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Show of children. If the 2,000 youths of the Fort Peck and Blackfeet Agen-cies cor~tinueto be restricted as now to boarding-school accommoda-tions for only 80 pupils, no marlred intellectual derelopment need be looked for, and the few cl~ildren who may be sent away to school from those tribes, will find on thcir return that the current of ignorance and heathenism setting against them is too strong for their unaided resist-ance. The atatistics of the last year, while far from satisfactory, show progress both in the quantity and quality of school work done ou or nem reservations. Boarding schools have been established for the first time amoug the Pumas, Mescalero Apaches, Pine Ridge Sioux, and the Indians at Fort Berthold. One additional school each has been given the Indians of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and Warm Springs Agencies, and a new school for the Sioux has been opened at Yankton, Dak. The Yuma, Fort Berthold, aud Cheyenue aud Arapaho schools are occupying vacated military posts, tr.iiusf;.~rcdto the Department for this purpose. Two small boarding sctioula hare closed, and the Round Valley board-ing school must be disuontiuned until the buildings burned during the year can be replaced. A gdin A€ 627 boardiug. pnpils in the rarious schools is encouraging. Irlduvtrial work, especially in trades, still needs more attention. Xiueteen of the schools teach carpentering nine blacksmithiug, five shoemaking, and three harness-making. Farm-ing and household iudustries are added as a matter of course. The schools have cultivated 1,761 acres, and the crops raised consist of 3,730 busllels wheat, 8,280 bushels oats, 14,723 bushels corn, and 26,348 bushels vegetables. They have also made 1,798 tons of hay, and 5,024 pouuds of butter. Of these boarding schools 23, with 1,011 pupils, are superqised and largely assisted in their support by religious societies. The cost of res$rvation boarding schools to the Gorernment averages $150 per anunm per pupil. This can hardly be considered an extravagant sum to pay for both thesupport aud eduoatio~lo f an Indian child, especially when, as in the Sioux tribe, the child3&s upport is guaranteed by treaty. The number of boardiug pupils who could be accommodated has been 789 greater than the. l)revious year. But slight advance has been made in day-school work; although 17 new schools hare been opened, others have been discontinued, and 3 have become boarding schools, so that the er~tiren unlber for the year is only , 128, anet gain of 11. Of these, 30 are Xew York public schools, and 46, with 2,173 ].~upilsa, re supported wholly.or nearly so by religious societies. The value of day schools among Indians is proven, and for 60,000 In-dians their establishment is virtually required by treaty stipulations. The six district schools, among the Pine Ridge Sioux, will be increased to eleven if suitable teachers can be secured. It is no easy matter to find a tru~tworthyp erson, having ability as a teacher, who is willing to |
