Evening star., 1902-03-05
THE INDIAN SCHOOLS
FORMER INSPECTOR MCCONNELL
REPLIES TO MIR. FLINN.
He Thinks the Proposed Investigation
by Congress Should Be
Made.

The interview with Superintendent John
Finn of the Indian, school at Chamberlain,
S. D., denying the charges contained in
resolution recently introduced in the Sem
ate that Indian schools are conducted In
a loose and improper manner, and defend
ing the governments methods of dealing
with Indian children In general and teach
ers OF Indian pupils in particular. mas at
tracted considerable attention. Former
United States Senator w. j. Mcconnell OF
Idaho who was also an Indian inspector,
is among those who take exceptions to Mr
Flnn'S statements
"Mr. Finn. like all other school super
intendents in the Indian service. is an un-
derling of the Indian Office. and upon his
loyalty to the commissioner OF IN
dian affairs depends his tenure as well as
the salary he receives Mr.. McConnell
said today. IF servile he may reasonably
expect promotion; if Independent and man
" ne may expect demotion or dismissal: :
Why Is Mr.. Finn absent from his post
OF duty? He is the superintendent or a
school now in session or supposed to be:
Was he brought here to be interviewed
and advise the President? Is 1t expected
that the investigation proposed In Doth
branches of Congress can be checked in
its incipiency by such publications?
The Proposed Investigation.
"Is there any valid reason why the in
vestigation proposed in Senate resolution
125 should not be made? If the schools
in the Indian service are what Is claimed
for them by Mr.. Finn will not the reputa-
tionS of the Superintendents thereof be
benefited instead of being damaged? The
little school over which Mr. Finn presideS
as superintendent has a capacity OF only
seventy-fve, and in the statistics issued
by the Indian bureau in 1879 was reported
to have an enrolment of sixty-three, with
an average attendance Of sixty-two. This
does not show crowded condition, and 1t
is to be presumed that his school is a good
But Mr.. Finn would hardly say that DR..
Kermott, the agency physician at Devi's
Lake agency, a Christian gentleman, who
is leader in church work at the agency
and Fort TOtten school, stated that which
was not true when he officially reported in
February. 1900 that approximately 10 per
cent Of the pupils at Fort Totten Indian
school were affected with contagious dis
eases.
Il addre ssed letter to him officially on
May 1. 1901 asking him whether the situa-
ton had been remedied, and his reply was
that conditions were about the same, add
ing that 1t is like a guided tomb. The
doctor in charge at the Indian school, Puy
allup Washington, in an official report,
April 16 1901, which | transmitted to the
Secretary Of the Interior. in part said:
There now two male and four fe
male pupils sick al this school with lynn
phatic tuberculosis. These pupils, we'll
as pupils sick with pulmonary tuberculosis,
l consider a serious menace to the health
and lives Of the other pupils and employees.
'Dr. Buchanon. in am official report made
to me and now on file in the Secretary S
office. in part says
Let 1t there fore be, distinctly understood
that we must not mot that we should nOt
allow a case Of pulmonary or lymphattc
tuberculosis or other communicable mani
festation Of tuberculosis to enter a gov
ernment school. We exercise such precau-
tions with regard to such infectious dis
eases AS smallpox, scarlet fever. diphtheria.
etc, why not this other more common,
more dangerous and more deadly disease!
Is such a discrimination consistent? Is 1t
honorable? Is it right? Clearly. then we
cannot take such case into our schools.
'At most of the. reservation Indian
schools we compel the attendance of pupils
whether their parents are willing or not
Then, Is it not terrible reflection upon
our civilization, upon our Christianity
when it cannot be successfully contradict
ed is that we take those innocent chill
dren from their parents and subject them
to such terrible risk Of losing their lives?'
Not the Fault Of Congress.
That the foregoing conditions exist cam
not be successfully denied but the fault is
not with Congress In not providing ade-
quate means to keep the diseased pupils en-
tirely separate from the healthy ones, as
is stated by Mr.. Finn. Neither Congress
nor the country has heretofore had this
matter called to it's attention.
''In regard to transferring Indian pupils
long distances to nOn-reServatiOn schools
Mr.. Finn begs the question. Commissioner
Jones. who should be accepted as authority
on this subject, stated in his last annual
report that pupils were secured partly by
bribery, partly by cajolery ana partly by
force and transported sometimes thousands
of miles to non-reServation schools and
admitted that their lives were failures after
returning to their homes. Yet he, too, ad-
vises a compulsory education law that this
system may be promoted.
'Mr. Finn. in speaking of compelling the
attendance Of Indian pupils, endeavors to
be facetious and says: The white inhabit-
ants of many of our states have compul-
sorry school laws. Poor things: how far be-
hind the times they are!' This is glaring
subterfuge. There Is no such law On the
statute Looks or any state as the one asked
for by the Indian bureau. Many states
compel the attendance of pupils at day
schools, but not at boarding schools, some
times thousands of miles away where dis
with the healthy ones; often made to sleep
in the same beds. while their linen and bed
clothes are washed in the same laundry
Let the investigation go on. Let the
country know whether Mr. Roberts. the
Episcopal missionary at Shoshone reserya-
tion is myth; whether what he says Is
true.
Yet it seems there is at least one su-
perintendent who condones these Offenses
on the ground that sometimes white girls go
wrong ana white persons also die of con-
sumption. l repeat let us have an inyesti-
CATION not only Of the schools and apen
cies but Oh the methods of the Indian