—Gen. Sherman, in his annual report, declares that many of the Indians prefer death to agricultural toil; that to convert them from a nomadic into a pastoral race is the first and fundamental problem; that each tribe must be dealt with according to its own nature; that whatever department of the Government is charged with this work, must be intrusted with large discretion to adapt its measures to emergencies. He traces the Indian wars generally to broken promises, insufficient rations and impending starvation.
—Of the joint committee to which the transfer of the Indians to the War Department is referred, the three members of the Senate are from Nebraska, Kentucky and Illinois; of the five members of the House, but one comes from as far East as this. The committee, therefore, represents communities that favor the army. It is understood that the Indians themselves do not desire the change; that the army does not want the responsibility; yet that it will probably be done, unless the President interferes, because the Indian ring desires it, and because the army makes it a point of honor.
The Chinese.
—The First Church in San Francisco, Dr. Stone’s, has just opened a new and well-appointed room in the basement for its mission and Chinese Sunday-school. The Petaluma Church has also enlarged its lecture-room for the use of its Chinese school.
—As the Chinese children are not permitted to enter the San Francisco public schools, those who have embraced Christianity are taught in the Union Mission in the old Globe Hotel. The school has two sessions, one of which is conducted by an American lady, the other by Hung Mung Chung, who is a fine Chinese scholar and a man of much dignity and scholarly attainments, said to be a lineal descendant of Confucius. During the past year Hung Mung Chung was baptized and became a member of the Protestant Church for Chinese. He teaches the children the Chinese classics and the maxims and precepts of Confucius. Each session of the school is closed by singing and repeating the Lord’s Prayer—in the morning in English, in the afternoon in Chinese.
—The San Francisco Chinamen contributed $1,200 to the yellow fever sufferers of the South. The sand-lot meetings have not yet reported the amount of their collections.
—The Chinese Sunday-school in Chicago has been in existence nearly six months, with an average attendance of fourteen scholars. It is said that the number can be largely increased if teachers can be procured.
—Rev. W. P. Paxson, Superintendent of the missionary work of the American S. S. Union in their Southwestern Department, says: “One striking event in my missionary work has been the organization of a Chinese Sunday-school in St. Louis.”
—Mr. Ha Shan Sin was baptized last Sabbath by Rev. E. D. Murphy at the Immanuel Presbyterian Chapel of this city. The young man is about twenty-two years old, was born in San Francisco, though he has spent most of his life in China. This is the sixth of the Chinamen that have been received into the churches of this city. Three have been enrolled among the members of the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, Dr. Howard Crosby’s.