Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-02-16
BY TELEGRAPH.
SCHOOLS FOR The INDIANS.


esiut1tfbu VI satt Using s-sshtEttltu tpf tuS /
general improvement, os the lndiaa Face.
The amount appropriated ior this purpose
during the curreHt year WIS - .is5. |
When il is remembers. that ia 1877 the al,- |
Precipitation was only 100000 and in 1881 |
but SIS, 600, asi,i thu. IN iSs. il had risen
only To si3j.tssi. the vast increase of in |
terest taken in this subject during the last
ten years mast be apparent. Even ia ISIS
the annual appropriation was only Sl.l7a
ai6, so that the greatest work has been that
of the last five Years. AMI besides the an
preparations of Congress. SUMS sor this pur-
pose are inclaied IN various agreements
made with the tribes for the purchase of
lands.
Its probable that an annual appropria-
ton of 5000 900 ~oai, secure school
facilities for all the eliliren who could at
tend; and since this is comparatively
| small increase above What has already be-
| come the maximum appropriation il should
be reached soon.
The enrolment for the last fiscal year
showed ~, 1875, pupils, being an increase If
l,s61, and an average attendance of Is, III.
being an increase of >, ,ia3 over the previous
year. The accommodations were natur-
| ally rather more than the enrolment. The
-oNSi tidluiiiS sIiioNiNs II
/ in number, not on reservations. were able
| to accommodate 1895 pupils the CT reser-
walton boarding schools, 76i4; the l0l res
ervation dav schools, 31l4. This made a
total of 10 ,593 for the government schools.
Adding for the religious and other contract
schools 5lS6, and for the ordinary public
schools 1877, We find total accommodations
for 20,976 pupils. Additional schools an
1
lation bring the number up To 90, +lf.
If we turn TO the average attendance, VIC
find that it had Increased from 35as in 1877
and from 4oi2 in 1888 to l5,lll for last
| year. Similar gains, of course, have been
made in the total enrolment.
One point which has caused considerable
discussion and trouble during Commission
er Morgan's term of office is the difference
IN the support given by different religious
churches or associations to the contract
schools. The Roman Catholic church has
made a speciality of this sort of work. 1t
has accommodations in its schools for so
many Indian pupils as to require much the
| l.rges; amount of the appropriations set
apart for that purpose. As is well known,
| the contract schools can educate at u
| cheaper rate than the government schools,
y
the government to rely upon, but the contri
buttons of their respective churches. Out of
S525,SS set apart for this purpose during
| the current year, the pupils educated in the
Roman Catholic schools required the pay
ment of $3.50 ,535; next came the Lincoln
Institution with 1873, 400; then the Presby-
terians with S2J,040; then the Congrega-
tionalists with S25.736 then Hampton In
stitute with $50 90; the Lutherans with
| Sl5, l20; the Friends with $1,000; Mrs.
| Daggett, $3.50. the Unitarians, $500;
the Episcopalians, "a $50; the Mennonites,
| $3.50; Miss Howard $500. The Metho-
| dis have now ceased to ask public money
| for their schools and the Epscopalions have
reduced the amounts called for. Perhaps
| the time will come when the government
schools will be able TO accommodate all the
| Indian children; but in the mean time the
work done by the contract or religious
schools is important.
| One hindrance to the increase of this
work has been the failure to appropriate
sums large cnough for the construction of
| larger buildings; but of late the limit of
cost has wisely been increased. The ten
dency in such cases is perhaps to give ac-
commodations for school purposes in cxcess
of what is actually nee led; but. on the
other hand, the cost of labor and suitable
materials in some out-of-the way places
should be taken into the account.
| The Indian school system is now 'loing
good work and should not be checked.
| The rapidity with which the red men
are becoming citizens of the United States
| is an additional reason for developing
this work. A danger to it lately existed
in zeal which outran discretion, and
proposed to use the army for collect
| ing the boys and girls from some reluctant
tribes, and carrying them by force to the
institutions. This, of course, was pushing
the theory of compulsory education to an
extent which would not be permitted even
| among whites, where the neels of education
are much more understood. In some cases
it was felt to be Il hardship to break up
families in this way. Sometimes it was
| thought that the parents should have not
only the companionship of their children but
their assistance. Then in other cases an
impression prevailed that the coopiug up of
| children in schools led to III health. Even
Commissioner Morgan makes this admission
| ON the subject
As the work progresses and greater care
is used in the scrutiny of those who enter
school, it is found that there is an alarming
amount of disease among the children, and
even under the most painstaking care it
develops itself, often rendering it impossible
for them to he kept in school. Tie facts
already show that the complaints heretofore
made against the unheal,hness of Eastern
schools were unfounded, because tie same
conditions manifest themselves in the
Western schools near to or on reser, atoms.
Very great care is given to this matter, and
III, fa,1 l,r,t
sanitary oversight of the pupils; bat there
have been epdemics of measles, scarlet fe
YER dipthera, sore eyes, and numerous -o-
lateh cases of sickness which have ,dl, in-
.erfered with the work of the schools and
have largely increased the care, anxiety,
and labor of the superintenlcnts and their
assistants.
The sad fact is that there is vast
amount of disease among the Inlians living
on reservations, exposed rs they ar. to the
seventies of the climate, almost entirely ig-
norant of sanitary laws, and having wholly
insufficient medical attendance. They are
At the mercy of disease, and oftes,tinIrs
their children are swept away by epideinics
in alarming numbers. As there are no
health officers among them, and no com
pletc record is kept of disease AMI death,
these matters do not often come to The sur
face, so that their real condition is known
only to those Immediately concerned.
When however, their children are taken
into boarding schools. where their names
are enrolled and a record kept of their con
ditio1. il very speedily becomes known il
they are i'll, and especially if they die
The death of an Injian child in school is
frequently seized upon BY lndians who are
opposed to education as an excuse for re-
fusing TO send their children to school. or
as a pretcxt for demanding their rci"asc
If these are the facts, as put in the niil-
est way by an ardent advocate of coInpu- |
sorry education, ii may be imagined " hat
anxiety Indian mothers may have in somr
cases at parting with their children, when
knowing that they are taken 10 distant
schools, rumored to be the prey of disease
and death on account of the change in eli
mate, conditions of life, and general regu-
ations. However. the army officers in re-
cent cases have peremptorily decIinal to
employ their men in any such plans or coer-
cion, so that with that element in the case
settled, the work of education will doubt |
less go on hereafter in orderly AMI temper.
ate fashion to its benefcent end.