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Show REPORT OF THE COJIMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XXXV discontinued, so that the whole nnmber now in operation is 101, five less tha11 last, year. Most of those discout.inned were small schools, main-tained in the Indian camps by religioos sooiet,ies. It is as coinmolt a belief that the boarding should supersede the day scl~ool as it is that traiu-ing- schooli remote from the It~diau conntrj- ought to be substituted for those located in the midst of the Intlians. But I trust that. the time is not far distant when a s ~ ~ t oef ~diust rict scl~oolsw ill be established in India11 settlements, which will serve not only as centers of elllight-enment for those neighborhoods, but rill give suitable employn~ent to returned students, e~pecia~ltlhge young women, for who111 it i~ specially dificnlt to lirovirle. As Genern,l AmsBrong has well said in his annna.1 report : There is absolntelyno ponitiou of dignity to wh~eha n Indian ~ i ralft er three y e a d training can look fbrward xvitlk any rcasolraLle oonfidenoe. Tllcre is aothing for her but to alljoy or suffer in the present atate as beat she rnn,y. school^ ill the Indian osmps, mldar judicious aud vigorons sl~pervisiou (mob aa are ia n few oaaes adready established by the isissiouaries), ~venld give honorable work, fill1 of inspirat,ion, to our best l~jdinll girls. Referring to reports from returned students, he also sa.ys: There ~ R bSee n a Ions favorable nooonnt. of the two girls r h o live ill the e . l ~ >w~itsh their mothers, which is their nlisfortnoe rarl~cr than their fault. There is not the regular prnnloyment for girls t11af there is f i r bogs. The lot oud the chnnee of the former are tunoh llnrdar than of the latter. The intelligent, deccl~dI udion girl is a, p~oblern. Teaching wonld be her Iwpe if ~ol>oolws ere providerl. To erect necrssarj buildings and pax teachers for such district schools will require another increa,se in a.ppropria.tions,~ vl~ioI hh ope will not be wanting. When such schools are est~blisl~ecclo, mpulsor~e~du cation can be re-sorted to. T h i ~ already been psrtially t.ried at two agencies wit11 considerable. success, although the compulsion conld not be made univer-sal for the reason that school facilities fell far short of accomtt~odatiug the schooll)opnlat.ion. Two other agents have ~ig~~ifitehceli r intention of adopting s ~ ~ cml te asures, and, with the help of their Indian police, will nndoubtedlg succeed. At other a,gencics, l~on~erewr,h ere there is greater disproportion betweenthe nnmber of children and t,he size and number of the school buildings, pupils have to be tnrned a,w;EJ'from in-stead of forced to school. I desire, in this connection, to renew ios7 suggestioi~o f last year, that the example of New York in extending her ~OIXI I I IOs~cIh ool systeln over her Indian reserva.tions and emliloying educated Indians as teachers, is amost sensible one for other States to follow. The results thereof mould be no less valuable to t,l~Se tate than to the general government. Oarlisle, Forest Grove: and Hampton traileing schook.-By reference to the report,s of Lieutenants Pratt and Wilkinson, and of 8. C. Arm-strong, herewith, pages 177, 187, and 181, respectively, it mill be seen that good work has been accomplished during the yeaz at the Carlisle, |
