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Show REPORT OF THE COMMIEEIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 47 ties and ample sewerage conditions the Government has thrown every necessary safeguard against disease around the students. It is more economical, more cleanly, and less dangerous to use modern methods of heating than the-cheaper method of stoves, cranky stovepipes, and numberless fires scattered over the buil2ing. Ventilation is all impor-tant in schools, but more especially in those devoted to Indian educa-tion. Without it untold disorders may arise, and the hygienic condition of pupils suffer. Cleanliness, next to godliness, should be the motto of each superintendent, with reference to his plant, but equally so with those under his charge. The modern ring bath is usually adopted, for the reason that it has the maximum of efficiency and minimum of water expenditure. The latter is all important at the large majority of the schools located in the arid regions of the country. These modern improvements, while they are conveniences, are indis-pensable adjuncts in the healthful conduct of Indian schools. They do not give the Indian youth a false idea of civilization nor hurt his' after life on the reservation. It is true that after his return, his bathing appliance is the running stream and his bathroom its banks with leafy boughs overhanging, yet when congregated in numbers in Indian schools modern appliances are vital to his life and educa-tion. They are both economical and healthful, and no Indian school can be successfully conducted without them. They teach by object lesson the excellence of our civilization and stir him to emulation. It would seem to be a suicidal policy to teach an Indian the superi-ority of white civilization and then send his children to school in build- . ings but little removed from those to which they are accustomed. There would be no contrast, no standard of emulation, and his mind could safely form the uuoonscious judgment that there was no supe-riority of the white man's manner of living over his own. Indian schools are constructed with the idea of teaching home life. Separate rooms where possible are provided, so that three pupils may have one room. They are thus taught the practical care of their own sleeping quarters. Rooms for eating, for school purposes, for trades, for recreation and reading must be provided. All these coordinate, parts of an Indian school are so different from the white schools that comparison of cost is often made to the detriment of the former, and the charge is thoughtlessly made that Indian schools are thus rendered needlessly expensive. During the past year, all classes of building material and labor have advanced so rapidly as to cause a curtailment of the plans of the Indian Department for many much-needed improvements and new plants. Improvements have been made during the year as follows: Bemodel-ing school building at Crow Agency, Mont.; new porches, roofs, etc., at Fort Bidwell, Cal.; converting old building into dormitory at Fort Lapwai, Idaho; general repairs and improvements at Fort Shaw, |
