Show l t I 1 H 1 4 INDIAN EDUCATION J. J I I 1 1 1 J agree that education is a g a good thing when it teaches the recipient to take his place in t e Q of life to better Letter advantage than h he could u without it But Hut education viewed as so so much merely ely abstract book learning and especially of a kind unfitted to help the student to self support and practical usefulness in the community is not aben ab n 1 fit t but a positive detriment to him ThiS Thi's the taken b the ion Hon was position by Mark delegate from Arizona in the debate on the I r Indian appropriation bill in the House on Thurs- Thurs I daj da He Ile opposed the Eastern school training of Indian boys and girls at such institutions as Carlisle Carlisle Car Cat lisle where the young redskins are filled with algebra al aI- al- al 1 gebra and philosophy to prepare them for the blanket dirt t filth and squalor which will be their inevitable doom when th they y rejoin their tribe on thet the t r reservation The government gives ives them an education lion tion such as middle class American boys and girls receive ce perhaps e perhaps better on the average But no pro pro- prof provision f vision is made to place them in a civilized environment environ environ- ment that learning might be of some use after they leave school The theory of the long dist distance dis- dis t tance nc philanthropists who control national action in hi matters n pertaining to the Indians is that the students returning to their blanketed parents a and HI HIr r relatives l will v leaven the lump and carry civilization tion like tion-like like a package e of fresh chewing gum to the uI unenlightened l of their race f. f 3 It x never e er has been known to act that way Ext Ex Ex- Ex t T f f u 1 I. I r f t i. i r t l 3 i I t h LJ fOi publication and and the purposes of legislation legislation legislation legisla legisla- tion it is a commonplace of the Indian service that the Carlisle gl graduates are the worst Indians that agents and inspectors have ha to deal with But they serve erYe the useful purpose of filling schools which h are necessary as asylums for the superannuated kinfolk and dependants of the leading people among the coterie of self appointed guardians of poor jj or Lo That fact of course renders it highly highl pr probable ir bable that the tile Carlisle and similar farces will willbe ill be pe in continuous performance until most of us art al' alp are p plunking our harps in a better land |