i BUREAU OF EDUCATION. BULLETIN No. 1, 1889. DIAIST EDUCATION, BY GENERAL T. J. MOROAN, COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1890. BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN No. 1, 1889. INDIAN EDUCATION, BY GENERAL T. J. MORGAN, COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. WASHINGTON-: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1890. Bancroft EDUCATION. INTRODUCTION. In presenting to the correspondents of this Bureau this reprint of a report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, I hope to furnish matter of a high degree of interest. It is my belief that the well-wishers for the Indian have reasons to rejoice at the prospect before them of a humane settlement of the long pending question. A century of ineffective ef- fort to civilize the Indian, instead of discouraging the missionary spirit of our nation, has had the effect of continually increasing its fervor. It has become clear that earlier endeavors failed because they were not radical enough. In the early history of the colonies, it was believed that the ethnical difference between the white man and the Indian is a superficial one, one easily eradicated by a little book education, or by religious conversion unaided by other agencies. Modern studies in ethnology have made us acquainted with the depth to which the dis- tinctions of civilization penetrate. We do not now expect to work the regeneration of a people except by changing the industrial habits, the manners and customs, the food and clothing, the social and family be- havior, the view of the world, and the religious conviction systemat- ically and co-ordinately. The adoption of changes in industry and the fashion of clothing and drink does not signify very much without the adoption of enlightened views and religious convictions corresponding. On the other hand, the attempt to grasp new religious convictions, those of Christianity, with- out the simultaneous adoption of the minor habits is not likely to pro- duce a full and permanent regeneration. It is understood that the habits of life, the social and industrial organization of society, offer a symbol of the deeper ideas formulated in the religion of the people- Even Christianity becomes quite a different religion when professed by lower races clinging to a social form of life not founded on productive industry. In a country whose social system is founded on caste it va- ries from the form of religion existing in a community with a dem- ocratic form of government and with a system of free productive in- dustry. 4 On this account the new education for our American Indians as it has been founded in recent years by devoted men and women, under- takes to solve the problem of civilizing them by a radical system of education not merely in books, nor merely in religious ceremonies, but in matters of clothing, personal cleanliness, matters of dietary, and especially in habits of industry. To work out this thorough system in all its details, it is found nec- essary, or at least desirable, to obtain control of the Indian at an early age, and to seclude him as much as possible from the tribal influence. The boarding-school has thus far been quite effectual in forming new habifs and new wants and desires in the pupil. It has kindled in him aspirations which would permanently transform him if he lived in an environment of civilization. But it has been found that when the pu- pils return from their boarding schools to their native tribes on the borders that they often succumbed to the influences of the old environ- ment. They are not strong enough to withstand the aggregate influ- ence of old and young men and women who have retained the old forms and who look upon innovation as idle and useless, not to say sacrilegious. It is evident that the only remedy for this defect is to be found in the course recommended by General Morgan in the report herewith pre- sented. The Indian youth must be educated en masse. They must be educated in the thorough manner of the boarding-school, and they must all be educated, so that the environment of each individual shall be fa- vorable to his persistence in the habits formed at school. It is evident, moreover, that the protraction of the period of school education is a very important item, especially at the beginning of this experiment. One year or two years, or even three years of school edu- cation, is not so economical as five years or ten years of school training. Because the short period of school training will make little impression on the form of tribal life it will not tend to change the patriarchal life to a form of a society founded on productive industry. And while the patriarchal or tribal form exists our own civilization must protect itself from the dangers which menace it from that lower form of civilization by supporting military forces or an armed police on the tribal frontiers. This looks towards a continual heavy expense, or, on the other hand, towards the cruel policy of extermination. Again, as to the matter of economy, the recommendations of General Morgan to establish high school and college instruction are, in my opinion, quite wise. At first glance they seem to recommend an ex- i travagant outlay of money, but I am persuaded that this extravagance j is only seeming and not real. It will be found that very few Indian ] children will show a sufficient capacity to complete the primary course of instruction before the age of 16 or 17 years, and there will not remain sufficient time before mature life to take up secondary and higher in- j struction. This is the case, indeed,even with our children of European 1 5 descent. Only four in one hundred take up secondary instruction, and only one in one hundred take up higher instruction. It will be safe to use all influences to encourage Indian youth to enter high school and college courses. All who undertake this will fit them- selves for directive power among their people at home, and will power- fully aid in civilizing their fellows. From the higher educated persons will naturally come the chieftains, and in general the men who make combinations and manage work that requires systematic co-ordination. Even if the chieftains are selected from men naturally gifted with direc- tive power over their fellow-men, they will necessarily employ as coun- selors, as personal aids, as clerks, and business agents the educated among their followers. And these educated agents will create the forms of doing and acting, and thereby effectually furnish the directive power. Brought before the bar of the awakened conscience of the great mass of the American people, there can be but one verdict possible regarding the system proposed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. We owe it to ourselves and to the enlightened public opinion of the world to save the Indian, and not destroy him. We can not save him and his patriarchal or tribal institution both together. To save him we must take him up into our form of civilization. We must approach him in the missionary spirit and we must supplement missionary action by the aid of the civil arm of the State. We must establish compulsory edu- cation for the good of the lower race. This being granted, it follows that the only efficient system is substan- tially the same as that recommended in the report herewith presented. W. T. HARRIS, Commissioner of Education. SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT ON INDIAN EDUCATION. I DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, December 1, 1889. SIR : I respectfully submit herewith, a supplement to the foregoing report, in which I have outlined a plan for Indian education. When the regular annual report of this office was submitted, I had not at hand the data necessary for formulating such a plan and hence could not present it at that time. This plan, of course, is subject to modifications, as experience may show them to be desirable. Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, T. J. MORGAN, Commissioner. The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. A SYSTEM OF EDUCATION FOR INDIANS. