“The whole number of children who can be accommodated in the boarding-schools now provided at the various agencies is only 2,589. To these may be added 5,082 more, who can find room in day-schools—those expensive make-shifts for educational appliances among Indians,—making a total of only 7,671 Indians who have yet been placed within reach of school facilities. And when it is considered that the fifty youth who spend from one to three years in a boarding-school, must step from that into the social atmosphere created by 500 youth and 2,500 other members of the tribe who are still in ignorance, it can readily be seen that the elevation of an Indian tribe is being attempted by a method at least as slow as it is sure; and that what should be the work of a year will be protracted through a decade, and the work of a decade through a generation.
“In many cases this policy is not only short-sighted, but in direct contravention of treaty stipulations, as, for example, the treaty of 1868 with the Kiowas and Comanches (heretofore noted). The one boarding-school at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency, which will accommodate 75 pupils, is filled, and the other 425 children are waiting their turn. To comply with treaty stipulations with these two tribes would more than absorb the entire fund appropriated for the civilization and education of all the Indians in the Indian Territory, exclusive of the five civilized tribes. Even more glaring violations of educational clauses in Sioux treaties might be cited.”
The experience of the Department has been that the best results are obtained by a removal of the children from all tribal influence during the progress of education, so that educators can command all the time and attention of their pupils.
Youth so educated return to their tribes as teachers, interpreters and examples in farming, etc.; and if properly sustained and guided thereafter, prove far more effective guides than whites of the same capacity.
Nothing is more essential than that Indian youth, while passing through school, should have thorough instruction in some practical branch of labor that will meet their needs for obtaining a livelihood after leaving school.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. J. Brooks, Acting Commissioner.