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Show I ! 46 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. ice examination who are willing to accept positions offered them, by reason of the small salaries, the numerous hardships, and the severity of the labors involved. 5. One of the most difficult problems connected with the administra, tion of the Indian schools is that of attendance. Congress has re& - . acted a law for compulsory attendanoe, but has provided no sufficient force for carrying it into execution. In some cases it has been found impracticable to use the Indian police for this purpose, and there is a reluctance to resort to military force. I am watching with solicitude, as well as interest, the development of the matter, and am not prepared to say at present what the final outcome is to be. For correspondence on this subject see appendix, page 160. 6. Another serious matter connected with this subject is the health of Indian children. As the work progresses and greater care is used in the scrutiny of those who enter school, it is found that there is an alarming amount of disease among the children, and even under the most painstaking care it develops itself, often rendering it impossible for them to be kept in school. The facts already show that the com-plaints heretofore made against the unhealthiness of eastern schools were unfounded, because the same conditions manifest themselves in the western schools near to or on reservations. Very great care is given to this' matter, and undoubtedly experience has led to a better sanitary . oversight of the pupils; but there have been epidemics of measles, - scarlet fever, diphtheria, sore eyes, and numerous isolated cases of sick-ness which have sadly interfered with the work of the schools and have largely increased the care, anxiety, and labor of the superintend-ents and their assistants. Thesad fact, is that there is avast amountof disease among the Indians living on reservations, exposed as they are to the severities of the climate, , almost entirely ignorant of sanitary laws, and having wholly insuffi-cient medical attendanoe. They are at the mercy of disease, and often-times their children are swept away by epidemics in alarming numbers. As there are no health officers among them, and no complete record is kept of disease and death, these matters do not often come to the sur-face, so that their real condition is known only to those immediately concerned. When, however, their children are taken into boarding schools, where their names are enrolled and a record kept of their condition, it very , speedily becomes known if they are ill, and especially if they die. The death of an Indian child in school is frequently seized upon by Indians - who are opposed to education as an excuse for refusing t o send their - children to school, or ass pretext for demanding their release if already there. 7. I am happy to call attention to the vast change in public senti-ment observable during the last three years on the subject of Indian education. I doubt if there is a question before the public in which there is a more general concenws of opinion. Even the Western States |
