EDUCATION AMONG THE INDIANS.

In presenting the facts in relation to this subject for the year 1873, it is difficult to define, in direct terms, whether they do or do not present a satisfactory result. Some progress has evidently been made, but it is as yet only in isolated cases. No general proofs are as yet obtainable, beyond that one which is evident to all who watch the course now being pursued, viz, that the Government is yearly obtaining a firmer control over the wandering and more or less predatory tribes, concentrating and settling scattered portions and bringing the more formidable bands to feel its power. This is a condition precedent to all real progress. The general divisions which have heretofore been made of civilized and settled communities, of reservation- and nomadic tribes and bands, will be readily borne in mind. They will be found serviceable by those interested and can be easily traced in the facts hereinafter presented.

INDIANS IN THE STATES, AND NOT ON RESERVATIONS.

There are small fragments of Indian tribes, who do not merge in the general body of citizens, residing in the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Indiana, and Iowa. They may be classified as follows:

Cherokees, estimated, in the three first-named States

Seminoles, in Florida..

Sacs and Foxes,* Iowa..

Liperons and Tonkaways,* in Texas..

Miamies, in Indiana

Miamies,* in Michigan.

Total....

1,700

300

419

2,000

345

19

4,783

The bands marked with an asterisk (*) are to be removed, those from Iowa to the Indian Territory, while the Miamies are about to become citizens. The Cherokees will generally remove or lose their identity; the Florida Seminoles will doubtless be "ground out;" and the Indians in Texas are about to be removed to the Indian Territory. There is nothing of special interest as to educational matters in connection with these bands to be recorded here.

THE SIX NATIONS IN NEW YORK.

The New York Indian tribes known as the Six Nations, located in that State on eight small reservations, show a steady advance in all the elements of civilized life. They numbered at the close of September, 1873, 5,141, of whom 2,531 were males and 2,610 females. This is an increase over the preceding year of 71, which is about the average per cent. of births. There are 28 district-schools on the reservation, with 28 teachers, (an addition of 2 for the year,) of whom 24 are females, with 1,259 pupils, an increase of 130 for the year. Of these, 676 were males and 583 females. During the year 208 Indians have learned to read. The Indians pay a regular school-tax and the schools are arranged under the State law. Individual Indians contributed $611 during the year; religious societies, $250. There are 13 organized churches, supplied by missionary effort. Two are Indian preachers. Of the missionaries, three are Presbyterians, four Methodists, and two Baptists. The Quakers have a training and boardingschool on the Tonawanda reservation, which is doing well. The return of dwellings, 1,024, is a little more than one for every five persons. The number of acres under individual cultivation is 19,735; the Government has none.

INDIANS IN MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, AND MINNESOTA.

These three States are properly classified together, as the largest Indian nation with which the Government deals, the Chippewa or Ojibbeway, is indifferently resident or migratory in each of them. In these three States considerable bodies of Indians are taking their land in allotment and otherwise preparing to merge into citizenship. To some extent this change has been retrogressive-missionary-and, as a consequence, educational efforts have been retarded or stopped altogether. During the past year, however, there has been a beneficial change in this respect. The Indian population in these three States is divided as follows:

The Chippewas in Wisconsin and Michigan alone number 8,533 males and 9,755 females. The value of their individual property is estimated at $911,048. Stated according to agencies, the area of their reservations, acreage under cultivation, and houses occupied by the Indians of these two States are as follows:

This makes a total of over 4,331 acres per capita, and for Michigan and Wisconsin of 13 to each house, and of about three-fourths of an acre under cultivation for each Indian. The schools show very little progress. There are reported only 17 schools, with 24 teachers and 645 pupils, of whom 344 are males and 300 females. During the past year 130 have learned to read, and there have been 3,615 Indians brought under the direct influences of the agencies and missionary teaching. In all, there are 11 school- and 5 church-buildings, the latter with a membership of 580. The amount of money contributed by religious societies for school-purposes was $2,560 and by individual Indians $200. Eight missionaries labor among them, of whom two are Roman-Catholic, three Methodist, one Presbyterian, and two Episcopalian. The inspector, Mr. O'Conner, in his report, considers the advance as quite considerable, especially in the industrial direction. He also accords special praise to the efforts being made in Minnesota. He describes them as "plain and sensible;" states the White Earth reservation to be peculiarly adapted to the use of the Indians. The Indians there are cheerful and contented. There are 4 schools, with 9 teachers, (three being employed by the American Missionary Association.) The Indians are paid for work done, principally in provisions, and considerable progress has been made. They are nearly all comfortably housed and are all owners of good stock. At Leech Lake there is 1 school, with 2 teachers. The number of scholars is not given. Efforts are being made at both reservations to establish manual-labor-schools.

