The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-27
INDIAN SCHOOL
 IS TO BE CLOSED
Carlisle Will Never House Noble Redskin Again Is
 General Opinion.

More than passing interest is felt in Philadelphia in the announcement that the Indian School at Carlisle is to be closed. While apparently this ac- tion is being taken to add to the war hospital service, it is more than prob able that the institution never again will be opened for the education of Indians.
 Occupying an ancient military post which was transferred to the Depart ment of the Interior in 1879, the Car lisle school was closely watched by the Indian Rights Association, an or ganization to which the modern Red Man owes a great deal for his ad- vancement.
 When the late John Welsh who had been United States Minister to Great Britain, invited 8 few gentle men to meet him with the object of forming an association to see that the men to meet him with the object of forming an association to see that the Indian was properly treated and edu- cated so that he should become good citizen, instead of an outcast, great many persons believed that this was the apex of fadism.
 It has passed into a jest thGf the only good Indian was a dead one, and proba bly, this witticism was more widely believed in than the truth. This meeting was held here in De- cember, 1882, not long after the law designating the Carlisle Barracks as school for Indians became opera tive. It is probable that only the high standing of MT. Welsh, the founder, saved the organization from ridicule at that time.
 Little by little the Indian Rights | Association, which from the first l made it a rule to collect first the facts before making any move either in Congress or to the public, gain ed the confidence of the country. That the Indian was being iIl-treat- ed and robbed by dishonest agents in some parts of the Indian country 1 was generally believed; but the as- sociation got the facts, reported them to the Interior Department, and even went to the President himself if case warranted, and laid bare the situation. As a result the Indian came into his own.
 
 tion General Pratt, then Colonel in the regular Cavalry, took an interest in some Indian prisoners he had in charge in Florida. He found them ready for education and sent some of them to HaTapton, Va. There they | proved apt pupils and the Colonel | asked for a larger school where the braves and the young squaws from | various tribes might be remade ln- to some likeness to civilized beings.
 As Carlisle Barracks, which had been in the possession of the gov ernment from Revolutionary times, was no longer a necessity, 1t was turn ed over for the purpose of experi- ment. The product proved most as- tonishing, and the work was constant ly increased until the school had more than 1000 students. The post | occupied tract of twenty-seven l acres In the days before the Revolution the site had been fort to protect the western edge of the popu- lation in Pennsylvania from 'naraud- | ing Indians. During the Revolution, or in 1777, the present barracks was built, and in addition to accommo- dating a garrison it was made a pris- on for prisoners of war. Among the distinguished prisoners at this time was Major Andre, who afterwards suf- fered death as spy near Tarrytown, N. Y,
 By the time Colonel Pratt was ready for his experiment on a large scale there was no need for fortif- cation in Carlisle nor for a barracks, for the Indian frontier had moved hundreds of miles to the westward, and. indeed, lay many leagues west of the Mississippi,
 | There always has been a close con- Anectian between the institution and