Crossing the continent twice, of late, I found the universal creed to be “There is no good Indian but a dead one,” which has been adopted by over half the intelligent people of the East.
Capt. Pratt writes as follows from Carlisle, Pa.: “Of the Florida boys who were formerly at Hampton, five have died; three,—Bear’s Heart, Etahdleuh and Roman Nose—are still East: the two last being here render valuable assistance to me by example and effort. The others have all returned to their tribes, and, with the exception of Tounkeuh, are reported us doing well for themselves and for their people. Several are mentioned as specially useful.
“We have 139 boys and 57 girls, 196 in all. The readiness of children to come is in advance of the willingness of parents to send at Miles’ Agency, and probably at the Kiowa too; but there is in general such desire for education that I believe no great difficulty would be experienced in getting nearly all the children in the schools from most of the tribes.”
The Carlisle School was established by an act of Congress, accompanied by an official report from which I extract as follows:
“Experience has shown that Indian children do not differ from white children of similar status and surroundings, in aptitude or capacity for acquiring knowledge; and opposition or indifference to education on the part of parents decreases yearly: so that the question of Indian education resolves itself mainly into a question of school facilities.”
Sons of Indian Chiefs, at Carlisle, are now making a portion of the shoes, harnesses, wagons, tin-ware and other supplies needed by the Department of Indian Affairs.
Indians think. Their wise ones know that there is no hope for them but in taking the white man’s road. But there is also a stubborn, unyielding class. There are progressives and conservatives, as among all thinking people.
The braves will not fight the people who are educating their children. Every Indian child at school is a hostage.
I recently met an army officer who told me that in the summers of 1877 and 1878, five hundred thousand dollars had passed through his hands, as Quartermaster, in payment of Oregon settlers, for supplies and services in Indian wars; and that the past summer they had been trying to get up another war for the sake of another five hundred thousand.
Our system of treaties, annuities and rations is an acknowledged failure. Distribution is without regard to merit, and encourages idleness among the one hundred and fifty thousand beneficiaries of the Government.