Show FRIENDS OF INDIANS A Big Meeting of the Society Yesterday S GENERAL FISK AGAIN ELECTED As President of the Reforms S Re-forms Recommended In the Indian Schools Etc Friends of Scalpers LAKE lfOHAlK N Y September The sixth annual meeting of the Lake Mohank conference of Friends of the Indian was called to order this morning by Hon Albprt K Smiley member of I the board of Indian commission General Gen-eral Clinton B Fisk president of the board of Indian commissioners was for i the sixth year elected president General Whittlesly of Washington secretary of the board of Indian commissioners com-missioners gave an account of the progress of the Indian work and of the present condition There were at present ho said about 260000 Indians in the country It will be twenty years next spring since General Grant inaugurated inaug-urated the policy of peace with the Indians and the governmants management man-agement of Indian affairs is decidedly better than twenty years ago There were no schools worthy of the name Now the schools are attended by 14000 children of school age THE FIRST REGULAR PAPER of the session was presented by Dr Lyman Abbott on the need of a strong government educational system for Indian In-dian children He said that the United States government might not merely aid others but itself must assume the work of equipping civilized industry and intelligent citizenship the entire mass of Indian population now under the age of 18 The entire population of Indian children between the ages of 6 and 16 was estimated at less than 50000 The children in less than half a century would solve the Indian problem The education thus to be afforded must not be merely offered as a gift It must be imposed by superior authority reqnirement In other words the education of Indian children must be made compulsory Ic organizing such a system of education the government snould assume entire chaise of all primary education as fast as possible Contract schools should be passed over to the entire control of the government which maintains them In closingDr Abbott said the Indian schools should be taken out of politics There is only one way to take them out of politics namely by making the head of the school system nonpolitical So I long as the bureau is a part of the political machine and the schools are part of the bureau so long the school will bj part of the political macnme And so I come to the fifth last but fundamental proposition 01 this entire scheme It is that the President Pres-ident appoint a nonpolitical commission commis-sion who shall be authorized to organize or-ganize and direct the new educational system Lhat money for that system be appropriated by Congress to that educational edu-cational commission and that the appointment ap-pointment of the teachers the organization organiza-tion of schools and the maintenance of the entire system be placed under its direction and control freed from the entanglements en-tanglements involved on the one hand by connection with an administrative bureau on the other hand by the necessity neces-sity of securing influence in the House of Representatives for needful appropriations appro-priations The other speakers were Charles Howard of Chicago and Miss Collins of the mission of Standing Rock i Agency Dakota Miss Collins complained com-plained that no standard of education or of morals was required of government govern-ment Indian teachers |