OCR Text |
Show 26 OOXMIBSIONEE OF INDIAX AFFAIRS. 187,966 whoareadopting theclothingof civilization andcasting asidethe blanket of barbarism. All this has been effected by the quiet, sincere labors of zealous teachers, who are breaking down old customs, man-ners, and modes of living so gradually and so effectively = to produce tremendous resulta, with only the smallest degree of friction. No longer does the lone graduate of a nonreservation school, dressed in the natty school uniform or quikt habiliments of a white man, find him-self out of place on an Indian reservation. Now he meets thousands who are clothed as he is, and who have similar aspirations and desires. His acquired ambition to promote his own welfare finds support from others, and the influence of conservative chiefs-and headmen is con- - tinually decreasing. The Indian population of the United States, excluding the New York Indians, those in Alaska, and those enrolled with the Five Civ-ilized Tribes of Indian Territory, numbers about 183,000, from which the schools under the control of this Bureau are recruited. This will niake the scholastic population somewhere near 45,000. From this number at least 30 per cent must be deducted for various causes, such .as hereditary and other diseases, blind, maimed, etc., which will reduce the possible enrollment at Indian schools to probably 32,000 or 33,000 children. The present capncity of boarding and day schools is about 29,500, at which schools there is an enrollment of 89,478 and average attendance of 25,104. It will thw be seen that the enroll-ment and averageattendan&have kept even pace with the capacity of the schools. It is true that there are in some sections moreschools than are requisite, and at other8 not sufficient, but these are conditions which the Indian Bureau has been unable to regulate. In 1897 the eurollment in Government Indian schools was 18,603 pupils, and in 1904 it was 25,248, an increase of 6,645, or an annual increase during seven years of nearly 1,000. If Congress will continue its present liberal policy of appropriations for Indian education, and the same policies are pursued, it is a simple mathematical proposition to dem-onstrate that the possible enrollment of Indian children will be reached in less than four years. These figures tell the story. With schools placed near the Indian populatiou who are now without such facilities, with conditions con-tinuing to be improved, and with a younger generation whose parents have themselves been educated, the necessity for compulsory school laws becomes no more urgent than among the whites. Yearly, as illustrated in the uniform increase in enrollment, the difficulties from the old Indian influences-hostility to education-gdually disappear. Good schools, efficient 'teachers, and ,proper management will appeal to parents and children as such advantages alwaya do. |