The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-01
EDUCATING THE INDIAN.
The Red Man Would Rather slssp
Than Hoe q Row OF
Potatoes.
information on the Subject for the
Commissioners Of Indian
Affairs.
Rev. i. D.. PalIadino. .. j., Gives His Views
on the Problem Of Clvilixlng
tho Savage.

on the Problem Of Clvilixing
the savage.
But whilst we maintain that only Christi
anity can civilizs the Indian races effect
lively, (sse INDEPENDENT Dec. "A, 1891, and
Jan. 4, Il 1892 and that, In consequence, re-
ligion must be at the bottom, core and top
or any system Of Indian education, OF to
put IT, in the words OF Senator Davis, that
the education of the Indian can not be
accomplished by a day school, but by a
sunday school that will last seven days in
the week" Congressional Record, July
%, lS90;) no one should imagine that
Christianity can accomplish its beneficent
work unaided, that ID, Independently OF all
material means and resources. For,
though it be true that you cannot Chris
tianizs au adult Indian without at the
same time placing him upon q higher plane
morally, intellectually, and, TO some extent
also. materially; still. as Christianity aims
directly to improve the moral and but in
directly the material welfare of
man, and by it's divine founder,
through means Of supernatural energy,
has been suited to the CAPACITY
Of all, because OF its absolute me-
cessity for all, the adult Indian may be and
is in very truth, when christianized. q NOR
ally civilizsd being. though still an Indian,
that ia, uncivilized in the line Of material
civilization. And if il is impossible to DIV
ilize an Indian morally without christianity,
it ia equally impossible to civllizo him ma
%ovsul1, L. ,I>o.n3or&1 ~ the v,nauu aud
resources Of material civilization. Hence,
it il manifest that, the means Of christianity
md the msana Of material civilization must
90 hand in hand in the process. Without
the former tho Indian can be at best, but q
wiite-washed savage. Without the latter,
he ID simply q helpless being.
On the other hand, in the natural cours
of things grown up people are set in their
ways and annot be easily trained into new
ones and nav babits. theirs il the case
of the aged, knotty tree: no ordinary force
can give ii or make il retain a shape con-
trary to its natural bend: it is unloading,
and sooner than yield will snap under the
Etrain. The SCION Of royalty il not a whit
more civilized by nature than the Indian of
the Rocky mountains. Whence the differ
ence? By education. Hence, to be civilized
an Indian must be trained and educated,
as all the rest Of mankind must needs be;
and natures period of education is plastic
youth. The process. however, of initiating
the Indian youth to civilized lifo ia a very
peculiar one, arising from the fact that
here Won have grown up youngsters, young
men and young women on the one hand,
with all the darkness and much Of the
helplessness of the nursery on the other.
To have to meet at one and the same time
Ill these requirements in q suitable man
ner, and with means adapted to 50 many
different needs, is what renders the eduoa-
ton of tho Indian u problem, not less than
a laborious and difficult task.
In our opinion, after Christianity, next in
Importance, AZ a factor OF Indian civiliza-
ton, is work and MANUAL labor The In
dian has IL great. deep. natural aversion to
work and manual exercise of any kind, and
as lack Of industrious activity, diligence
and love of toll 10 what constitutes, mater
tally, his unoivllized condition, it must
needs also be what perpetuates it; and,
consequently, it is not possible to improve
his material condition without forming
him to habits Of industry and useful toll.
In other words, Incidence and ignorance
both, by turn, cause and effect of Indian
savage, and IN Indian h knows how.
and loves to work, is civilized.
On the other hand, ii the training Of the
Indian must be principally industrial to
suit his wants, il must also be r~udimentary
and varied. The reason is less obvious;
for in the midst OF his savRge surroundings
the school is the only source OF information
and education that he has, and his condi-
lion with regard to civilized life being, as
it were. like an infants, q blank all over
tho line, he must necessarily be trained in
many points; and willis education is neces-
tary in SO many points, exclusive or undue
attention to any one point in particular,
mus needs entail neglect of the necessary
in al another, and consequently, such an
education must prove, in the end, as unsat-
isfactory as it is defective.
A plaln, common English education,
spelling, reading and writing, with the
rndiments Of arithmetic, will be for the
lndian at large book learning enough to ali
the purposes Of his civilized life and social
Intercourse. Anything beyond that, in our
opinion, wonld be detrimental. not bene-
fetal to him. 1t would best feed and en-
courage his natural Incidence at the OK
pense OF what he needs most, industrial
education. An Indian youth will sooner
ait five hours ut a stretch, s%tupid-like and
half asleep with Il book open before HIM,
than hoo q row Of potatoes. Like a weak
stomach, besides, hat can receive and di-
Eest but a little food at a time, so is the
head of an Indian with regard to book
learning.
But although the industrial part of his
education be the most important one to
~civilizs tho Indian, this also in orr opinion
must be made up principally of plain, COM
mon industries if it is to suit, as it ought.
his real wants. This follows from all that
has been said, and from the subject before
us. 1t ia agreed on all sides that the main
object of hia industrial training must be to
enable the Indian to make a living md be-
Como se~lf-supporting. But it is not neoes-
ssry for that to make him an artist. nor Il
Ekillful workman, nor even, exactly, q me-
ohRnic. For it is obvious that, SO long as
civilization is not moro, nor more gem
etally advanced with the race, if a few In
dams could make a living by a trade OF
shop work. many could not, as they could
not all find suitable employment. Heuce
the line of industrial training suited to
their needs can not lie exclusively, not
even principally, as VIC think, i'll the line OF
trades and shop work.
That some OF tho Indian youth who may
develop a knack or II special aptitude for
one or the other of the common, ordinary
trader. or even a profession, for that, be
gwen an opportunity to become so pro-
iicient in one or the other Ms to be able to
make y living by it, ia good and we'll and to
be aimed at; Bince it is very likely that Il
few such could make a living by it. But ii
is evident that, under tho circumstances,
this could be by why OF exception only, and
not tho rule. 1t is olear, then. from ul we
have said that il the education of the In
dian requires to be, i'll the main, industrial,
it also requires to be made up of plain,
eommon necessary industries and such,
principally. as lie i'll the line of %husbandry,
farming, stock rnising and the like: since