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. The American Indians, not including the so-called Indians of Alaska, are supposed to number about 250,000, and to have a school population (six to sixteen years) of perhaps 50,000. If we exclude the five civilized tribes which provide for the education of their own children and the New York Indians, who are provided for by that State, the number of Indians of school age to be educated by the Government does not ex- ceed 36,000, of whom 15,000 were enrolled in schools last year, leaving but 21,000 to be provided with school privileges. These people are separated into numerous tribes, and differ very widely in their language, religion, native characteristics, and modes of life. Some are very ignorant and degraded, living an indolent and brutish sort of life, while others have attained to a high degree of civ- 8 ilization, scarcely inferior to that of their white neighbors. Any gen- eralizations regarding these people must, therefore, be considered as applicable to any particular tribe with such modifications as its peculiar place in the scale of civilization warrants. It is certainly true, how- ever, that as a mass the Indians are far below the whites of this coun- try in their general intelligence and mode of living. They enjoy very few of the comforts, and almost none of the luxuries, which are the pride and boast of their more fortunate neighbors. When we speak of the education of the Indians, we mean that com- prehensive system of training and instruction which will convert them into American citizens, put within their reach the blessings which the rest of us enjoy, and enable them to compete successfully with the white man on his own ground and with his own methods. Education is to be the medium through which the rising generation of Indians are to be brought into fraternal and harmonious relationship with their white fellow-citizens, and with them enjoy the sweets of refined homes, the delight of social intercourse, the emoluments of commerce and trade, the advantages of travel, together with the pleasures that come from iterature, science, and philosophy, and the solace and stimulus afforded by a true religion. That such a great revolution for these people is possible is becoming more and more evident to those who have watched with an intelligent interest the work which, notwithstanding all its hindrances and dis- couragements, has been accomplished for them during the last few years. It is no longer doubtful that, under a wise system of education, carefully administered, the condition of this whole people can be radi- cally improved in a single generation. Under the peculiar relations which the Indians sustain to the Gov- ernment of the United* States, the responsibility for their education rests primarily and almost wholly upon the nation. This grave respon- sibility, which has now been practically assumed by the Government, must be borne by it alone. It can not safely or honorably either shirk it or delegate it to any other party. The task is not by any means an herculean one. The entire Indian school population is less than that of Rhode Island. The Government of the United -States, now one of the richest on the face of the earth, with an overflowing Treasury, has at its command unlimited means, and can undertake and complete this work without feeling it to be in any degree a burden. Although very imperfect in its details, and needing to be modified and improved in many particulars, the present system of schools is capable, under wise direction, of accomplishing all that can be desired. In order that the Government shall be able to secure the best results in the education of the Indians, certain things are desirable, indeed, I might say necessary, viz : First. Ample provision should be made at an early day for the ac- commodation of the entire mass of Indian school children and youth. To resist successfully and overcome the tremendous downward pressure of inherited prejudice and the stubborn conservatism of centuries, noth- ing less than universal education should be attempted. Second. Whatever steps are necessary should be taken to place these children under proper educational influences. If, under any circum- stances, compulsory education is justifiable, it certainly is in this case. Education, in the broad sense in which it is here used, is the Indians only salvation. With it they will become honorable, useful, happy citi- zens of a great republic, sharing on equal terras in all its blessings. Without it they are doomed either to destruction or to hopeless degra- dation. Third. The work of Indian education should be completely system- atized. The camp schools, agency boarding schools, and the great in- dustrial schools should be related to each other so as to form a con- nected and complete whole. So far as possible there should be a uni- form course of study, similar methods of instruction, the same text- books, and a carefully organized and well-understood system of indus- trial training. Fourth. The system should be conformed, so far as practicable, to the common-school system now universally adopted in all the States. It should be non-partisan, non-sectarian. The teachers and employe's should be appointed only after the most rigid scrutiny into their quali- fications for their work. They should have a stable tenure of office, being removed only for cause. They should receive for their service wages corresponding to those paid for similar service in the public schools. They should be carefully inspected and supervised by a suffi- cient number of properly qualified superintendents. Fifth. While, for the present, special stress should be laid upon that kind of industrial training which will fit the Indians to earn an honest living in the various occupations which may be open to them, ample pro- vision should also be made for that general literary culture which the experience of the white race has shown to be the very essence of educa- tion. Especial attention should be directed toward giving them a ready command of the English language. To this end, only English should be allowed to be spoken, and only English-speaking teachers should be employed in schools supported wholly or in part by the Government. Sixth. The scheme should make ample provision for the higher edu- cation of the few who are endowed with special capacity or ambition,, and are destined to leadership. There is an imperative necessity for this, if the Indians are to be assimilated into the national life. Seventh. That which is fundamental in all this is the recognition of the complete manhood of the Indians, their individuality, their right to be recognized as citizens of the United States, with the same rights and privileges which we accord to any other class of people. They should be fre'e to make for themselves homes wherever they will. The reservation system is an anachronism which has no place in our modern 10 civilization. The Indian youth should be instructed in their rights, privileges, and duties as American citizens ; should be taught to love the American flag ; should be imbued with a genuine patriotism, and made to feel that the United States, and not some paltry reservation, is their home. Those charged with their education should constantly strive to awaken in them a sense of independence, self-reliance, and self-respect. Eighth. Those educated in the Targe industrial boarding-schools should not be returned to the camps against their will, but should be not only allowed, but encouraged to choose their own vocations, and contend for the prizes of life wherever the opportunities are most favor- able. Education should seek the disintegration of the tribes, and not their segregation. They should be educated, not as Indians, but as Americans. In short, the public school should do for them what it is so successfully doing for all the other races in this country, assimilate them. Ninth. The work of education should begin with them while they are young and susceptible, and should continue until habits of industry and love of learning have taken the place of indolence and indifference. One of the