SUGGESTIONS OF ENLARGEMENT.
We believe that those who read in this number of the Missionary the communications from Capt. Pratt, Gen. Armstrong and Prof. Riggs may ask with good reason, Why not develop at Santee an industrial school for the Indians, of like character to those at Hampton and Carlisle? Already fair beginnings have been made. As will be seen by a cut published herewith, we have good grounds, several attractive and suitable buildings, with other improvements. By an examination of a map with reference to the location of the different Indian tribes, it will be found that Santee is accessible to seven tribes, numbering over twenty thousand souls. The railroad systems of the vicinity are such that no great difficulty or expense would be experienced in bringing students together. The tribes speaking the Dakota language number more than those speaking any other Indian dialect on the continent. The churches already established among them, with a membership of 847, are in full sympathy with the Santee school. No difficulty is likely to come from a lack of students, as already the institution has during the present year been obliged to turn them away for want of room.
SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
Mr. Thomas L. Riggs, who collected a company of Indian youth for Gen. Armstrong’s school last autumn, reports that he could have secured several times as many, if he had been seeking students for Santee. The variety of industries that it would be desirable to promote would be limited only by the wants of the people in a new country. Carpentering, blacksmithing, shoemaking, broommaking and basketmaking, are trades that well might receive early attention. It would be no part of the plan to interfere with the religious or normal school work by the more general introduction of industrial training. We believe that Christian nurture is promoted rather than retarded by attention to industrial pursuits among students, when wise oversight is given for the sake of useful achievements. The plan of locating the students in cottages, so that each home may have a quiet and healthful influence upon the untutored youth from wigwam life, is already inaugurated, and can be extended to meet all emergencies. The land at the agency is controlled by the government, but no difficulty is anticipated in securing all that may be needed for the use of the school. Scholarships may also be had in numbers and amount sufficient to warrant preparations on a large scale for a first grade normal and industrial institute. It is the purpose of this Association to weigh carefully the above considerations, and if found practicable, to develop at an early day a training school in Nebraska that shall be equal in its facilities and enterprises to the demands of the new era in the progress of Indian civilization.