Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1899-10-05
BENEDICFS REPORT.
Sharp Criticism of Indian
School Management.

- iA PoAt &c iOAAo"Ss
"In the early days the school;
in the Indian Territory were all
under the control of Christian
missionary societies.
"As soon as the Indian authori,
ties assumed control of these
schools many of their school Of,
ficials began the practice of such
extreme favoritism and partisan.
ship in their management as to
render educational progress an alb
solute impossiblllty. Here and
there occasionally has been found
an educated Indian school official
( who seemed to appreciate the
necessity and the value of thorough
educational work, but in most
cases his efforts to build up the
schools have been thwarted by his
more ignorant colleagues, who
seemed to regard it their first duty
to secure positions tor their own
relatives and political friends, re-
gardless of their qualifications.
"While in some instances al
tempts have been made to convert
the boarding schools into higher
institutions of learning, yet, on
account of the favoritism manifest
ed in the selection of pupils to at
tend them, scarcely any of them
have risen above the grade of the
average common school, and in
nearly every instance the primary
pupils now outnumber the ad-
vanced students in each academy.
1t is not unusual TO find four or
five children of one family in a
boarding school, while some cit
izens who have reared large fam
lilies of children have never been
able to get any of them assigned
TO the academies.
''In every nation these boarding
schools have been regarded as
favored institutions by the various
boards of education. Money has
been lavishly spent in the erection
of buildings, the purchase of sup
plies, and the employment of
teachers and other employees, while
the neighborhood schools have
suffered from neglect. The Indian
authorities have built no neigh
borhood school buildings at all, it
being . general requirement that
every neighborhood desiring
school must furnish its own school
house. AS natural result of this
plan, the country and village
school houses are cheaply built,
poorly furnished and i'll adapted
to the purposes of a school"
Speaking of the condition Of the
white settlers in the territory as
regards educational facilities, ,Supt.
Benedict says:
at is estimated that there are
200,O white people in the Indian
Territory, which, according to the
usual rules for computing statistics
OF population, places the number
of white children of scholastic age
at from 10000 to $4,000. This
vast army of boys and girls have
been practically debarred from
school privileges. None of them
are allowed to attend the Indian
academies. In a few instances
they have been permitted to at
tend the crude neighborhood
schools upon paying tuition.
"The white man came to the
territory with the consent of the
Indian. He has done much to-
ward building up the towns of the
territory. He has been compelled
to pay into the various Indian
treasures vast sums of money in
the form OF permit taxes. These
taxes have been levied upon al
most every kind of business, upon
the professions, and, in some in
stances, a poll tax has been i'm
posed upon every white man en-
tering the 'erritory. These taxes
are burdensome, oftentimes as
much as / per cent being levied
upon the full value of all goods
sold by merchants. This is a clear
case of taxation without repre-
sentation,' for the man who pays
1t has no voice in its expenditure
and gets no benefit from it. No
part of the fund is used for public
schools, building bridges or i'm
proving roads, and none of 1t
reaches the 'reesu-v Of .hc city in