SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, U 



It is greatly to be regretted that the National Educational 

 Association, at its recent meeting, gave its indorsement to the so- 

 called Blair bill, making provision for national aid to schools in the 

 various States and Territories. This measure has been before the 

 public long enough to obtain thorough discussion ; and the opinion 

 of the large majority of intelligent citizens is, that its effect, were 

 it ever enacted into a statute, would be pernicious. The measure 

 has been not unjustly styled a 'bill to promote mendicancy.' It is 

 a bill to impair the self-reliance, and discourage the earnest efforts, 

 of large portions of the community. We have lately taken occasion 

 to call the attention of the readers of Science to the alarming in- 

 crease of paternalism in legislation in the various States. The bill 

 in question is in a direct line with the tendency toward paternalism. 

 We are not among those who assert that the measure is advocated 

 in a demagogic spirit. On the contrary, we believe it to be the out- 

 come of a generous but mistaken intention to do good. We be- 

 lieve the premises on which its supporters base their arguments to 

 be false, as well as that the effects they predict will follow its enact- 

 ment to be very different from what will actually happen. A reso- 

 lution indorsing this bill was brought before the teachers at their 

 recent annual meeting, and referred to the appropriate committee. 

 In course of time this resolution appeared, with a number of others, 

 in the committee's report, and was adopted. We are informed that 

 this was done as a mere form, and that the committee's report was 

 adopted without any consideration, merely as a matter of courtesy. 

 If this is so, it is no proper defence. If any teacher objected to that 

 resolution, he should have made himself heard. But the record 

 shows that no objection was made, and that the resolution passed. 

 We repeat that it is very unfortunate that the association took such 

 action. It will greatly lessen public confidence in its representative 

 character. 



During the months in which the tropical tornadoes are 

 most frequent, the pilot chart issued by the Hydrographic Office of 

 the Navy Department will contain reports of experiments in the use 

 of oil to lessen the force of waves during storms at sea. For several 

 years it has been the custom of the office to print monthly on this 

 chart a synopsis of the experience of vessel captains in the use of 

 oil ; and the results have in a great many instances been very suc- 

 cessful. It has had another effect also. It has stimulated inventors 

 to prepare devices for carrying the oil over the bows of vessels, and 

 has induced a number of dealers in oleaginous fluids to prepare a 

 special brand of oil for this purpose. The receptacle for the oil 

 which seems to be the most useful yet offered to navigators is the 

 design of a Swede. It is said that the British Channel fleet, while 

 cruising in the vicinity of Copenhagen, were supplied with these 

 funnel-shaped bags for distributing oil in storms. The authorities 

 at the American Navy Department have not yet admitted the value 

 of the experiments. A Chicago concern has succeeded in perfecting 

 a combination of mineral and vegetable oils, which is said to be 

 very effective for the purpose, and the Hydrographic Office is ad- 

 vised that it is being extensively carried by steamers on the Lakes 

 during the present season. Thus far there have been very few re- 

 ports of the effect of experiments on the inland lakes. A new 

 apparatus has been described in the Yacht. It consists of a vertical 

 cylinder with numerous small openings, which, by an automatic 

 process, lets the oil flow out as soon as the bow of the ship to 

 which the apparatus is fastened plunges into the water. 



THE MONTANA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR INDIANS. 

 In connection with the present movement to introduce manual 

 training as a factor in the common-school education, it is valuable 

 to make note of the testimony to its educational effectiveness de- 

 rived from experiments in other fields. Its introduction into the 

 colored schools of the South has been followed by most bene- 

 ficial results, and we now learn of its success among the Indian 

 tribes. 



The American Unitarian Association is one of the religious 

 bodies of the country which, since 1874, has had charge of the edu- 

 cation of the Indians. This association has nominally been in 

 charge of the LItes. The attempt to establish an industrial school 

 for the LUes failed, however, because of the frequent removal of 

 the tribe, its opposition to all forms of civilization, and the lack of 

 sufficient government support. Mr. Henry F. Bond, the represen- 

 tative of the association, then turned his attention to the Crow 

 reservation in Montana. 



The Crow tribe, which numbers about thirty-five hundred, of 

 whom about eight hundred are children of school age, have never 

 had any settled missionary or educational work done among them, 

 except a small government school at the agency. The tribe had 

 been originally assigned to the Methodists ; but no work has been 

 done by them, though they, as well as the Catholics, have recently 

 secured mission-sites on the reservation, which will soon be oc- 

 cupied. 



The Crows have always been the firm friends and allies of the 

 whites. They have resisted all overtures from other tribes to join 

 them in hostilities, and have always been ready to take up arms 

 against any tribe, even their own friends, who made war on the 

 whites. It is perhaps for this very reason that they have been for 

 so long neglected by missionaiy bodies, whose efforts have been 

 directed to the Christianization and civilization of those tribes from 

 whom most danger was to be apprehended. As a natural result 

 of this neglect, the Crows are among the least civilized of all the 

 tribes. They cling to their wild ways of life, and are reluctant to 

 settle down to habits of industry. They are sensual and immoral 

 in their practices. But the universal testimony of the twelve agents 

 who have been appointed to the Crows, in the last eighteen years, 

 is that they are docile, good-tempered, and not inclined to intem- 

 perance, as are most other tribes, and that they are faithfully en- 

 deavoring to adapt themselves to their changed condition. They 

 have agreed to take up allotments, and to build houses on their 

 homesteads, and cultivate the ground. The government has sent 

 out farmers with their families to settle among them, and to instruct 

 them in agriculture and the ways of civilized life ; and the agents 

 invariably speak well of their readiness to avail themselves of the 

 facilities thus afforded. Nowhere would there seem to be greater 

 need of missionary and educational work, and Mr. Bond decided 

 that here was the best field of labor. His decision was approved, 

 as were also the location selected and his plans for the erection of 

 an industrial boarding-school building to accommodate from thirty 

 to fifty pupils. The site chosen was on the Big Horn River, on the 

 mail-stage route from Custer Station on the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 road, distant seven miles, to Fort Custer thirty, and the Crow 

 agency, on the Custer battle-ground, forty, miles distant. 



The commissioner of Indian affairs also approved the location, 

 and promised a contract for Indian pupils. The government will 

 pay $108 annually for each Indian pupil taught and supported at 

 the school. The annual cost of maintaining the school, with the 

 full complement of fifty pupils, will be from $8,000 to $10,000, of 

 which sum the government's payments will constitute one-half. 



The building is substantial and commodious, made of hewn 

 Cottonwood logs, on a stone foundation, having eighty-six feet 

 frontage, with wings running seventy feet to the rear, forming three 

 sides of a hollow square. The gambrel roof gives a second story 



