The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-07-25
INDIAN SCHOOL WAR.

! Turing the past two years a war o
words has been going on between In
, dian Commissioner Morgan and tn
/ Catholic mission bureau for the educa
ton of Indian children. The commits
sloner maintains that the bureau hal
continued assaults upon his department
and himself from the day he was named
for the office he holds, and that attempt,
have been made before the United
States senate and the president to cause
his remove as commissioner of Indiar
affairs. These attempts have been sc
persistent and continued that harmo
NOUS relations between his department
and the Catholic bureau can no longe,
be maintained. On the other HAND
Father Chapelle, vice president of the
Catholic bureau, explains that the at.
tacks made upon Commissioner Morgan
and his department were made by off.
cials of the bureau without the bureaus
Endorsement. Cardinal Gibbons prom.
lses to guarantee friendly relations be-
tween the Catholic bureau and the In
dian commissioner if Morgan will renew
the contracts with the bureau for the
maintenance of the Indian schools.
But Morgan is obdurate. He holds
that: "The school maintained by the
government for the education of the In
dians should be strictly non -sectarian
and non-partisan," and that: .The an
preparation of public funds to sectarian
institutions was contrary to the spirit, if
not the letter of the constitution. and
opposed to public policy. These promo.
sItions may, viewed from IA strictly non.
sectarian standpoint, be correct, for il
stands to reason that if the government
may farm out the Indian schools to sec.
tartan organizations it should let them
TO any religious denomination which put
IN the lowest bid. Thus every religious
pody may have a school, each teaching
Its W particular articles of faith to the
pupils, and the aggregation forming a
union with the state not contemplated
by the Trainer of the constitution. No
one, whether he be a Catholic, or Metho-
dist, Episcopalian or Baptist or belong
ing to any other religious denomination.
will favor a union of church and state or
the appropriation of the public funds for
the building up of the school or schools
any given denomination.
But it may reasonably be questioned
whether Commissioner Morgan takes
such high grounds in his refusal to treat
the bureau for the teaching of In
iian children, for in his letter to Father
.hapelle he gave himself away when he
said:
While drawing hundreds of thousands
'f dollars of government funds to build
up and sustain the mission schools under
'our charge, your bureau has thrown the
weight of its influence against the
government upon whose bounty it sub
listed.
In other and palmer words the bureau
IS a body has thrown the weight of its
influence against the republican party.
here are too many democrats in the /
'ureau. They have not sung paans of
raise to the Harrison administration. ,
sn't that the true inwardness of Com 6
missioner Morgan's refusal to continue !
that has been his practice during the 9
two years? 4. e. enter annually into !
.ntracts with the Catholic mission +
ureau for the maintenance of Indian \
'hools throughout the country. Con-
ress has appropriated money for the
What does Mr.. Morgan pro- s
ose to do with it? VIII he deal directly a
18th the schools or will he permit them h
die a lingering death for want of s.
nanclal support? If he deal with the I
hools instead of the bureau he saves ii
to the government. What will Il
2 do! You have the stand Mr.. Morgan. II