It was a bleak, raw day when I visited their camp, and many of them were looking back regretfully to the comfortable houses they had built and occupied with so much pride at Mount Vernon. They were protecting themselves as best they could in brush and cloth tepees. It is to be hoped that this recurrent plunge into tepee life may not have a demoralizing effect upon them.

The War Department had turned over to Lieutenant Scott 50 mules, harnesses, wagons, and varied material from Fort Supply, which had just been abandoned. A detail of the men were engaged in cutting trees for their picket houses, and the work was being pushed with energy. Provoking delays had occurred because of what seems somewhat hesitating cooperation of the commissary department in Washington, but the obstacles were disappearing, and the lieutenant was quite hopeful of all the support necessary. His plan is to establish them for the present in a somewhat compact village, select lands on which they are to be, as he hopes, permanently located for cultivation the coming season, and gradually, as an Indian is ready, move him out upon it and build for him a permanent house.

The question of a school for the fifty-odd children who were in the school at Mount Vernon was giving him some anxiety; there was no room for them in the school at Fort Sill nor in the Kiowa or Wichita schools. The probabilities seemed that he would make a contract with the father in charge of the Catholic mission school near Anadarko. It seems unfortunate that the ladies who had charge of them at Mount Vernon could not, or at least did not, accompany them to their new home, for they were doing admirable work. It is encouraging to know that after all these years of wasteful delay in disposing of them, and of inexcusable injustice to those who were wrongly classed with and treated as hostiles, though possessed of certificates of good conduct and faithful service as scouts, they are at last to have a home.

KIOWAS AND COMANCHES.

Captain Baldwin, the officer last detailed as agent for the Kiowas and Comanches, reached his agency the morning of the same day on which I arrived. Job said, in his great patience, that he would await all his appointed days until his change came. Had he been agent for the Kiowas and Comanches his delay probably would not have been long, for the changes here have come with great rapidity; too great for any continuity of work, and, of course, for any hopeful results of work on the part of any agent however good or wise he may be. This is not intimating at all that changes there have not been wise, considering the character of some of the appointments.

The future of these Indians depends largely upon what action may be taken with reference to the approval or nonapproval of the recent agreement made with them by the Cherokee commissioners. That they were defrauded outrageously in this agreement is certain. That they were greatly deceived by the commissioners, they assert, and the state of mind in which they were left after their negotiations was not a hopeful one. It is to be hoped the expressed determination of the Secretary of the Interior to hold this land for the Indians, if allowed by Congress to do so, will be carried out, and thus the experiment will be made under wise supervision, whether they can not be made self-supporting upon it.

The appointment of Captain Baldwin as agent was regarded by army officers who are friends of the Indians as being a wise one. Of course there was no opportunity to form an opinion in regard to this, as he was not in possession of the agency.

INDIAN SCHOOLS.

A visit to the Ponca, Shawnee, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Wichita schools, allowing opportunity for comparison with observations made from time to time during the past six or eight years, affords ground for congratulation. These schools are all full; there has been a very marked elevation in the character of the employees in charge, and abundant evidence that great progress has been made, especially in the last two years, in educational work. There are yet many things that are open to criticism, but advance has been so marked and so gratifying that criticism is almost silenced. Positions in these schools which are not under civil service, it must, however, be said, are weak points, and the objective points at which the politician still aims. These are openings through which, to a greater or less extent, disturbing influences still find their way. There is good ground for hope that still greater progress will be made when the working of a reformed service is less hampered by traditions of the past, or by hope for its overthrow and defeat. Many of these schoolhouses and dormitories are deficient and badly constructed, and school must always be carried on under some difficulties. For instance, the reported capacity of the Comanche school is 155. There is not room in the dormitories to decently care for more than half that number, and the rooms are literally packed with beds in which two or three children, and in case of larger beds perhaps more, sleep.

Comparisons are odious, perhaps, but the work of the matron at the Wichita school is so far in advance of anything I have ever seen in any Indian school it should have special commendation. Not only was everything "spick and span clean," whatever that may mean, but pains and good taste had been used to the utmost of available material to make the dormitories pleasant. One could not but feel that a subtle but potent element of refinement here entered into our civilizing effort, which has been hitherto sadly wanting, except in the most advanced of the nonreservation schools. Very respectfully,

Hon. MERRILL E. GATES, Chairman.

.C. C. PAINTER.

The expenditures by religious societies during the last year for Indian missions and education (not including special gifts to Carlisle, Hampton, and other schools) are as follows:

JOURNAL OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF MISSIONARY BOARDS AND INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATIONS.

The conference met at the Ebbitt House, Washington, January 16, 1895, at 10 a. m., President Gates in the chair.

Prayer was offered by the Rev. Herbert B. Turner, chaplain of the Hampton Institute.

President GATES: On Saturday last our honored friend, Prof. C. C. Painter, was deeply engrossed, as he has been for years, in plans and work for the cause which brings us together. On Sunday morning he found himself not quite well, yet he arose, not anticipating any serious illness, nor did his friends feel alarmed; but before the close of the day he had passed on into the larger life-as our Friends are accustomed to say, "from works to rewards."

