cattle. The U.S. government maintains the solu-
tion to the problem is for the Navajo to reduce
their herds, particularly their number of sheep. The
Navajo, however, maintain that the United States
should give them more grazing land.
Although hesitantly, the Navajo Tribal Council
agrees to cooperate with the government’s livestock-
reduction program. It asks each Navajo family to
cut its herds by 10 percent. Commissioner of In-
dian Affairs John C. Collier allocates funds from
the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to
pay the Navajo a small sum for each animal they
agreed to relinquish.
Despite the Navajo’s cooperation, government
officials often treat them harshly during the de-
cade the program is in operation. Some agents take
animals by force or shoot them when their owners
refuse to surrender them voluntarily. For years to
come, the program will leave the Navajo angry and
bitter toward the U.S. government, with Collier as
the principal target of their wrath.
The National League for Justice to American
Indians is formed.
The Los Angeles–based National League for Justice
to American Indians is created to campaign for the
disbanding of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Founder Marion Campbell maintains that BIA pol-
icies have kept Indians from assimilating into the
general population and holds that Indians would be
better served if states took over the administration
of Indian affairs.AprilFranklin Roosevelt authorizes the Indian
Emergency Conservation Work program.
Established as a part of the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC), the Indian Emergency Conservation
Work federal relief program hires Indian laborers
to work on conservation projects on Indian lands.
Projects of the IECW include protecting timber
resources, improving rangelands, and controlling
erosion on farmlands. (See also entry for 1937.)