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Show REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. 355 Indians. This is the more significant because of the absence of com-pulsory measures practically throughout the field, and because it comes in the face of apparently adverse Congressional legislation, which, for the transfer of an Indian child outside of the State in which the res-ervation is situated, requires the writteu consent of the parent. There are still a few localities in whicli the impatience of inlmediate success calls loudly and with plausible argument for compulsory mearlures. Probably, however, pat!ent persistence in the present eftbrts to secure a spontaneous cooperation of the Indian by leading him to see in his actual experience the beneficent influences of school work upon his life and the life of his children will, in the end, yield more solid and more n=.e-r-.m anent r.~.x.n~lt,s~. -.~~ One of the most notable indications of the growing interest in the work of the school on the Dart of Indians is afforded bv the action of the Kiowas and Comanodes who, nuder the inspiration of Captain Baldwin, acting agent, voted last spring to appropriate $25,000 of their grass money as a contribution toward the erection of a central boarding school to take the place of the abandoued Washita school. SWMER INSTITUTES. Three general institutes of persons conuected with tlie school service were held during the summer of 1896 at Lawrence, St. Paul, and San Franciso. The programmesof these institutes are printed in the appen-dix to this report. The high character of the papers presented, the earnestness aud breadth of the discussions, and the devotion to the work of the institutes 011 the part of those in attendance, justify the conviction that the beneficial influence of these meetings will more than equal the benefits derived from the sessions of 1594 and 1895. Among the many helpful outcomcs of these institutes I desire to direct vour attention more aarticularlv to a few of the most aromiuent orlcs. "TIICh.;~i\ .e conrribtlird lnorc tlian any othrr farlor i l l i l ~ see l~ool work to tllc rr.n~or..~tilr ~rrtt l ~ o s e r r ~u~f .;Ir u:crros~facrior!ul q ~ i r iwr l~ich was manifested inthe more or less hostile attitude between the various ~u~derstooiodw -at least amaug those schools whose represent at a. ves attended these meetings-that the work of each grade enters organic-ally iuto the work of Indian education as e whole; that the value of the work of each school and grade depends largely upon the helpful attitude of its work to the work of all other grades; that the attempt on the part of any one grade to mininlize the importlxnce of other grades must react unfavorably upon the offender and infliience injuri-ously t'he work throughout the field; that competit.ion must yield to earnest, determined, and mutual helpfulness; that kindly, mutual appreciation must t,ake t,he place of jealousy and envy; aod that mi~ti~al encroachments and aspersions reduce the etfectiveness of all parties concerned. If there are still schools which have not been reaclied by this kindly spirit, this fact can he traced largely to the fact that representatives of these scl~oolsh ave not at,tended these meetings. Another equally important benefit derived from the institutes is to be found iu t.hcir influeuce in placing upon common ground and in unifying the work of the va,rious departments of each school with reference to t.he common purpose of the schools as a whole. The schoolroom, the workshop, tlie Ihrm, and the domestic dep;lrtme~itsa re learning to see clearly that eaoli with refercllce to the outcoiue of the whole school is an essential adjullct of the other, and that the best |