chief defects which have heretofore characterized the efforts made for their education has been the failure to carry them far enough, so that they might compete successfully with the white youth, who have enjoyed the far greater advantages of our own system of education. Higher education is even more essential to them than it is for white children. Tenth. Special pains should be taken to bring together in the large boarding-schools members of as many different tribes as possible, in order to destroy the tribal antagonism and to generate in them a feel- ing of common brotherhood and mutual respect. Wherever practicable, they should be admitted on terms of equality into the public schools, where, by daily contact with white children, they may learn to respect them and become respected in turn. Indeed, it is reasonable to expect that at no distant day, when the Indians shall have all taken up their lands in severalty and have become American citizens, there will cease to be any necessity for Indian schools maintained by the Government. The Indians, where it is impracticable for them to unite with their white neighbors, will maintain their own schools. Eleventh. Co-education of the sexes is the surest and perhaps only way in which the Indian women can be lifted out of that position of servility and degradation which most of them now occupy, on to a plane where their husbands and the men generally will treat them with the same gallantry and respect which is accorded to their more favored white sisters. Twelfth. The happy results already achieved at Carlisle, Hampton, and elsewhere, by the so-called " outing system," wuich consists in placing Indian pupils in white familes where they are taught the ordi- 11 nary routine of housekeeping, farming, etc., and are brought into inti- mate relationship with the highest type of American rural life, suggests the wisdom of a large extension of the system. By this means they acquire habits of industry, a practical acquaintance with civilized life, a sense of independence, enthusiasm for home, and the practical ability to earn their own living. This system has in it the " promise and the potency" of their complete emancipation. Thirteenth. Of course, it is to be understood that, in addition to all of the work here outlined as belonging to the Government for the education and civilization of the Indians, there will be requisite the influence of the home, the Sabbath-school, the church, and religious institutions of learning. There will be urgent need of consecrated mis- sionary work and liberal expenditure of money on the part of individ- uals and religious organizations in behalf of these people. Christian schools and colleges have already been established for them by mis- sionary zeal, and others will doubtless follow. But just as the work of the public schools is supplemented in the States by Christian agencies, so will the work of Indian education by the Government be supple- mented by the same agencies. There need be no conflict and no un- seemly rivalry. The Indians, like any other class of citizens, will be free to patronize those schools which they believe to be best adapted to their purpose. HIGH SCHOOLS. There are. at present three general classes or kinds of Government schools the so-called industrial training school, the reservation board- ing-school, and the camp or day school. There is for these schools no established course of study, no order of exercises. The teachers do as the Israelites did in the days of the judges " each one that which seems right in his own eyes." The schools sustain no necessary relation to each other. There is no system of promotion or of transfer from one school to another One of the most obvious needs of the hour is to mark out clearly the work of the schools and to bring the different grades into organic relationship. Assuming that the Government should furnish to the Indian children, who look directly to it for preparation for citizenship, an education equiv- alent to that provided by the several States for the children under their care, the problem is greatly simplified. The high school is now almost universally recognized as an essential part of the common-school system. There are in operation in the United States about 1,200 of them, with an enrollment of 120,000. These "people's colleges" are found every- where, in cities, towns, villages, and country places from Maine to Oregon. Colorado and other new States rival Massachusetts and other New England communities in the munificence of their provision for 12 high-school education of their youth. A high-school education at pub- lic expense is now offered to the great mass of youth of every race and condition except the Indian. The foreigner has the same privilege as those " native and to the manor born." The poor man's child has an equal chance with the children of the rich. Even the negroes of the South have free entrance to these beneficent institutions. The Gov- ernment, for its own protection and for the sake of its own honor, should offer to the Indian boys and girls a fair opportunity to equip themselves as well for citizenship and the struggle for life that citizen- ship brings, as the average boys and girls of the other races with whom they must compete. What then should an Indian high school be ? The answer is at hand. An Indian high school should be substantially what any other high school should be. It should aim to do four things: First. The chief thing in all education is the development of character, the formation of manhood and womanhood. To this end the whole course of training should be fairly saturated with moral ideas, fear of God, and respect for the rights of others ; love of truth and fidelity to duty ; personal purity, philanthropy, and patriotism. Self-respect and independence are cardinal virtues, and aie indispensable for the enjoy- ment of the privileges of freedom and the discharge of the duties of American citizenship. The Indian high schools should be schools for the calling into exercise of those noble traits of character which are common to humanity and are shared by the red children of the forest and plain as well as by the children of the white man. Second. Another great aim of the high school is to put the student into right relations with the age in which he lives. Every intelligent human being needs to have command of his own powers, to be able to observe, read, think, act. He has use for an acquaintance with the ele- ments of natural science, history, literature, mathematics, civics, and a fair mastery of his own language, such as comes from rhetoric, logic, and prolonged practice in English composition. The Indian needs, especially, that liberalizing influence of the high school which breaks the shackles of his tribal provincialism, brings him into sympathetic relationship with all that is good in society and in history, and awakens aspirations after a full participation in the best fruits of modern civilization. The high school should lift the Indian students on to so high a plane of thought and aspiration as to render the life of the camp intolerable to them. If they return to the reservations, it should be to carve out for themselves a home, and to lead their friends and neighbors to a bet- ter mode of living. Their training should be so thorough, and their characters so formed, that they will not be dragged down by the hea- thenish life of the camp. The Indian high school rightly conducted will be a gateway out from the desolation of the reservation into assimila- tion with our national life. It should awaken the aspiration fora home 13 civilized people, and offer such an equipment as will make the desire prophetic of fulfillment. Third. The high school, which standing at the apex of the common- school system and offering all that the mass of youth of any class can receive, offers to the few ambitious and aspiring a preparation for uni- versity culture. The high school, even in some of the newer States, prepares for college those who have special aptitudes and lofty ambi- tion. Several Indian boys have already pursued a college course and others are in course