LETTERS OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: SIR: I respectfully forward herewith the annual report of the Indian school superintendent for 1886, addressed to the Department and transmitted through this office. Yours, respectfully, J. D. C. ATKINS, Commissioner. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, INDIAN SCHOOL SERVICE, OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT, Washington, D. C., November 1, 1886. Hon. J. D. C. ATKINS, Commissioner of Indian Affairs: SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Indian schools for the past year. I respectfully request that you transmit it to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, as an appendix to your annual report. Yours, respectfully, JOHN B. RILEY, Indian School Superintendent. 133 REPORT OF THE INDIAN SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT. NOVEMBER 1, 1886. SIR: In obedience to the requirements of the law, I have the honor to submit the following report: Having been appointed Indian School Superintendent during the last month of the fiscal year, the credit for the advancement in the cause of Indian education, shown by statistics accompanying this report, is largely due to the earnest efforts of my predecessor, Hon. John H. Oberly, and to the Hon. J. D. C. Atkins, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In entering upon my duties a surprising fact was encountered. I found that the Indian School Superintendent, who is held in a great degree responsible for the successful operation of the Indian school system, possesses no authority to direct or control the operations of that system. In the "act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department" for the year 1882, the President was "authorized to appoint a person to inspect all Indian schools," who was "required to report a plan for carrying into effect, in the most economical manner, all existing treaty stipulations for the education of Indians, with careful estimates of the cost thereof; also a plan and estimates for educating all Indian youths for whom no such provision now exists, and estimates of what sums can be saved from existing expenditures for Indian support by the adoption of such plan." The following year the title of the office was changed to that of "Indian School Superintendent," but the duties of the office have not been further defined. Under an arrangement made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs with my predecessor, the education division of the Indian Office was organized, and all matters pertaining to schools have since been referred to that division. Since then the superintendent has had access to all correspondence relating to the schools, but he has no executive author. ity, as might be implied from the title of his office. He cannot in any way direct a system of which he is declared to be the superintendent. His position is aptly defined by my predecessor in the following language: In administration of the affairs of the Indian school system, a public officer, if clothed with powers enabling him to properly perform the duties of such administra tion, might find ample opportunity for hard work that would give the grateful return of a consciousness that something had been added by his labors to the not too abundant store of human happiness. But the Indian School Superintendent does not pos sess official authority that enables him to efficiently control the Indian school system. He has no official powers. He is a superintendent who must superintend by indirection-by inducing another officer to act upon his suggestions and recommendations. Desiring to communicate with the Indian schools, of which he is declared by the title of his office to be the superintendent, his communication will have no vitality if it is not made in the name of another officer. These objections to the office of Indian School Superintendent have been, in my case, modified in some degree by the action of Commissioner Atkins, who, with your consent, has enlarged the restricted duties of my undefined office by permitting me to aid him in the work of superintending and managing Indian school affairs. But, notwithstanding the fact that under the existing arrangement in the Indian Bureau the Indian School Superintendent does, in effect, perform the duties of superintendent, he does not perform those duties in the exercise of an official right that might be insisted upon. In view of this fact, the suggestion that the duty of an adequately authoritative supervision of the Indian school system should be imposed upon the Indian School Superintendent by law, is not, I believe, an unwise one. CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. The history and development of the Indian school system having been discussed quite fully in former reports, particularly in that of my immediate predecessor, it will be sufficient doubtless in this report to call your attention to the divisions and operation of the system and the provisions under which the various classes of schools are supported. Indian schools may be conveniently classified as follows: Day schools: 1. Established and supported by the Government. 2. Supported by contract with religious societies. 3. Mission schools established and supported by religious societies. Boarding schools: 1. Located on reservations and controlled by agents. 2. Independent schools{supported by special appropriation. supported by general appropriation. 3. Contract schools {supported by special appropriation. 4. Mission schools established and chiefly supported by religious State and tribal schools: 1. Indian schools of New York State. 2. Tribal schools of Indian Territory. SOURCES OF REVENUE. The sources of revenue by which the Indian schools are supported may be classed as follows: 1. Appropriations made under the educational provisions of existing treaties. 2. Funded investments of bonds and other securities held by the Government. 3. Proceeds of the sale of lands of certain Indian tribes. 4. Accumulations of money in the Treasury resulting from the sale of lands. 5. Annual appropriations by Congress for Indian school purposes. That the appropriations due under treaties still in force are not always made by Congress, is attributable to the fact that in many cases the Indians themselves have not complied with the necessary conditions of the law. Some twenty-two different treaties relating to various tribes yet remain in force. In some instances appropriations have not been made under the provisions of the treaties for more than ten years. DAY SCHOOLS. Day schools have, as a general rule, been established at points remote from the agencies, or on reservations where boarding schools have not been provided. They have in many cases been established through the benevolent efforts of missionaries or the wives of Army officers stationed at military reservations in the Indian country. They have, in nearly every instance, preceded the boarding school. They differ widely from the day school in civilized communities. In many instances the teacher is the only white person in the neighborhood. At first but little is accomplished, and perhaps for days and weeks not a single Indian child has been induced to attend. But as the teacher by degrees gains the confidence of the Indians, they send their children and begin to take an interest in their progress. When the Indian reaches this point, he can generally be induced to go a step farther and send his children to the boarding school. To this limited extent the day school has served, and is still serving, a useful purpose in Indian civilization. BOARDING SCHOOLS. If it be admitted that education affords the true solution to the Indian problem, then it must be admitted that the boarding school is the very key to the situation. However excellent the day school may be, whatever the qualifications of the teacher, or however superior the facilities for instruction afforded by the building and school apparatus, the civilizing influence of the few short hours spent in the day school is, to a great extent, offset by the habits, scenes, and surroundings at home-if a mere place to eat and live in can be called a home. Only by complete isolation of the Indian child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily educated, and the extra expense attendant thereon is more than compensated by the thoroughness of the work. |