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Show BEPORT OF EUPEFXNTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. 449 "This," said Major Pratt, " is the best argument for the Indian that I can pm?e?t. The Indian should go into the body politic and relieve the United States from ea attention to the practical vide of the question. for him. .We are making too much ado about the school and .not paying eno-%u g "There is no school in Pennsylvania, and I do not think there are an in the United States, that will refuse to admit the Indian when he shows a Ctneps &r the cumcu-lum. The public shools, the schools of our o.wn children, wlll civilize the Indian and make it possible for h ~ mto take h ~psla ce m the body politic. "The businessof the United States IE to make decent homes for everybody! without distinction of rac.e, color or revious condition. The freedom of the Indmn from his environment is long& for$ eve pup11 at Carhsle and other schools; they want a chance to get out into the world 2 mlngle with and be of the people. The War Department has declared the Indian to be a failure as a soldier. The Indian never was in the Army as an individual. Companies have been tribalized, the Sioux, Apaches, and Cmws have been kept by themselves and have had no chance. The Indian should be taken into the Army just as any other man is taken in, without regard to his nationality. Major Pratt mentioned the fact that five of his boys were in the Army, two bei in the Phillipinea, two in Puerto Rico, and one in Cuba." I-Ie mid that the 13ian had no home, and should be taken away from his dirt and given an equal show with other men. The reservation system is wrong; it does not develop manhood. The best kind of schoolin for an Indian is to go into any civilization. school or city, secure any kind of honest work, an dg become assimilated by the white Father B. F. Hahn, of Banning Cal., spoke of the p a t good done by thechurch, and of tryin to aid them in secdng the means of s. l~velihood. Dr. ~ e r r i f iE . Gates spoke for the church , w. hi'c h has been the pioneer in Indian civilization. The good work done b the mission fathers is seeneven in this genenr-tioq; He thought that, while all sc~oolws en doing good work, the Carlisle "out-m system is the great central idea. L v . Dr. Lippincott, of Philadelphia, thought tlyt the uestion, "What shall we do with the Indian graduate?" can be apphed wlth equa? force to the graduate of any other school or college. If the graduate w~ t hpr o r mental equipment is 'ven absolute freedom to go where and to do what he pLes, the question is 80%. The best interests of the country are wrapped up m the homogeneity of the people. There is no other country in the world where the people are so homogeneous as in the United States. The public school, a~dedb y the pre64 and the church, are great factors in the attainment of this end. There should be no Indian tribes nor tribal schoob. It is the man who is sought not the tribe. The Indian must go and be lost in the great stream of American life. The sole question is, ,"How shall we so manage the education of the young Indian as to assimilate him m our life?" The Indians are a feeble people; their la-e is worth nothing and should not be er petnated. The Indian question will be solved when the Indian schools are &ne away with and the Indian children mingle with the whites. Prof. J. B. Brown of Haskell Institute, Kansas, continued the discussion, saying, briefly, that the 1nhian children drawmng the greatest annuities were the worst u ils mentionin the Osages asan example in proof of his aertion. He thinks the f n i i d is spoiled%y our indulgence. He should be made to stand or fall upon leaving school. Supt. Russell Miff, of the Omaha school, Nebmka, stated that the allotment of Indian lands by the Government makes it hard to send the Indian away. He rents out his land and lives on the income. He thus becomes more lazy and is, in fact, naught but a. auper aided by the Government. Supervuor %right said that the abolition of the reservation would not dispose of the vexed question. He cites the Winnebagoes in Wisconsin and the Sioux in Min-nesota as examples of Indians living among the whites and shifting for themselves. Mr. Wright remsrked that these Indians are tramps and gypsies, making their living by selling baskets and fish. He thought that the easlest and pest aystem,is toplace Indian children in white families, where they em leam Amen- llfe whlle gomg to school. The chairman of the superintendents' section announced a, general discmian, which was led by Superintendent Smith, of Michigan, who told of the civil life of the Indians in his State, saying they made ood average citizens. The Indian cbil-dren make fair progress in the public schoo%, and he thought that the Indian eom-pared favorably with his white brother under similar circumstances. Superintendent McArthur, of Sacaton, Ariz., propounded the following question: "Excluding all mixed blogds, all Indians in Government employ on reservations, and all in colleges and academies, how many of them are there to-day who have 8896-29 |