of preparation. There is an urgent need among them for a class of leaders of thought, lawyers, physicians, preachers, teachers, editors, statesmen, and men of letters. Very few Indian boys and girls, perhaps, will desire a college education, but those few will be of im- mense advantage to their fellows. There is in the Indian the same di- versity of endowment and the same high order of talent that the other races possess, and it waits only the touch of culture and the favoring opportunity for exercise to manifest itself. Properly educated, the Indians will constitute a valuable and worthy element in our cosmopol- itan nationality. The Indian high school should offer an opportunity for the few to rise to any station for which nature has endowed them, and should remove the reproach of injustice in withholding from the Indian what is so freely offered to all others. Fourth. Owing to the peculiar surroundings of the mass of Indian children, they are homeless and are ignorant of those simplest arts that make home possible. Accordingly the Indian high school must be a boarding and industrial school, where the students can be trained in the homely duties and become inured to that toil which is the basis ot health, happiness, and prosperity. It should give especial prominence, as is now done in the best industrial schools for white youth, to instruc- tion in the structure, care, and use of machinery. Without machinery the Indians will be hopeless and helpless in the industrial competition of modern life. The pupils should also be initiated into the laws of the great natural forces, heat, electricity, etc., in their application to the arts and appli- ances of civilized life. The course of study should extend over a period of five years, in order that there may be time for the industrial work, and opportunity for a review of the common branches, arithmetic, grammar, and geography Special stress should be laid upon thoroughness of work, so that the students may not be at a disadvantage when thrown into competition with students of like grade in similar schools for other children. The plant for each institution should inelurle necessary buildings for dormitories, school-rooms, laboratories, shops, hospital, gymnasium, etc., with needed apparatus and library, and an ample quantity of good farming laud, with the necessary buildiugs, stock, and machinery. 14 The schools should be located in the midst of a farming community, remote from reservations, and in the vicinity of railroads and some thriving village or city. The students would thus be free fi om the great downpull of the camp, and be able to mingle with the civilized people that surround them, and to participate in their civilization. The teachers should be selected with special reference to their adap- tation to the work, should receive a compensation equivalent to that paid for like service in white schools of same grade, and should have a stable tenure of office. The number of these schools that will be ultimate^ required can not be determined accurately without more experience. The number of pupils who can be profitably educated in high schools is not large, but is growing larger year by year. It may be best for the present to develop a high-school department in say three schools. Those at Car- lisle, Pa., Lawrence, Kans., and Chemawa (near Salem), Oregon, can readily do so. Indeed, high-school classes have already been formed and are now at work. In the future the schools at Genoa, Nebr., and Grand Junction, Colo., can be added to the others, making a group of five high schools, admirably located to supply the needs of the great body of Indians. Their graduates will supply a body of trained men and women competent for leadership. The cost of maintaining these schools will depend upon thfe number of pupils provided for. One hundred and seventy-five dollars per cap- ita, the sum now paid at several places, will probably be ample. For the year ending June 30, 1889, the sum of $80,000 was appropriated for Carlisle, and $85,000 for Haskell Institute. It would be easy to carry into successful operation the plan here outlined by an annual outlay of $100,000 for each school, which is a very small advance over the pres- ent appropriation. GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. As the large mass of Indian youth who are to be educated will never get beyond the grammar grade, special pains should be taken to make these schools as efficient as possible. The studies should be such as are ordinarily pursued in similar white schools, with such modifications as experience may suggest. Among the points that may properly receive special attention are the following: (1) The schools should be organized and conducted in such a way as to accustom the pupils to systematic habits. The periods of rising and retiring, the hours for meals, times for study, recitation, work and play should all be fixed and adhered to with great punctiliousness. The irregularities of camp life, which is the type of all tribal life, should give way to the methodical regularity of daily routine. (2) The routine of the school should tend to develop habits of self- 15 directed toil, either with brain or hand, in profitable labor or useful study. The pupils must be taught the marvelous secret of diligence. The consciousness of power springing from the experience of " bringing things to pass" by their own efforts is often the beginning of a new career of earnest endeavor and worthy attainment. When the Indian children shall have acquired a taste for study and a love for work the day of their redemption will be at hand. During the grammar period of say five years, from ten to fifteen, much can be accomplished in giving to the girls a fair knowledge of and prac- tical experience in all common household duties, such as cooking, sew- ing, laundry work, etc., and the boys may acquire an acquaintance with farming, gardening, care of stock, etc. Much can be done to familiarize them with the use of tools, and they can learn something of the prac- tical work of trades, such as tailoring, shoe-making, etc. Labor should cease to be repulsive, and come to be regarded as honorable and at- tractive. The homely virtue of economy should be emphasized. Pupils should be taught to make the most of everything, and to save whatever can be of use. Waste is wicked. The farm should be made to yield all that it is capable of producing, and the children should be instructed and employed in the care of poultry, bees, etc., and in utilizing to the utmost whatever is supplied by the benevolence of the Government or furnished by the bounties of nature.. (3) All the appointments and employments of the school should be such as to render the children familiar with the forms and usages of civilized life. Personal cleanliness, care of health, politeness, and a spirit of mutual helpfulness should be inculcate^. School-rooms should be supplied with pictures of civilized life, so that all their associations will be agreeable and attractive. The games and sports should be such as white children engage in, and the pupils should be rendered familiar with the songs and music that make our home life so dear. It is dur- ing this period particularly that it will be possible to inculcate in the minds of pupils of both sexes that mutual respect that lies at the base of a happy home life, and of social purity. Much can be done to fix the current of their thoughts in right channels by having them memorize choice maxims and literary gems, in which inspiring thoughts and noble sentiments are embodied. (4) It is of prime importance that a fervent patriotism should be awakened in their minds. The stars and stripes should be a familiar object in every Indian school, national hymns should be sung, and pa- triotic selections be read and recited. They should be taught to ^look upon America as their home and upon the United States Government as their friend and benefactor. They should be made familiar with the lives of great and good men and women in American history, and be taught to feel a pride in all their great achievements. They should hear little or nothing