The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-29
ESPECIAL, TO THE PREss.J

Especial TO THE PREssJ
Washington, January q. This week
the Indian has been under discussion In
the House. The Indian appropriation
bills cover an expenditure OF seven ana
a half million dollars for the year 1888.
ar tais ann, two and half million dol
lars 30 for the support Of schools. The
suhieob of educating the Indian was de-
hated at considerable length. some Of
the mem bers who have had the most ex-
periepce with the Indians were inclined
10 criticize the methods of education now
ntrsued. Mr.. Wendell, of Wyoming,
said that the thing that tho Indian need =
ed first of all was to learn to work.
This the schaols did not tsach to such an
extent as was necessary. More attention
should be paid to manual training and
less to the higher studies Of an eduoa-
tional curriculum suited to whites. On
the other hand the partisaDs of the Car
Isle school declared that So per cent. OF
the graduates of chat school were using
their education to advantage. Mr.. Can
non, of Nebraska, said that in view OF
the great amount of money annually APP
propriated, the progress Of the Indians
seemed discouraging. Yet it should be
remembered that two thousand years ago
Caesar found the Britons savages, and
that it had required wars, revolutions
and struggles ever since to bring our lace
TO its present state of advancement. 1t
would not do to expect too much of the
red man.
considerable portion of the amount
paid by the government to the Indians Is
in the form Of interest on trust funds be-
longing to the Indians, OF in fu lfilmen E
of treaties entered into with them.
Some of these treaties are very ancient,
that with the six Nations of New YorR
dating from 1894. In their time the BLK
Nations were the most formidable saw
ages in America; but their glory IS now
Only memory. In their place now are
the sioux. THIS powerful Indian Natitn
have always been fighters. and Mr.. Oan-
non expressed the opinion during the d.
bnte that they had ext0rted from tie
government concessions which maze
them really well-to-do. He Thought that
their incomes were more than might De
found among many populations OF equal
size among the white people of the ooun-
try. There are also the Pawnee Indians
of the Canadian Valley. in Oklahoma,
who number about 700, and have fund
of $500, 900, which yields them over S2U,
700 year. They are settled on lands in
severalty and are farmers. With what
they get from their fund and the govern
ment each family has an income of about
$500 q year. Still they feel poor, and
sent delegation on to Washington to see
If they could not get 800, 600 Of thelI
fund. They sent credentials with this
delegation, addressed to the Secretary Of
the Interior and signed by the entire
tribe. In the credentials the object OF
the mission is statad, and the Secretary
is naively requested to see that the ennis
saries DO not, during their stay in Wash
ington, get into any saloons or other
bad places.
Occasionally bill that comes up in
the House brings up an odor of an urfra-
grant past. such WIS the caFe with
bill to pay ceratin sum to John h. Mo
Rse. The claimant was in 1859 a Deputy
United States Marshsl, and the United
States court of which he was an otfcer
sat In the city of Savannah, Ga. During
that year the ship Wapdeyer landed q
cargo of Africans on the Georgia coast.
Under the stringent laws for the suppress
sion Of the Afrioan slave trade, tho Cir
cult Court of the United States had very
important jurisdiction, and This Deputy
Marshal, in pursuance OF his duty, ar
rested and aeized thirty-siy of these AT
rioans while being smugGled into th'
interior as slaves. This claim is for THU
service, and for the expense Of keeping
these Africans for fourteen days.