The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1922-05-06
NEVADA PRESS COMMENT
! INDIAN H AT ELKo

Tonopah Times: Elko offers a
sound argument for the construction
of a Government Indian school in
that county as proposed by Senate
bill 3474, introduced by Senator Pitt
man. This is q measure that should
have the generous support Of Con-
gress without regard to partisan lines.
The Indians of Nevada demand more
care and attention from the Govern
ment. They have received practical
ly nothing and the fact that many OF
them are inclined to be industrious
and make their own living on farms
and range has been used as an argu-
ment to penalize them. II these no
MAIDS we're content to live in idleness
on the reservation they would receive
an annual allotment and be housed
comfortably but, owing to the desire
to float around the State working at
whatever they may find, they have
been barred from participating bene-
FITS which would have accrued were
they of a lazy shiftless disposition
willing to remain as pensioners on
the bounty Of the Nation.
The citizens of Elko County pre-
sent their case in strong colors. The
movement started in that county Is
not actuated by the hope Of securing
a Government appropriation so much
as 1t is engendered by a spirit of phil
anthropy OF the noblest character.
The Indian without restraint or car
degenerates into a worthless vaga-
bond through circumstances, but 1t is
well known that where given the OPP
portunity he is found willing to work
and make a good showing as other
people of the same relative plane of
intelligence. without a guiding hand
the aboriginal settler of Nevada has
no incentive to lift himself from the
squai6r of his surroundings and their
offspring have still less chance of
qualifying for citizenship. They grow
up as drifters wandering from town
to town, without any fixed purpose
and are accepted rs an unavoidable
nuisance that must be tolerated be-
cause there is no means Of abate-
ment.
With a Government school at Elko
the good work of the Stewart Insti-
tute at Carson City would be mani
and the rising generation
would be encouraged to throw off the
svil effects OF their birta and develop
into q unit that would help solve the
problem of colonizing the waste plac-
es of the State. Nowithstan ing the
lethargic demeanor of the yoL, g In
dian he is found quite tractable and
when directed in the right
path. The old theory that the edu-
Gated Indian boy or girl reverts to
the blanket stage after leaving a
Government school has been dissi-
Ipated by the conduct of scores after
leaving school who carry the teach
ing Of their preceptors into their
daily life and develop the best aspira-
lions Of white people. The first step
retaining the Indian lies in the
school where farming and stock rails
ing is part of the training. An In
dian neve takes to sedentary pur-
suits and. although there are rare
cases where the professions have been
adorned by descendants of the first
settlers, the examples are the excep-
|tion rather than the rule. Best re-
suits r found in the open. out door
existence to which they take natural
iy. With all the talk about fedora
liking the public schools 1t is gently
suggested that a good beginning may
be found in training the Indian
youths to thrift and industry.