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Show 166 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. that were assumed to us in Minnesota and Wisconsin have no superintendent, and therefore the American Missionary Association took special pains to secure men of more than ordinary ability and experience to till the office of agents. We were not able to secure agents on the salary which the Government gives. In order to do so it was necessary that the association should add to their salaries to the amount of some thousands of dollars ; and it seems to me the Government will always find great difficulty in getting men because of the meagerness of the compensation. In regard totheprogress oi'the work, I think I can say that our agents and laborersthere find all the success they can reasonably expect. In the first place, upon their arrival there it was a season of the year when it was most unfavorable to the cultivation of the soil. Then the Government required their services in the investigation of certain frauds which had existed against the Government and against the Indians, in which they were able to render material assistance. In regard to the Indians at the White Earth reservation, where there is an Episcopal mission, under a native minister, nothing can' be said except that which is encouraging. Their native minister is a good one. They all dress in citizens dress, and act. as well as citizens generally. They have undertaken the cultivation of the soil, it being but recently that they have had an opportunity of doing anything of the kind ; probably one hundred and fifty acres of ground are under cultivation by the different Indian farmers, from three to five acres each. Twenty-five Indian houses have been built; the agent has built a large school- house, which will be conducted on the plan of a boarding- school, and the indications were, when I was there, that the house would be tilled. I took with me a letter from Bishop Whipple ; it was read to the Indians. They said that they accepted me as their repre-sentative in the payment that was about being made to them, and which I went there to attend, as I brought with me a letter from the best friend they knew of; and in relation to the school- house, they said, ll We know now that something is being done with the money." In the little experiment made there at White Earth, there is every reason to believe that if ordinary inducements to labor are given TO these Indians, they will in a short time become as industrious a community as any you will find in the Northwest. There is one agency among the Chippewas of Superior, and one among the Menomonees. I think there is in Wisconsin a small agency, and a similar baud in Washington Territory. Very little has been done there for the education of the Indians, for the reason that the band was a small one, and were so scattered, and their habits have been so roaming that the school has been only a limited one. I would say here something with regard to the need of work on the White Earth reservation. It is necessary that increased expenditures for school purposes should be made, and build-ings should be so enlarged and increased in number as to furnish twice the accom-modations they now do. There are thirty- six townships of the most excellent land set apart for the Indians. I think the question of Indian civilization fairly settled, and the plan has all the elements of success, if we can have increased facilities in the way of money and labor in assisting the work of the missionaries who are at present among the tribes. 1 think that the paper sent us by Mr. Colyer makes some inquiry of what the agents most complain. So far as our agents are concerned, they complain mostly of the difficulties that arise from contact with the whites. In the first place, they need more stringent laws to enable them to prevent the introductton of whisky into the Indian country. I do not know that they complain of anything else so far as the Government is concerned. They feel that the Government has responded to all their demands, and they are greatly encouraged ; they believe that the effort will prove a success, and we shall be able to civilize the Indians. Mr. Chairman, will you permit me to make one remark ? I listened with much interest to the remarks that have been made in relation to teaching the English language to Indian children. It seems to me that there is no substantial difference of opinion between the gentlemen who have spoken on the subject. Where there is an Indian literature I would not hesitate to teach it, and to teach them in their native language; but where we have got to create an Indian literature, and especially where they have no Christian literature, I would, under existing circumstances, teach them the English language. At the forma-tion of the Government an attempt was made to keep the Indians a distinct race ; in fact they were really a sort of foreign nation in the midst of our own territory, and then it was essential that they should have a language of their own, but now they have got to be surrounded more or less with an American and English population. 1 want to introduce them into our Government as citizens, and it is therefore necessary that we should teach them our language, that they may in time speak it. Mr. BHUNOT. I think the gentleman does not differ from those who have previously spoken in reference to the teaching of the English language ; the only difference is that some- of them find it, or think they find it, better to teach them through the English language, and their efforts are defeated in the teaching of that language. EPISCOPAL MISSIONS. Rev. Dr. Dyer, Senator Stevenson, and Mr. Welsh represent the Episcopal Society. I should be glad to hear from Dr. Dyer such views and statements as he may feel prepared to make. |