INDIANS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Believing that the true purpose of the Government in its dealings with the Indians is to develop them into self-supporting, self-reliant, intelligent, and patriotic citizens, and believing that the public schools are the most effective means of Americanizing our foreign population, I am desirous of bringing the Indian school system into relation with that of the public schools. Not only so, but wherever possible I am placing Indian pupils in the public schools. Very few are thus far enjoying these advantages, but in a letter addressed to the superintendents of public instruction in the several States and Territories where there are Indians under the care of the National Government I have invited their co-operation, and have offered to contract with school districts for the tuition of Indian pupils at the rate of $10 per quarter. For the letter and some of the cordial replies thereto see Appendix, page CLXIX.

I think this will prove a very important feature of the work in hand, and confidently expect within a year to be able to report a great advance in this direction. Indian allottees can be provided with educa tional facilities for their children in no more satisfactory manner, and the tuition paid by the Government aids the school districts to maintain schools in sections of the country where lands in severalty have been taken by the Indians.

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

My predecessors and many of the agents and superintendents of schools have strongly urged the importance and necessity of a law compelling the attendance of pupils at the schools. I am in favor of compelling every Indian child of suitable age and health, for whom accommodations are provided, to attend school ten months out of twelve. A general law, however, could not now be everywhere applied, for the simple reason that school accommodations are provided by the Government for less than half the children of school age. The question among many tribes is not so much one of filling the schools as it is of finding room for the pupils. With few exceptions every reservation school is crowded, and hundreds of children who are willing to go to school are prevented by want of proper accommodations.

Something in the way of compulsory attendance may be secured through the authority already vested in the agent under direction from this Office, whereby full and regular attendance at school is required upon forfeiture of rations, annuities, or other favors as the penalty for indifference or open opposition. It does not meet the case of the nonreservation schools, however. Under the law children can not be taken from the reservation except by permission of their parents, and although the non-reservation schools are generally better equipped than those at the agencies, at times great difficulty is experienced in inducing pupils and parents to consent to the transfer.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

TABLE 3.-Showing enrollment and average attendance at Indian schools for the fiscal years 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890.

*The average attendance for 1890 is computed on the attendance during the entire year including summer vacations. The average attendance for the nine months from October 1 to June 30, was 12,462, a gain of 1,021 over the corresponding months of the preceding year.

The total enrollment during the year ended June 30, 1890, is 16,377, while the estimated school population (six to sixteen years of age), exclusive of the Indians of New York State and the Five Civilized Tribes, is 36,000.

Many reasons have combined to cause this comparatively small attendance, of which a few may be mentioned. Very inadequate provision has been made. In some cases, as among the Navajos for instance, where there is a school population of 3,600, with accommodations for only 150 pupils, or at San Carlos Agency, where the conditions are similar, I have no doubt that the attendance could be doubled in one year, simply by making provision for the children who can not go to school because there is no school for them to go to. In many places the Indians are impatient in their demands for the schools which the Government has failed to supply them, though in some cases they have been promised for years.

In many instances the facilities have not only been inadequate, but the school-houses have been unattractive and unhealthy and the children have been neglected or badly treated. Great improvements have been made during the year, and others are under way which will insure for next year a considerable increase in attendance.

In some cases the agents have taken little or no interest in the schools, or have been so occupied with other cares that they have done little or nothing to build them up or make them inviting, while in still others the small attendance is directly chargeable to their ignorance, neglect, or even secret opposition. Where this has seemed to be beyond improvement or remedy, I have not hesitated to suggest it to you as a sufficient cause for removal.

One great hindrance is the poor health so common among the Indian children. Disease is very prevalent, and during the last year the rav

ages of the grippe were very distressing. There were thousands of cases of it, and where it was not necessary actually to suspend the schools the number of pupils in attendance was very largely decreased. The Indians as a whole suffer especially with pulmonary troubles, sore eyes, and diseases of the skin, and it must be conceded that these conditions offer one of the most serious obstacles to a regular, uniform school attendance. Another hindrance is, very naturally, the failure of parents and children alike to appreciate the nature and importance of education. They can not see for themselves, and it is difficult to make them understand all it means for them. They either ignore the school entirely or expect it to accomplish wonders in a brief period. Three years they consider a very long time in which a boy or girl should not only fully master the English language, but acquire all the accumulated learning of the white man. Happily, a great change in this respect is taking place, and there is a growing desire among parents as well as among children that the education may be more complete.

