| OCR Text |
Show 174 1868, article VI provides in part as follows: and the United States agrees that for every 30 children between said ages who can be induced or compelled to atterid school, a house shall be provided and a teacher competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfully his or her duties as a August 12, " ... discharge teacher." It is estimated that the there about 61,000 Navajo Indian Reservation in residing Navajo Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, near the hospital site with some 22,000 children of school The sponsors of age. this legislation maintain that the Government is still under obligation to educate these ohildren, 16,000 of whom are at present not in school. The hospital property involved in the proposed bill has no value to the Government in its present state, and its maintenance costs average approximately $3,200 per month. It has been estimated that the construction of fa cilties of comparable size would cost $14,000,000, whereas the present buildings can be converted to use as an Indian school at a cost of approximately $2,000,000 to apcommo date 1,400 children, and $3,650,000 to its capacity of 2' ,000 .. Indians now on are . - - The 'transfer of this property to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for educational purposes and other utilza tion in behalf of the Indians would serve a useful and much-needed purpose. It would also remove the cost of maintenance and bring the property to an improved perman ent status toward easy conversion s a Government hospital in any future emergency. The-Bureau of the Budget reported to the committee that there would be no objection to the passage of this bill. The following letters set forth the vies of the Secretafy of the Interior and the Wa Assets Administrator: - The Hon. John L. Chairman, McClellan, Committee on Secretary of the Interior, Washington, January 25, 1949. Expenditures, United States Senate.- My .Dear Senator McClellan: Reference is made to your reques for a report on S.170, a bill for the transfer of certain property to the Secretary of the Interior and for other purposes. If amended as set out below, I recommend that S.170 be enacted. It is estimated that there are approximately 23,000 Navajo children of school age. At,the present time there are eduoational facilities on the reservation, public, mission, -and Federal schools, for about 5,500. Provisions have been made during the last 2 years-to transfer another 1,800 to off-reservation Federal schools. There remain, |