of the "wrongs of the Indians," and of the injustice of the white race. If their unhappy history is alluded to it should be to- 16 contrast it with the better future that is within their grasp. The new era that has come to the red men through the munificent scheme of education, devised for and offered to them, should be the means of a. wakening loyalty to the Government, gratitude to the nation, and hopefulness for themselves. Everything should be done to arouse the feeling that they are Ameri- cans having common rights and privileges with their fellows. It is more profitable to instruct them as to their duties and obligations, than as to their wrongs. One of the prime elements in their education should be a knowledge of the Constitution and Government under which they live. The meaning of elections, the significance of the ballot, the rule of the majority, trial by jury all should be explained to them in a familiar way. (5) A simple system of wage-earning, accompanied by a plan of sav- ings, with debit and credit scrupulously kept, will go far to wards teach- ing the true value of money, and the formation of habits of thrift, which are the beginnings of prosperity and wealth. Every pupil should know something of the ordinary forms of business, and be familiar with all the common standards of weights and measures. (6) No pains should be spared to teach them that their future must depend chiefly upon their own exertions, character, and endeavors. They will be entitled to what they earn. In the sweat of their faces must they eat bread. They must stand or fall as men and women, not as Indians. Society will recognize in them whatever is good and true, and they have no right to ask for more. If they persist in remaining savages the world will treat them as such, and justly so. Their only hope of good treatment is in deserving it. They must win their way in life just as other people do, by hard work, virtuous conduct, and thrift. Nothing can save them from the necessity of toil, and they should be inured to it as at the same time a stern condition of success in life's struggle, and as one of life's privileges that brings with it its own reward. (7) All this will be of little worth without a higher order of moral training. The whole atmosphere of the school should be of the high- est character. Precept and example should combine to mold then characters into right conformity to the highest attainable standard* The school itself should be an illustration of the superiority of th< Christian civilization. The plant required for a grammar school should include suitable dor- mitories, school buildings, and shops, and a farm with all needed ap- pointments. The cost of maintaining it will be approximately $175 per capita pei annum. The final number and location of these schools can be ascertained after a more thorough inspection of the whole field. At present th< schools at Chilocco, in the Indian Territory ; Albuquerque, N. Mex. Grand Junction, Colo. ; and Genoa, Nebr., might be organized as gram- 17 inar schools. The completion of the buildings now in course of erec- tion at Pierre, S. Dak. ; Carson, Nev. ; and Santa Fe\ N. Mex.; will add three more to the list. It will doubtless be possible at no distant day to organize grammar school departments in not less than twenty-five schools. PRIMARY SCHOOLS. The foundation work of Indian education must be in the primary schools. They must to a large degree supply, so far as practicable, the lack of home training. Among the special points to be considered in connection with them, are : (1) Children should be taken at as earty an age as possible, before camp life has made an indelible stamp upon them. The earlier they can be brought under the beneficent influences of a home school, the more certain will the current of their young lives set in the right direction. (2) This will necessitate locating these schools not too far away from the parents, so that they can occasionally visit their little children, and more frequently hear from them and know of their welfare and happiness. (3) The instruction should be largely oral and objective, and in the highest degree simplified. Those who teach should be from among those who have paid special attention to kindergarten culture and pri- mary methods of instruction. Music should have prominence, and the most tireless attention should be given to training in manners and mor- als. No pains should be spared to insure accuracy and fluency in the use of idiomatic English. (4) The care of the children should correspond more to that given in a "Children's Home" than to that of an ordinary school. The games and employments must be adapted to the needs of little children. The final number and location of these schools can not yet be fixed. Probably fifty will meet the demands of the near future. Many of the reservation boarding schools now in operation can be converted into primary schools. DAY SCHOOLS.* The circle of Government schools will be completed by the establish- ment of a sufficient number of day schools to accommodate all whom, it is not practicable to educate in boarding schools. It is believed that by providing a home for a white family, in connec- tion with the day school, each such school would become an impressive * Since these paragraphs ou clay schools were written, 1 have been gratified to learn that the plan thus outlined substantially agrees with that set forth by the late Super- intendent of Indian Schools, J. M. Haworth, in his annual report, dated September 25, 1883, from which the following is an extract: "The semi-boarding and industrial school referred to was recommended in my re- port of October last, and is repeated here with renewed recommendations for its 1 OS2O7 O 18 object lesson to the Indians of the white man's mode of living. The man might give instruction in farming, gardening, etc., the woman in cooking, and other domestic matters, while a regular teacher could per- form the usual school-room duties. Pupils from these schools could be promoted and transferred to the higher institutions. These day schools and reservation boarding schools are an absolutely necessary condition of the successful work which is to be done in the grammar and high schools not on reservations. They will help to edu- cate the older Indians and will tend so to alter the environment and to improve the public sentiment that when pupils return from board- ing schools, as many will and must, they will find sympathy and sup port in their civilized aspirations and efforts. The scheme thus outlined of high, grammar, primary, and day school work is necessarily subject to such modifications and adaptations as the varying circumstances of the Indian school service demand. The main point insisted upon is the need of formulating a system and of putting it at once into operation, so that every officer and employ 6 may have be- fore him an ideal of endeavor, and so that there may be the most eco- nomical use of the means devoted to Indian education. A beginning has already been made, and a few years of intelligent work will reduce to successful practice what now is presented in theory. adoption at some of the agencies where best adapted. It should consist of a four- room building, providing for home comforts for a man and wife and a teacher, also a echool-room accommodating 50 children. A midday meal should be provided for the school by regular details of girls, under the direction of the matron, who should also visit the homes of the Indians living in that neighborhood, and instruct the women in household duties. The man should have charge of the outside work, including farming and the care of stock, in which he should instruct the boys of the school; he should also give instruction to the Indians of the neighborhood in the same branches ; the teacher to have charge of the children during school hours. " It is estimated that the cost of the building, utilizing such Indian help as can be done to advantage, will not average over $2,000, and the cost of conducting the school, including the pay of three persons and necessary provision for a midday meal, will not exceed $3,500. Of course this provision at agencies where rations are issued can be taken from the regular supplies without much additional cost. This plan it is believed will take the place of additional boarding-schools at agencies where the present facilities are much too small to accommodate the school population. Twenty new buildings of this character are recommended for construction, to be divided among the Sioux, Navajo, Kiowa and Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Mexican Kickapoo, Ute and Crow Indians." 