February 20, 1892.

Hon. F. E. Beltzhoover,
House Of Reps. ,

Washington, D. C.

My dear Mr. Beltzhoover:

I have a copy of the Indian Bill as it stands. It is evidently not the intention of the Government that I should increase the numbers materially, here the ensuing year. In that case it hardly seems worthwhile to make a change in the Bill, as brought in by the committee with reference to the two year clause. It is a good break and on right lines and I believe that we can secure enough pupils of the kind specified to keep our numbers between eight and nine hundred. What I had in mind was fulfilling Mr. Peabody's wish of several years ago that I should carry a thousand children here on $100,000, not counting the cost of transportation.

The school was established in October 1879 with 147 pupils. It has grown until today we have 795 and our average for this year would be about that. The school has handled 2167 pupils and has had 1738 outing experiences. This feature of the school is fully explained in my annual report, which I have written with the cooperation of the original grounds contain 27 acres purchased from the Penns in 1801, but had been occupied as a military station as far

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF
THE YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

VOL. 21

F.E.B.-2,

back as 1755. Congress in 1887 gave money for the purchase of
the Parker farm 108 acres, which adjoins us on the east. We
have also a farm 157 acres at Middlesex, purchased as you will
remember from Mr. Hocker, by friends of the school and present-
ed to me, in and which I transferred to a Board of Trustees,
and it is now held by them for the benefit of the school.
Our buildings are ample for 600 and will hold 750
in an emergency.

My plan in carrying the thousand was to place from 300 to
400 in families and in public schools and carry the rest here.
We are now by far the cheapest training school the Government
has, and this would make us still cheaper. Indeed we cost
less per capita including buildings, improvements, repairs and
transportation than the Western schools cost, without includ-
ing these extra expenses. I fully explained this matter of
expense in my last report.

In regard to the worth of the property here, it is hard
to determine but I should say that the Government portion in-
cluding the Parker farm is worth $200,000.

In the beginning and before the school had the confidence
of Congress sufficiently to give us appropriation for build-
ings I had much help from outside. The Hocker farm, $20,000
was a gift. And the Large boys quarters and the gymnasium
out of the way.

VOL. 21

F. E. B., 3

about $27,000, or $28,000, were gifts; additions to the girls'
quarters, amounting to $8,000, or $9,000, were gifts. Our first
steam plant, costing nearly $11,000 was a gift, and many im-
provements, repairs and different parts of the equipment cost-
ing smaller sums came through the benevolence of those who be-
lieved in the system. So that our total gifts in the 12
years have amounted to above $30,000. The last year or two
I have not had to call upon friends for any assistance; the
appropriations have been ample for almost all of our wants.

Such extras as we needed haven been contributed without
request.

I invite your attention to a fact that you are perfect-
ly familiar with and that is that although we have been here
12 and a half years we have had but one case before the courts
and that a boy a few weeks ago, who stole a bit of bread
from another boy and whom under an arrangement made with the
state authorities I had tried, and he was, by sentence of Judge
Saddler, sent to the Huntingdon Reformatory. You also know the
quiet orderly character of our students in and on the streets
of Carlisle. How that no breaches of the peace nor mis conduct have been laid at our doors., and although I have had so
many out in the country the same good conditions have existed.
when they were away and entirely free from my control.
These facts ought to carry more weight in behalf of a better

VOL. 21

F. E. B. 4

appreciation of the race.

No serious calamities have overtaken us in the way of fire
or epidemic, through all the history of the school.

On the grounds of economy as compared with other schools
of any sort I should be only too glad to have the most search-
ing scrutiny, and when it comes to results as shown by the
quality of returned students we also court investigation.
From my own inquiries the returned students of Carlisle on
the average stand higher and do better under the ruinous ad-
verse influences at the agencies than the students of any oth-
er training contract or mission school

My hope was in the beginning and now is, that the door in-
to American life would be opened to the Indian and that he
be compelled to break up his tribal conditions and become in-
dividual, and I claim without any fear of just contradiction
that Carlisle school has done more to further this than any
other one instrument or system that the Government has had
bearing upon the question during the history of the school.
Better ideas of citizenship, more courage to go out as indi-
viduals and live in our communities independently has been
planted and has grown under the Carlisle management than un-
der any other influence, whatsoever. As you know, I continu-
ally preach treason to the tribe and loyalty to the United
States Government, and I can see no reason why an Indian

