84 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



knowing how, and a third class, of those 

 who know but have no tools. For these 

 there is help — the teacher farmer for the 

 one and a small loan in the form of tools 

 for the other.* 



There are those, too, for whom it is 

 too great a jump to pass from hunting 

 to farming, but who can herd cattle, and 

 for these the government is providing 

 herds for their ranges. Congress has 

 been liberal in its appropriations for these 

 things, and with a stable policy and ad- 

 ministrative efficiency these Indians can 

 be gradually lifted into usefulness, full 

 self-support, and into entire independ- 

 ence. 



THE ORATOR AND THE LOAFER 



Then there is the "proud" red man who 

 idly clings to the traditions of his race 

 and talks of its past with such dignified 

 eloquence, declaring in one glowing mo- 

 ment against the injustice of requiring 

 service from those who once owned the 

 continent and in the next sentence plead- 

 ing for rations. This man is half brother 

 to him who has degenerated under the 

 orphan-asylum system into a loafer. My 

 confidence is that for all these there is 

 some hope, for most of them much. 



But from what has been already said 



* EXTRACTS FROM TYPICAI, LETTERS EROM INDIANS 



"You can't make the Indian independent by 

 doing his business for him." — A Kickapoo 

 Indian. 



"Indians ought to live like men — not like 

 "boys." — A Colorado Ute. 



"We will never better our condition while 

 we are wards of the nation." — A Yakima In- 

 dian. 



"As long as we have money in the U. S. 

 Treasury we will not do much work, and work 

 is our salvation." — An Oklahoma Kiowa. 



"Government should not listen to the plea 

 of a few backward Indians who are opposed 

 to progress and are contented to live at the 

 expense of government and of industrious In- 

 dians." — An Iowa Sac and Fox. 



"My children attend public schools ; I pay 

 taxes ; why should I be under government 

 supervision?" — An Oregon Indian. 



"The government cannot all the time take 

 care of the Indians." — A Wisconsin Indian. 



"Indians now hampered by delays, regula- 

 tions, and red tape . . . and these things 

 have made them discouraged." — A Tulalip In- 

 dian. 



"No greater blessing could come to the In- 

 dian than to be compelled to think for him- 

 self." — An Oklahoma Seminole. 



it will be perceived that in the direction 

 of Indian atlairs I believe it wisest to 

 give our chief concern to those who are 

 willing to work, who show evidence of a 

 rudimentary ambition, and to convert the 

 Bureau of Indian Affairs into a great 

 cooperative educational institution for 

 young and old, reducing to the minimum 

 the eleemosynary side of its work and its 

 trust functions. It sounds trite, but it 

 has its significance here, that it is not so 

 important to conserve the wealth of a 

 people as to develop their capacity for 

 independence. 



For the young the schools* are doing 

 much, especially the day schools on the 

 reservations. By way of answer to those 

 who are troubled at the neglect of the 

 Indian, it may be noted that since 1863 

 we have expended $85,000,000 in the edu- 

 cation of the Indian. Beginning with 

 $20,000 a year, the annual appropriation 

 for this purpose now reaches nearly $4,- 

 500,000. Those schools are most useful 

 in which emphasis is laid upon the in- 

 dustrial side of life. There are no better 

 schools, I am well advised, than many of 

 our reservation schools, where each child 

 is taught the rudiments of learning and 

 to be useful in practical things — reading, 

 writing, and arithmetic ; how to plow and 

 sow, hoe and harvest ; how to build a 

 house and shoe a horse, or cook a meal, 



* It is reported that there are 84,229 Indian 

 children of school age. Of these 6,428 are in- 

 eligible for school, leaving 77,801 eligible for 

 school. Of this number 22,775 children are in 

 government schools, as follows : In the 37 non- 

 reservation boarding schools conducted outside 

 of the Indian country there are enrolled 10,857 

 children. In the reservation boarding, schools 

 situated on the various reservations there are 

 9,700, and in the government day schools on 

 the reservations, which resemble closely the 

 ordinarj' district schools of the States, except 

 that they offer industrial training, there are 

 7,218 children. Of the children enrolled in 

 mission schools there are 1,379 i" mission 

 boarding schools under contract with the gov- 

 ernment and 3,450 in mission schools without 

 contract. There are enrolled in the public and 

 private schools 25,924 Indian pupils of which 

 the Indian Office has record. This would leave 

 15,906 Indian children eligible for school privi- 

 leges, but not reported as being in school. Of 

 this number prolaably 6,000 in the Navajo and 

 Papago country are without school facilities, 

 but the greater part of the remainder are en- 

 rolled undoubtedly in public schools, but not 

 reported. 



