OCR Text |
Show I REPORT OF SUPEBINTEXIJERT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. INT HE FIELDS,e ptelnBev 20,1893. SIR: I l ~ a v eth e honor to transadt to your office my fit"tzl~a ~lnual report. IIaving been called to the position of Superintendent of Indian Schools Nay 1, 1859, I have now held the office longer tlia~i any pre-vious incumbe~>t,.I grat,efully recoglliee tlie kind Providenee under whose care, n-ithont a single accident or seriolis illuess, 1 have bee11 pennittedto travel SD,l2(i mileii, 6,904 of which lravc been in tlrc expo-sures, joltilrgs, auil wveariness of rough magons, on remote frontiers and :India11 resurvatio~~sa,w ay fronr steal11 comtnunicationn. Travelit~g -frequcntly in regions infested by white desperadoes, aud f a out among the wildest as moll as the 111ostc ivilized indi>u~Is ,c heerfully record that only in one i~~st,allhcaes anythir~gli ke violence seeuled to threaten me. Most of the time has beeu spent in New Mexico, Arizona, California, 0rego11, >~'ashington, Nevada, Idalio, Montana, the Dalcotas, and 'Nebraska; but some risits have also beeu made in Michigan, Wiscon-sin,? lil~nesota, Clorado, Kausas, Nortll Carolina, Florida, Pennsyl-vama', and Virginia.. Much of the field has been tvice and solue of it three times traversed, as exigencies have asisen. Wllen I entered the service the Secretary of the Iuterior iuformed me that the visitation of the schools for some time previons had not 'bee11 as exteilsice as was desired, a,i1(1 that he hoped I woulld spend as much time as possible in the field. During the 229 weeks tbat have diuce intervened, 1 have sl)wt 206 in the work of visitation aud inspec-tion, stayilig as little time as yossible in Washington, I). L'. At first the llldian schools were the sole objects of insl)ectiou, bnt it sooil becallle al~pare~tlht at the. 111ora1 and social environment of the schoo1s mas of great importance, and the Seorctary of the interior especially instructed ]lie to inquire illto the conditiou of the agencies and learn how far inllneuces existed iu the~nu ufavorable to the best progress of the scbools in ~noralsa nd civilization. This ~r~a t t ewra s s~~bsequentmlya de the sul?ject of a special letter of i ~ ~ s t r n c t ifroo~m~ the Com~nissionero f Iudian Affairs. (See'reporb 1892,,11. 526.) On el~teriugu pon t,l~iws ork I did little theorizing; ~t seemed more Btting to strtdy the situation, face to face with the facts, aud to seek to umlerrjtal~dd iscriminatingly the very 1)ec.llliara i~doftti~nienst ricate phases of the Iiidian l>roblelil in its practical wrorlrings. Slowly but constantly convictions have been formed and promulgated, bnt I recog-nize the fact that tliero are reasons for a very considerable diversity of views on Inany matters, both of theory and policy. If in this annual report I sha,ll speak wwfith some decision and confideuce ou some mat-ters, I think it \vill be admitted by those who ]nay differ with me that I have earued the right to express my views, after abouut 2.50 visits to the India11 scl~ools, including also 93 India,n reservatious and 47 agencies. 360 |