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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 123 schools to accommodate properly the children of school age has been largely prevented. Coupled with this are the scarcity of suitable buildings for schools and the uncertainty of all the tribal schools in the general wind up of the business affairs of the Five Civilized Nations. Some of the leading members of each tribe contend that at the termination of their tribal governments a11 moneys will be divided pro rata, which would leave only untaxed allotted lands to support the . schools. Concerning this matter Supt. John D. Benedict says: To distribute the school funds pro rata among the members of the various tribes, and to provide no method by which school funds could be raised, would practically mean to destroy all educational facilities. While the process of tearing down tribal institutions is going on some attention should be given to the matter of providing some means by which educattional training of the children may be continued. This is a serious consideration in connection with the winding up of the affairs of the severaI tribes. As a rule, even' among the Five' Civilized Tribes, it will be many years before the necessity for sepa-rate Indian scbools will disappear. Full-bloods and those approxi-mating full-bloods object to their offspring going to white schools. Their children also are bashful and diffident, and in consequence are frequently practically lost in the body of white pupils, not receiving the care and attention their peculiar temperament demands. Out of the funds of each tribe a sufficient sum should be reserved as an edu-cational fund to support day schools at least for a generation. This, wisely invested, will be of greater value to the young Indians than distributing it now pro rata to the parents or to the children them-selves. As stated in the last annual report: As each nation has separate and distinct laws and cuatomsrelating to the manage-ment of its schools, general control has been modified to meet those conditions, but in the main the educational work may he said to be carried on through the medium of orphan asylums, boarding schools, day or neighborhood schools, contract denomi-national institutions, public schools, and private seminaries. So far as may be con-sistent, tribal traditions, customs, and laws have been adapted to the new order established. Therefore, in order that educational work in the several nations may he intelligently presented, a brief statement, with statistics, will be given of the scbools in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek,end Cherokee nations. Cherokee Nation.-The schools of this nation are under the immediate control of the Cherokee board of education and the United States super-visor of schools in the Cherokee Nation. The council elects its own hoard of education, which consists of D. E. Ward, Thomas Carlisle, and A. S. Wyly. The United States supervisor is B. S. Coppock. Under the Cherokee agreement approved July 1 the schools of this nation will hereafter be conducted. The sections applicable are as follows: SEO. 32. The Cherokee school fund shall be used, under the direction of the Secie tary of the Interior, for the education of children of Cherokee citizens, and the |
