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Show , REPORT OF THE COMM~SSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. V Those not under the control of the agents of the government, number-ing 15,802, are principally in the Territories of Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, and the States of California, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin. INDIAN EDUCATION. Reports from the schools on the various reservat.ions are full of en-couragement, showing an increased and more regular attendance of pupils and a growing interest in education on the part of parents. Per-sistent calls for the opening of new school#, or the enlargement of thoae . already established, come to the office from every quarter. During the year sixty boarding and one hundred and ten day schools have been in operation among the different I~tdiantr ibes (exclusive of the five civil-ized tribes in the Indian Territory), yhich have been attended by over 7,000 children, and taught by 338 teachers. In the education of the Indian youth it is the policy of the office to have farm and domestic work occupy as proininent a place as stufiy in the school-room, and the devel-opment of character and trainiug of the pupils in the manners and habits of civilized life is held to be quite as important as acquiring a knowl-edge of books. But the opportunity for teaching Indian children how to live., as well as how to read and think, is found only in the boarding school, and for that reason the effort of the office during the past year has been directed mainly toward increasing boarding-school accommo-dations at the various agencies. Only three new schools, however, have actually been put in operation, and four new buildings erected. The educational work of the bureau couId have been enIarged to a much greater extent but for the inadequate appropriations made by Con-' gress for tbe support of schools. Fifty thousandIndians at seventeen agencies have no treat1 school funds whatever, and for educational fa-cilities must depend entirely on the general a.ppropriation for Indian education. Among those tribes there are at least seven thousand chil-dren of school age. Exclusive of rations, the cost of clothing, books, and instrnction in an agency boarding-school cannot possibly fall below $60 per capita per annum. The whole appropriation of $'i5,000 would there-fore enable the office to keep twelve hundred and fifty out of seven thou-sand children in boarding-schools for the year, or would keep about twice that number in day-schools. But this appropriation must dso be used to supplement insufficient treaty sohool funds at various other agencies. The following extract from the act making appropriations to f~ilfiltl he treaty with the Flatheads of Montana shows the inadequllcy of many of the treaty provisions for sohools : For tho support of an agricultural and industrial school, keeping in repair the build-ings, &"a pcovidingsuitsbie furniture, books, and stationery, par fifth article of treaty of July 16, 1855, three hrndrsd dollar8. For providing snitabie instructors therefor, per same rsrtiole of same treaty, one thousand eight hondred dollars. |
