National Republican., 1883-02-23
The Demands Of the COlOred Youth and the
Nations Indian Wards
Results Of the Experiments at Carlisle
and Hampton.
The Committee 10 Solicit Congressional Aid Ask an
Appropriation Of SlOOOOOOO.
The subJect OF Compulsory Education
Discussed at Length.

Gen. Armstrong, of Hampton. Va, delivered,
in his well known enthusiastic manner, an
interesting address on aboriginal in
struction. He presented the subject of
educating the colorcd youth and the In
dian wards Of the nation. The speaker,
from his experience, favored emphatically in
dustrial education for both of these races.
Labor with education is the salvation of the
colOred people, and the same as to the trouble
some aboriginos. lie had found after fifteen
years experience that the colorcd youth were
anxious to learn and that they possessed a
fair capacity
The nation should take hold of the educa-
tion of the children of the civil revolution
with earnestncss and liberality. The Indian
question, he concludes, has but one and only
one solution. His education in school, sh op
and farm must be pushed, and the pr esent
agent system abolished. The Indian is worth
saving, and can be saved.
EXPERIMENTAL EDUCATION OF THE INDIANS.
Rev. B. G.. Northrop, in the unavoida-
bic absence Of Capt Platt, who has charge
of the Indian schools at Carlisle, Pa, gave
q brief history of the experiment of edu-
eating the Indians, and of the great results
promised from so small beginning. 1t be-
gan in 1875 with seventy-four condemned In
dian prisoners sent from Fort Sill to Florida.
The results were better than the most SAN
gune expectations had hoped. They dis
played great industry and skill The Indian
was contesscdly the noblost type of the So
called hcathen nations He had quick mind,
keen eye for observation, was brave,
fearless, educable, and docie. His language
had been great drawback to his being civil
izud, bat he was rapidly making progress in
speaking English. The chiefs of the different
tribes were appreciating the new order of
things and displaying q growing interest in
it. 1t was estimated that Indian wars had
cost this government $500,0O0,000. Every In
dian killed had been killed at an average cost
of 100000 each. 1t was therefore cheaper to
educate than to exterminate. There were
now over 300,0 900 Indians in the country. Mr..
Northrop gave very interesting account Of
the school at Carlisle, and showed 1t was very
much better and more practicable to educate
them at points east than upon the reserva-
tions.
Mr.. Northrop was followed by Miss A. G.
Fletcher, whose account of the Indian char
acter, with her experience among them, was
highly interesting.
CONGRESSIONAL AID.
The committee appointed TO solicit congress
sional aid offered the following resolution:
ReSored, That IN view Of the necessity OF edu.
cation TO the perpetulty OF free institutions and Of
the great and dspropOrtionnte burdens which
provision for universal education would impose
OH some ofthe southern states, this association ex
presses its conviction that II Is alike the duty aud
the interest OF the national government 10 extend
10 the several states, especially 10 those In which
the burden and danger Of illteracy are gIeaiost,
such pecunlary aid us shall enable them 10 pro
vide that all the child en- and youth within uelf
borders shall receive nj least an elementary edn.
direct nppropriation, from the national trrasarr
should Ge made 10 the several states IN pnuru iirn
to illiteracy and distributed under prural rlr
ditions aud safeguards through existing lucal N
GERS. We believe that the emergency h ~ urffui
as TO demand immediate action by the PEE uf
once will avoid more than twenty timrs ;hsi
amount twenty years hence whom univerhl cdu.
cation once falrly tried will be continued with
out national aid.
SCHOOL SUPERVISION.
The rest of the session was devoted 20 a
consideration Of the subject Of school super
vision, in which majority OF the delegates
participated The whole matter was arranged
so as to allow statements and discussion OF
topics, the chief of which was the mode Of IL
censing teachers, plans for determining the
character of teachers work, number of depart
ments in the schools, the determination of the
fitness of pupils for promotion, the frequency
of promotions from grade to grade or school TO
school, the chief means used for securing
school attendance, tho practical results of
compulsory education, and the chief obstacles
to successful results in the schools.
In the course of the discussion Mr.. Dwight,
Of Massachusetts,, in considering the topic OF
compulsory education, said that his expe-
rience was that no school system was a sue
cess unless it secured tho attendance of a
vast pTeponderance of children affected by 1t.
His experience had shown him there was an
antagonism between the public school system
on the one hand and the factory system and
other kinds of business on the other hand,
inasmuch as people in their eagerness to make
money either as factory owners or factory
employees would evade the law requiring the
attendance of children at school. This has
been rectifed to a very great extent by the
enactment Of laws for
COMPULSORY EDUCATION.
Mr. Marble, of Massachusetts,, then gave a
full account of the struggle between the fac
tories and the schools in his own city OF
Worcester to harmoniously adjust the rela-
tions between them, that the necessity for
children working might be recognized as well
as the necessity Of their attending schools.
Mr.. Newell asked Mr.. Marble what truth was
there in the statement recently made by Gov
Butler that, notwithstanding the excellent
school system in that state, and the great
sums of money spent, there was yet q great
deal of illiteracy in Massachusetts
Mr.. Dwight answered the question by say.
ing il wasn't necessary at all TO see if any
statement made by Gov. Butler was or was
mot true.
At the request of Gen. Eaton, Mr. Marble
gave his experience with the Canadians OF
Worcester some 1000 of whom live in that
city. That experience on the whole was en-
COuraging,
Mr.. Newell, of Maryland, in discussing the
reasons why our schools were not doing bet
ter work, cited as the chief obstacles that
schools had to deal with, first, the indiffer-
once of large numbers of parents. The
remedy for that, he thought, was compulsory
eduaron, Secondly, the disaffection on the
part of large minority of the people as
regards secular education. This disaffection
was not confined by any means to
the Catholic church. Again, although
paradoxical as the statement seemed,
the very success which had attended
the efforts of the schools was now the chief
obstacle to success, Fifty years ago there was
no need of a compulsory educational law,
There is to-day. Again, there was too much
inleXiblity about the school system. And
the dissertation of labor and education was
another great obstacle. Supervision of and
legislation upon schools by ignorant men, and
that criticism which would pull down and
could not build up were also obstacles,
AT the conclusion of the exercises vote OF
thanks were given the Washington press for
their generous reports Of the proceedings Of
tho department The department then ad.
journed to meet again in Saratoga July 0, the
same day that the National Association OF
Educators meet.
A SOCIAL SESSION.
In the evening the department Of superin.
tendence accepted the invitation of Gen
Eaton and visited the bureau of education in
a body. They were here introduced to a mum.
bsE of ladies and gentlemen prominent in
Official and social circles, whose tastes and
culture incline them TO educational interests
The social part OF the evenings entertain.
mont, however pleasant, was subordinate Ia
Nlau ANN mic nd lts.fV