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Show recommendations met with the approval of the honornble the Secretary of the Interior, and on July 29 R. M. Pringle, of St. Louis, Mo., and John Charles, of Menomouie, Wis., were respectively commissioned for these positions and entered on duty. Their employment will be of great benefit to the service and result in a more economical expendi-ture of funds available for the installation of new plants and the improvement of old ones. IhWRQVEMENTS AND U N T 8 REQUIRED. The possible enrollment of the Indian scholastic population in the schools will be reached in a few years. The rate of increase for the past decade and a half will average annually 1,000 pupils. Efforts to meet this increase, due to the dying out of the old and conservative element and the diffusion of returned pupils from the schools, must be made, and to that end a number of new plants are required, some to replwe those which have been unfortunately located in the earlier days, and others to meet the demands of those reservations inade-quately provided for. The Flathead Reservation, in Montana, now has a small boarding school, with a capacity of 30 or 40 pupils, conducted in a rented build-ing. This is a large reservation of 450. The mission school has an enrollment of 170, and with the Government school only provides for about half the children who should attend. The great Navaho Reservation, in New Mexico and Arizona, contains, with its recent extensions, about 10,000 square miles, with a scholastic population of between 4,000 and 5,000, to meet which there are only three schools, accommodating about 300 pupils. These Indians are sober, industrious, and worthy of better education. They have not been demoralized by the ration and annuity issues, but depend for a livelihood upon their flocks and little plots of ground cultivated wherever a stream of water fertilizes this arid region. There should be at least three new boarding schools established for these people. It is almost impossible to get them away from their reservation unless the desire for improving their condition is instilled in them by a course in the reservation boarding schools. The cost of building plants on this reservation has been so excessive as to preclude this office from any extensive system of providing for the absolute educational needs of this vast number of young Indians. A special appropriation for these people should be made by Congress. The condition of the White Mountain Apache Indians of Arizona is similar to that of the Navaho. This reservation baa 488 pupils of school age, and only one school, with a forced capacity of 80 pupils. The field is a prolific one and should receive early attention. The population of the Pueblo of New Mexico is stated to be nearly 10,000, out of which there should be a scholastic population of 2,000. - |
