Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1891-04-24
INDIAN EDUCATION m ARIZONA


.ofpublic instruction in Arizona ask
ing to have arrangements made by
which Indian scholars could be placed
public schools Of the territory for
which the government would pay $40
per quarter
Mr. Cheney corresponded with the
school districts Of the territory and
wrote General Morgan, an extract
from the letter is given below:
It, Is true that in a majority of the
districts in this large Territory no In
dians are residents or were within
reach. The inhabitants, if they know
them at ali know them simply as
Inomads, whose presence is a menace
to property if not to life.
10 these districts the proposed plan
does not seem to have application, and
1 met their opinion upon its merits.
In others, where proximity to the In
dian has taught the inhabitants, by
experience, to know this question in
all its phases, there is a wider dis
position to ignore the proposition as
not even worthy of consideration.
This information I gather from
newspaper comments and personal
conversation, and is in my judgment
not the proper view to take Of it.
Youare at the head of that partlcu-
lar branch of the Government which
is charged with the care of the
Indian. His welfare occupies con-
stantly your mind and thoughts. In
solicitude for his welfare you have
suggested a plan for his betterment
by education, and as l said before, l
believe that you have evolved it in all
seriousness, and in all seriousness it
should be considered. You have sug-
gested this plan to me officially, as
the head of the Public School System
Of this Territory, the other party to
the proposed contract, and presum-
ably will be willing to listen to my
opinion upon its merits.
With the willingness expressed by
the responses from some of our dis
tricts 1 can scarcely coincide, officially
or personally. rather incline to the
views expressed by the gentleman
from Mohave county, who has put the
condition and answer to the proposed
remedy into nutshell.
"We have more respect fer our
children than TO think of educating
them in such mixed school No
white person familiar with their habits
ard manner Of living could consent to
have his children educated in this
way"
The school laws of our territory
make no distinction in race or color,
excepting rs to Indians and Chinese,
They have been framed and are
maintained with the end Of making
our public school system all that can
be- required in the education Of his
children by any parent
That standard could neither be at
tanned nor maintained under such an
arrangement as you suggest, plan
chat would inevitably result not in
the elevation of the Indian, but in the
lowering Of the white.
The truth of this, as an abstract
proposition, you will hardly be pre-
pared to deny, but possibly in your
anxiety for the welfare Of the Indian
you have overlooked the other side OF
the question. To me, as an Arizona
parent and an officer of its pubic
school system, it has a considerable
importance. Or possibly / am in errol
as to the direction of elevation. 1 an
informed by the Hampton Review, in
an article credited to you, that 'tht
Indians are not unfriendly to the
whites, and will not go to war except
for just reasons, but
when we steal their stock, shoot down
their women and children, murder
their men ard break our engagements
with them, etc, they prove that an
Indian war Is often the expression ol
the very highest manhood" Can it be
possible that you would permit tn,
budding infant minds of these poo
victims of the white mans ayarice anC
barbarlty to mingle with the cubs o
their oppressors? Would there not b'
danger Of our instilllng into them som'
Of our own flendish procliyitios? W.
might teach them how TO steal, lie
debauch and murder, or even to lik'
tlrewater and the noXious weed
accomplishments that according Il
the same article are now confined t
the yillainous white pioneer
No, Mr. Commissioner, your plan i
not feasible one, and in proposing
you show an ignorance Of us, on
standards and our aims that is an in
Justice, almost an insult, to our ant
your own intelligence.
We have no desire to found a race O
"squaw-men" nor to encourage th
mania for Indian miscegnation noV
applauded and practiced in certai
prominent Indian circles.
= In your own city you divide tn