[Indexed as: “Indian Education.” The New York Times (N.Y.), Sep. 20, 1892]

A dispatch, from Kingman, in Arizona, announces that a few days ago representatives from five tribes or bands of Indians met at Pine Springs to protest against having their children taken away and sent to Government schools in the East. It is said that some of them were for resorting to arms, and that a great many families had gone to the mountains to prevent their boys and girls from being carried off. It is quite possible that the parents have exaggerated the risks they run, but their feeling that it is a hardship to have their children carried a long distance away is natural. The Fifty-first Congress at its second session passed a law authorizing and directing the Commissioner of Indian Affairs “to make and enforce by proper means such rules and regulations as will secure the attendance of Indian children of suitable age and health at schools established and maintained for their benefit.” This compulsory attendance law furnishes the basis for the action of which the Arizona bands complain. But whether Congress foresaw that the authority thus given would be used to take children against the will of their parents hundreds of thousands of miles from their homes may not be so clear. To civilized people such a removal will, of course, seem a great opportunity for the youngsters. They are cared for, fed, clothed, and instructed without cost, and are made much fitter for citizenship and for success in life than their companions who receive no such advantages. But while we understand all this, to the Indian fathers and mothers the forcible wresting away of their children must look very much like kidnapping.

The Indian Bureau itself has recognized this difficulty in its rules and regulations, which prescribe that, “So far as practicable, the preferences of Indian parents or guardians, or of Indian youth of sufficient maturity and judgment, will be regarded as to whether the attendance shall be at Government, public, or private schools.” But it is further provided that, if schools in the reservations are lacking or already filed,” or if for other reasons the good of the children shall clearly require that they be sent away from home to school, they will, be placed in non-reservation schools.” – which seems to mean that, unless the parents part with them willingly, they may be taken away by force. But a law which is perfectly sound and wise, if administered by people with discretion, for procuring attendance at the reservation schools, might cause some distress if enforced to the extent of separating children from their parents for years together. Nor is is it usually understood that the Eastern training schools are unable to get their quota of pupils without such a process. There are Indians, presumably, who allow their children to go to these schools. But, however that may be, it is particularly desirable, in neighborhoods where objection is made, if the Government schools are full and private or contract schools can take them, that they should do so where the provisions made by Congress will permit.

There is no doubt that the main hope of civilizing the red man and of bringing them into line with American citizens lies in the training of their children. It would be unwise to allow the prejudices of ignorant parents to deprive the rising generation of the provisions made by the Government for their benefit. Yet it is quite evident that in this matter sound judgment and careful consideration of the peculiar circumstances of the red men are needed. Commissioner MORGAN has noted that the Indians “are loath to have their children taken from them, even for a short time. They are devotedly attached to them, miss their companionship, and are accustomed to rely upon their assistance in the performance of such simple duties as they are capable of.” Perhaps in this statement may be found an explanation of the feeling of bitterness against the Government which is now reported to exist among some of the Arizona bands. It would hardly be fair to charge them with prejudice against education if what they are really prejudiced against should turn out to be simply the sending of their offspring far away. It does not appear from the dispatch that they would object to having them instructed in schools where the parents could still have a share in their companionship. The problem, no doubt, is a difficult one, but it is evident that, while an admirable work is done by the Eastern training schools – one of whose advantages is in taking the children at an impressionable age away from their savage home surroundings – yet the ultimate reliance for the great body of the Indians must be in schools on and near the reservations. Commissioner MORGAN in his last report made a strong appeal to Congress for the multiplication of day schools, fully supplied with all the means to make up for the lack of home instruction. It would require no very extravagant amount to furnish sufficient schools and instruction for such of the Indian children of school age as cannot now be accommodated somewhere, and it might be a wise expenditure to do this within the next few years. With more reservation schools the compulsory attendance law would be enforced with a better grace and without embittering the lives of Indian parents in seeking the benefit of their offspring.