NEBRASKA AND DAKOTA.

In Nebraska the Indian population is largely removed from the conditions of nomadic life, and is now manifesting the improved relations which must follow civilized surroundings. With the exception of the Pawnees, the small tribes located in the State are industrious and thriving, while the promise of the rising generation is very good. The population, their reservations, cultivated land, &c., are given in the following table:

The population is divided into 2,572 males, and 3,055 females. There are 14 schools and 23 teachers, 8 of whom are males. The attendance includes 482 male and 282 female pupils, a total of 764. The amount of money contributed by missionary and other religious societies for educational purposes is $12,080; by individual Indians, $310. Laboring among them are 14 missionaries, of the Episcopalian, Congregational, and Presbyterian Churches. The Quakers have several missions. Out of 19 school-houses, on different reservations, 13 are under the control of the Friends. There are but three church-buildings, one of which was erected by the Friends. The total membership is 570. The number who have learned to read during the past year is 101, while 4,203 are now under the direct influence of the several agencies. The foregoing facts show an average area for each Indian of 119 acres-an area far less than that possessed by any other similarly located tribes. The area under cultivation is about nine-tenths of an acre per capita, or, putting it into families averaging five each, the amount is about 44 acres for each family. There is about one house for every 16 persons and but one school for every 469 persons. The number of pupils reported is a fraction more than one in eight and one-third. According to the statistics of the preceding year there has been a decrease of attendance to the number of 207, the total reported for 1872 being 207. The figures are, after all, not accurate, in most instances being estimated, while the attendance is so irregular as to make it difficult to make exact statements. An examination of the reports shows that the general condition of the Indians in Nebraska has improved. Good manual-labor-schools are established at the Sisseton and Wahpeton, the Pawnee, Omaha, Santee Sioux, and Winnebago agencies. All of them have good buildings for their use, and the attendance upon the schools is large. The inspector reports of the Sisseton Sioux: "Their progress is all that could be expected." The Pawnees are improving slowly. The Omahas are well disposed. The Winnebagoes live in good houses," are cheerful and well satisfied with their lot" and they "present on every side evidences of industry, thrift, and good management." The Santee Sioux appear to be gradually improving in their inclination to and ability for labor." The Sioux of Spotted Tail's band at Whiteston's agency are reported by Inspector Daniels to be "peaceable, with professions of friendship for all." Spotted Tail declares they want to do like the whites: farm and live in houses.

66

In Dakota there are 15 different agencies, with a population under their charge of 97,217, nearly all of them being Sioux. The following table shows their condition as to industry and lands:

There are several reservations, the extent of which is not yet even estimated, while the area under cultivation is also larger than as given, and there is little to choose, hardly enough to make a comparison with.

Leaving out the Upper Brûlé Sioux, there are 17,217 Indians enumerated, of whom 7,040 are stated as females. Fourteen schools have been in operation, with 236 pupils, 12 teachers, and 6 school-buildings. Religious societies have contributed $11,000, and 2,538 Indians have been brought into settled conditions.

The Red Cloud and Shoshone agencies have under their control 1,224 persons, which, with the Indians who are attached but are still warring, makes their total 6,320. They have one school under the charge of an Episcopalian teacher, in which there have been 42 pupils. Eleven Indians have learned to read, and 800 have been induced to abandon their nomadic life. These facts, meager as they are, are still indicative of growth, as it is the first year they have been stated.

KANSAS AND THE INDIAN TERRITORY.

