388 



INDIAN EDUCATION. 



States. Each tribe has a common-school sys- 

 tem, and includes schools for advanced instruc- 

 tion. The teachers are generally Indians, and 

 text-books in the Indian language are used. 

 These tribes receive no assistance from the 

 Government in support of their schools. The 

 schools include high, public, and private 

 schools, and male and female seminaries. 



As illustrating the progress of Indian educa- 

 tion, the following figures are interesting, cov- 

 ering a period between 1882 and 1886, both 

 inclusive : 



The increase in the number of boarding- 

 schools was from 71 in the first year to 115 in 

 the last; of day-schools, froru 54 to 99; of 

 average attendance at boarding-schools, from 

 2,755 to 7,260; at day-schools, from 1,311 to 

 2,370; cost of boarding-schools, from $452,- 

 559 to $941,124; cost of day schools, from 

 $32,400 to $56,775. The statistics of Gov- 

 ernment schools supported by general appro- 

 priation showed a total number of 154, includ- 

 ing 67 boarding- and 87 day-schools ; capacity, 

 8,231; average attendance, 5,689; number of 

 employe's, 552 ; cost, $494,456.52. 



It is a curious fact, not commendable to the 

 Government of the United States, that specific 

 treaty agreements with certain tribes by which 

 school-houses and teachers were to be furnished 

 them have never been complied with. Such 

 is the case with regard to the Navajos, to 

 whom the Government is indebted for educa- 

 tional purposes, according to the terms of the 

 treaty of June 1, 1868, in the sum of $792,- 

 000, and the Sioux, to whom is owing $2,500,- 

 000, an indebtedness incurred by solemn treaty 

 of agreement of April 20, 1868. 



Provisional training for Indians has been 

 arranged for to a limited extent in the case of 

 Wayland Seminary and Howard University, in 

 the District of Columbia, the Woman's Medi- 

 cal College of Philadelphia, Pa., and the Medi- 

 cal Department of tbe University of Pennsylva- 

 nia. At these institutions permission has been 

 given for the professional education of three 

 Indian boys and one Indian girl in the case of 

 each. 



The first effort in this direction appears to 

 have been made by the Continental Congress 

 on July 12, 1775, when a bill was passed 

 appropriating $500 for the education of Indian 

 youths at Dartmouth College, N. II. Further 

 effort was made in the same direction, but the 

 Eevolutionary War prevented any definite 

 action being taken, and it was not until 1794 

 that any form of education was mentioned in 

 an Indian treaty, when a provision was in- 

 serted in a treaty with the Oneida, Tuscarora, 

 and Stockbridge Indians " to instruct some 

 young men of the three nations in the arts of 

 the miller and sawyer." In 1803 a treaty made 

 with a tribe of Illinois Indians provided for the 

 expenditure on the part of the United States 

 annually for seven years of the sum of $100 

 toward the support of a Roman Catholic priest 

 to instruct as many Indian children as possible 



in the rudiments of English literature. In 

 1819 $10,000 was appropriated by Congress 

 for a similar purpose, and this appropriation 

 was carried on the books of the Treasury De- 

 partment until 1873, when so much of the act 

 as provided for the appropriation was repealed. 

 In 1867, what was known as " The Civilization 

 Fund," a re-establishment of the act just men- 

 tioned, was arranged for in a treaty with the 

 Great and Little Osage Indian tribe, hy which 

 the proceeds of sales of certain lands were to 

 be used under the direction of the Secretary 

 of the Interior for the education and civiliza- 

 tion of the Indian tribes residing within the 

 limits of the United States. From 1867 to 

 1882, under this act, ahout three quarters of a 

 million dollars were expended in ostensible 

 attempts to fulfill this purpose. Various 

 special treaties were made with Indian tribes 

 from time to time in which education took 

 some part, but so little were such provisions 

 observed by the Government that in 1884 the 

 Secretary of the Interior reported that it would 

 require an appropriation of $4,033,700 to fulfill 

 the educational provisions of eight of our In- 

 dian treaties. Requests were accordingly made 

 by the Secretary for appropriations, which, 

 however, were not complied with by Congress. 

 Meanwhile large sums remain in the Treasury 

 Department to the credit of various tribes, the 

 Osage fund, for instance, amounting to $5,000,- 

 000, and drawing interest at the rate of 5 per 

 cent, per annum, which interest may be ex- 

 pended by the President for the benefit of the 

 Osage Indians, in such manner as he may deem 

 proper. The Choctaw school fund in the United 

 States Treasury amounts to $49,472.70, and 

 the Cherekee fund $457,903.72. 



The first annual general appropriation for 

 Indian school purposes was made in the Indian 

 bill of 1876, when the sura of $20,000 was 

 appropriated " for the support of industrial 

 schools and other educational purposes for the 

 Indian tribes." This was followed by an ap- 

 propriation in 1877 of $30,000 for the same 

 purpose, one in 1878 of $60,000, in 1879 and 

 1880 each of $75,000, in 1881, $85,000, 1882, 

 $471,500. In 1883 Congress appropriated for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, for general 

 and special educational purposes among the 

 Indians, the sum of $680,200. In 1884 the 

 appropriations for Indian schools amounted to 

 $992,800, this being for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1885, but of this sum $66,917.50 was 

 not used. The Indian bill of March 3, 1885, 

 appropriated the largest amount ever given up 

 to that time for Indian school purposes, being 

 $1,107,665, and in 1886 Congress increased 

 upon this amount, appropriating $1,211,415. 



The machinery of the Indian educational 

 system, which has resulted from Congressional 

 legislation, treaty stipulations, and missionary 

 efforts, includes, first, the day-schools, which 

 are of three kinds : the Goverment day-schools, 

 being established by the Government and the 

 teachers appointed by the Commissioner of In- 



