ing of this large number under prevailing conditions has been worthy of commendation. That so much has been accomplished is due to the untiring zeal, sincerity, and tact of those engaged in the work. Few outside of those who have had experience in the collection of pupils upon Indian reservations can appreciate the difficulties which are presented.

Many and serious obstacles are met with, the principal of which is the ignorance of the average Indian mother and father.

The disposition and hereditary instincts of the old and conservative. Indian can not be changed, but it is the duty of the Government to train the next generation of these people so that they may become stronger mentally, morally, and physically. Therefore, it is for this purpose that the young Indian child is taken from its home to the boarding school, where the moral influences of white civilization and culture may be thrown around it and love of the civilized home instilled in its heart, in the hope that it will bear fruit in future generations. This is the policy which induces the Government to take these children during the formative period of their lives, in order that a character may be molded which will make each boy and girl a home builder and a home maker upon those principles underlying our own civilization, prosperity, and happiness. It is a firmly fixed policy, which it is believed that succeeding generations must approve, and it is a condition which must be brought about regardless of the wishes of those parents who are unfortunately so blind as not to see the advantages accruing to their race.

Many old Indians look upon governmental school work as hostile to them and the taking away of their children as hostages; others view it as a special mark of favor that their little ones should be permitted to attend school, and they demand payment for the favor. These conflicting arguments must be combated and the opposition overcome.

Among numbers of tribes there are peculiar ideas of death, and if anyone dies in the tepee or wicki-up, the rude shelter is destroyed by fire, or else direful calamities are believed will be their portion. Therefore, if a child passes away at a school, that school receives a “bad” name among the tribes cherishing this strange belief. For this reason a rigid system of physical examination of each child before it. is taken from the reservation is required to be made by the agency or other physician. But the fact is that, with all the precautions thrown around the collection of only healthy pupils, and with all the sanitary and hygienic arrangements and careful attention at the schools, death will occasionally invade them. This is of course taken advantage of by the ignorant parent, filled with superstition, and therefore the difficulty of obtaining his consent to the removal of the child is based 7555-3

upon his superstitious dread of something which may happen at a school where other children have died.

Vicious white men around the reservation sometimes foster in the Indian a spirit of opposition to the education of his children. This conduct can be actuated only by self-interest in hopes that by keeping the benefits of education away from the Indian tribe, the opportunity of such persons will be greatly enhanced for making a living out of the ignorant. Such action has been particularly emphasized at several of the reservations, and in every instance stringent measures have been adopted to eliminate these malign influences so far as possible. The seed sown, however, by these people often produces evils hard to eradicate.

A presentation of these few obstacles to the successful enrolling of a larger attendance is evidence sufficient to justify stronger measures for overcoming the adverse influences to education. It will readily be seen that the gravest of the objections raised to sending their children to school is the result of ignorance, and to the intelligent man puerile in the extreme. Knowing that the main strength of the opposition lies in the ignorance of the Indian parent, Government officials engaged in the work are enjoined to have a sympathetic appreciation of the feelings of these benighted people, and to exercise tact and good nature in dealing with them so as to overcome the natural or acquired prejudice on their part.

While the designation of the particular school to which the child should go, can not for obvious reasons be delegated to the parents, ignorant of what is best, yet in all cases their wishes are given careful consideration, and if possible, carried out. The particular school attended is not of such importance as is the attendance itself on some school.

An examination of treaties made with the various tribes will disclose that in a number of the earlier ones compulsory education was provided for, and on those reservations where it exists improved conditions have resulted. It is not contended that all Indian tribes require compulsion on the part of the Government in order that their children shall attend school. Many tribes, and many individuals, recognize the great work of the Government and cooperate in the work.

The increasing number of returned pupils is operating as leaven to the whole mass. From the isolation of one or two in a tribe, they have grown in number until they are able to combat successfully hereditary prejudices. As a rule, these pupils are the unconscious, or conscious, agents who are spreading the desire "to know" among the younger generations. Superintendents report that there is a noticeable gain in responsiveness upon the part of pupils leaving school—a greater appreciation of the responsibilities which are being thrown upon their race. They find more purpose in school life and have a keener sense of its relation to the future." The constant stream of "returned

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pupils" who have come in contact with the higher civilization of the white people is establishing a valuable connection between the school and the Indian home. Their influence finds a reflex action upon their own people, rendering the collection of raw material easier than in the earlier days of the present policy; although under the present law requiring the consent of parents to send a child off to school, this action is too frequently nullified by an ancient squaw or ignorant chief.

The recommendations made in the two preceding annual reports of the Indian Department are repeated, and it is urged that some just and equitable amendment be made to existing laws which will take from ignorant parents the privilege of continuing their children in a state of savagery and will bring the children into contact with the highest types of civilization. While it is possible with the present system gradually to overcome much of the active opposition, yet the ignorance of parents delays the consummation of all our efforts looking to the discontinuance of the heavy expenditure for Indian support and education. The old Indian must die out. The buffalo, the chase, the warpath, the ghost dance, must be forgotten as actual occurrences before many of the backward tribes will voluntarily take advantage of the schools. A compulsory school law will hasten the final accomplishment of the Government plan of absorption of tribes and extinguishment of reservations. From a business as well as sentimental standpoint, every Indian child should be taught the ordinary branches and a trade, so that the earlier may he cease to be a pensioner on the bounty of his Government and be all the name of an American citizen implies.

