St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-15
Indians Oppose Punishment.

address by Supt. Ii. E. Wilson on 'Or-
ganiZation." Determination" he said,
comprises various things relating to
each other ami working together for
common end. The result being to present
a perfect idea of the object desired.
Dsobedience Is a disrupter. and, if con-
tinued, must in the end be put down by
force. The will power of people may
be controlled by another and the sue
cess of Indian work must be determined
by the manipulation of the motives.
Our good intentions and labor are OPP
posed by evil-minded persons, who de-
StrOy what we construct, and the move
ment toward obedience must be sponta-
neous, not artificial and forced. Chill
dren are not capable of self-government
and perhaps must be subjected to force.
With the adults, however, self
government should prevail and the
power should come from within.
The Indian agents and officials
should be men of high character
and intensely interested in school work.
the conduct of which should be III keep
ing with the character of the people.
The Skillful management of the human
mind underlieS the art Of school man.
agement. The Indians are unqueS.
tionablY opposed to punishment OF any
kind, and disObedience should be pun
ished by expulsion from the school or
the curtailment of privileges. The
qualities needed by good dlsclpiinar-
ian are firmneSS and good nature. q
hand of still force i'll velvet glove.
Keen sympathieS often encourage one
to be lax, and tirmneSS often begets a
harsh, unyieldlng nature. Obedience
should be made matter OF Self-intereSt.
Organization, government and diSci-
pline are the means to an end, and we
should aim at formation as we'll as in
formation. The mind must be formed
before 1t can be informed, and among
no people can the principle be better
proved and illustrated than among the
Indians"
Col. Sheehan was to have delivered
an address, but he was not present.
An Indians Address.
The most interesting feature of the
day was an address by Rev. Charles
Wright, Chippewa Indian Episcopal
minister, located at Leech Lake. He
apologized for not being able TO speak
the English language tluently land asked
the audience to overlook any mistakes
in words that he might make. His ad-
dress was confined to the school at the
Leech Lake reservation. These schools,
he said, had been established over forty
years, yet they were greatly lacking in
facilities, and the results from the work
are interior. In the forty years no
attempt has been made to improve the
| schools. There are over 400 Indian
| children there, yet nothing is done to
make the work inviting, so as to bring
| into the schools all the children. The
efforts of the superintendent to crowd
out superstition and evil influences.
"In all the forty years not man has
! grown up adapted to business. The
children would willingly lay aside the
civilized life to take up the war song
and live in the tepee." The infer OF
results he charged to several causes.
One of these is the frequent change:
| made in employees about the schools.
The government has al last given the
| place an overSeer that is efficient, and
| the speaker hoped that he will remain
there. when new buildings are put
up in the place of the ones burned ]
would suggest that 4 carpe nter shop
tin shop, shoemaker's shop. tailor shop,
ETC.. be put up. These young Indians
| should be instructed in the manual
| arts. Then there should be a brass
band, base ball team and other amuSe-
ments to draw the young Indians to the
schools. The Indians who have beel
| educated on the reSeI Walton and at East
ern schools should be appointed Il
| fill vacancies in school work a
| the reservations. Do you believe
that if you always treat these
| people as boys they will ever be any.
thing else but boys? They ought to be
given a chance to work We want oul
children not only to be educated. but to
be taught things useful to do with their
hands. In order that all may be bene.
fitted, it is my wish that Indian educa-
ton be made compulsory. The pro-
gressive Indians will send their
children to school anyway. And those
that will not send their children to
school should be made to do so. More
than twenty-five years ago my people
did not know anything about Chris
tianity. Now whenever we meet a
white man we think he is a Christian,
because Christianity came from the
white PEOPLE. But when we meet 6
white man and find that he is a pro.
fame, un-Christian person, we are sur.
prised. We want white men to come
and work among -us-white men who
will set good examples to our people
and treat our children kindly"
Host Locke. of the Flandrau, S. d.
Indian school, spoke briefly on the SUBJ
iect of Corporal Punishment in the
Indian Schools" He said that Indian
children are great imtators. The train
ing of the children IN the school room
is very small part of the work. Few
rules should be laid down, but when
one is laid down, the teacher should see
that it is strictly obeyed. Il am of
opinion that all punishment of de-
grading nature should he avoided
There are a few instances in which
corporal punishment is absolutely
necessary, but it is not often necessary.
Indian children from seventeen to
twenty years old should be expelled
rather than whipped"
During the afternoon the teachers in
Indian schools held a meeting, aside
from the convention, and discussed
matters pertinent to the work in the
school room.
Sad State ofan Agency.
The evening session opened with the
singing of Coronation" after which
James S. Bell, superintendent of the
Genoa. Neb. schools. read paper on
Notwithstanding Schools" He is
strongly in favor of them. He thought
that the Indian race should be elevated,
and the seeds of Christianity disseminate
ed among them. They should be taught
useful trades. They should be taught
how to build and maintain homes. The
cost is not to be estimated by money
value. He said The greatest triumphs
of the world had often their origin IN
| dor ha n,6ct N 20 4 tot,fa IN STnESF "