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Show 4 REPORT OF THE aOMhU6SIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRB. ence; mechanics wait on him and farmers still aid him; he is little, if any, nearer the goal of independence than he was thirty years ago, and if the present policy is continued he will get little, if any, nearer in thirty years to come. It is not denied that under this, as under the school system, there has been some progress, but it has not been com-mensurate with the money spent and effort made. THROWING THE INDIAN ON HIS OWN EESOURCES. It is easy to point out difficulties, but it is not so easy to overcome them. Nevertheless, anattempt will now be made to indicate a policy which, if steadfastly adhered to, win not only relieve the Government of an enormous burden, but, it is believed,'will practically settle the entire Indian question within the space 'usually allotted to a genera-tion. Certainly it is time to make a anlove toward terminating the guardianship which has so long been exercised over the Indians and putting them upon equal footing with the white man so far as their relations with the Government are concerned. Under the present sys- I tem the Indian ward never attains his majority. The guardianship / goes on in an unbroken line from father to son, and generation after I generation the Indian lives and dies a ward. To begin at the beginning, then, it is freely admitted that education is essential. But it must be remembered that there is a vital difference between white and Indian education. When a white youth goes away to school or college his moral character and habits are already formed and well defined. In his home, at his mother's knee, from his earliest moments he has imbibed those elements of civilization which develop-ing as he grows up distinguish h i from the savage. He goes to sohopl not to acquire a moral character, but to prepare himself for some business or profession by which he can make his way in after life. With the Indian youth it is quite different. Born a savage and raised in an atmosphere of superstition and ignorance, he lacks at .the outset those advantages which are inherited by his white brother and enjoyed from the cradle. His moral character has yet to be formed. If he is to rise from his low estgte the germs of a nobler existence must be implanted in him and cultivated. He must be taught .to lay aside his savage customs like a garment and take upon himself the habits of civilized life. i In a word, the primary object of a white school is to educate the mind; the primary essential of Indian education is to enlighten the I soul. Under our system of government the latter is not the function I of the state. . What, then, is the function of the state? Briefly this: To see that i the Indian has the opportunity for self-support, andthat heisafforded |