| OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 53 Indians is genuine, and that the monoy appropriated for any given school rep-resents only the pro rata proportion to which the Indians making the petition are entitled." But no new contracts are to be entered into for such payments Prom these funds after the close of the present fiscal year, unless there is authorization by Congress or some determination by the courts. Steps were taken immediateIy for obtaining an expression of the irishes of the Indians interested, as follows: Osage.-As the transaction of all tribal business of the Osage Na-on is vested in a business committee or council elected by the tribe ~d confirmed by the Secretary of the Interior, the application of the . nrean of Catholic Indian Missions for contracts with St. John's a d St. Louis mission schools on this reservation was submitted to t k committee thru the United States Indian agent. By a unani-mous vote, on January 12,1906, the committee sanctioned the request, and two contracts were accordingly executed for 65 and 75 pupils, respectively, which, at $125 per capita, involved a total of $17,500; but as the average attendance for the fiscal year 1906 was but 96 pupils the claims settled mere for only $11,995.25, instead of the full sum named in the contracts. .Wenominee.-On January 2, 1906, two petitions, based on the ap-plications of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions and of the Rev.' E. Kretzmann, for contracts respectively for St. Joseph's Industrial Mission School and the Lutheran (Zoar) Mission School on the Me-nominee Reservation, Wis., were sent to the superintendent of the training school at Green Ray agency, who is in charge of the reserva-tion, for submission to the Indians of the tribe. I In transmitting these petitions the superintendent was informed that- The Government boarding school having been abandoned, there are no equiva- , lent opportunities for the home education of the Menominees during the fiscal I year 1906 except the two mission schools. The education of their children is of vital importance to all the Menominee Indians, irrespective of their religious 1 inclinations, md it is the duty of the Government to see that such privileges are placed within their reach. Since the mission schools afford the only means J of emergency relief right at home, and it would he needlessly harsh to assign I a child of one faith to a school conducted in the interest of an opposing faith. 1 it seems to me fair th&t the parents should be allowed to express their prefer-ence in the premises. I j Also, he was directed to give-- i i each Indian an opportunity to sign the petition desired by him. So far as each of the mission schools is concerned, the pupils will he placed therein as requested by the parents up to the. Limits of its contract; those expressing a preference i for the Government schools mill he provided as far as possible in the day school: otherwise their children may temporarily be sent, without any expense to the parents, to the nonreservation schooi of their choice, with the understanding that at the close of the present fiscal year, on the opening of the new Government boarding school, they may be returned and entered therein. I I |
