Weekly Chemawa American., December 19, 1902, Page 7, Image 7

THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN."
7
INDIAN EDUCATION.
Indian AKent Erwii. this Is anerror, be
ing Aifftit J.'nRn of Okl ihoma la opp wed
to the education "f the Indiana. n a
report to the Commi-sioner of Indian affairs
!-e declares that the tadc of educating the
Indhns, young or old, is a useless and
hopeless one. In the report he says: '
"Hardly any of the young Indians, thoBe
who have graduated from Don-reservation
schools, an well as those who have attended
for a number of years, do any work at all.'
It can beset down as a perfectly safe rule
that, as a class, the young educated Indians
an the moat worthless ones In the whole
tribe. Nearly all the work performed by
the tribes is done hy the 'mtddleagtd ones,
whocannot write nrspeak English.
The educated Indian coming from the
chsols usually gives the excuse that be
his nothing with which to work, neither
uioiipy, implements nor stock of any kind.
This in true, but I noticed that rhey man
vedtolive nn their annuities and lease
money and buy horses, buggies, etc., on
cie lit and borrow money from the banks
wiih but little prospect of ever being able
to repay their debts " '
But there are other men who have given
this siilet thought and attention who are
equally sure that, the education" of the In
dian fs a great work, and that It- Is having
good effect already, and Is Rure to have a
nj'Te marked effect in the future.
The trouble with Mr. Erwin, and those
who think like him, appear to be that
they expect loo much. They look to see
the habits of the race for thousmda of years
ertidicrfted b two or three years of the
whit- iiimii's school. All the white boys
who pi milage are not benefited thereby
Many of hem would be better off, and
wnu'd be of more ute In the world, if they
were wet to work whhut the cramming of
their bruins w ith a mass of knowledge -Hint
they do not understand and Cure
noihinir about. Surely when the whites,
the children of centuries of civilization and ,
intellectual develop me i it can not all profit
hy holier education, surely we should oot
expect too much from the children of
the wilds.
The Indian can not be brought tip to the
white lnvel by two or three years' eduoition.
It will take centuries to do that. But the
Indian can and la improved by the contact
with a superior civilization, and the effects
of that contact ispuretotelltntime. Mean,
time the government perhaps ought to give
more attention to putting the Indian to
useful employment after it gives him an
education than ltdoes. Itshouldendeavor
to prevent him from drifting back into the
old habltB of the tribe. Dally Tribune,
A Timely Lesson.
The scorching which'Col. R H Prift Is
giving the fake story writer who has ben
manufacturing lies by the wholesale to the
detriment of the Indian and the whole
Indian Service, is one which will mlte the
said fakir squirm and tremble, and .will
prove a timely lesson ti newtpiipe- to ex- '
ercise greater care in the future bef ire pule '
lishinsi flashing stories against even the
Indians of this country without Art fully
Investigating the truth of the matter. AW
Mends of the Indian as well as lovers of
rtKht, truth and justice cannot thank Col.
Pratt sufflnieatly for his earnest and fear
less prosecution or the Philadelphia news- '
paperand its fake St. touts correspondent
for writing and publishingan article which
was false to the core, chanting White Buf
falo, a young Cheyenne Indian, a former '
student Of Carlisle, with murdering threa
white women. And stories have been fre
quently published in leading Sunday news
papers slandering and misrepresenting the
Indian and cause the peleofthe country
who might read and believe such imaglna- t
ry yarns to eiiteriaio prejudice and erone- !
ous ideas of the Indian character. It wis
time call a halt and Ojl. Pratt, the tru
staunch friend of the Indtan, did not miss
the opportunity to do so.
There are no failures In life( more pitia
ble perhtpi than th'a which' result from
too tntiub success. E, -