Communities more civilized, more enlightened than the Indian have found it necessary at times to enforce attendance upon their schools. There are twenty-nine States and two Territories of this progressive nation which have compulsory school laws on their statute books. Nearly every foreign civilized country has similar laws. The penalties imposed on parents are fines or imprisonment, or both. Although to fine a father or imprison a mother for failure to keep a child in school a reasonable and proper time may appear harsh, yet such penalties are imposed by civilized laws and communities. It may, however, to the credit of parents, be said that statistics show that they are rarely imposed and more rarely executed. The fact of the law and the power to compel attendance usually operate so as to accomplish the desired ends.

It is respectfully recommended that Congress b requested to enact the following into law:

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs is hereby authorized and directed to place every Indian child of school age in some school, where there are suitable accommodations for such child, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe for the enforcement of this law, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. As far as practicable favorable consideration shall be given to the wishes of an educated Indian parent in the selection of the school to which his child shall be sent.

The passage of this law would materially simplify the situation and not conflict with the natural desires of a parent who was sufficiently educated to understand the needs of the rising generation. On the other hand it will enable the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to extend the benefits of education to those Indian boys and girls whose parents are unwilling that they should depart from ancestral ways. The law would be broadly construed, taking into consideration the idiosyncracies of the particular tribe and the desires of the parents, but ever keeping in view the ultimate end of the policy-the civilization of the rising and future generations.

DESCRIPTION OF SCHOOL PLANTS.

The close relationship existing between a good edifice, adapted in all its parts and details to the purposes for which it is intended, and the success attending the labors of the employees within and without its walls, can not be over estimated. As well deny the mechanic the proper tools of his trade and demand perfection in the accomplished effect as to provide structures unsuited and inadequate for the divers purposes incident to the accommodation and instruction of the several communities of children under the care of this Bureau, and then demand successful and economical results from the administrative officers and employees.

Viewing the necessities of the service in the light of the foregoing, the various buildings of the school plants are substantially constructed of brick, stone, or wood, masonry being always preferable where available and funds will permit. Foundations are invariably of masonry, and the exterior walls of superstructures are furred or have a lining of hollow brick, providing an air space forming a nonconductor of heat or cold. In northern localities storm sashes are placed on all windows, adding materially to the comfort of the occupants in the rigorous winters there encountered and proving an element of economy in the consumption of fuel.

Dormitory buildings are of two descriptions-one embracing under the same roof sleeping accommodations for the two sexes, necessary attendants' rooms, recitation rooms, dining hall, kitchen, play and sitting rooms, baths, lavatories, and water-closets for the two sexes, together with laundry, bakery, necessary closets, pantries, clothes rooms, etc., in short, a complete plant with the exception of minor outbuildings. The other plan is designed for one sex only and is strictly a dormitory building, with necessary attendants' rooms, baths, lavatories, and water-closets, other requisite facilities being arranged in separate buildings. Baths, water-closets, and play rooms are usually located in the basement; lavatories convenient to dormitories, together with single emergency water-closets for night use only.

As a measure of safety, the modern dormitory buildings are limited

to two stories in height. As the sleeping apartments are principally situated on the second floor, suitable fire escapes are provided, and as an additional safeguard against fire a standpipe with hose connections on each floor is introduced.

Sanitary plumbing fixtures and principles are employed in the installation of all such adjuncts, equal to the best modern and most advanced systems in vogue. Hygienic principles are given careful consideration in the study of plans. Dormitory rooms are devised to insure between 400 and 500 cubic feet of air space for each child, which, together with a thorough system of ventilation permitting between two and three changes of air per hour, assures a healthful atmosphere for occupants.

As in the case of dormitory buildings, schoolhouses are devised in the light of the most advanced science in their construction. Recitation rooms are proportioned to seat not exceeding 50 pupils. The arrangement for light is such as to admit an abundance to every part of the room and prevent the inconvenience and danger of any excess glare or reflection or cross light. The ventilating system adopted insures at least three changes of air per hour.

The system of heating the various buildings is through the medium of steam or hot water, and either from a central station or by boilers placed in the individual buildings, the heat being distributed by "direct" radiators placed about the rooms and passages. The surplus air required for ventilating purposes is introduced by the "directindirect" system, being admitted through apertures in walls and conveyed through galvanized-iron ducts to radiators, where, being warmed, it is distributed to the rooms.

The inherent danger in the use of kerosene for illuminating purposes induced this Department several years ago to substitute the more modern and safer systems of lighting by electricity and gasoline gas, each of which systems has proved satisfactory and greatly advantageous to the health of the pupils and for the best interests of the service.

Attention is also paid to the ornamentation of the school grounds. Shade trees are required to be placed on the lawns and in the yards; playgrounds are provided, the design being to present a pleasing outlook to the eye and furnish an object lesson to the Indian pupil and his parents of the immense importance of adopting civilized means of living. The Indian is largely taught objectively, and when he sees the difference between the home of the white man and the tepee on the river bottom it raises in his heart a spirit of emulation, if not in the older at least in the younger who has received a taste of the benefit of these modern appliances.

The only criticism offered in opposition to the plan of making comfortable, modernized school plants arises from those people who conceive that the Indian is being educated in a way which lies beyond the