The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1900-11-13
THE indian SERVICE.
Total Expenditures From 1880 Up
to 1900, 1903, 35S,2I7.
Fhe Population of the. Redskins in
the United states Is About 267,-
300. of Whom 1920 Receive
Daily RatiOns.

Washington, Nov. 12.-The total ex-
penditure by the government ON ac-
count of the Indian service from
March 4, 1889, up to and including
July 30, 1900, has been $36S,35S,217, &C
eording to the annual report of Conn
missioner of Indian Affairs William
A. Jones. The expenditures for the
to S1O.175,1 JOY. Of this amount at least
fiscal year ended last July amounted
S3, $50 900 was devoted to the cause of
Indian education. The report reviews
the change in the system of transpor-
tation of supplies, by which the sup
plies are shipped in the open market
by common carrier at tariff or better
rates, and estimates that this saves
20 per cent. in cost.
Under THE head of obstacles to self
support of the Indians the report dep
recates the ration system, annuity
payments and the leasing of allot-
ments. The ration system, says the
report, is the corOllary of the reser-
gation system. The Indian population
of the United States is about 267 300,
Of which 1920 receive daily ration.
The ration issued and its value vary
according to the tribe. Nearly two
6fths of the number receiving rations
belong to the great Sioux nation.
The ration has been gradually reduced
in the past few years, in accordance
with the policy of the Indian bureau.
If the Indians claim for full ratiOns
as a right is conceded, the commits
sioner predicts that the time when
they will be self-supporting lies in the
very distant future, if it comes at all.
A number of the Indians also are as
sisted by occasional issues, and at sew
aral agencies the old and INDECENT are
provided for. These aggregate about
1850. Altogether there are $3.50
Indians receiving subsistence in some
degree, exclusive of Indian children
in boarding schools.
Annuities distributed last year ag-
gregated $l,5O7, 543, the per capita
ranging from 1855 down to so cents.
The report says that large money pay
ments to the Indians "are demOraliz-
Ing in the extreme. They degrade the
Indians and corrupt the whites; they
induce pauperism and scandal and
crime; they nullify all the good eff
fects of years of labor Unscrupu-
lous people induce the Indian to 90
into debt, and then, when the debt
has accumulated and the Indians
credit is gone, pressure is brought
TO bear by the creditors upon the
gOye IIIuenU 10 pay c1Ic Indian, 50 that
he can pay his honest (?) debts. The
state of affairs growing out of this
around some of the agencies is scan
dal and a disgrace"
There were $50 Indian schools of all
kinds conducted by the government
and an increase of 1 Alp pupils in en-
rollment and LAP in average atten-
dance shown over the previous year.
About 5000 of the $4,000 eligible
school children are provided for.
Compulsory education of the In
dian children is strongly indorsed
and congress is urged to authorize
the commissioner to place every one
of school age in some school, the Sc
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~ to educated Indians parents.
The report controverts the common
ly accepted theory that by constant
contact with the whites the extinc-
ton of the Indian is only a matter
of time. 1t says it can be stated
with great degree of confidence
that the Indian population of the
United States has been very little
diminished from the days of Colum-
bus, Coronado, Raleigh, Capt. John
Smith and other early explorers.
The first reliable Indian census was
in 1870 and certainly since then the
Indian population has been nearly
stationary, whatever decrease there
is being attributable to Indians be-
coming citizens.
Reviewing Indian Territory affairs,
the report says there are $4,000 chill
dren of white parents there wLo
should have schools, and that thou.
sands of these children thus deprived
of education are growing up in vice
and ignorance, already feeding the
United States jails at Muscogee and
other points with youthful criminals.
! The cost of education will not be ex
cessive compared with results. School
benefits also should be extended to
the 4,250 Choctaw freedmen. Govern
ment control of the schools in the
Ohickasaw nation is advocated.
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Girl Students Poisoned.
Ct pRfaTc b11ror