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Show SEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. IX five. Benevdent perso%,a,llover the wmtry ace taking a deeipinterest in both of thee schoola, md areemtribut,ing money to promote the im-proveme& of tbe pupils, by fmishi i~ga rthles that .manot be suppliad and paid for under .govwnment regulations. From the statements herein made it will be been that the work of education among Indiana has been largely increased, and tbe facilities now enjoyed will tend very .materially to promote the WOE% ,& Indim civilization. The interest of the Indian chiefs .and rulix mn in these educational movements is very great. They have already ex-pressed odesire to send school eummittees fmm their tribes to sea and report upon the progrem and .tm&ment of their childm in the govern ment schools; md permissien to w~ n ee ast for that parpose will be g-ranted to a limited number. The older Indians, and those experienced in the affairs of the tribes, feel keenly tlw want of edueatiou, and as a rule havefarored all endeavors to educate their children, and it is a rse thing to find aa Indian so benighted as not to desireto have his children taught to d ancl write in the English language. Arrangewnta :me now in progress for opening a school similar to the Cwlisle s e h l at Borest Grove, Oregon, for the edaoation of I n h children on the Pacific coaet. ln the lnonth of July, 1877, it w s propeed to the Sioux chiefs Bpotted T@il and Red Cloud, in a council held with them tit their old agenkibs in Dakota, that they should begin th, work of their own oid-izabion by hauling Weir annuity gods and supplies from the PBissmvi River to the new locations to which they w m aknt to remove, clista~t mspedivel~%Oan d 183 miles westward frem the river. The India118 pmlnised that, whenever the government should f d s h them d t h tbe means of transportation, t h y would willingly embark in' the enterpkw. Owing to the impending removal of the Indians and the lateness of +Ae eeaaon, it as deeided, after dw defiberation, to defer putting the plan into execution uutil after the mmoval8hould have been acootnp&hd and su~cieast n p p b s'hould have been traaspor&+dt o the new inert-tions to c w th e Indians through the h t w inter. The department did not wish to iaeur the risk of making a triad of what waa loolied upon a8 an experiment, d e n any failure migk* deprive We Indians of suffioient food and shelter to enable them to wi&sta:nd the rigor8 of a Dakota winter. As related in my last report, a serious oombiuation was made by con-traetora to take ad.wntage of what was supyosed to be the necessities of the goxernlaeut in the hope of thereby extorting exorbiknt rates for the ewrying of supplies from the Missouri to the two agencies. After ad.&tising twice successively forbids for traasportation without obtain-ing reasonable proposals, ib was determined to purehase four hnn6red md twel~ew agons an&s ix hundred sets of double harness, and to hire the |