The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-03-03
INDIANS
DO NOT REVERT TO
THE SAVAGE TYPE
Statistics Show That Most Of
the Dusky Braves Are
Members of Church.
BY DoANE

BY OOANE N
Pierre. S D., Mch. 1.-THE opposition
10 the Indian school appropriations,
which has developed in congress, Is a
matter of vital interest In this state;
perhaps of greater interest here than
elsewhere, for we have an Indian popu-,
lation Of $4,000, and 1t is upon the
schools We must rely to raise them up
from a race of vagabonds to a s~elf-sus-
tanning and self-respecting citizenship.
There are individuals who come back
from Carlisle and Hampton who justi-
fy Mr.. Tawney's bad opinion of the,
work accomplished in those institutions,
but they are not the rule. Quite the
contrary, very many of these graduates
become very excellent citizens and
maintain themselves with a dignity
which wins for them the respect Of
their white neighbors.
The regeneration and civilization Of al
race less than a quarter of a century,
ago of the heather savages Is not to be
accomplished in a day nor In several
years. However, out Of all the infiu-|
ences for good and for evil that sur
round the Sioux of South Dakota there
has been a large balance for good, and,
these people, all things considered, have
made phenomenal progress and 1t would
NC lohy LII tAc 6ChcIdl BOtCIilIlClt a.
this time to withdraw any of the in
strumentalities for their uplift.
Indians Overcome Prejudies.
Twenty-Five years ago they were saw
ages and heathen; today scarcely a
Sioux but processes Christianity and
Is a member of some Christian church,;
all of the children Of school age and
most of the younger men and women,
possess an elementary education In
English. All of them wear the garb Of
civilization; they have overcome the
prejudice against work, for 1t was al
prejudice and not laziness that kept,
them from 1t. According to the Sioux
code, it was degrading for a man to-
do any work his squaw could do as!
well; his business was to supply the
larder and to protect his camp from
the enemy, n the rest devolved upon,
the m This view Of like was thor,
oughly ingrained in him, and 1t was
not a small matter for him to adopt
another view: but he has come to It,,
and is now earning his bread and
learning the real value of money. !,
Mr.. Tawney complains when the In
dian boys and girls leave the govern
merit schools they return to the tribe
and revert to type. Some of them do,
the standard Of living n by slow de-
grees the uplift comes. The Indian is
not much different from other people
In this respect. The average American
boy taken out of crude and slovenly
surroundings and put through the
academy and then returned to his prim-
tive home n associates, would in a
great measure return to the old life,
but by persistently educating his kind
higher ground would be reached.
Four Non-rsservation Schools.
There are four non-reservation
schools remaining In South Dakota, To-
Gated at Flandreau, Pierre, Rapid City
and Springfield, respectively. They
are all doing praiseworthy work. Each
has industrial features and the boys
and girls graduate In about the eighth
grade work Of the ommon schools.
They do not come in contact with evil
influences n go back to their homes
on the reservation quite well prepared
to undertake farming, some of the
trades or to readily work into mercan-
tile vocations. We meet them on all of
the reservations n find them bright,
clear-headed and more or less ambi-
tious to do something for themselves;
and for their people. II they choose,
these students pon leaving the local
Industrial schools, can go on to Car
Isle and secure higher training. Some
do so.
There are large boarding schools on
each Of the reservations and there is
some question az to which accomplish
es the most for the Indians; those edu-
Gated near home on the reservation,
where their daily associates are their
OWL people, or those who go away to-
the non-reservation schools and come
more in contact with the white people.
There are advantages for each system,
but the preponderances of testimony,
favors sending the children out where
they meet the whites.