Bisbee daily review., 1902-03-05
MARK SMITH GtTS Tnf FLOOR.

one day last week the House of Rep ressntatives had under discussion the appropriation for the maintenance of the Carlyle Indian school, of Pennsyl- vania. The Honorable Representative of Arizona voiced the sentiments of his constituents and all other fair thinking people, when he denounced the present system of college education for the In dian ooys and girls as a farce and an extravagant waste of money. Our prac- tical training school on the Reservation, where the Indian has been raised; where he will be compelled to return to earn livelihood, is worth more than all the Indian colleges in Pennsylvania.
 Mir. Smith had just been defeated in his efforts to secure an appropriation of $50, ,00O for the commencement of construction work at San Carlos Reser- voir. Mr.Smith pointed out that by building this reservoir thousands of acres of land, now belonging to the Indians, could be irrigated and pro- duce beautiful crops, which now lies desolate; thus affording the Indians permanent employment, and a respec- table livelihood, which would prove a potent factor in the general scheme in the civilization of Poor Lo.
 After the House had refused this sp- propriation Mir. Smith few minutes later attacked the system of wasting a fortune each year in the education of the Indians away from their environ ments.
 Mir. smith have always been op- posed to this policy of educating an Indian at distance from his native place, removing him from his regular environment, and bringing him up within an atmosphere that can never possibly aid him in his future struggle for bread.
 1 think the experience of all men with the actual Indian returned to his former surroundings will bear me out in the assertion that this foreign edu- cation has done the Indian boy or girl no earthly good, nor has their return aided or honored their tribe or bene- fitted the community.
 Isolate them in their youth, educate and clothe them. return them to the reservation, and their subs.quen: his tory is known to all men who know poor human nature, whether they ever saw an Indian in their life or not Wtat is the result? He learns clean. illness and returns to hls Indian home with its dirt. it's squalor, and its yer min. What is left to him or her2- The suggestion is enough, The boy has learned to read and write, to cipher and sing a song and smoke cigarettes; ss suggested to me by my friend here; and we are spending these hundreds and thousands of dollars, and l hear no protest from my friend from llli- nois.
 Mir. Cannon-Wtll my friend allow me to interrupt him?
 Mir. Smith, of Arizona-Certainly.
 Mr. Cannon-Commencing in 1SS6 by report 1 made, in connection with other members of 8 special committee, after full examination, no congress has passed-and have been in from that time to this-but what have pro- tested, and I now protest, that I think that it is the highest character of cru city to take people
 M-. Smith, of Arizona-I am glad to hear the gentleman say SO.
 Mir. Cannon, cOntinuing-And give them a finished education that do not know how to work, and send them back to the tribes, where it is a mat ter of pride that the young men there put on the blankets, and in.many in stances, the young woman shall b< prostituted.
 Mir. Smith, of Ar1zona-I am glad to see that the gentleman feels in this ex actly as do. wish in all that time with his great, and justly great, infiu ence in this house, he had long age ersuaded it to quit this sort of busi ness.
 Now, gentlemen, this sort of educa tion does DO earthly good. These chil dren are taken away from their native place, without consent of their friends and against the natural and often ex pressed opposition of the parents. The, may obtain some sort of consent, bu never the free, voluntary will of an, one of them. They are brought here by force: they are educated by force they are made a show of by force, aDt humane anu :6isguided people talk, great delight in showidg him with hi cut -off hair and new clothes as evidenc' conclusive of his ultimate bsttermen in life.
 Look st them. MT. Chairman, wheI they go back from these schools Tn, gentleman from Illinois, MT. Cannon has stated with great power and fore what their condition Is sure to be. protest here in the name of the tndial himself, in the name of the boy and tn girl, for the Lord s sake and humani ty's sake, educate them in the environ uha<c sha,, hax lixra