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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OB INDIAN AFFAIRS. . 25 I which still rule off the Indian as a separate and distinct civic entity. . Ethnically he will always remain an Indian, with an Indian color, Indian traits of mind, Indian ancestral traditions and the like; - and I see nothing to deplore in that-indeed, much that is gratifying, for he has abundant reason for all his pride of race. But as a citizen of our Republic, and an equal sharer with his fellows of every blood in the privileges and responsibilities of their common citizenship, he is not an Indian but an American; and I should be glad to see every mark expunged which tends to keep alive in his mind any civil distinctions to confuse his sense of allegiance. This proposed obliteration of the exclusively Indian character of the schools can be accomplished by throwing them open to pupils of all races alike. But the maintenance of institutions of the higher . learning, looking to no special end for the national profit, does not seemto me a legitimate function of the United States Government. I should therefore do one of two things with each school: Either (1) open it to youth of all races as a training school for Government servants of some particular classas, for instance, for the enlisted men of the Army or for the observers' wrps of the Weather Burean-or (2) sell or give it to the State or the county where it stands. Such tentative inquiries as I have been able to make have convinced me that a number of communities would welcome gladly such a gift, even if a few conditions were attached. 'For example, it seems to me that the Congress could afford to say to a State: " Here is a school plant of some value, in good order. It has industrial shops, a small farm, . ' school rooms;dormitories which can either be kept for their original 1 purpose or made over f?r some other. It was built and equipped as a training school for Indians. We will make you a gift outright of the whole establishment if you will agree to continue it as an indus- I trial school, and put a proviso into its charter that for the next I ensuing ninety-nine years any Indian who wishes an education there may have his tuition free, no matter what you are charging pupils of other races." I Such an arrangement, if adopted and carried into execution, vould leave with the ambitious young Indian about enough advantage over the other students a t the institution to satisfy the sentimental de-mands of the situation, without, on the one hand, putting the State to the expense of supplying him with food, clothes or lodging, or, on the &her hand, continuing his subjection to the pauperizing and degrading influence of his present gratuities. Moreover, it is the rule now in operation at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. That institution, I believe, started its career as an Indian school, and t'o this day no charge for tuition is levied upon any Indian who |