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Show 10 REPORT OF THE CO%I3IISSlOXEK OF INDIA* AFFAIRS. strail1 of reservation and tribal influences. This system will also have a favorable reflex effect npoii the reservation schools, giving an aim toward which both teachers and pupils can work, aild thus increasing interest and stimulating ambition. This, however, presnpposes cheerful cijoperation on the part of the reservation schools. They mnst expect to srrrrender to the remote training schools their brightest and most promising pupils, those who have the best. mental, moral, aud physical endowments, and must en-courage them to go just when they shall have become most interesting as pupils and most helpful and reliable in the various iudnstrial de-partments. Their places must be supplied in turn with the raw material from the camps, to be "worked up" with the same patience, care, and eilthusiasm which was espended upon their predecessors. This is, of course, the natural order of things; yet in some schools it has been looked upon as a hardship. Good material has been pasted with reluctantly, and attempt has eve11 been made to use the non-reservation school as a means of getting rid of the poor material with which the reservation school was encumbered. Such a spirit is entirely out of harmony with any attempt to establish an efficient system of Indien edncation. As a further step toward increasing tlieir efficiency, it has been decided not to force the attendance of Indian cl~ikciren up011 nonreser-vation schools against the will of their parents, aud the following inst.ructions were issued to agents and school snperinteudents on the 22d of April last: You are advised that hereafter no ohildreo are to be talcen away from reservs-tions to nonreservatiou achools without the frrll consent of the parents andtha app~o vdo f the agent. The consent of the p:wents mnst be volnnta~ya nii not in any fiepee or manner the result of coeroiou. This order, however, does not, as some have snpposecl, conflict with the law of March 3,1893, which is as follows: Hereafter the Secretary of the Interior may in his discretion withhold rations, clothing, and other annuities from Indian parents or guardians \rho refuse or neg-leot to send and keep their ehilaren of proper school age in some school a rosson-able portion of eaoh year. Thus far I have not found it necessary to resort to any of tbese means and it is hoped that the attendance of pnpils will be secured without recourse to such penalties; yet cases may arise when the Hon. Secretary may find it expedient to exercise the powers granted. The Indian child should be ta,ught at least to read, to write, and to speak English, and how to work and to live in :b civilized way. Upoil the reservations, day scl~oolsa nd boarding schools sho11lc1 be provided and should be attended. But tlie forcible taking of children a long distance from their homes against the will of their parents, and often to localities so different from their homes as to maketheclimatic changes exceedingly trying, is to me a matter of very doubtful expediency. Even ignorar~ta nd snperstit,ions parents have rights, and their ysren- |