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Show '22 REPORT OF TRE CO~MIS8IONER OB INDIAN AFFAIRS. made therefor by Congress, to which must be added about $600,000 taken from treaty funds for the support of schools establisbed under . ' such treaties. This gives the total cost for this branch of the service .; forthe year as $3,437,785, an amount apparently very large until the ; results of its expenditure are considered. Out of these moneys there were maintained 249 schools with an enrollment of 24,434 pupils, and in addition a number of pupils at Hamptou and public schools, mak- ! ing in all 24,757. Taking the above figures, the average co8t of Indian 1 education per capita was $138.75. In order that a comparison may be made between the cost of Indian schools and other schools, data have been secured concerning the expenses of maintaining reform schools and industrial institutions in the conntry. These were selected as subjects of comparison by reason of the fact that they more nearly correspond in principal details with Indian schoola than do the average public and private scbools for white children. These data were collated from returns made to the Bureau of Education, and refer to tbe fiscal year 1,899-1900, the latest which it has on the subject. An inspection of theoriginal returns made by these schools and institutions indicates that the data are not full and complete, and evidently do not wholly cover the expenditures on their behalf. This is verified by returns from a few of them, which are full and com-plete, and show the per capita cost largely in excess of the average obtained from all such scbools. . It must also be taken into consideration that the data are for a fiscal year when the cost of living was less than for the time included in the Indian estimates. Even imperfect as the result oE such data necessarily appears to be, the comparison is not unfavorable to the schools managed by the Indian Department. Reform schools and industrial instkutions are usually located in thickly settled communities, while the conditions surrounding them, the character of the inmates, the produce raised, number of employees, all tend to reduce the cost of living; on the other hand, Indian schoolsare located, as a rule, in remote places in tbe West, far from regular lines of trans-portation, where the cost of living is excessive, and on account of the general conditions of the average reser~at~iotnh,e production of garden , vegetables, etc., is expensive or scanty. There is also a manifest neces-sity for more employees, as the children are usually small, speaking a strange language, and must be taught the minute details of home life, which ia a part of the home training of the white child. The following data, give the cost, eto., at reform schools and indus-trial institutions referred to: |
