Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-11-07
THE INDIANS.
COMMISSIONER MORGAN'S AN
NUAL REPORT.
The Outlook for the Red Mans Chill.
dren veSy Encouraging.
Compulsory Education for the
Grandsons or the Forest.
The Red Mans Condition.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30.-Commissioner
Morgan of the Indian Bureau, in his annual
report to the secretary of the interlor says
OF the Indian question generally that there
has been for ten years or more real prog
ress III the right direction, and the outlook
Tor the future is encouraging. 1t has be-
come, says the commissioner, the settled
policy OF the government to break up res
ervatlons, destroy tribal relations settle
Indians on their own homestcads, incoipor-
ate them into national lie, and deal with
them not as nations, or tribes, or bands, but
as individual citizens. The American In
dian is to become the Indian American. A
public school system is being rapidly pro-
vided, whereby every accessible Indian boy
and girl of school age is to be afforded an
opportunity of acquiring the rudiments of
an English education and the clements of
an honorable calling. The Indians them
selves are coming to understand the pres
ent policy of the government and are show
ing an increasing readiness and even desire
TO adjust themselves TO it. During the
past year l have had personal interviews
With prominent chiefs and representative
Indians everywhere, and almost without
exception they have pleaded for more and
better schools. Upon the subject of the
Improvement of the personnel of. the SER
vice, Commissioner Morgan says that
wherever it could be done without great
hardness he has endeavored to remove
those who were immoral, incompetent, in
efficient or unfaithful. No one has been
discharged on account of politics or relig-
ion, and i'll no single instance, except for
improvement Of the service. Great i'm
provemcnts, he continues, have been made
at the government Industrial schools.
Upon the subject of Indians in the public
schools the commissioner says that be-
Loving that the public schools are the most
effective means of Americanizing our for
eign population. he is DESTROYS of bringing
the Indian school system into relation with
that of the public schools. Not only so.
but wherever possible, he is placing In
dian pupils in the public schools.
The commissioner favors compulsory ed
ucation. and upon the subject says: II am
in favor of compelling every Indian child
of suitable age and health, for whom ac-
commodations are provided. to attend
school ten months out of twelve A gem
eral law, however, could not be applied,
for the simple reason that school accom-
modations arc provided for less than half
of the children of school age. At the date
of the last annual report there were 1873
Indian reserves in the United States, hav-
ing an aggregate area of 116, 900, 900 acres
or 10l, $50 square miles. During the year
about l3, 600, coo acres have been secured by
cessiCn from the Indians and agreements
by which about four and half millions
will be secured are now pending in con-
gress. The work OF making allotmerts of
lands in severalty under the several acts
of congress, has steadily progressed dcrIc
the year; l, 4S4 allotments have been ma>,e
on the Yankton reservation in South Ds-
kota; 961 on the Winnebago reservations;
2S9 10 the Grande Ronde Indians in Oregon;
~ to the eastern Shawnees; and 29l to
those on the Papagoe reservation in Arizo-
MIA. A large part of the work is now in
progress, making it impossible TO state the
number of allotments made.