The National tribune., 1908-01-23
MI A y NA.SiOiiiNO NliOL.
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lNS Al blllNlN)l INV IN. - L..
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1ndian-the aboriginal American, may
1t please you. They had decided that
for the Indian, education" spelled
s'obliteration," "annihilation' of all
that was primitive, distinctive; in other
words, to absolutely destroy all the
original Indian in him and make Of
him racial eunuch.
Educating the Children.
Commissioner Leupp says:
I'm dealing with these boys and
girls it is of the utmost Importance not
only that we start them Alright, but
that our efforts be directed to educat-
ing rather than merely instructing
them. The foundation of everything
must be the development of character
Learning is a secondary consideration
When we get to that. our duty is to
adapt it to the Indians immediate and
practical needs. OF the 10000 or 4O,-
600 Indian children of school age in
the United States. probably at least
three-fourths will settle down in that
part of the West which we still style
the frontier. Most of these Will try
to draw a living out of the soil;
1eSS-tho, let us hope, an ever increas-
ing-part will enter the general labor
market as lumbermen, ditchers, miners,
railroad hands, or what not. Now, II
anyone can show me what advantage
will come to this large body of manual
workers from being able to reel off
the names of the mountains in Asia,
or extract the cube root of 1234567SS, 1
shall be deeply grateful
ITO my notion, the ordinary Indian
boy is better equipped for his life
struggle on a frontier ranch when he
can read the simple English of the To-
cal newspaper. can write a short letter
which is Ineligible tho maybe i'll
spelled, and knows enough of figures
to discover whether the storekeeper is
cheating him. Beyond these scholastic
requirements his time could be put to
its best use by learning how to repair
a broken harness. how to Straighten
sprung tire on his wagon wheel, how
to fasten a loose horseshoe without
breaking the hoof, and how to do the
hundred other bits of handy tinkering
which are SO necessary to the farmer
who lives 80 miles from a town. The
girl who has learned only the rudi-
ments of reading, writing and cipher
ing, but knows also how to make and
mend her clothing, to wash and IRON
and TO cook her husbands dinner will
be worth vastly more as mistress of a
log cabin than one who has given years
OF study 10 tne ornamental pfdHcHeS
alone.
Moreover. as fast as an Indian of
either mixed or full blood is capable of
taking care of himself, it is our duty
to set him upon his feet and sever for
ever the ties which bind him either
to his tribe, in the communal sense,
or to the Government. This principle
must become operative in respect to
both land and money. We must end
a., oh ,r1S Of tTO
one class of our people in the condi-
ton of SO many undivided portions of
common lump. Each Indian must be
recognized as an individual and so
treated"
Make the Indian nm Active Factor.
Commissioner Leupp further says
that we should strive to make the In
dian an active factor in the upbuilding
of the community in which he lives.
He declares that the theory, too COM
monly cherished on the frontier, that
he is sort of necessary nuisance, sur
tiving from a remote period like the
9age brush and the giant cactus, must
be dispelled, and the way to dispel 1t
b to turn him into a positive benefit
To this end he would have the In
dian transact all his business of fin
ancial character in his nearest market
town, instead of looking to the United
States Treasury for everything and as
the only source of material blessings.
He would have him taught to bank
his extra money, however small the
sum. He says that an Indian can pene-
trate a humbug, even benevolent
humbug, as promptly as the next man;
and when he sees the Government in
venting purely fictitious needs to be
supplied and making excuses of one kind
and another TO create means of en-
fAv- Ii, l,a NaCW ha
whole thing as a fraud. like the white
man whom some philanthropist hires
TO carry pile of bricks from one side
of the road TO the other and back
again.
Commissioner Leupp declares that
the leading strings which have tied
The Indian to the Treasury ever since
he began to own anything of value have
been curse TO him. They have kept
him an economic nursing long past
the time when he ought to have been
able to take a few steps alone. Then
the tendency of whatever crude train
ing in money matters he has had for
the last half century has been toward
making him an easy victim TO such
waves of civic heresy as swept over
the country in the early 'S0s.
The Commissioner declares that he
would give the young Indian all the
chance for an education and intellec-
tual training that the young Caucasian
enjoys; he has it already between the
Government aid and private benevo-
lence. the Commissioner says, and in
a population teeming with benevolent
men and women of means no young
Indian with the talent to deserve and
the ambition 10 ask for the best there
Is in American education is likely to
be refused.
..All that ] have asserted is-what
anybody familiar with the field can see
for himself-that the mass of Indian
children, like the corresponding mass
Of white children. are not prepared for
conveyance beyond the elementary
studies. They are not in a condition |
10 absorb and assimilate, or TO utilize |
effectively. the higher learning of the
books. and it is unwise to promote an
impractical at the expense of an OBJ
riously practical system of teaching.
Moreover. unlike the Caucasian, the
mere ground of lheir novelty. and re-
sists obstinately all attempts from out
side to change his condition; while. un-
Hike the negro and some other colored
types, he has no strain Of the initiative
In his nature, and never aspires from
within TO be a white man. Whatever
you do for him in the line of i'm
proyement you have. as a rule, to press
upon him by endless patience and tact
and by a multitude Of persuasive de-
vices; and ] insist that it is foolish TO
force upon an Indian those studies
which have no relation TO his en-
eironment, and which he can not turn