256 stated that...