By Jack Anderson, The Washington Post, Monday, Jan. 29, 1973
The Forked Tongue
Documents taken from government files dispute Interior Secretary Rogers Morton’s testimony the other day in praise of the administration’s efforts to boost Indian employment. He told Congress happily that the number of Indians in industrial jobs has increased in recent years from 500 to 2,500.
But a memo from former Indian Commissioner Louis Bruce suggests a completely different story. “Despite the expenditure of $179.2 million,” states the memo, “40 percent remain unemployed on the reservations.”
The memo is dated Oct. 17, scarcely two months before Morton made his reassuring statement on Capitol Hill. Not only does the memo show that Indian unemployment is rising at a dangerous rate but the at the government is wasting money on Indian programs.
On one $3 million contract, for instance, the contractor pocketed a generous $198,000, administration cost another $274,000 and taxes took $75,000.
Another wastefully run project, intended to train Indian police, cost $104 per week for each trainee – almost twice the $59.35 it costs to train New York City trainees.
