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Show 24 REPORT OF THE OO~I8810NER OF 'INDIAN AFFAIRS. The unrivaled public-school system of the United States has its opponents, who hold the theory that the education of the children of ita citizens i~ not a state but private function. To the credit of a great nation, such persona are in a small minority. Indian education has ih opponentv from the same class and for the same reasons, but going further, that no child values his education which has not case him something. This may be true in some instances, but the great majority of the millions of American citizens who have been educated in the free schools of this country appreciate none the less the advan-tages given them by the State because they cost them nothing. It is the duty of the State to give all of its children a good common-school education; it is equally the duty of the General Government to give, for the same reasons, every Indian child the same opportunities, and even more, by resson of his history, his present condition, and its bwn protection, a chance to learn a useful trade, so that he may in time ! become a self-respecting, self-supporting citizen. The amount spent by the ~overnmeuitn Indian wars can, of course, only be estimated. These wars in many instances were bloody and 1 serious. Omitting those, with Great Britain 1812-1815, with Mexico 1846-1848, and the civil war 1861-1865, two-thirds of thetotal expense of the Army of the United States may be charged to the Indians directly or indirectly. Even during t h e ~ ew ars there were, at the same' time, many. conflicts with the Indians not considered in the above estimates. The United States census, 1890, estimated the total expenses of the United States Amy from Jlarch 4, 1789, to June 30, 1890, as $4,725,591,495. Deducting cost of wars above enumerated, $3.jU,911,008, the remainder is $1,210,610,487, two-thirds of which it is estimated were expended for Indian wars and services incident , thereto, namely, $807,073,658 (cost of fortifications, posts, and'stationa being deducted). To this should be added$28,201,632 paid during that time for pensions, and also about $10,000,000 which the United States Government reimbursed the several States for the mt of their indi-vidual wars with the Indians, making a great total of $845,275,290 spent by the Government from itu foundation to 1890 in subduing, fighting, and controlling the Indians of the country. No account, r however, can be made of the thousands of homes desolated by fire and the scalping knife, the destitution of widows and orphans, and the . retardation of-the western course of empire. Eight hundred and forty-five millions of dollars expended to carry the sword and bayonet among these as against $240,000,000 for the education and care of their children, to prepare them for citizenship and respectable man-hood and womanhood! There should be no cause for regret for the few millions given for a laudable purpose, when contrasted with the many millions for war and conquest. |