If the Government will provide the means to establish and maintain schools in accordance with the system laid down in my supplemental report of last year, it is only a question of time-two or three years I think will suffice-when all Indian youth of school age and of suitable health can be put into school.

The following tables, taken from that report and brought down to date, show the number of Indian pupils who have been attending school since 1882 and the appropriations which have been made for Indian education since 1877.

TABLE 4.-Showing Indian school attendance from 1882 to 1890, both inclusive.

TABLE 5.-Annual appropriations made by the Government since the fiscal year 1877 for support of Indian schools.

In this connection it is worth while to note the allowances made by the Government to other than Government schools for the education of Indians.

TABLE 6.-Showing amounts set apart for various religious bodies for Indian education for each of the fiscal years 1886 to 1891, inclusive.

The present energetic, conscientious, and faithful Superintendent of Indian Schools has been in the field almost continuously since May 1, 1889, when he assumed his arduous duties. He has personally inspected and reported upon about eighty boarding and training schools, but although a vigorous man, and most assiduous in his labors, it has been a physical impossibility for him to visit all. There will be at least one hundred and fifty boarding and training schools, wholly or partially supported by the Government, before the close of the present fiscal year, and the Superintendent can not inspect all of these, and the one hundred day schools, even once in two years, for the obvious reason that one man can not perform the duties of five.

In addition to the Superintendent of schools there should be at least four supervisors of education, reporting directly to this office. Each of them should be a trained school expert, charged with the duty of visiting, reporting upon, and advising with the teachers of all the schools within a definite area, and should have such relations to Indian schools as are generally sustained by county superintendents in the States. They should be required to devote their entire time to the work, should be subject to orders from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and be ready to proceed whenever necessary upon telegraphic instructions to any part of the field. Their services would be invaluable in determining building sites, selecting employés, investigating charges, establishing new schools, securing and retaining pupils at both reservation and non-reservation schools, and in generally building up the educational

work.

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These supervisors should have charge of the school work as now organized as follows:

The first. The schools in Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, aud at Fort Hall and Lemhi Agencies in Idaho, numbering 4 training-schools, 23 Government boardingschools, 3 Government day schools, and 6 contract boarding-schools; in all, 36.

The second. The schools in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North and South Dakota, and Montana, except Blackfeet and Flathead Agencies, numbering 2 training-schools, 16 Government boardingschools, 57 Government day schools, 30 contract boarding-schools and 4 contract day schools; in all, 109.

The third. The schools in Oregon and Washington; Fort Lapwai, Nez Percé, Cœur d' Aléne Reservations in Idaho; Flathead and Blackfeet Agencies in Montana, and those in Nevada and Northern California, numbering 2 training-schools, 20 Government boarding-schools, 8 Government day schools, 8 contract boarding-schools, and 4 contract day schools; in all, 42.

The fourth. The schools in New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California, numbering 2 training schools, 11 Government boarding-schools, 13 Government day schools, 7 contract boarding schools and 10 contract day schools; in all, 43.

A survey of the map of the United States will show that each of the proposed districts will require constant travel and assiduous toil from its supervisor. Although the duties are both responsible and onerous, I am of the opinion that competent men may be secured at a salary of $1,800 each per annum and traveling expenses.

This plan involves merely the enlargement of the sphere of duty and the slight increase in the pay of two supervisors now at work, and the appointment of two additional ones.

HOLIDAYS.

As a part of their education and a means of preparation and training for civilized home life and American citizenship, it is important that the pupils in these schools should understand the significance of national holidays and be permitted to enjoy them. To this end general instructions have been issued for the appropriate celebration of New Year's Day, Franchise Day (February 8), Washington's birthday, Decoration Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, as well as Arbor Day. In regard to three of these holidays special circulars were sent to agents or school superintendents. (See Appendix, pp. CLXVII-CLXIX.) The reports received in reply to these circulars are of unusual interest, showing that both teachers and pupils entered heartily into the spirit of the various occasions. Very creditable programmes of exercises for these different days are on file in the office, in some of which adult Indians took active part, giving good advice to the children, and