The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-05-14
THE INDIAN PROBLEM
Progress Is Being Made Along Edu-
cational Lines.
so SAYS BISHOP WIN. H. HARE
He Has Worked for 20 Years Among
the Indians of South
Dakota.

Bishop William H. Haire, the Protestant
Episcopal missionary bishop of South Da-
kota, who resides at Sioux Falls. is at the
West. For twenty-nine years he has Ia
bored among the Indians of his state with
marked success. OF the mission work in
his state he says
The results OF education among the Indians
are most encouraging. 1 believe that So per
cent of the Indian children of school age on
the reservations OF South Dakota are attend
ing school. The government is doing good
work among its wards. The missionary and
government boarding schools are educating
5000 mixed and full-blood Indians
Progress in this work has been rapid. The
industrial element particularly has been a
success. This was seriously opposed at first
by the older heads of the tribes, who wanted
their sons trained as warriors. But this op-
position was gradually overcome and the
Indian child of to-day is showing a gratifying
ambition in his school work. Everything now
depends upon the character and ability Of the
teachers. They must understand the Indian
character perfectly in order to handle the
young Indian inteIilgently. For that reason
believe that the South Dakota Sioux are
making more progress than Indians in other
parts Of the country. Many Of the teachers in
the schools are old in the service. They lead
the Indian pupil insted Of driving him. Dog
gedness is ap rominent trait in Indian char
acter. 1t is very unwise to take distinct
issue with an Indian child The old teachers
have learned this, and this knowledge and
experience enables them to make more rapid
progress.
Care and Time Necessary.
Care and time will solve the Indian prob
lem and make outbreaks improbable Twen-
ty-five years will see the end of 'the blanket
Indian" The type is fast disappearing, and
we hope to progress rapidly in the civiliza-
tion OF the young Indian. The percentage Of
full-bloods on the South Dakota reservations
is growing smaller. Time is rapidly deprig-
ing them of their influence. The old chiefs
are no more the influential personages they
once were. The agent and his uniformed po-
lice have given the Indian a different idea Of
authority. The chief is shown some honors.
but when it comes to authority the agent is
recognized as the man In control. Most of
the old chiefs who were prominent in the bat
ties and troubles of the past thirty years are
dead. Those still alive are the most disgrun-
tied factors in the tribes Their faces are to-
ward the rear. Their descendants are looking
to the future with less Of contempt for the
white man and his customs.
Contempt of the white is born in the
Indian. One work Of education is to eradicate
almost always in a feeling of hopelessness on
the part of the Indian, a realization that he
is unable to compete with the white man,
and his nature prompts him to shrink from
the society Of the white for tina reason. As
education proceeds, there will be fringes of
the Indian population which will mix with
the whites. In time this fringe will gradually
increase until the entire body of the Indian
race has been engeloped and absorbed by the
white sea which surrounds 1t.
A Statement Answered.
The number of educated Indians that go
back to the blanket and the ways of the tribe
has undoubtedly been greatly exaggerated.
The young Indian coming from school to the
reservation with the ways and habits Of civil
lied man is in the same position that white
person with advanced ideas and new style Of
wearing apparel would be on going into cer-
tain old-fashioned communities. The mem-
bers of the tribe rtdcule him. He may be
one among many, and it is not to be won
dered at I'm, unable to stand the ridicule, he
lays aside his white mans clothes. A New
Yorker would do the same thing with his
silk hat In one OF the mining towns of the,
far west. The girl returning from school
where she has had clean room of her own,
when thrown with her parents In a shack
where all live In the same room, is not to be
blamed II che forgets few of the newer les
sons. She is naturally governed somewhat
by her environment. But she does not go
back to the condition or the ways of her par
ents entirely. There is some progress.
As general rule the Indian is not suc-
cess among the whites. He Is distinctly In
ferior and he realizes It. Among his own
people his education in time is bound to have
an influence in his favor and encourage him.
The only solution is to get our institutions
well established among the Indians, that
when the young Indian completes his school
work and returns to his people he will find
associates who are congenial and whose infu-
ence will be along right lines.
West OF the Missouri
Bishop Haire believes that the time is
not distant when the vast country west
OF the Missouri river in South Dakota Will
be thrown open for settlement The right
of way for cattle trail six miles broad
from the Hills country to Evarts, on the
Milwaukee road, has been secured.
1900