OCR Text |
Show 30 REPORT OF THE 00MM188IONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. schools. Vaccination is considered an effective preventive of the disease, or at leaat a modification of its severity, and a check to its progress. It has, however, only been customary to rmurt to it whmr there waa some immediate danger of infection, and then in many cases it has been performed too late to be of radical benefit, so that schools had to he closed, employees and children scattered, and a year's loss practi-cally sustsjned. To prevent this a systematic method of vaccination mnst be inau-gurated at every Indian school under control of the Government. Upon receipt of this circular you will require the physician (agency or school, as the case may be) to vaccinate every pupil in the school who has not been vaccinated within the past two years. Employees andemployeel children mnst also be vaccinated, lh4 it is the intention of this office to render the schools as nearly immune from smallpox as i& possible under the present conditions of science. If there is at any time any immediate danger of infection from smallpox at or near the school, all persons connected with such school must be vaccinated whether they have previously been vaccinated or not. A careful and complete record must he made of the dates and names of those per-sons vaccinated. As soon as a new pupil is enrolled in the school he or she must be vaccinated. Proper requisitions should be made from time to time for a sdcient number of vaccine points to keep the school supplied and enable the physician to vaccinat- all new pupils, employees, etc. It is believed that these precautions will minimize the danger from this ancient scourge of the Indian. As stated in the report of this Department for the previous fisc~l year, thetotal scholastic population of the country, excluding the Five Civilized Tribes and New York Ind~ansi,s between 45,000 and 47,000, from which must betaken the feeble, physically disabled, and children who from various causes can not be secured, about 30 per cent, which would leave as the net scholastic population about 34,000. There are now enrolled 27,522 pupils, with nearly 6,500 unprovided for. The larger proportion of these are on Navaho, Pima, San Carlos, and White Mounta~nA pache Reservations, in Arizona, and Flathead and Tongue River, In Montana. The natural increase in all schools for the past twenty odd years has been annually about 1,000, and d this ratio is maintained for the future, the poss~ble enrollment will he met in five or six years; hut this office is of opinion that a wiser policy should prevail. The reservations named furnish the bulk of the unprovided for excess, and adequate facil~tiess hould at once be made for taking it up w~thint he next or succeeding year. The needs of these reservations are great, and every year's delay is detri-mental to the best interests of the thousands of young Indians who are now growing up in ignorance. Now 1s the proper time, in order that years may be saved in the general plan for their uplifting. It w~ll cost several hundred thousand dollars to accomplish t h ~ sre sult, hut the money will be wisely expended and hasten the day when no further l~ppropr~at~ons.neheed m ade. |