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Show 18 REPORT OF THE COMMI6SIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRB. It will be observed from the above table that for three successive years prior to the fiscal year upon which we have just entmed the appropriations were decreased, and this without regard to the annual increase in the average attendance at the various schools. In order, however, to meet the possible contingency that many contract schools would give up their charges when Government aid should be with-drawn, Congress for the fiscal year 1897 increased the appropriations to $!2,.517,265. As was stated in my last annual report, in view of the great number aid variety of Indian school plants, the present rate of appropriations cau not be ~afelyd ecreased without impairing the usefulness and effi-ciency of the service. A glance at the table giving the dates of the organization of the various Indian schools will show that a good many years have elapsed siuce the majority of tbem were opened. A number of the larger ones were originally army posts, which were converted, upon abandonment by the military, into Indian @cl!cols. All of these requireconstant care and unremitting attentiou to mai~itainth em fully up to the standardof the service, and the one item of repairs alone is a considerable sum. Aside from the usual wear and tear upon the buildings, in order to care for the increased attendance and to better fit them for modern ednca-tional purposes, many have been remodeled. Therefore, as intimated, to bring these plalits up to the moc$rn standard of excellence, and so maintain them, and to care for an increasing number of pupils, will, doubtless, require for several years inereasing instead of decreasing appropriations. NEW WORK. The total Indian population of the United Statas, exclusive of the New Pork Indians and the Five Civilized Tribes, according to the cen-sus of the year 1893, taken by this office, is 177,235, out of which, approximntely, there may be said to be 38,000 children of school age. There were enrolled in schools of all kinds which report to this office 23.393 pupils, about 61 per cent of the possible enrollment of the Indian scholastic population. To gradually decrease the number of those unprovided with accommodations, an effort has been made to enlarge a number of the present plants and to establish a few others. The unschooled population can not be taken up at once, but in a few years, with liberal appropriations, it can be provided for, when the Indian Office may be congratulated in caring for all Indian youth in this country. The schools at Warm Springs agency and Simnasho have been consoli-dated, and new buildings at the agency are now going up to accommo-date 150 pupils. The Santee school was burned during the spring, and plaus are now ready for replacing its buildings. At Yakima the new dor-mitory will soon be under way to replace the building burned in the |
