TOM SEGUNDO-

Tom Segundo Chief of the Papagos

THINGS have been happening at a sprightly clip on Arizona's Papago Indian reservation since Tom Segundo was elected chief of the Papagos-the youngest Indian chief in the United States.

There was the matter of money, to begin with. The Papagos-second largest tribe in Arizona-were desperately short of money to run their modest system of tribal government. Meanwhile, Tom discovered the traders who dotted the reservation were getting away with murder-doing a cozy business with the Indians on their land without paying more than token license fees.

Tom put through a graduated gross business tax. The traders screamed as though they'd been scalped. But Tom and the tribal council, in the face of fierce pressure, recriminations and worse, stuck by their guns.

And then there was the matter of timber-raiding. White men were driving onto the reservation in huge trucks and then back home again with loads of timber-the very timber which the Papagos relied upon as a source of livelihood. Tom persuaded the tribal council to enact a regulatory law which also levied an export tax on the timber. The leak was stopped up and the tribe gained additional revenue from legitimate timber sales.

A lot of other things have happened since Tom Segundo turned his back on a career in the white man's world four years ago-he was then only 26-to answer the cry for leadership from among his harassed people. But of all those things the most important, by far, is The Plan.

The Plan, as both white man and Indian will tell you out there on the burning desert of the Papagos, stamps Tom Segundo as a statesman. And more than that, says those who are well-versed in Indian affairs, The Plan seems to point the way toward ultimate solution of the Indian problem which has perplexed America for so long.

The Plan properly is called the Papago Development Pro-gram. It is, in brief, a grand design for the emancipation of an impoverished and dependent people. For the plight of the desert-bound Papagos is no less extreme than that of their more publicized brethren, the Navajos. And its roots are the same: A wasted, deteriorated and drouth-blighted land inadequate to the needs of the agrarian people who dwell upon it. That, in fact, is the essence of the Indian problem in general-the problem which intermittently is dramatized in aerial haylifts and news stories of Indians starving amidst the abundance of America.

gram. It is, in brief, a grand design for the emancipation of an impoverished and dependent people. For the plight of the desert-bound Papagos is no less extreme than that of their more publicized brethren, the Navajos. And its roots are the same: A wasted, deteriorated and drouth-blighted land inadequate to the needs of the agrarian people who dwell upon it. That, in fact, is the essence of the Indian problem in general-the problem which intermittently is dramatized in aerial haylifts and news stories of Indians starving amidst the abundance of America.

The Plan calls for restoration of the Papagos' land so that a third of them may sustain themselves at cattle-raising and another third at farming. The remaining third would be prepared for life in the outside world, since Segundo and his people are convinced that, no matter how much their land is improved, it cannot be made to provide a living for all the 7,300 Papagos. The reservation is almost as large as Connecticut, sweeping across much of southern Arizona and backing up against the Mexican border. But it is all arid land, and only so much can be done with arid land.

The Plan envisions that, once these three objectives have been attained, the Indians at last will be free. They will have divorced themselves entirely from dependence on the government and integrated themselves into the social fabric of their state and country, sharing with white men the burdens and benefits of full citizenship. This is Tom Segundo's great dream.

"Our ultimate goal," he has said, "is a healthy, educated Papago people making a decent living in a conventional way, having the same advantages and responsibilities as other Americans and being respected, useful, normal citizens."

The radical part of The Plan is the part proposing that a third of the Papagos be weaned permanently from the land which they and their forefathers have inhabited since the time of Christ. Indians of the Southwest don't leave their land with alacrity. They are wedded to it from generations of tradition, custom and devotion. After World War II, countless Indian G. I.'s returned to their reservations, to the surprise of many a white man who thought surely that the Indians, once they had "discovered" the outside world, would choose to remain in it.

Tom Segundo well knows that this weaning-away process poses formidable problems. Not the least of them is the lack of hospitality which Indians often encounter in the Southwest once they venture into the white man's domain. There is social and economic discrimination to be contended with. Not until very recently did reservation Indians even win the elementary right to vote in Arizona.

But Tom Segundo, a trimly-built, serious and bespectacled young man with skin as brown as stained oak, is living proof of the fact that the Indian can make his way in white man's society. In that sense the youthful tribal leader is only asking a third of his people to do the same thing he himself has done.

Born on the reservation, he ventured into the outside world to seek his education. Then he shook off the bonds of

through its first season undefeated and earned enough money to pay back the loan and buy some more equipment. Delinquency among the Papago youths fell off perceptibly. Then, when the time approached for the annual Papago show and rodeo, Tom pitched in and handled a multitude of the details.

The Papagos were beginning to take notice of this young man newly returned among them. Several suggested that he run for the chairmanship of the tribal council-the Papago version of "chief." Segundo demurred at first, pleading that he had no training for the job. Finally, a week before the election, he gave in-and won the election with nearly twice as many votes as three opponents put together.

Tom was the youngest man ever to be chosen as tribal chairman by the Papagos, besides being as it later developed-the youngest Indian chief in America. One almost needs to live awhile in the Indian country to realize how un-usual it is for the Indians to turn to youth for leadership. For they are a people who revere age, feeling that only age begets wisdom. Tom's predecessor was a man in his 60's. If the Papagos had any doubts about this youthful new chief, they were soon dispelled. Tom Segundo swiftly moved out in several directions to improve the lot of his troubled people.

The tribal government had become almost moribund. The council itself sometimes met only once in three months. Impelled by his strong democratic impulses, Tom went among his people and first strengthened the 11 district councils. This in turn led to a strengthening of the tribal council itself. The council then held weekly meetings, and the meet-ings often lasted all night. Papagos, as Tom will inform you with a spare grin, love to talk.

council itself sometimes met only once in three months. Impelled by his strong democratic impulses, Tom went among his people and first strengthened the 11 district coun-cils. This in turn led to a strengthening of the tribal council itself. The council then held weekly meetings, and the meet-ings often lasted all night. Papagos, as Tom will inform you with a spare grin, love to talk.

When he set about to impose a tax on the traders, Segundo knew he would have trouble, and the traders didn't disappoint him. One tried to bribe him. Another threatened to spend a million dollars in litigation, if necessary, to thwart him. They tried to abolish the tribal council and went over his head to the Indian Service, the governor and the con-gressional delegation.

"They seemed to overlook the fact that this is a reservation, not a concentration camp," Tom remarked drily as he recounted the battle later, "and the only way anyone can come on the reservation and establish a business is by per-mission of the tribe. It's a privilege."

The tax was put on and it stayed on. And the meager trickle of tribal income swelled to a sizeable stream-enough to double the budget and pay for six full-time tribal officials where there had been only one before.

For a year Tom had been doubling in brass-working five days at his roads job and nights and weekends as chief of