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Show 340 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLB. aged to abandon tribal life and to establish permanent homes upon their a-l lotmen-t s. I n all cases fat least with the Chevennes and Aranahoes. the Kiowas and ~omanc i e sa nd others where"rations are issied as gratuity) these might be furnished as a reward to those who settle in permanent homes and who adopt the habits of civilization iu their life. Much, too, could be done iu this matter by directing and enabling agents and other proper officials to assist young educated Indians in efforts to establish themselves in homes of their own or tofiud cmploy-mer~ itn the villages and on thefarms in the v~cmityo f the agency. Inn0 way, however, are wejustified in fallingirlto the error of those who surrender to drawbacks and difficulties, failures and backslidings, and claim that because of these the education of the Indian is a fa~lure. I have listened to most touchine and unauestionablv sincere cleclama-tious condemning the cruelty wxich educates an Indian child, renders him sensitive to considerations of dece~~cayn d muraliliry, gives him advanced aims and comparatively high purposes, and t h&~re turns him to a reservation, to an euriroument which is indiffere~o~rt hostile to these thing-s , and which .pr actically com-p els him to relapse into savagery. Now, in all this there is much truth. But t11e cruelty, it should be remembered, lies not iu the education that is given the Indian youth, but in his return to uncongenial environment and in the failure to pro- vide well-directed, efficient measures for securing improved en!' 'Iron-ment for the educated youth, in the failure to protect him against the savagery of the old Indians, and in not allording him opportunities and incentives to bold fast to the aspirations and to practice the arts which his educat io~h~as given him. No cousideratio~lo f logic and common sense would justi$ the abau-do~~ meonf t e ducational efforts or the slightest relaxation or turning back in tbesc, but every such consideratiou must impel us, while hold-iug fast to every educatio~~agl ency a t our command, to direct our energy and ingenuity against the cruel environment to which so malty educated Indian youth must eventually return. FIELD FOR PHILANTHROPY. There is right here a promising field of labor for patriotic philan-thropists and missionaries who take a specla1 interest in the civilizatio~~ and uplifting of the I~~diansT. hey might wit! profit establish in the States and (listricts inhabited by Indians ageucles or posts whose duty i-t. s hould be to enliehten the white oeonle in these States and districts ~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ concerning the truecharacter of tl; ~ i d i a na, s well as concerning the duties of the whites toward these new citizens; to interest themselves - in the oersoual welfare of returned educttted voune Indian men and ~~~ ~~~- A ~ ~~ wonlell; to securc tor these, if possible, suitnau ea;i)lognlent i l l white colllmunitie~;t o eu~!ullragct he e~tal)lidhuleuti n the vi1:illity 01' Illdiilll l10111eso f iudu~criesth at mill aBi,l.d r~uplopmrnto 1111lian\ rorkcrs; to secure fro111l ocal courts fitll jusrier to l~~t l iaubsu,t h i l l m:lttrra of 11eu-altv and t~rot e~! t i too~ h~o;ld ill check the eonscien~~elelsasn d hunger of unicrupufious men, ?nd in every other way to overcome unworthy pre,j-ndices against Ind~aus on the part of white settlers, as well as the stolid fear and distrnst of the Iurliau in his intercourse with whites. In all these efforts sentiment and 1)ersonal contact nlay so important a part that philitutl~royica nd rnisaioiar organizatiois, uol~a~npereb(yl , itny cousiderationx uutside of their detiuite purpose an11 yet in full sympathy with the wider ui~nso f the Goverumcnt, call nccutnpliah more |