19 TEACHERS. Teaching in Indian schools is particularly arduous. In all boarding schools the employes are necessarily on duty for a much greater length of time for each day, and for more days, than is required of teachers in the common schools of the country. The training of Indian pupils devolves almost wholly upon the teachers, whose work is not supplemented and reinforced by the family, the church, and society. The difficulty of teaching pupils whose native language is so strange as that spoken by the major portion of Indian pupils adds largely to the work. In reservation schools the teacher is far removed from the comforts of home and the pleasures of society, and is largely deprived of associa- tion with congenial companions. The furnishings of the teachers' quar- ters and the school buildings are primitive, and the table frugal, unless it is made expensive. The schools are often located at a great distance from the teacher's home, involving a long and expensive journey. The surroundings are not restful. To compensate for these disadvantages, the Government, in order to command good talent, ought to offer a fair compensation, never less than that paid by the surrounding communities for similar service, and should afford opportunity for promotion, and offer a reasonably fixed tenure of office. The positions should be opened to all applicants on equal terms, and should be awarded on the basis of merit. Special stress should belaid upon : (1) Good health. The privations of the lonely life and the peculiar difficulties of the work will necessarily make a heavy draft upon the teacher's vital energies. (2) None but those of the most excellent moral character and of good repute should be sent as teachers to those who will be more influ- enced by the example of their teachers than by their instruction. (3) Faith in the Indian's capacity for education and an enthusiasm for his improvement are needful for the highest success in teaching. (4) An acquaintance with the best modern methods of instruction and familiarity with the practical workings of the best public schools, will be of immense advantage in a work beset with so many difficul- ties. (5.) A mastery of idiomatic English is particularly essential to those who have the difficult task of breaking up the use of Indian dialects and the substitution therefor of the English language. (f>) Teachers should be selected for special grades of work. Some are specially fitted to excel in primary work, while others are better adapted to the work of higher grades. (7) A quality greatly to be desired is the power of adapting oneself to new and trying surroundings, and of bearing with fortitude the hard- ships and discouragements incident to the service. 20 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. There is at present one Superintendent of Indian Scbools, charged with the duty of visiting them and reporting on their condition. A glance at any map of the United States showing the location of the In- dians, reveals at once the physical impossibility of any adequate super- vision by one man. The Superintendent should have at least five principal assistants, school experts, who, under his direction, shall give their entire time to the supervision of schools in their respective fields. Some such plan as that herein set forth seems absolutely necessary for the preparation of the rising generation of Indian youth for absorp- tion into our national life. Enough has been already accomplished to show that the scheme is entirely feasible. The Government has ample means at its disposal. The treaty and trust funds held fur the Indians would meet no inconsiderable part of the necessary outlay. The same care devoted to the training of young Indians for citizen- ship now bestowed upon educating officers for the Army and Navy would accomplish results equally striking. The same liberality 'and care on the part of the Government for the proper education of its wards that is shown by the several States in maintaining a system of public schools would be followed by like re- sults. Nothing less than this is worthy of this great nation of 00,000,000 people. Such a plan successfully inaugurated would mark the begin- ning of a century of honor. COST OF CARRYING OUT A SYSTEM OF INDIAN EDUCATION. In attempting to carry into execution the plan already outlined for the education of all accessible Indian youth of school age, it is desirable to know, approximately at least, what the annual and the ultimate cost will be. Accordingly, in a series of tables herewith submitted, the at- tempt has been made to reach as nearly accurate a conclusion on this ' matter as the present condition of Indian school statistics will admit. As is well known, there has never been an absolutely reliable census of the Indians made, or even attempted; but it is thought that the fig- ures given in Table 1 are sufficiently accurate to form at least a basis of calculations. TABLE 1. Population and school population, 1888-'89. Total Indian population 250, 430 Five civilized tribes 65, 200 New York Indians 5, 04ri 70, 246 Remainder under care of Government 180, 184 School population (six to sixteen), 20 per cent, of population . 3(>, 000 Possible enrollment (estimated), 75 per cent, of school population. .. 27,000 Average attendance, 80 per cent, of enrollment. 21,600 \ Needed capacity, 90 per cent, of enrollment 24, 300 21 The school period assumed (six to sixteen years) is taken simply as a standard of comparison. In some cases it will be desirable, where school facilities can be provided, to receive Indian children into home or kindergarten schools much earlier than six years of age ; and doubt- less for some years to come it will also be desirable to have Indian youth who are strong in body and susceptible of culture continue in school beyond the age of sixteen years. How much the number of In- dian school pupils will be modified by these considerations is simply a matter of conjecture. Twenty per cent, has been assumed as the relative proportion of In- dian youth from six to sixteen years of age, as compared with the total population. This percentage may not be exact. The proportion of youth from six to sixteen years of age to the total population of the United States is 23j per cent., according to the United States Commis- sioner of Education, Hon. W. T. Harris. Whether this would be a more accurate standard of comparison for the Indians can not now be determined. The percentages of enrollment and average attendance are based, so far as knowledge of the past experince in Indian education will warrant, upon records in the Indian Office. They are necessarily somewhat elastic. But it is safe to assume that it is reasonable for the Government to at least attempt to secure the enrollment and average indicated in Table 1. Certainly nothing less than this should be at- tempted, and if future experience will warrant it, it will be a very simple matter to extend the estimates to make them commensurate with the increased attendance which may be secured. Bancroft , TABLE 2. Present school accommodations. Pupils. Government boarding-schools 7, 145 Government day schools 3,083 New boarding-schools (1890) 445 Total 10,673 Table 2, which exhibits the present accommodations provided in Gov- ernment schools, shows that provision has been made for over 10,000 pupils. Regarding this it should be said that in many cases, if the at- tendance at the school should equal the capacity given, the pupils would be very uncomfortable and in some cases their health would be endan- gered. Most of the Government school buildings now in existence, in