Two questions are continually rising in any broad consideration of the Indian population and its necessities. They are: first, what is the best method of withdrawing Indian tribes and bands from a nomadic and predatory life? and, secondly, when that

has been done, and the influences of civilized existence have, in greater or less degree, obtained control, what is to be the final result to the Indian minority? The fatter question is in process of being answered by the conditions surrounding and permeating the influential Indian communities embraced in the geographic area under consideration, for, with the exception of a few scattered bodies like the Six Nations of New York; the Stockbridges, Oneidas, and others, in Michigan; the Miamies, in Indiana; the Otoes and Winnebagoes, in Nebraska; numbering in all not more than 10,000 persons, the Indians of Kansas and the Indian Territory are by all odds the most advanced of their race. Their condition is such as to hold out the definite hope of saving the Indian as an integral part of our composite nationality, and so in a degree returning some compensation for the wrongs that the stronger have perpetrated upon the weaker.

KANSAS.

A large proportion of the Indians once resident or roaming in this State, have, during the last six years, been definitely removed therefrom and settled in the territory south thereof. There are at present only four agencies located in the State, with a population, reservations, &c., as follows:

These are partly in Nebraska, one reservation of 6,000 acres being in that State.
Estimated.

This gives an aggregate of about sixty-one and one-third acres to each Indian. The statistics of cultivated land are altogether imperfect, and it will be found that it is at least one acre and a half to each individual. The school-statistics are not separated clearly, from the summaries at hand, for the entire central superintendency. It is quite certain, however, that reasonable progress has been made. At the Kickapoo agency there is a mission-boarding-school, with an average attendance of twenty-five pupils. There are also two or three small district-day-schools. Inspector O'Conner considers the younger pupils fully as far advanced as white children of the same age. He says they seem unusually bright." The agency is under control of the Friends, and the Indians' advancement is slow but steady. The Pottawatomies living on their reservations are known as the "Prairie band." They have long resisted the influences which have disintegrated the tribal character of a large number of their people, who are now citizens of the State and nation. The tribe proper does not now number over 400 persons, the balance being "sectionized" citizens, who hold their lands in severalty but retain a common interest in certain annuities and other payments. Their children generally attend either the common schools or those of the Catholic mission at St. Mary's, on the Kansas River. The educational fund of this people is $10,585 annually, appropriated under treaty-stipulations or arising from the interest of trust-funds. There is a very good manual-labor-school on the reservation, in which the inspector says the children are well instructed. The scholars number thirty-four. The Iowas and the Sacs and Foxes (the major portion of this once powerful tribe are resident in the Indian Territory, only eighty-eight being included in the White Cloud agency) are stated to be thrifty and industrious; especially the former. There are sixty scholars in the dayschool, being one in four of the entire number. The Iowas also have an industrial home for orphans, supported by themselves. No data are now accessible with regard to the Kaws and their school. Their condition is stated to be improving in all respects. As for the other small communities, their condition is in all respects equally as good as that of their white neighbors.

THE INDIAN TERRITORY.

The importance of the Indian communities residing in this Territory may be best appreciated by an estimate presented from a table of comparative statistics, relative to this and other Territories. The basis is that of 1872, and is as follows:

Lands are held in common, and not valued. This is the largest amount given for any Territory except Colorado and New Mexico, and it is practically much larger than in both, as the land thereof is embraced in their valuation. The following statistics are reliable as to population, &c. :

These totals are not given as perfect, for, even as to the civilized Indians, though the figures are mainly correct, they, with the others, leave a great deal wanting. As to school-statistics, the data available for this presentation are quite imperfect. Chief Ross, in an argument before the House Committee on Territories, thus summarized the educational situation for the nations he named: "The Creeks have three missions and 2,050 church-members and an average Sunday-school-attendance of 464. They have one boarding-school and thirty-one day-schools, attended by 860 pupils, at a cost of $14,258 for the past year. The Choctaws and Chickasaws, numbering 20,000, have three missions and 2,500 church-members. They have two boarding-schools and forty-eight neighborhood-day-schools. Thirty-six of these are eustained by the Choctaws, at a cost of $36,500; fourteen by the Chickasaws, at a cost of $33,000 last year." Mr. S. S. Stephens, Cherokee superintendent of public schools, in a communication to the Bureau of Education, gives the present condition of their schools in the following statement: