Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-22
SCHOLAR LIST OF INDIAN TER.
 IS LARGE
of Public h. Struction Issue Report Showing Over 66,000 Pu- pils Attending Schools.

. MUSKoGEE. I. T., Sept. 21.-The annual report of John D. Benedict, superintendent of schools for the h. dian Territory for the year ending June 30. 1907. shows that there were 00,zf pupils enrolled m Ine Govern ment and tribal schools, and that the schools cost $539.9 1928, or an average of $S.60 for each child. These fugures do not include the private schools in the Territory, nor the public schools maintained independently of the Gov ernment or the Indian tribes.
 Of the total enrolment in the Gov ernment schools there were 15.5S5 h. dian children, and 5O,693 non-citizens, principally white children. There were 995 day schools maintained dur. ing the year and thirty1eight board ing schools in the Five Nations.
 The Creek Nation had a total en- rollment of 13,199, and spent $11G.7T7 for its schools. There were twenty one schools maintained, Indians and whites and 5S for negroes.
 The Seminole Nation had 1 40 chill dren in school and the expense was S22,534. There were twenty-one schools maintained, eighteen for h. dians and whites and three for ne groes.
 The Choctaw Nation had 17,7G7
 pills enrolled, and spent $153, ,293 to keep them going. Of these schools there were 235 schools for whites an Indians and twenty-three for negrc'ee the remainder being boarding schools. There were nine boarding schools with sos pupils, and these cost SsS,- 135, or more than half of the entire amount expended in the 17.167 pupils nation.
 The Chickasaw Nation had 14,41l pupils maintained at a cost of $I03,- 105. There were 229 day schools, thirteen boarding schools. There were 321 schools maintained. three boarding schools for Indians, one for negroes, 294 day schools for Indians and whites and twenty-three for ne- groes. The boarding schools have an enrolment of Al pupils, and it re- quired $49,77 to run them, or more than one-thiTd of the total appropria- tion for the 19,466 school children. These boarding schools are the big seminaries at Tahlequah, however and the principal expense comes in the boarding of the pupils. All of the boarding schools in the Territory are run on the contract plan. They are in reality the national colleges of the different tribes, but have under the Government regime been opened to white pupils also.
 Out of the total enrolment of these schools the report shows that g per cent are Indian children. By far the larger per cent of pupils are whites If to these figures were added the public schools of the 400 towns in the Territory. the per cent of Indian chil- dren would probably be reduced to 12 per cent.
 Last year the Government appro- priated s195,5SO for the schools, and the various tribes added to that amount s374376. This year the Gov ernment appropriation will be $30O,- 900. and the total amount that the tribes will be drawn upon for will be s497,S47 To this will be added the excess court fees in the Territory which will probably swell the total to nearly a million dollars and permit the establishment of more than 1,200 day schools.
 The attendance in the rural schools all over the Territry is cut down near ly 50 per cent in the fall, when the cotton-picking season comes on. as i, shown in this and previous reports. Tha children are taken out of the schools and put in the cotton fields, picking cotton during the months of October and November.
 This is done to such an extent that the school officials are seriously con sidering running the schools two months later in the spring, or else ,beginning them a month earlier in the summer. and then dismissing them for two months during the cot l ton-picking season. The latter plan would be adopted, but for the exees- sive heat during August. The schools are run for nine months in the year, and this term may be shortened a couple Of months. In the southern part Of the Territory, especially, cot ton growing is the chief industry, there is always shortage of hands during the picking season. and every child who Is able to reach the bOlls Is put into the field to pick cotton. ls -O---