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Show 28 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. o attain another phase of the same purpose, a special supervisor h ! s been assigned to set up " school cities " in the larger schools. By organiaing the children in the more characteristic activities of rep-resentative government, and by giving them a degree of self-govern-ment, this plan brings to each child some sense of public duties and of the form and purposes of the Gover ent of which at some day all Indians will become active citizens. For years a "commonwealth " of this sort has been conducted wit srtri king success in the Indian school.at Tulalip, Wash.; the plan has there created such respect for property that it is said there is not a marked book or a defaced build-ing or piece of furniture at the school. For various administrative reasons 6 boarding schools and 17 day schools were closed. The governor of Utah formally accepted for hi State the schoolhouse and grounds at Ouray school according to the offer made by the Congress, and the governor of Colorado similarly accepted the buildings and fixtures of theFort Lewis school and of the Grand Jundion school. Each of these schools is to be maintained by the State as an institution of learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality with white students. Originally the school buildings and grounds of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma were controlled by the tribes, who entered into contracts with private persons to conduct the instruction. Through a gradual change from this situation the Government has for some years had complete charge, and the latest reorganization, effected last year under a special supervisor with headquarters at Muskogee, proved most successful. Great efforts are being made to have the buildings sound and healthful and to give instruction that will pre-pare the children for useful and industrious lives upon their farms or at other work. In Oklahoma tbee school superintendents were employed for the double purpose of establishing day schools and of encouraging at-tendance of Indians at public schools. Tuition was paid for about 3,700 Indian pupils in the public schools of Oklahoma at the rate of 1% cents a day of actual attendance. Very fortunitely for the plan .of placing all possible Indians in public schools, the supervisor re-ports that in very few localities is there race prejudice against the co-education of whites and Indians; the Oklahoma constitution gives the Indian an equal status with the whites in educational privileges. EMPLOYEES. ' In round numbers 6,000 persons were employed in the Field Serv-ice, about 30 per cent of whom were Indians. A little less than one-half of the total force was directly connected with school work; tho remainder dealt more particularly with adult Indians in connection with their lands, industries, and homes. |