The Irish standard., 1899-08-26
AT THE INDIAN SERVICE INSTITUTE
In Reply to Captain Pratt, the
Notorious Bigot.
HEAD OF CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL
The Way to Civilize the Indian
Is Clearly Stated.

IS clearly Stated.
Ihe Indian Service Institute was in
session recently at Los Angeles, Cal
and some notable papers were read on
the subject of Indian education, train
ing, etc. Our old friend Captain Pratt
OF the Carlisle Indian school was there
in the interest OF the ring of A. P. A.
agltators who would exclude Catholics
IRON all participation in the education
OF the Indian children. Captain Pratt
who is narrow bigot, made the extra
ordinary assertion that "the greatest
hndrance to the Indian in getting into
the broad life of the nation was the
church." To this and to other vicious
and absurd statements, Rev. Chrysos-
tom Verwyst, missionary among the
Indians in Wisconsin, made replv.
Father Verwyst has been on the mis-
sion among the Chippewas for nearly
twenty years. He is native of Hol-
land but has been in this country for
flfty-one years. He speaks the Chip
pewa language and understands fully
the Indian situation. He said: We
want to civilize the Indian, that is, make
him better and happier than he is. Now
what is civilization? Does it consist
merely in living in fine houses, wearing
nice clothes, having the thousand and
one comforts OF the whites? A man
may have all these and still be vicious,
immoral, bad Our forgers, swindlers,
bank-wreckers are civilized men but
their civilization is materialism, pure
and simple Money and pleasure are
the two articles OF creed OF this mater
ialistic civilization. Such was the civil
ization Of ancient Rome and Greece. 1t
was nothing but refined barbarism.
They legalized infanticide in Sparta,
they deifed impurity in Venus and
drunkenness in Bacchus; they practiccd
slavery in the most revolving forms, had
their bloody gladiatorial shows, in which
men were obliged to fight unto death
with each other or with wild beasts for
the qualification OF the thousands look
ing on. And yet they were highly civ
ilized. They had orators, poets, states
men, generals as great as the world ever
saw. They raised structures which
even in their ruins excite the admira-
tion OF the tourists. And yet they were
but refined barbarians. God save the
Indian from such matcrialistic cviliza-
ton! 1t is a curse, not blessing. 1t
does not elevate man, it drags him
down and makes him the slave of base
passions, money greed, sc6sllncss and
lust.
What civilization, then, do we want to
give the Indian? We want to give him
a civilization that will make him better,
make him know, revere and serve the
great God that made him; make him
conscious OF his accountability to God,
to his conscience and to his fellow-mar1
for his acts; in one word, we want to
give him a civilization that will make
him a man in the fullest and noblcst
sense Of the word, honest, truthful, con-
scientious, reliable, industrious and
thrifty.
Such a man is the noblcst type OF civ
ilization, even if he lives in poorhousc,
wears coarse clothes and has not the
manners OF Chesterfield.
Now, claim that to impart to the
Indian this true civilization worthy OF
the name, we want religion, religious
training first and foremost. Any sys-
TEN OF education that ignores religion
is sham. You educate the head, but
not the heart. Education, knowledge
is power, which may be welded for a
good or bad cause, according as the will
power directs it one way or the other.
Mere mental training is not always
blessing, but often a curse, curse to
the one who holds this power and
wields it for his own eternal ruin in the
cause of crime; curse for the COM
munity, which has more to fear from an
accomplished, educated criminal than
from an ignorant one.
The whole man wants to be educated,
head and heart, not merely one-half OF
man, and that is the least important, for
l consider it far more important to
make good men than learned. Learn
ing is all right in its place, but morality,
virtue, religious training are vastly
superior. Now that is exactly the train
ing that UNCONVENTIONAL schools have