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Show 130 REPORT OF THE O O ~ B S I O N E RO F INDIAN AFFAIRS. the school work. Very few of those engaged in the school work in these nations have ever had any professional training, and the zeal and ability of Superintendent Benedict, with his able assistants, has infused new life and ambition into those who attended. The attend-ance was good, there being 49 teachers enrolled in the Creek normal, 107 in Cherokee normal, and 165 in the Choctaw normal. Separate summer sohools were held at Tahlequah and Mnskogee f i r the colored teachers of the Cherokee and Creek nation#. The enroll-ment was 23 negro teachers at Tahlequah and 49 at Muskogee. A summer normal with 80 teachers enrolled was held at Tishomingo in July for the Chickasaw Nation. White children in Indian Territory.-Superintendent Benedict in his annual report calls attention to the condition of white children in the Territory. This is a subject which has been discussed in previous reports, and urgently demands consideration by Congress. As Super-intendent Benedict says: ' The Indian Territory has a greater population than any other Territory within the boundaries of the United States--greater even than any one of the eight -11at States in the Union. Of the half million people now residing here at leaet four-fifths are whites, who have come from the various Stah and have settled here with the intention of making this Territory their future home. They are found in every village and neighborhood, and are engaged in various kinds of business. They do not differ in any wise from the average citizen of the States, possnssing the same love of home, family, and country as the average American citizen. The wonderful growth of many of the towns is due to their enterprise, and the development of the thousands of farms now being platted and allotted will depend in very large measure upon their labor. The condition of the white public aahools in the Territory is exhib-ited in the following table: TABLE No. 22.-Public schoo7.8, ahwing looation, superintmdmt, w h establish&, etc, in Indian Tdory. |