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Show REPORT OF TIIE CO&lMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XXII[ mitted in anr Indian school ovcr which the Covorun~onth aa any control, or in which it haa any interest whatever. This circular has been sent to all parties who have cantraotod to educate Indian pupils during the present fiscal year. You will see thatthis regulation is rigidly enforied in the sohoals unaer your dimo-tion where Indians are placed under ooutrect. ' I hare given the text of these orders in detail because various mis. representations and complaints in regard tothem have been made, and various misunderstandings seem to have arisen. They do not, as ha8 been urged, touch the question of the preaching of the Gospel in the churches nor in any wise hamper or hinder the efforts of missionaries to bring the various tribes to a knowledge of the Christian religion. Prcaching of the Gospel to Indians in the vernacuIar is, of course, not prohibited. In fact, the question of the effect of this policy upon any missionary body was not considered. A11 the ofsoe insists upon is that in the schools established for the rising generation of Indians shall be taught the language of the Republic of which they are to become citi-zens. It is believed that if any Indian vernacular is allowed to be taught by tbe missionaries in schools on Indian remervations, it will prejudice tho youthful pupil as well as his untutored and uncivilized or semi-civilized parent against the English language, and, to. some extent at least, against Government schools in which the English Iangwage exclusively has always been taught. To teach Indian school children their native tongue is practically to exclude English, and to prevent them from acquiring it. This language, which is good enough 'for a white man and a black man, ought to be good enough for the red man. It is also believed tha't teaching an Indian youth in his own barbarons dialect is apositive detriment to him. The first step to he taken toward civilization, toward teaching the Indians the mischief' and folly of con. tinning in their barbarons practices, is to teac11 them the English language. The impracticability, if not impossibility, of civilizing the Indians of this country in any other tongue than our own would seem to be obvious, especially in view of the fact that thenumberof Indian ver. naculars is even greater than thenumber of tribes. Bands of the same tribes inhabiting different localities have difierent dialects, and some. times can not communicate with each other except by the sign language. If we expect to infuse into the rising generation the leaven of Ameri-can citizenship, we must remove. the stumbling.blocks of heredit,ary customs and manners, and of these language is one of the most im-portant elements. I.am pleased to note that the five civilized tribes have taken the same view of the matter and that in their own schools--managed by the re speotive tribes and supported by'tribal funds-English aloneis taught. But it has been suggested that this order, being mandatory, gives a cruel blow to the sacred rights of the Indians. Is it cruelty to the Indian to force him to give np his scalping-knife andtomahawk 9 Is it |