| OCR Text |
Show 446 REPORT OF SWERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. added commerce and increased wealth, as because we shall be obliged to consider more and more what the relation of the wise ought to be toward the i omt, whal duties the civilized owe to the uncivilized. We shall be obliged to that we who me strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. What then has been sjned by these years of struggle? There are many that are still hopeless of any goo%. A lifelon friend of the Indian took me aslde In Boston the other da ind said to me: "~ougknowh ow some of ua here in B&n have been exposed to tze gibes and sneers of those who think that it is vain to try to uplift the Indian, and that there is no profit in all this work. Tell me, are you losing heart7 How does it seem to you? Is it really worth while?'' I am sure that all of you who are before me to-night feel that this work which you are doing is really worth while. You do not need to be told of the improved sentiment at Washington, or of the advance of a pro riationsfor Indian schoolsfrom $20,000 in 1876to $2,936,080 in 1899. Nor need I cfwelfon the vast improvement there has been in honest dealmg on the part of the Government. Dr. Edward Everett Hale once told at Mohonk of an mterview with Charles Sumner in Washin u m the year 1865, when he said to h i : "Look here, Sumner, y have go t? lt ese Pc' olored people free and there seems to he a chance that you wil et an amendment to the Constitution through. Why don't you take care of the ~n%iannso w?" Doctor Hale said that he aused for a whole minute before replying, adding that it was the only time that %e ever aaw him look thomu hly dejected. Then he said; "Hale, I,$u't think you know what yon ask." I mi%: "I guessed I knew what I asked." I don't think you do," he amwered. "Hale, the whole Indian system in this country is so rotten that any-body who takes hold of it has to tear it all up from the roots and turn it all bottom up. There isn't a thing in it which is right, and everythin has got to be torn up and planted over again before it w111 live." But as Doctor ~ a fwee nt on to say, it has been tom up by the roots and thinga have been turned over and over again. What Charlea Sumner ;aid of the Indian servicein 1865couldnot be said with truth to-day. Although there still remains much lmd to be possessed; although our Sen-ators and Representatives are not yet all mints still there is an earnest endeavor on the part of the majority of them to give the Indian his rights. We have had at the head of the Indian office for years men who have labored diligently and honestly for the uplift of the Indian. The whole tone of the Indian service at Washington has undergone a change within the last thirty years for which we have reason to be thankful. My opportunities for observation in the field have been limited compared with r r s , but I have seen great improvement there also in the twenty years since I have d to do with Indian affairs. Though it is still true that the agent is sometimes much more the agent of cattlemen, land grabbers, and lumber trusts than ot the Indian; while it must be confessed that the rights of the Indian have been sacrificed to the supposed necessit of pushin war measures and expanding our territory, there is yet no reason to zoubt that &ere haa been and still is a great movement forward. There are many good agents in the field. Our Indian ins ctors are, for the most part, intelligent men, who have thorough knowled8 e of tEi r work, and the superintendents and teachers of the Indian schools are a ne body of men and women. Here civil-service reform has had fair play, and most of these people have been chosen not to pay political debts or through the influence of Senators or Rep-resentatives, but because of their ability to teach and their interest in their work. I believe it is fair to aay that what we call the state has made progress in its Indian work. I wish that I could say .as much for the church. It I? not worth while to discuss here the ofhargued quest~onof Government a ~ fdor mmlon aehools. I thmk there has been a distinct loss in power since such men as Blshop Whipple, Dr. Strieby, and others went to Wash1 ton to advocate just measures of le@slatlon. They were an education to the chur% as well as to the state. I feel that the Indian came needs the help of every poasihle influence for good, whether it comes through Catholic priest or Protestant layman. I do not believe m the infallibility of the Pope nor of the General Assembly. The work of both needs inspection and super-vis~ onb y the people, but I wish that both might have every possible chance to work for the poor and ignorant of every race. It may have been wise to withdraw Gov-ernment aid from sectarian schools. It certainly was not wise for the churehes to withdraw their help from the Indians, nor to feel that the Govemment could do the work of the church. I am much more in sympathy with a Cattiolic who fights for appropriations and keeps up his own contributions than with a Protestant who gvew up appropriations and withdraws his support. When, in response to the cry of separation of chureh and state, the Protestant churches gaveup their Govern-ment appropriations, there was a distinct promise on their art that private benefi-cence should take the place of Government help, that the should in no wise |
