to him in his own life. Yet I have heard teachers
experienced in public school work declare that these children of nature
are as responsive as white children; in writing and drawing they excel;
and discipline is easier, at least among the wilder tribes. The result
in thirty or forty years has opened the eyes of many who heretofore
held the theory that the Indian will always remain Indian.

Admitting that these schools compare well with state institutions which
are on a similar basis, and are controlled by political appointments,
there are some abuses, as might be expected. While there are fine men in
charge of certain schools, there are others who are neither efficient
nor sympathetic with the cause of Indian uplift. Most regrettable is the
fact that the moral influence of such schools has been at different
times very low. The pupils themselves have come to look upon them as
political institutions and to discard all genuine effort. It is a case
of serve the master and he will not bother you; all else is merely show.
I believe that there has been some improvement in recent years, chiefly
on account of the protection given by the rules of the civil service.
Let the teacher set an example of honest living and the scholar will be
sure to follow; but if the one is a hypocrite, the other will become
one. Remember, you have induced or forced the Indian mother to give up
her five and six year old children on your promise to civilize, educate,
Christianize--but not subsidize or commercialize them!

Some of the reservations are oversupplied with schools, while others,
notably the Navajo, have almost none. In the former case, the Indian
parents are kept in an anxious state and often very unhappy. Since the
Indian Bureau has required the superintendent to keep up his quota of
pupils, or the number of teachers and the total appropriation will be
reduced in proportion, he may be compelled, as some one has said, to
"rob the cradle and the grave"--in other words, he is not careful to
omit those under age and the sickly ones. Much harm has been done by
placing children in an advanced stage of tuberculosis in the same
dormitory with healthy youngsters. Irregular attendance is too often
tolerated; and a serious evil is the admission of children of well-to-do
parents, who dress their young folks extravagantly, supply them with
unlimited spending money, and who, in all reason, should be required to
pay for their support and education.

An