The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-09
SCHOOLS FOR THE INDIANS
The Closing Of Relations With the
Contract Institutions.

Only That at Hampton. Va. Will
Continue to Receive Government
Support-A Uniform System for
Educating Children of Redskins.
The Government Is now entering upon
its last three months of relations with
the ordinary contract schools for Indian
children The appropriation act which be
comes operative on July l contains no
provision for contracts with any school
except Hampton Institute. which has been
retained because of its exceptional char
acter- II is absolutely linden minationaI.
. II is a missionary institution in the high
sense that it trains young Indians TO go
out among their people and educate them
actively IN the ways of civilization, and
its record of practical results eXcels that
Of any other school II has the best dis
cipline and the broadcast and most whole
some spirit of any; it wastes no time or
I energy il blowing IT'S own trumpet but
gives its whole attention to the work it
has in hand: it is untheatricGl. ana it is
thorough Nobody who knows how TO dit
ferentiate the work of the various schools
begrudges Hampton its splendid success
and the continued confidence Of the Gov
eminent
The programme of changing Indian edu-
cation from the contract. or mixed, school
establishment to the uniform system of
Government ownership and control began
with 1885. when Congress plainly announc-
ed its purpose 70 eliminate the old order
by degrees at the rate Of - FER cent each
year, in the meantime providing whatever
additional facilities might be needed TO
care for the children taken out of the Gus
tody of the religious schools and others
under private arrangements. Scane of the
( churches interested in the contracts in
sisted that the effect of such a policy
would be 10 leave a multitude of children
finally without edUcation opportunities.
Once or twice Congress faItered in carry
ing out its plan. owing to the political
fears Of certain members lest offence be
given TO denominations Of great strength
and influence in their constituencies: lsIt,
in the main, it chung 10 the rule it had
laid down
Between the fiscal years 1876 and 1900
the Government spent s., 9G3. 79S on con-
tract schools. OF which the largest share.
S5,959,6i5 went 10 the Roman Catholics
and the smallest. 81 so. to an experiment
of single year with a privately control
led school at Middleton. Cal The denom-
ination which stood next to the Roman
Catholic IN the amount Of its benefceuces
from the Government was the Presbyter-
ian, which received So. 40. and was cut
off wholly after 1891. The CONGREGATIONAL
Church was cut off at the same time, hay
ing drawn S219,6 The Friends came
next, with s17o.5T7. and stopped after 1895
The Protestant Episcopal Church stopped
the next year, having taken S123 2l6- No
other denomination reached the 800 900
mark The Lutherans received $500. the
Tnitarians 81 $50. and the Methodists So
De-
jealousy Insisted upon the entire separa-
ton Of Church and State. conducted their
schools with their own money. and refus-
ed any Government aid. Tie Roman
Catholic was the last denomination to
claim, as such, its share Of the contract
fund The Government has offered to buy
outright such Of its schools as II was will
ing to sell at a fair valuation but il does
not feel justified in letting those it now
has pass out Of its hands except upon the
understanding that, though under Gov
eminent auspices they SHALL continue
their religious teaching As this was i'm
practicable. the Indian Office recently
sent a formal letter to the Catholic Edli-
CatlCnaI Bureau asking il to designate the
children hitherto under the care Of the
tnurch who would be left without school
privileges by the final severance Of rela-
tlOnS between the Church and the Govern
ment, and received the answer that it
forth take care of its own.
Meanwhile, the Government has been in
creaS!nS its educational plant steadily. so
as to absorb not only the children grad
ually left out by the extinction Of one con
tract after another but also the natural
increase Ia the aScertained Indian school
population Going back 10 1893 as 4 con-
Yenlent point Of departure for the COM
pariSon, II appears that the enrolment in
the contract schools Gwindled year By year
from a total Of G.l25 in that year 20 2SgS
IN 1909, whereas in the SAM period the
enrolment at the Government schools has
increased from Il. Is TO y 124 and the aver
age attendance IS now growing in numbers
at the rate Of about !. 600 q year.
u IS probable that the next step to be
taken by the Government will be the es-
Enlistment Of some system Of compulsory
education. Whenever the social and other
conditions make II practicable to carry on
cc-educatton of the races in local public
schools IN The West, the Governments ar
ranges to place its young Indian wards in
" bite schools iaSEd makes q contribution
t. the disIri-t school fund az the rate Of
go a head for--t4e Indian contingent in
lieu Of the school tax levied in the case OF
white children There are ccmpara lively
few cases. however. where the experiment
has proved successful enough 10 encourage
a hope Of its continuance. In one white
school in Michigan forty-Ore Indian Bf-
pills are enrolled IL three IN Nebraska
and in one IN Wisconsin there are twenty
or more; two in Nebraska and one in
Washington have more than ten. but the
rest run TO low figures The twenty-five
white district schools in which Indians are
taken are spTinkled through eight States
anu ole Territory. and the average OF
actual attendance is only rs IL all The
experiment has been only ten YEAR, in
progress. II made its greatest upward
stride during Dr. Hallnnann's service as
Superintendent of InGian Schools. bat the
decline has been steady since 1897. The
statistics here given do not, OF course in
Guide either the Safe of New York which
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