VOL. 21

F. E. B.-5

who becomes loyal to the United States Government and to his
own best interests and wants to be an independent individual
man, may not have every right the tribe gives him and live
away from the tribe. By giving lands in severalty the Gov-
ernment intends to force every Indian to be a farmer or noth-
ing. I think it would be quite as wise to pass a law re-
quiring that they should all be boot blacks, and live in New-
York for the purpose of blacking peoples boots. There is no
individuality in it; there is nothing but reinforcing tribal
conditions. To show how the system works, lands in severalty
have just been given to the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in Oklohom
By a general arrangement among themselves they have taken
their lands in a body and adjoining each other, and have en-
tered into an agreement among themselves to continue to hold
their lands in common so that the real result of lands in sev-
eralty as administered in their case is nothing more or less
than a reduction of their reservation, which simply drives
them closed together and enables them to bring to bear more
readily their old superstitions and xigkix rites, and to
drown out and to bear harder upon the few educated ones who
have hopes and aspirations above the tribe.

I have just gotten hold of Mr. Monster's speech, and in or-
der to show how grossly he has misrepresented us, I have had

VOL. 21

F. E. R.-6,

a table prepared covering the school history of every Osage
whom Mr. Mansur might have seen at that agency last May.

By this report you will see that not one single Osage re-
mained at this school as long as 5 years; only 5 were here a-
bove 4 years, only 15 were here between 3 and 4 years, 5 oth-
ers were here between 2 and 3 years, 10 others were here be-
tween 1 and 2 years and all the rest were here less than 1 year
As it takes from 8 to 10 years to graduate a white child from
the Grammar grade of the public schools( and we have had no
higher ambition than this for our students) and that is our
graduating point, you can readily see what a falsehood it is
to call these 75 young Indians graduates of this school.

There is another feature in this case that should be known
You will see from the date on which they were discharged from
this school that all those whom Mr. Mansur may have seen on the
Osage reservation, left the school <u>XXX the school</u> in or prior
to 1885, nearly 7 years ago.
So that the statement made to
him about individual cases of Carlisle students who had gone
home last year, or who had been home only 2 years must have
been pupils from Chilocco, Haskell or some other western school
whose cause Mr. Mansur espouses. It was impossible that any
of them came from Carlisle.

I need not now go into an explanation as to how it came

VOL. 21

F. E. B. 7

about these students were here so short a time.

In this connexion please send for the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1887 and turn to page 85, where at the bottom of the page you will find a letter by Mr. Standing whom you know and whom I sent out to look into the conditions of the returned students at that time, and who made that report at the request of the army officer then acting as Indian agent for the Osages, of whose report it is a part. As 5 years more have passed since and these youth have been subjected to the continued influences which the Government pays so liberally to have forced upon them, (according to Monsur's own statement) the conditions now may be even as bad as he says; but for those conditions no body but the U.S. Government is responsible. The reservation that it has established and the excessive annuities that it pays to those Indians entirely relieving them from any obligation to work and the complete isolation from the industrial, moral, religious or educational influences in the country at large, sufficiently fully justifies our placing all the responsibility at the door of the Government.

I entirely agree with Mr. Monsur's notice which are not new, that if we are going to confine them to the one occupation of farming and force them into agricultural life, there should not be more than one quarter in each section allowed

26

VOL. 21

27

F. E. B.-8

to the Indians ~~and~~ that will ultimately bring about the con-
ditions Mr. Munsur claims; but for quick results and more com-
plete success the Indian no less than the white man, should
have the freedom of the whole country, with an equal right
to select his occupation.

