OCR Text |
Show 16 BEPORT OF THE 00~88IONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. ignoil~nce and idleness. Some argue that "to break up this Indian home relation deliberately and systematically may apparently aid in solving the problem by casting off all the older generation as beyond help and unworthy of it, but to do so is to fight against nature, and in the end against God and the principles which lie at the foundation of home and state." It is not the purpose of the Government to break up the Indian's home, hut to strengthen it; nor is it a part of the policy to have no sympathy for the older Indian, however patent the fact that he has grown gray in the ways of his ancestors, and walks on in defiance of civilization. The home life of the average Indian, who objects to the education of his children, is not founded upon "the principles which lie at the foundation of home and state.'' That honlelife is antagonistic in every respect to all those vital elements which have built up this great Commonwealth. There is another class of Indians who objects to his child being sent away from the reservation to school. The people do not want to change their method of living so long as the Government is willing to feed alid clothe them. The school educates the child to be self-supporting and independent. It encourages him to leave hia reservation and strike out for himself among the white people. Herein is a material reduction in the "summum bonum" of this class, who may have to exert themselves thereafter to secure more rations. While Indians of the characters above described are far too numer-ous, there are yet a great many who are anxious to give their children every advantage. Force is always dishsteful, and it is rarely used in compelling attendance, but the necessity for proper authority to do so is plainly indicated. That enlightened communities of this country and Europe require such laws is evidence that they are essential for those Indians who, from ignorance or other causes, interfere with the attendance of pupils. Realizing the necessity for banishing ignorance from its borders, the State of Idaho hhas taken a step in the right direction. The fol-lowing iu the text of a law recently passed by the legislature of that State: I AN ACT compelling the attendance of children at sohmlswhet tuition, lodging, fwd, and clothing are furnished at the expense of the United state or the State of Idaho. Be it enacted by the 2egbZahrre of the State of Idaho: S ~ c n o n1. That whenever the Government of the United States or the State of Idaho shall erect, or caused to be erected and maintained, a school for general edu- &om1 purposes within the State of Idaho, and the expense of the tuition, lodging, food, and clnthingof the pupils therein is borne by the United States or the State of Idaho, it ehall be compulsory on the part of every parent, guardian, or other person in the State of Idaho having control of achild or children between the ages of five |