The San Francisco call., 1909-09-26
INDIAN BUREAU IS
AIDED BY RULING
Clause Prohibiting Two Mem
bers of Same Family Hold
ing Office Is NuIIifed
Special Dispatch to The Call

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-The recent
fruling of United States Attorney Gen
eral Wickersham that the clause in
members of the same family could
hold office under the civil service did
not apply to the Indian bureau en-
ployes in the far west has brought a
| sigh of relief to the local STAFF here
and gladness to officials at the western
agencies. Especially is this a matter
/ of great satisfaction to employees in
1.-THE Indian schools in California. There
state, twice as many as in any other
state in the union. In southern Cali
lfornia alone below the Tehachapi pass
there are IL. one at Riverside with
more than 500 pupils.
MAN AND WIFE APPOINTED
1t has been the custom of the Indian
bureau to appoint as teacher married
man and then appoint his wife as
house keeper for him. 1t was found
impossible to get an unmarried man
to maroon himself on the solitude OF
an Indian reservation without some
companionship of his own race on the
small salary of $3.50 year. The bu-
reau therefore has adopted the plan OF
appointing a married man as teacher
and placing his wife as matron at a
salary of $500. This worked a double
good. Not only have they afforded
companionship' to each other in the
loneliness of the reservation. but the
wife has acted as an assistant. looking g
after the interests and morals Of the
Indian girls. The plan has been found
most excellent: and when the census
act of July 2, 1909. prohibited any such
further appointments there was dis
tress among the officials of the Indian
bureau.
To add to this, when the attorney
general held that the law applied to
residents of the district of Columbia,
the Indian bureau found itself in a
woeful state The schools, especially
those in California, in a fine state of
! discipline, with teachers, pupils and
applicants all satisfied. were doomed,
under this new law and the ruling of
the attorney general, to sink into
worthlessness. for no one could be en-
ployed TO accept the lonesome position
of teacher on lonely reservation.
RULING Is ASKED
| In state of desperation. as it were.
the Indian bureau, a fortnight ago, ap-
pealed to the attorney general asking
whether the case of the teachers of In
dian schools was not an exception to
the new law prohibiting two members
\ VI tAiC cot4C IEOlll UOlulHg QOSl-
| tions. And in answer to this appeal
| he has just rendered the decision that
the law does not apply to them
1T is a matter of great satisfaction
| TO US, this ruling of the attorney gen
erals. said Dortch. chief OF the
division of Indian education, TO The
Call representative "A maa and wife
acting as teacher and nlatron, respec-
lively, have, we find, made a most
happy combination, contented them
selves and working for the best results
| for the Indian children. Our best work
| has been achieved among the Indian
children of that region through the
mutual efforts of husband and wife oc-
cupying the respective positions OF
teacher and matron- To have COM
PEELED us to abandon this plan would
have been a great hardship both on
the Indian children and the bureau it.
self. How many pupils have we in
southern California? Well. we have
more than 1000 in the whole state. and
1 should say fully 1900 of them are in
the southern part