Mr. Munsur is entirely mistaken in regard to any greater st-
isfaction to the Indians, to have their children at Chiloc-
co, Haskell, or even in the agency schools. There is not
a single agency school numbering above 100 among any of the
nomadic Indians which does not lose more by runaways every
year than we have lost in the whole 12 years. There is more
force required to fill those school every year and keep them
full than has been required to get all the pupils that ever
came to Carlisle. Rations have to be cut off, or threaten-
ed to be cut off and policemen have to be sent after children
and take them to school by force. I doubt if Chilocco has
not lost more children by runaways every year since it was or-
ganized than we have lost in the whole 12 years and a half.
from the same cause. Haskell which is, next to Carlisle, the
best located of any Indian school has lost more in one year
from runaways than we have lost in the whole 12 and a half
years, from the same cause. Of the outing system of which I
have so uggently reported from year to year and which is al-
most without limit, in its possibilities of extension, from

VOL. 21

F. E. B., 9

this point. Mr. Meserve, the Superintendent of Haskell at our recent Convention at Lawrence, said "Just a word in reference to this matter, we have started the outing system here at Haskell, in a small way of course, in comparison with what Capt. Pratt has done. Here in Kansas the people are not so far removed from the hair-liftin period as they are in the east" and that is an admission that every western school superintendent would have to make if placed on the stand.

failin

All of the first page and 3 columns of the 2nd. page of the Red Man herewith are filled with my sentiments on the subject of Indian management, and you are at liberty to use them as you see fit. I only ask that we have a fair and impartial comparison from a full knowledge of the facts all along the line, and then if the Government is opposed to our system and ~~I should be happy to know it as soon~~ as practicable.

Before closing I invite your attention to the enclosed slip from the New York Herald of Friday 17. These people, struggling to better the conditions of the Indians in New York, appealed to me to take some of their children here and I did accept 26, ~~which I have already~~, with the distinct understanding that I would get them out into the public schools of

~~Pennsylvania and so if possible put to shame the system that has kept these Indians and tribes on their~~

VOL. 21

63

February 29, '92

Hon. F. E. Belzhoover,
House of Reps.,
Washington, D.C.,

Statement of Mr. Lynch to
House on Saturday, page 1596 Record, about four boys running
sway from Carlisle is untrue.

Inquiry among students from that Agency reveals that the
four boys ran away from the Rensselaer Catholic Contract
school, Indiana. A girl here, who came in December knew
all the boys and saw the dead body Mr. Lynch tells of; states
boys said they ran away because they did not have enough to
eat, had to work too hard and Priest whipped them. Please
put this before the House in answer to Mr. Lynch's statement.

Pratt,
Capt.

VOL. 21

66

February 29, 1892.

J. R. Wood, G. P. A.

Philadelphia.

My dear Sir:

Miss M. Burgess, who has been an employee here ever
since the beginning of the school, wishes very much to visit her
parents whom she has not seen for years, in San Francisco, Cali-
fornia, to be absent a couple of months, leaving here as soon as
she can get the ticket. I will take it as a great personal favor
and it will be a most gracious act for Miss Burgess if you can
see any way to give her a greatly reduced round-trip rate. She is
not particular what line she goes over, but if it is all the same
in price, if she could stop off at the Indian School, Genoa, Nebr.,
either going or coming, she could perform a service for us which I
would be glad to have attended to,

VOL. 21

March 3, 1892.

Dr. Carlos Montezuma,

Agency Physician,

White Rock, Nev.

My dear Doctor:

Yours of Feb. 20th has just reached me. No congratulations I have received from any quarter, not excepting those from good Senator Dawes, fill me with more real pleasure than yours. You know entirely what you are talking about. The others do not. If I can have the approval of my Indian friends, I am willing to take all the condemnation that can come from the white man's side. I am in the midst of a bitter fight and am being personally slaughtered on the floor of the House of Representatives. My salary is stricken out of the Appropriation Bill because I have dared to assert the truth and to publish opinions exactly in line with those of your letter. I am not daunted nor uneasy about the future. Carlisle will live in spite of its enemies. God bless you.

VOL. 21 1

1 Enc.

March 30, 1892.

Dr. Carlos Montezuma,

Western Shoshone Agency,

White Rock, Nev.

My dear Doctor:

Your letter was so nicely written and so full of exactly the right sentiments that I immediately sent it to Senator Dawes that he might see how an Indian felt in regard to educational matters. It will, I hope, have some influence upon him, if such influence is necessary, or he may show it to others and so help along our cause in the Senate while the Bill is passing. I assure you of my hearty gratitude that you are so entirely with me in the matter of my differences. I think it is, partly at least, because we are so entirely right and others are wrong that we meet with the criticisms. We are doing our work so much cheaper than some of those schools and organizations that abuse us that their very jealousy leads them to attack us. However, we have the best of the argument all the time. I enclose a letter to you which has just been received.

