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Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. xvi i Commissioner of Indian Affairs in issuing orders forbidding the teach-ing of the vernacular to children in Indian schools. The position of the Indian Office was stated by my predecessor in his annual reporb for the - I fiscal year ended June 30,1887. I Protests from many religious bodies were sent to the President, the 1 iecretary of the Interior, and the Indian Commissioner, all based upon I &he assnmption that it mas the intention to forbid the reading of the Bible in the vernacular. To correct thisimpression, the Commissioner published, in pamphlet form, under date of April 16, 1888, '<Corre-spondence on the Subject of Teaching theVernacular inIndian Schools." This pamphlet was generally circulated among the friends of Indian education and others ; and it is believed that the dissemination of the information contained therein has given to the public a correct impres-sion of the purpose of the orders. But, in view of the widespread and apparently deep-seated misunderstanding in regard to the bearing of these orders upon the use of the Bible published in Indian vernaculars, it may be well to stilte that it is' not the intention of the Indian Bureau to prohibit the reading of the Bible by any Indian in any language, or by anybodj to any 1ndia.n in any language or in any Indian vernacular, anywhere, at any time. SCHOOL BUILDlNGR. In further comment upon the subject of Iudian education, I may say that while the general condition of the schools during the year has been ' good, special attention ought to be called to the fact that the attendance a t the Government reservation schools has increased to such an extent that there is, practically, no room in them for more pnpils. As a rule, Indians among whom schools have been established are now willing to send their children to sehool, and, in not a few cases, are asking for more school facilities. Many Indians who, only a few years ago, posi-tively refused to allow their children to learn the "white mada way," and who are yet unwilling to have their children sent for a term of years to remote schools, are now not only ready, but anxions, to have. *hem educated in reservation sehools not remote from their camps. That additional sehools have not been established, in accordance with :the reasonable wishes of these and other Indians, is due largely to the .oons&ction that ha8 been given to the provision of the annual appro-priation act that limits to $10,000 the amount that may be expended in the erection of a boarding-school-building. The construction put upon this provision is that all the buildings neoessary at a boarding-school must he erected at a total outlay of not exceeding $10,00U, and that 'this includes the furnishing of such bnildings. It has been held by the .Second Comptroller of the Treasury that it would be contrary to the .spirit and intent of Congress to use building appropriations for an ad-dition to, or for the alteration or completion of, a school-building, if its 12798-IND S S i i |