Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-01
10, THE GOODINDIAN.

Those who think there IS no good Indian but Q dead one, and that the sooner all the Indians are dead the better will find shock to their prejudice in some revelations of the census. The whole number of Indians with in the limits of the United States, exclusive of those in Alaska, is about 253, 900, of whom more than one-half, 13s, ,046, are clothed like white men and have made considerable progt ress towards civilization. The most civilized tribes are the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and Seminoles in the Indian Ter ritery. They number 54,OOO, of whom 34,- 900 can read They built last year Z, ,7O9 new houses. and now occupy 16, 250. They have
 12 boarding and 183 day schools, with 6,25O scholars, and raised for the support of these schools last year $156, 1856, the govern ment paying only $3,5Oo. They have 131 church buildings. The Cherokees, and pen haps some of the other tribes, have an organ ized government of their own, with gover- nor, legislature and courts. They have books print in their own language, in pho netic characters invented by Cherokee h. dian, George Guess, many years ago. Of the other tribes in the Indian Territory, IT, 546 dress like white men, and II, ,OO0 can read. They occupy II, ,634 houses, have 52
 boarding and '1O7 day schools, with an aver age attendance of 4,4ss children ]; but only one-fifth of all the children of these tribes have ever been in school .f
 The condition of Indians in other States and Territories is very encouraging. hi Michigan there are about 10, 900 Indians, all of whom wear the garments of civilization, and l, 700 are engaged in farming and other civilized pursuits. There are 8 schools and Il churches among them, and nearly 1000 of them can read. Last year they cultivated 7,
 65O acres of land. In Wisconsin there are7,- GAO Indians, of whom 1000 wear citizens dress, and about ?, 800 of them are engaged in civilized pursuits, more than half of them as farmers. There are II schools, and over 200 Indians read. They till 8,G45 acres. In Minnesota there are (. 157 Indians, of whom about ? 1000 wear citizens dress, and about ], 100 are engaged in farming and other civilized pursuits There are schools, and 49O Indians can read. Their crops last year comprised 26, 200 bushels of wheat, IS, 226 bushels of corn, S,97l bushels of barley, 37,OO0 bushels of vegetables, etc. In Dakota there arc over 27,5OO Indians, of whom about 10000 are in citi- zens' dress. About 5000 are engaged in civil pursuits most of them as farmers. day and boarding schools among them. They cultivate 10, 15O acres of land. In Montana there are 19, 791 Indians, about l. 300 of whom wear citizens dress, and less than 500 are engaged in civil pursuits. There are schools, attended by 287 chil- dren. The Montana Indians till 3,769 acres. There are 4, ,165 Indians in Idaho, Of whom 1, ,5O0 wear citizens dress, and about 2,5OO are engaged in agriculture and other civil pursuits. There are II schools attended by 595 children. About 3,6OO acres are under cultivation. in Washington Territory there are 14, 468 Indians, three-fourths of whom wear citizens dress, and over 3,100 are in civilized pursuits. There are If boarding and day schools among them, and the daily attendance is 51O. There are 800 Indians who can read. About 12, 900 acres are culti- vated. la Oregon there are 5,626 Indians, 3, 4s5 of them civilized. There are schools with 15O for the average attendance. The acreage under cultivation is 6,319.
 These figures are astonishing even to those who have faith in the capacity of the Indians for civilization. With such an advance al- ready achieved it is fair to presume that their progress will in the future be more rapid and that under the better treatment the tribes in the far West are likely to re- ceive from the government they will take mere kindly to the white mems ways. The number of really wild Indians is now less than one in four hundred of the whole pop ulation of the country, and the next census will doubtless show great decrease in this troublesome part of our population.