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Show REPORT OF THE COMMIBSIONER OF IEDIAN APFAIRS. XXXVII expense of taking Indian children to and from Forest Grove is much , less than that incurred by the two. schools in the East. Moreover, the ' pupils are not required to undergo a change of climate in addition to an entire change in the conditions of life. Sixty-fonr of the Forest Grove pupils represent bands in Washington Territory and Oregon, the other twelve are from Alaska-the first step taken by the government toward the reclanation of the AlaskaIndians from the lower depth of ignorance and vice into which they have been descending since the purchase of that country from the Russian Gov-ernment. Twice the number of pupils now at Forest Grove could be accommodated, and could easily be obtained from the reservations and from Alaska. if the funds at the disposal of the office would justify the expe~~diture. It becomes more evident with each year that t h e ' o b s t a~tlo~ t he edu-cation of the Indian childre11 of this generation lies not in their inability to be taught, nor in the indiffererne or hostility of the parents to edu-cation, but in meager apmriations. For the education of its 49,000 children of s~hooTi&~ien, day aud evening schools alone, the State of Rhode Island expends annually $600,000. For the education of the same number of Indians (which is about, the number to be provided for exclusive of the five civilized tribes in the Indian Territory) the UnitedStahes Government,last yearappropriated, infufillment of specific treaty stipulations, $64,000, and "for schooisnot otherwisepro~idedfor," $75,000, making a totalof $139,000 with which to maintain day-schools, furnish books to all pupils, erect and furnish school buildings, and support boarding-schools ! From other funds appropriated for general civiilzation, but which can be applied to schools after other demands not more important butmoreimmediately urgenthave been met, theoffice has been able to expend about $85,000. This, of course, has fallen so far short of meeting the needs of the service, that requests for increased school accommodations at T-arious agencies have repeatedly been re-fused. For the current fiscal year an increase of $10,000 was made by the last Congress, bnt this will hardly cover the increa,sc in the cost of beef a11d flour cons~uned in the schools, to say nothing of. maintaining new boarding-schools opened this fall in the new buildings before referred to, of supporting throughoi~th e year schools opened near the close of the last fiscal year, and of erecting new buildings athitherto neglected agex~cies. Consequently requests for new boardingschool buildings at seven agencies and for needed enlargement of school buildillgs at fire other agencies have already been refused, and unless a deficiency ap-propriation is made by Congress at its next regular session manF In-dian boarding-schools win have to be closed early next spri~ig, a~ld t.he children remanded to the debasing surroundings from which the. school was illtended to redeem them. It must not be supposed that by the appropriation of $64,000, above referred to, treaty provisions with the various tribes have been fulfilled. This covers only qecifio sums called for by treaty. In the treaties of |
