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Show REPORT Ol? THE OOMNI88IONER OF INDIAN AWFAIBB. 29 9,000 acres well adapted to the practical teaching of agricultural and live-stock pursuits. The school wa8 organized in 1884, upon the theory above outlined, but it appears to have drifted away from the original conception, and it is the desire and intention of this office to bring it back to that conception. The policy of the school is to be practically the teaching of farm industries suitable to the climatic conditions of Indians tributary to this particular locality. This is an important feature in the matter, as the school is surrounded by a largeIndian populat.ion who: of necessity, are compelled to be farmers in order that they may earn their own livelihood by their own labors and upon the lands which the Government has or will allot to them. The establishment of such a school should take into consideration the peculiar climatic conditions of the country from which it is to draw its pupils. Thereforeit seems preferable at Chilocco, in order that the pupils may learn practical farming, that it should be done under similar conditions to those to which pupils will hereafter be accus-tomed, so far as the constitution of soils and methods of agriculture are concerned. This is necessary in order to apply successfully the principles learned at the school. It is anadmirable conception in that it proposestofit pupils for active Life and enable them at an early date to cease being pensioners upon the bounty of the Government. It tends to make them self -respecting, self-reliant. and independent American citizens. The average Indian can not successfully compete with the -average white man, at least in the present generation, in the channels of commerce, trade, and mechanical arts. He has not the hereditary training or peculiar adaptability of the American citizen for success in these particular lines-* success which has made the American people of to-day preeminent throughout the world. They have outstripped the great. continental countries by rea- ~ ion of such peculiar traits. It stands to reason, therefore, that the Indian can no more compete in these lines as a means of money getting than can the nations of the Old World, and consequently hi friends feel that it is cminent.ly proper his education should be upon those lines which are within his power to carry to a successful conclusion. The overwhelming majority of Indins must be farmers, stocl: raisers, and laborers, and therefore it is a part of my policy to bend the energies of the Department toadapt the means to that end. Industrial schools and industrial training are furnished at a great many places for the Indians, and while wny students have gone forth from these insti-tutions who have been successful in the struggle of life, yet such a specialized farm training as that under consideration would be of im-measurable benefit to the individual as well as the tribe. The devel-opment of the education of the boys at least should be for the purpose of fitting them to cope successfully with the natural conditions of |