The Chemawa American, January 01, 1916, Page 12, Image 12

10
THE CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
THE NEW COURSE
O F S T U D Y F O R I N D I A N H O Y S A N D G IR L S
EVEREND Samual A. Eliot, son of ex-President
Charles W. Eliot of Harvard, and himself a member
of the Board of Indian Commissioners, evoked con­
siderable interest and enthusiasm during his address
at the Congress on Indian Progress at the San Fran­
cisco Exposition last August. In the course of that
address he made the following comment upon the
Government’s Indian schools:
“ I can tru ly say, a fte r m a tu re in v estig atio n and d elib eratio n , th a t th e
In d ian system of Schooling in th is co u n try is th e best A m erica h as.
“ T he In d ian system recognizes th a t education is not th e accum ulation
of facts, but th e in te rp re ta tio n an d application of facts. T he end of th e
In d ia n ’s education is not th e acquisition of k n o w led g e so m uch as th e
a cq u irin g of pow er’’.
This is encouraging indeed to the workers in the Indian Service who
feel that it is rather the expression of an ideal than that of an accom­
plishment. But, after all, as Carl Schurz has said:
“ Id eals are lik e stars; you will no t succeed in to u ch in g th em w ith
y our h an d s, b u t, lik e th e sea-farin g m an on th e d esert of w ater, you
choose th em as your guides, an d , follow ing th e m , you reach y o u r d e s­
t i n y .”
Hon, Cato Sells, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in his desire to
have the Indian Service materially improved by and through his ad­
ministration, believes he can best do so through the educational insti­
tutions under him. One can better realize the possibilities of such a
campaign for betterment when one realizes that, either directly or in­
directly, the schools reach every or nearly every Indian home in the
country. It would therefore seem almost inevitable to utilize the schools
for any very general effective campaign for betterment. Commissioner
Sells wisely aims to secure increased efficiency in the schools and there­
fore aims to make them more directly touch and vitalize the actual
activities of the Indians themselves. With this end in view Commis­
sioner Sells designated a committee of his experienced and practical
field men to assist in solving this problem. This committee from the
field consisted of the following gentlemen: Supt. O. H. Eipps of
Carlisle School, Carlisle, Pa.; Supt. E. A. Allen of Chilocco School,
Oklahoma; Supt. F. M. Conser of Riverside School, California; Supt.
Peyton Carter of Wahpeton School, North Dakota; Dr. Charles M.
Buchanan, Tulalip Agency, Washington. The last-named gentleman
was the only one on the committee living on an Indian reservation and