order to accommodate properly the number of pupils indicated as the capacity of the buildings, would need extensive repairs and added fa- cilities in the way of shops, hospitals, dormitories, bath-rooms, laun- dries, etc. By an arbitrary assumption it is proposed to provide for 17,000 pupils in Government boarding-school buildings, and for 7,300 pupils in Gov- ernment day-school buildings. How far this proportion may prove to 22 be practicable and desirable can be determined only by experience; but from present knowledge it is thought to be entirely safe to assume that proportion as the basis of calculation. In estimating the cost of the needed boarding accommodations the cost of the buildings provided for Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kans., has been taken as a standard. Owing to the very great difficulties by which the work of extending school facilities is hedged about, it is at present regarded as inexpedient to attempt to make provision during the next fiscal year for the accom- modation of more than one- fourth of the Indian jouth now unprovided for in Government school buildings. If it shall be found practicable to advance the work more rapidly than that, a larger effort may be put forth the second year. TABLE 3. Estimated cost of school accommodations. Pupils for whom boarding accommodations are needed 17, 000 Pupils for whom boarding accommodations are provided by the Government 7, 590 Pupils for whom boarding accommodations should be provided 9, 410 Pupils for whom boarding accommodations should be provided in one year (one-fourth the pupils unprovided for) 2, 352 Pupils for whom day accommodations are needed 7, 300 Pupils for whom day accommodations are provided by the Govern- ment - 3, 083 Pupils for whom day accommodations should be provided by the Government 4, 217 Pupils for whom day accommodations should be provided by the Government in one year (one-fourth the pupils unprovided for). . 1, 054 New buildings, and additions to old buildings, and furnish ings for 2,352 boarders, at $230 per capita $540, 960 New buildings and additions to old buildings, and furnishings for 1,054 day pupils, at $1,500 for every 30 pupils (including teachers' residence) 52,500 Repairs and improvements of present buildings (estimated) 50, 000 Total for buildings 643,460 According to Table 3, the Government should expend next year a sum of not less than $643,000 in adding to the accommodations of Government school buildings. This is a very small sum to be ex- pended by the United States Government for such a purpose. It is only a little more than double the amount paid by the citizens of Omaha for their high-school building, and scarcely more than enough to build two such grammar schools as are the boast of the city of Providence, R. I., and about oue-half the sum that was spent in building the Providence City Hall. It is estimated that the Government build- ing at San Francisco, will cost not less than- $1,000,000, and with that understanding Congress has already appropriated $800,000 to purchase 23 the site upon which the building will be placed. The Government building at Omaha will cost, with its site, $1,200,000, and the building and site at Milwaukee will cost the same amount. For coast-defense guns of one kind there was appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, $1,500,000. Congress last year appropriated for new school buildings, furniture and sites in the District of Columbia, $3 11,792 5 and the year preced- ing $315,000 was voted for new buildings. TABLE 4. Estimated cost of support of pupils, 1890-'91. GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. Boarding-schools : Average attendance to be secured 15, 000 Present average attendance 5, 212 Difference 9,788 Increased average to be supported next year (one-fourth above difference) 2,447 Total average which should be supported next year 7,659 Day schools : Average attendance to be secured 6,600 Present average attendance 1,744 Difference 4,856 Increased average to be supported next year (one-fourth above difference) 1,214 Total average which should be supported next year 2, 958 Support of 7,659 boarders, at $175 per capita $1,340,325 Support of 2,958 day pupils, at $62.50 per capita 184,875 1,525,200 CONTRACT SCHOOLS.* Allowances for 1889-'90 (4,622 boarding pupils, 895 day pupils). .. 561, 950 Total $2, 087,150 In estimating the cost of supporting the schools for the next fiscal year, $175, the largest sum now paid per capita in Government train- ing schools, is assumed as the standard, and it is thought that this is a fair estimate of the average cost. The cost per capita for such day schools as are now contemplated is more a matter of conjecture ; but it is thought that the sums assumed will be found not far out of the way. This gives a total for the cost of maintaining schools for the education of 16,134 pupils during the next year as little more than $2,000,000. - * This includes all schools not under control of the Indian Bureau which receive Government aid. 24 TABLE 5. Appropriations required for next year (1890-'91). GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. Erecting and furnishing boarding-school buildings $540,960 Erecting and furnishing day-school buildings 52, 500 Repairs and improvements on present buildings 50, 000 Additional furniture, apparatus, stock, tools, and implements... 50,000 Supporting 7,659 boarding scholars 1,340,325 Supporting 2,958 day scholars 184, 875 Transportation of pupils 40, 000 Superintendence 25,000 2,283,660 CONTRACT SCHOOLS. Allowances for 1889-'90 (4,622 boarding pupils, 895 day pupils) .. $561, 950 To house and support in Government schools next year, pupils now attending those schools plus one-fourth of the youth not now provided for in Government schools (plus allowance for contract schools, 1889-'90) would cost 2, 845, 610 Appropriations for Indian schools for fiscal year 1889-'90 1, 364, 568 Increased appropriation required for support of schools, 1890-'91. 1, 481, 042 The total appropriations required for the year 1890-'91, as shown by Table 5, is estimated as $2,845,610. When comparing the cost of educating Indians by the Government with the cost of common-school education as carried on by the States, it should be borne in mind that from the nature of the case the Gov- ernment plan includes the very considerable items of board, clothing, transportation, and industrial training. The school expenses proper, exclusive of board, clothing, transportation, and industrial work, will probably not exceed the average cost of like work in the public schools. To offset the cost it should be remembered that the Gov- ernment already provides for clothing and rations for a large number of Indians, and that it costs no more to clothe and feed the young in school than in camp, except that they are better fed and clothed in school than in camp. It should also be remembered that the Government is under .positive treaty obligations with a large body of Indians to furnish them suitable education. It is still further significant that the Indians are now show- ing a disposition to take their lands in severalty, to dispose of the sur- plus lauds for a fair consideration, and to invest a very considerable portion of the proceeds of the sales thereof in education ; so that a very large proportion of the cost of Indian education administered by the Government will be borne willingly and cheerfully by the Indians themselves and not by the people of the United States. But even if the people of the United States were to assume the whole burden of Indian education, it would be a burden very easily borne, and would be 25 but a slight compensation to be returned by this vast and rich nation to the original possessors of the soil upon whose lands the nation with its untold wealth now lives. TABLE 6. Amount required to put and support all Indian children in Government Schools next year. New buildings and fuinishings for 9,410 boarders, at $'230 per capita: $2,164,300 New buildings and furnishings for 4,217 day pupils, at $1,500 for every 30 pupils 210, 000 Repair and improvement of present buildings 50, 000 Additional furniture, apparatus, stock, tools, and implements . . . 50, 000 2, 474, 300 Support of an average of 15,000 boarding pupils, at $175 $2, 625, 000 Support of an average of 6,600 day pupils, at $62.50.. 412, 500 Transportation of pupils 40, 000 Superintendence 25,000 3,102,500 Total $5, 576, 800 By an inspection of Table 6, the grand aggregate of expenditures which it is thought would be necessary to provide ample accommoda- tions in Government buildings for all Indian youth of school age is $2,474,300. Compare this sum with the cost of constructing ordinary war ships. By special act of Coogress, approved September 7, 1888, the President was authorized to have constructed by contract two steel cruisers of about 3,000 tons displacement each, at a cost (exclusive of armament and excluding any premiums that may be paid for increased speed), of not more than $1,100,000 each; one steel cruiser of about 5,300 tons displacement, to cost $1,800,000; one armored cruiser, of about 7,500 tons displacement, to cost, exclusive of armament and premiums, $3,500,- 000 ; three gun-boats or cruisers, of not to exceed 2,000 tons displace- ment, each to cost not more than $700,000. The appropriation for con- struction and steam-machinery for these vessels was $3,500,000 addi- tional. The armament involves $2,000,000 more, making, in all, over $15,000,000 for six naval vessels. The Dolphin, one of the smallest of the fleet, consumes annually $35,000 worth of coal a sum which would clothe, feed, and train in useful in- dustries during that period 200 Indian youth. By further reference to Table 6, it will be seen that the estimated amount which will be required annually for the maintenance of a Gov- ernment system of education for all Indians will amount to $3,102,500. Of course, in addition to this, an expenditure will have to be made each year to repair and otherwise keep in good order the various school build ings and furnishings. In this connection, it is well to note that the sum paid for education by the city of Boston amounts to $ 1,700,000 ; by the State of New York 26 more than $16,000,000 annually ; while the cost of the maintenance of the public-school system of the States and Territories of this country as a whole, according to the report of the Commissioner of Education, is more than $115,000,000. The United States pays for the maintenance of a little army of about 25,000 men nearly $25,000,000 annually ; the appropriation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1889, aggregated $24,574,700. In estimating the cost of maintaining an adequate school system for the Indians two great economical facts should steadily be borne in mind. The first is that by this system of public education the Indian will, at no distant day, be prepared not only for self-support, but also to take his place as a productive element in our social economy. The pupils at the Carlisle Indian Training School earned last year by their labors among the Pennsylvania farmers more than $10,000, and this year more than $12,000. From "facts like these it can easily be demon- strated that, simply as a matter of investment, the nation can afford to pay the amount required for Indian education, with a view of having it speedily returned to the aggregate of national wealth by the increased productive capacity of the youth who are to be educated. The second great economical fact is that the lands known as Indian reservations now set apart by the Government for Indian occupancy aggregate nearly 190,000 square miles. This land, for the most part, is uncultivated and unproductive. When the Indians shall have been properly educated they will utilize a sufficient quantity of those lands for their own support and will release the remainder that it may be restored to the public domain to become the foundation for innumer- able happy homes ; and thus will be added to the national wealth im- mense tracts of farming land and vast mineral resources which will repay the nation more than one hundred fold for the amount which it is proposed shall be expended in Indian education. TABLE 7. Annual appropriations made "by the Government since 1876 for support of Indian schools. Year. Appropri- ation. Per cent, of increase. Year. Appropri- ation. Per cent, of increase. 1876 $20 000 1884 992 800 47 1877 30 000 50 1885 1 100 065 10 1878 60, 000 100 1886 1 211 415 10 1879 75 000 25 1887 1 179 916 *02 6 1880... . 75 000 1888 1 348 015 14 1881 135 000 SO 1889 1 364 568 01 1882 . . 487 200 260 1890 (amount required) 2' 845 610 110 1883 675, 200 38 Decrease. From an inspection of Table 7 it will be seen that the Government entered upon the present plan of educating Indians in 1876, by the ap- 27 propriation of $20,000 for that purpose ; and that for a period of eight years there was an almost steady increase in the appropriations for In- dian education, amounting to an average of 75 per cent, per annum. For the next five years the increase was at an average rate of 7 per cent, per annum. Had there been during the latter period an average increase of 20 per cent., the appropriation for 1890 would have exceeded the amount now asked for. What is proposed by the Indian Office now is to carry forward the work in the line of its historical development. The amount asked for for next year can all be used to good advantage without extravagance in enlarging and more fully equipping schools already in successful operation, and in planting others where there is urgent demand for them. Full reports of each agency of the present condition and needs of the school are being received and carefully tabulated ; plans of build- ings are being 'prepared, and sites selected, and everything will be in readiness, as soon as the money asked for is placed at the control of the Indian Office, to move forward at every point intelligently and conservatively. It will be seen that there is nothing radically new, nothing experi- mental nor theoretical, and that the present plans of the Indian Office contemplate only the putting into more systematic and organic form, and pressing with more vigor the work in which the Government has been earnestly engaged for the past thirteen years, with a view of carrying forward as rapidly as possible to its final consummation that scheme of public education which during these years has been gradu- ally unfolding itself. That the time is fully ripe for this advanced movement must be evi- dent to every intelligent observer of the trend of events connected with the condition of the Indians. Practically all the land in this vast re- gion known as the United States, from ocean to ocean again, has now been organized into States or Territories. The Indian populations are surrounded everywhere by white populations, and are destined inevi- tably, at no distant day, either to be overpowered or to be assimilated into the national life. The most feasible, and indeed it seems not too strong to say the only, means by which they can be prepared for Ameri- can citizenship and assimilation into the national life is through the agency of some such scheme of public education as that which has been outlined, and upon which the Government, through the Indian Office^ is busily at work. The welfare of the Indians, the peace and prosperity of the white people, and the honor of the nation are all at stake, and ought to constrain every lover of justice, every patriot, and every phi- lanthropist, to join in promoting any worthy plan that will reach the desired end. This great nation, strong, wealthy, aggressive, can signalize its spirit of fairness, justice, and philanthropy in no better way, perhaps, than 28 by making ample provision for the complete education and absorption into the national life of those who for more than one hundred years tyave been among us but not of us. Where in human history has there been a brighter example of the humane and just spirit which ought to charac- terize the actions of a Christian nation superior in numbers, intelligence, riches, and power, in dealing .with those whom it might easily crush, but whom it is far nobler to adopt as a part of its great family I