The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-06
portant factor in the development of til,


Western States.
The opposition of the parents to their
education is constantly diminishing, and
there has been marked increase IN
school attendance during the past fcw
years 1t has risen from less than 20,0Cf
in 1898 to upward of $500 in 1904. Thd
government maintains % boarding schools
and 139 day schools on the reservations.
In addition to these there are 25 ai4
vanced schools. of which Carlisle Univer<
sfty and the Haskell and Hampton In1
stitutes are the best known.
The present Commissioner of Indian Az.
fairs is strongly in favor of practical educ
cation and industrial training for thu
young redskins. and his ideas shape thu
policy of the principals. Let mo cite onl
instance that recently came to my notice
in evidence of the substantial results thai
are being produced: A bridge to span a
river was needed by Snohomish county,
Wash. The officials estimated the cost al
5000. The government employed in thu
construction the schoolboys of the Tulalip
Reservation. They completed the work
quite satisfactorily and at a cost Of
$3.50. their labor being almost gratuitous
The affairs of the Indians were never
in such favorable hands as now Frank
+. Leupp, the present commissioner, I'M
derstands and sympathizes with his
charges He has had the advantage oil
twenty years of close intercourse with the
Indian in his natural environment. which
Is the forest and the plain OF our sparse
" settled States. where, In the old home
and playground of the redskin. must %
found the field of his future usefulness.
What of the future of the North Amer
lean Indians? As a race they have none.
They are fated, not to extinction. but to
absorption. The process began long aga
with the hardy frontiersman who married
the daughter of red man and begat n
family of half-breeds. 1t has progressed
in this direction ever since, with con<
stantly increasing frequency. These half.
breeds find in the white strain the practi<
cal qualities lacking in the aboriginal
character. They display ability to TAXI
care of themselves and to make their way
in tho world in competition with white
men.
Many of them are capable of occupying
prominent positions In business and thd
professions. The future activity OF th1
coming generation of educated full-blood4
ed Indians is less calculable quantity.
Ownership of land will draw the majority
to agricultural pursuits, and there is reaS
son to believe that as farmers they wilt
make creditable figure In the main. Thu
Indian is natural diplomatist and logic
clan.
He may be expected to furnish larg4
proportion OF the lawyers and politicinns
of the future West, but without an ins
fusion of white blood he will never shina
in the field of commerce. He utterly lacks
the executice faculty. Should he find
mine upon his land he would never worH
it, but try to purchase 1t from him and
lie will drive you the hardest bargain
imaginable.
70 ~ a 1yntt %
Indians not a few in whom the hereditary
traits ara too strong to be eradicatea OF
even suppressed. This element must ins \
evitably die out in few generations IN
compliance with the inexorable law OF tbs
extinction OF the least fit.
There are graduates of the school WHO
go back to the paint and feathers and
beads and baskets of their fathers, ard
find In the unkempt hair tho dirty blan.
ket and the smoky wigwam relief frord
the irksome restraints OF civilization. Thu
love OF the wild dies hard in the virils
Indian. I have heard OF physician In
good practice who found the call OF Moths
err Nature so strong Mt times that he
would steal away from his city home and
abide with his people for a while.
On the newly opened reservations thu
Indians have built houses upon thei1
farms. but in many instances this ia
merely a concession to self-respect and "a
token of equality with the white neigh-
Dor. Often beside tho house is tent
and in that the redskin lives.