The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-08
THE INDIAN AND THE PAPER
Commissioner Harris Says the Press Should Be Factor
in Indian Education.

It is a pleasure to come before you to tes-
tify in a public fashion to my profound per-
sonal interest and that of the university STU
dents and teachers in the interesting and
significant work covered by the efforts Of this
department. Your work has for in
terest both pathetic and inspiring. Pathetic,
because Of the many things We should have
done and the many things should have
done differently. Inspiring, because you are
applying the most modern scientific princi-
pies and wise practice of modern education
to the uplifting of the descendants of the
aborigines.
Let me emphasize fact which appears in
your work and ours; the professional mind
Is prone to exaggerate his own work and the
portion of the field in which he is called to
labor He is apt to treat the school as an
end in itself and make it bear the entire
burden of the educational process. The func-
ton of the school is restricted and definite
The school works In alliance with the church,
civil life and the family. The child to be
educated, whether Indian, Teuton or Anglo
Saxon, should not be taken out of his nat
ural and inevitable relationships and made
new unit in new, mass. In educational
work Of the highest sense these forces are
cooperative with the school as 1T Is with
them. We are, apt, to- err in overlooking
the school with nouIscholasticn duties and
thinking that if the school does not do a
thing it will never be done. It is Of the
highest Importance not to kill Off the In
fuence Of other educational influences. IT
we strike at the family there is not a school
in Christendom good enough to be. defended.
We must increase the efficiency of the
school not by interfering with the activities
of other forces, but by promoting the COM
mon good of all. -:
Alfred Bayliss, state superintendent OF
instruction of Illinois, followed President
Butler with an earnest paper on the de-
sdrability of teaching Indian youth the
finer and uplifting things of our civiliza-
tion. He said the Indians were child
like race and teaching them was matter
of adjustment. The problem is more one
of training than tuition. He read por-
tions of an address by an Indian graduate,
advocating the necessity of teaching the
Indian pupils adornment of the person and
the home and most heartily indorsed the
wish that such teaching might be given
as one OF the factors most powerful in ad-
justing the Indian to the new life to be
met beyond the schoolroomL
In the absence of Archbishop Ireland,
the practical papers by active workers in
the Indian field were then taken up.
On the Practical Side.
H. T. Macarthur, superintendent of the
Sisseton school, South Dakota, spoke
briefly of the necessity of making the IN
dian boy understand the value of the dol
lar. The girls, he said, would learn 1t
easily by themselves. But the boy needed
to be shown what could be purchased with
money and to feel the want entailed by
careless use or loss of property.
J. C. Burt, superintendent of the Oneida
school, Wisconsin, spoke Of the need OF
societies among the Indian graduates
which should keep them in touch with the
helpful and Inspiring influences of the
school. He advocated the appointing OF
field matrons who could visit the work.
ers and advise with them. The societies
would further furnish social diversion
and incentive to excel in the pastoral
pursuits undertaken by the graduates.
G.. W. Grouse, Indian agent OF Fort
Apache, Arizona, emphasized the need OF
teaching the Indian to purchase supplies
iudiciously and be more saving in d1spo-
sition. He advocated personal example as
the strongest method of impressing either
knowledge or principles. THE Indian is
betetr trained by the eye than by the
ear"
At the conclusion Of Mr.. Crouse's paper
the general session was adjourned and the
round table meetings for the instructors
were taken up. In the superlntendents
conference E. A. Allen assistant super1n-
tendent of Carlisle, led the informal dis
cussion of the best ways of conducting
the work of Indian schools and assist
ing teachers to get the best results.
Mrs S. M McCowen of Chillocco school
met the matrons for brief and helpful
discussion of the problem of what and how
to teach the girls and guide the teachers.
The teachers table was presided over
by Miss Ida NJ. Busby, Crow Creek, 5. u.
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