VOL. 21

May 2, 1892.

Schultz & Jackson
Piedmont, Mont.,

Gentlemen:

Letter received from Mr. Kennerly rather discourages us from the May or June trip. In addition to that two of the gentlemen have been called into active politics and they think it impossible to leave. These conditions have led me to defer the Montana expedition.

What you say about grizzlies arouses my ambition and I wish all the more to make the expedition.

Yours sincerely

VOL. 21

May 2, 1892.

R A McFadden,

502 Fulton St. Brooklyn

My dear Robert:

I am a good bit surprised at your letter of the 27th. If you had notified me in time we could have discussed both sides of the question, or we could have taken the negative side.

As you had asked General Morgan to speak and Gen. Morgan's notions are exceedingly pernicious to me, I am rather glad of the failure.

VOL. 21

349

May 2, 1892.

Hon. L. A. Watres

Lieut. Gov'r of Penn.

Scranton, Pa.,

My dear sir:

We shall be very glad to show you and your
guests all the attention possible on Saturday next. I have
a large omnibus that carries 20 easily and a smaller one,
which will bring your party to the school. Both of these will
be at the Junction on arrival of train you mention. Will you
please advise if any change occurs in your program.

You understand, of course Saturday is an off day with us,
still I trust we may show you enough to interest your party.

VOL. 2 1

350

May 2, 1892.

Allan F Little,
Postmaster
Asawood, Mich.,

Dear sir:

While you make a very strong case in the appeal
for the return of Jane Mark, I must advise you that the fre-
quency of these applications and the disposition of the Indis-
p parents to treat lightly the education of their children lead
me to conclude, as I am compelled to do in almost all cases,
that it is better to hold on to the pupils inasmuch as their
education and advancement of the children is of greater im-
portance than the adversities of the parents.

The State must protect itself against pampers and there is
a law now compelling the education of Indians; yet not so se-
vere in its forces as they have in some countries; but still
sufficient to warrant us in much more strictness than we have
experienced in the past.

While I deeply sympathize with the parents it is plain to
me that it is better to have the greater sympathy with the
students.

VOL. 21

May 2, 1892.

Victoria Lamotte,
Kashena, Wis.,

My dear Mrs. Lamotte:

While I sympathize with your situation and the affection of the cousin who asks the pleasure of seeing Mary, it is not in accordance with the interests of the school, now the best interests of Mary herself that she should return home.

The all important thing is Mary's education. White people have to make sacrifices for the education of their children and the Indians must do the same.

VOL. 21

May 21, 1897.

My dear Miss Parsons:

In reply to yours of the 18, inst. in which you send two letters from Lawrence Smith, and suggest that you are able to help him out of his difficulty, I am sorry to cast a shade of doubt upon the propriety of your doing so, but the safety of the boy himself demands that I do this.

Lawrence went to Bellevue under the auspices of the Missionary at the Agency, who informed me that some of his friends would look after Lawrence' expenses.

My Miss Bender has a letter from Lawrence in which he states that he is paying part of his expenses by doing some janitor work.

Lawrence' career at Carlisle does not indicate that he is a good timber for a Missionary, nor that he is worthy or will make good use of a higher education; quite the contrary in fact. While he may be writing to work upon your sympathies the danger is, he is doing the same thing in other directions I wrote frankly to his Missionary friend, these traits in his character and my convictions about him.

We have had quite a number of experiences on this line.

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Miss Parsons-2

The Indians have been sharp enough to play upon the sympathies of benevolent people of our race, and thus commit what amounts to almost a crime, and cultivates qualities that prove disastrous later on.

I could not conscientiously favor higher education for Lawrence through any benevolent aid. If he had the spunk to earn money and secure it for himself, I should of course feel that there was hope. All help given to young Indians in this way should go through one source so that there may not be duplicating appeals.

VOL. 21

May 26, 1892.

Joseph Bradley
Rosebush, (Calkinsville P.O.)

Michigan:

Dear sir:

I herewith return the Eighteen ($18.00) Dollars sent David Abraham, as you request.

Very truly yours

VOL. 21