OCR Text |
Show 28 COMMISSIOI~FX OF INDIAN AEFA~RS. majority of these pupils, however, return to their reservations, and, as the principal says: In spite of the leasing syetem so prevalent among the Indiana seemed to be no fewer of our former students who are cultivating their lands. Several write of leasing land themselves and farming on a laqe scale. , * It would he impoasibl+i to trace the career of the hundreds of bright . . Indian boys and girls who within the past decade havegwe out of the schools, and slipped silently into their places in the gre&~orld. It is customary to herald the relapse of educated Indians to the blanket, while hundreds pursue, as do white boys, the monotonous toil of daily life, working out their destiny; but, as no sensation surrounds such a career, however creditable, the general public is not informed. The story of their moderate successes reaches this ofice from time to time, indicat.ing so many milestones- in the progress of the race from bar-barism to civilization. Slowly hut surely the forces of education have been working through the past decade, and the Indian's destiny depends on "work," not L'rations." When the great corruption fund technically called " treaty funds" is divided up among the educated owners of it, then the final lap of the Indian's race will have commenced. If he has learned to labor, to feel the urgency of it, and apply it during his apprenticeship in the school, the chances are good 'that he will reach the goal in fine fettle. Many may fall, from inherent weakness or generally from outside influences, but we are atriving to give the Indian his chance. After he has received it he must work or starve. The cry of the sentimentalists for more rations should cease, and the Government injunction of "work" substituted. The Yima and the ~ a i a h Ion dians do not want rations, but "water" and intelligent irrigation instruction. The Sioux and the Cheyenne do not need "rations," but cattle and intelligent agricultural instruction. Xesn1ts.-What, therefore, has been accomplished in the short space of seven years in the advancement of tbe Indian toward the goal of citizenship, toward making each community self-sufficient and self-sustaining, toward making better Indians of our red wards, and thus finally settling the problem? The civilization of the American Indian is'being accomplished through educational processes, which have been wonderfully developed during the past seven years. A continurns policy has been pursued, and results are oommensurate with the time, thought, and money which have been expended. Education to work has been the dominant factor; literary training has been given the subordinate place. All Indian schools have been made industrial centers from Qhich are annually scattering hundreds of educated Indian boys and girls. They return in the majority of instances to their reservation homes and allotments, carrying the seeds of industry and thrift which are beginning to bear fmit, carting behiid them the |