Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-09-04
INDIAN INSPECTION.
Ex-Governor Mcdonnell On a Tour
Of the Agencies and Reserva-
tons.
he WOULD TEACH FARMING
The Mescalero Reservation Shows More I'm.
provement and Industry Upon the
Part Of the Indians Than Any He
Visited.

Ex-Governor and ex-senator W. j.
Mcconnell, of Idaho, who has been in
the city a few days on an inspection
tour of the Indian agencies and schools,
left Saturday morning n business trip
to the Indian day schools in this vi
cinity in his official capacity as Indian
inspector. Mr.. Mcconnell is a fine look
ing gentleman of rare culture, and a
fluent speaker. He is the leader of that
branch in the Indian service which be-
lieves in Indian reservations and
schools upon them, as opposed to the
faction which believes in taking the In
dian youth away from their surround
ings to boarding schools and there
teaching them trades or preparing them
for professions. Mr.. Mcconnell, in an
interview yesterday, said that, after all,
farming is the only occupation which
the Indian can successfully pursue, and
in following a trade or a profession he
Is too much handicapped to compete
with white men, and to follow trades or
professions, Indian settlements can give
IilSLlI W buI g NS Low 0AoN
yates Of Indian Industrial schools.
The inspector, however, praises high
ly the work being done by the govern
ment Indian school in this place. He
found the buildings better cared for
than any other hat he has visited.
While the garden at the Albuquerque
school is overgrown with weeds, he
found the grounds at Santa Fe in splen-
did condition.
Mr.. Mcconnell spent several weeks at
the San Carlos reservation in Arizona,
which bears not the best reputation. He
found that while the Indians have been
on the reservation twenty-five years,
they are still living in tents, but that
otherwise they are not such a bad lot"
He penetrated several parts of the res
ervation which had never before been
visited by inspectors, and which he was
told it would cost his life to visit, and
found a marvelously beautiful and rich
country.
Mr.. Mcconnell also visited the Mes
calero agency, which he declares to be
in splendid condition. The Indians on
the reservation have made greater
strides towards civilization than on any
other reservation in the southwest. The
inspector is strongly opposed to opening
the Mescalero reservation to settlers.
He says that this country owes it to the
Indians to leave their present homes in
tact. In fact, he said the Indians on the
Mescalero are c%ultivating all the avail
able ground along all the streams, and
there is no room for white agricultural
settlers. There are rich mineral depos-
it's on three townships in the northwest
ern part of the reservation, and the in
spector would recommend that these be
thrown open to mineral entries.
The United States government is not
doing too much for the Indians, said
the official. Every cent it spends for
their education and welfare the gov
eminent yves to them. The Indian
should above all be taught agriculture
in addition to a fair education. The APP
pointment of Miss DeSette as superin-
tendent of day schools in the Pueblo and
Jicarilla agency was an innovation for
the good of the Indians. Thus far the
men have been educated above the
women, but yet a mothers influence
counts for more than a fathers exam
pie. Miss DeSette will see to it that
the Indian homes are visited and the
mothers and daughters are instructed
in the ways of civilized life. 1t is that
method which will solve the Indian
problem quicker than any other policy,
thinks the inspector.