Arizona republican., 1903-05-11
What the Government Schools Are
 Doing for the Indian.

MT. William Macleod Raine has an article in the May World Today" on The Government Indian School as Q Promoter of Civilization" in which the Phoenix school is discussed as model institution. MT. Raine is firmly of the belief that the Indian school is the greatest promoter of civilization for the Indian race. He points out that the history of most Indian uprisings is story of injustice borne with more or less patient stoicism till-the Indians protests and grumblings disregarded- he found endurance no longer tolerable It must be conceded that, with the best intentions in the world, the govern ment. through its oftirnes untrust- worthy agents. has not been emi- nently successful in handling this diff cult question.
 For this reason" he adds. eff for no other-because one is gratified to see his country pay an honest debt in hand some and generous fashion-the gov ernment Indian schools should be of more than DdSSiuS 4ALlClG5A- AASNe SAA~ United States owes the teaching of civilization to these children of dis possessed race, there can be no ques- tion; and that it is giving in unstinted measure the best that can be given is due to the subtle instinct for doing oc- casional generous things, which is so striking a characteristic of the Amer ican people.
 "But the government Indian school iustifies itself on other than sentiment tai grounds. From Q strictly utilitarian standpoint it is successful, and is destined ultimately to help wipe from the slate our Indian problem, which so long seemed unsolva ble. This state ment is not an unsupported personal opinion The writer has talked with citizens of Santa Fe, of Phoenix, and O 7 Albuquerque. near each of which towns a large government school is situated, and they adduce facts, relating to the schools, as a transmuter from savaGery to civilization, that are not to be con- troverted. At the hotel where I stayed in Phoenix. one of the porters was T young Indian from the school. The young man had 9 fine. rather reserved face and a good physique. He was deft industrious and competent. His voice was gentle and pleasant. Appar- ently he knew his place, for he was polite without being servile. One could not help feeling that he was not de- stined to be always a porter. An iso- lated instance of a graduate equipped to do a mans work in a white mans world or among his own people on the reservation may be regarded as an eX- ception, but the reduplication of this in a hundred instances changes the proposition very materially. The In dian girl who has been taught sys- tematically makes an unusually gooi house servant, a delft housewife a fair teacher; the Indian lad learns to han dle tools with great aptitude, and be- comes 9 skillful blacksmith or farmer. as the case may be. One used to read occasional articles about graduates Of the Indian schools going back to the reservation, sloughing their civilization along with their uniforms donning the blanket and the moccasin, and leading their tribes in deviltry and opposition to progress. Such stories are no longec current to any extent. The Indian schools evolve law-abiding citizens. In punt DA IGtl Nilt lliIietilS are lOl dS gressive enough for their own good. While in school their cardinal virtue is obedience. and their progress is mo- table SO long as teachers are behind them to stimulate and encourage, but after they have left school, thrown often into an environment the most hopeless imaginable, they quite often lack the initiative and energy that would characterize a white lad tossed into the world to sink or swim un. aided"
 Mir. Raine very sensibly calls atten- tion to the fact that the education Of the Indian should be in the line of technical training rather than ad vanced book learning" and in this respect he finds the Phoenix school deserving of high commendation.
 "The educational policy of the gov ehnment toward the Indian is tending more and more toward industrial, rather than literary. training. For in- stance. each pupil at the Phoenix school gives one-half his school time to school work proper and the other half 10 manual training of some sort. What the Indian needs to learn is how to make a living, and the government is giving him scientific instruction in that direction. The establishment of dis trict schools, from which the pupils can return at the end of the day to their families and leaven them with their requirements. will be the next step; but these must be supplementary to the large schools now in existence, rather than substitutes or them.
 The Indian school at Phoenix. Ariz. though it's grounds charm with the lux uriant southern beauty of palm and