We can not escape a sense of especial sadness at this meeting as we come together at the open grave of one who, for several years, has been most active here at Washington, and upon whom our honored Secretary had learned to rely as upon a younger brother. They two guarded the interests of the Indian here in Washington at many threatened points. We can not, I say, escape a feeling of especial sadness, his death coming so immediately before our own meeting and at a time when he largely held the threads of these different lines of work in his hands. No one has yet been able to gather up all the lines of effort which he held when he so suddenly fell in his place at his work.

At a later hour we shall wish to speak more fully of Professor Painter, and of what he has accomplished for the Indians.

It is but a few weeks since another, whose counsel was always most valuable at our conferences, was as suddenly taken from us. No one who ever met President Rhoads, of Bryn Mawr, can have failed to be impressed by the singleness of his purpose, his absolute kindliness, his utter unselfishness and guilelessness, and the power of his noble character. And yet, when he took hold of a matter which required practical judgment and penetration, he gave evidence that the wisdom which cometh down from above makes earthly plans prosper too, when applied to their conduct, and is more than a match for selfish, sinful scheming. He was a most valued adviser and friend.

President Rhoads had left his home to go to Philadelphia, and had taken his seat in the railway station to wait for a train that was to take him to attend a lecture on sociology, the first of a course by his friend the Rev. Dr. George D. Boardman. As he sat waiting for his train, his head was seen to fall quietly forward, and in a moment he had breathed his last.

We can not enter upon our conference without referring to these friends of such long standing, of such unselfish devotion to this work. We can not look forward without missing them. But sorrow is not to be the keynote of our meeting. Our work is unfinished. Their memory incites us to go forward with it, hopefully. There has never been a year since I have been connected with this work when there was more promise and more need of careful supervision and devotion than

now.

But instead of attempting to outline the present condition of the work, or my own thought of it, I shall ask you to pass with me at once to the principal object of this conference-the securing from the representatives of our various religious bodies a report of the facts at their schools and missions, and of the tendency of their work. Special interest attaches to these reports at this time, because of the severance between the contract schools and the Government, when we think what this sever

ance means.

Shall it mean that by a narrow economy on the part of the Government every dollar so withdrawn shall be covered into the Treasury; or shall it mean that the money no longer appropriated for these contract schools, with an additional sum, shall be used to establish a full and adequate system of primary, secondary, and higher education open to Indian children and youth, until Indian schools shall be merged in the general public-school system of the land? The religious denominations, in withdrawing from the contract system, do not mean that they give up their interest in the Indian. Shall we, as Christian workers and lovers of our fellow-men. let the surrender of Government aid mean a diminution of interest in the Indians? Shall we allow ourselves to be drawn into this view of the case that, since Government has withdrawn its aid, Christians may draw back from Christian missionary

and educational work? I think we shall look with great interest to the reports that are made this year, and to the work of the denominations in the coming year, as indications of the future attitude of the religious societies toward the Indians. Never was there such a demand for the power of the gospel of Christ as to-day. Those who have had children know that during the transitional period from boyhood to manhood young people must be guarded by parents until they are accustomed to manage their own affairs; and all thoughtful persons understand that in the progress of a people from savagery to Christian citizenship there comes such a period, when to help them to stand alone, and to guard them as they learn to act for themselves, is the greatest kindness. We have protested against continuing that system which held the Indians pauperized by rations and prevented the development of their manhood and womanhood. Now, under the operation of powerful laws which we have set in motion, that old parental relation of the Government to its wards, involving duties which were never fully and wisely discharged by us, is coming to an end. Of course we ought to help our former "wards" to meet the especial dangers of the new life of entrance upon citizenship. We can help them most efficiently by Christian education.

When the Indian has taken his allotment and begun to manage for himself, how shall he be protected when he needs protection? Our first and instinctive feeling is that he ought to have the same sheltering and protecting arm about him that he has had in the past. But the question arises, How can this be? If the bill provides that when a man takes up an allotment, he becomes a citizen of the United States, how far can the Government still shield him? The Indian agent can not have his old power. What powers do remain to him? The courts have given different opinions upon this question. How the power that is to remain with the agents, while agents are still continued, how this power is to be defined by the ultimate authority, is an important question, which must await the decision of our highest courts.

But, meanwhile, Indians in this transition period are threatened with dangers which we can see at once clearly. They are going rapidly to destruction at some of the old-time agencies, under the flood of intemperance and of other vices, which pour in upon them under the greedy guidance of saloon keepers. We are driven to see the need of what Lowell speaks of as the work of greatest importance for educated men and women who love their country, the work of "strengthening the bases of personality" in these newly-made citizens. And there is but one power that does this work effectively. There is but one power sufficient for it, and that is the power which the religious bodies here represent. It is the power that works at the center of life and out from the center of each man's life, breaking the power of temptation and strengthening manhood. We therefore turn with pleasure and interest to the reports of our religious societies. It has been our custom to hear from them in the alphabetic order of their names, and I shall call first for the report of the Baptist denomination, from Dr. Morgan, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He is not here, but he has sent us a message.

There has been no very marked change in the work carried on during the year, and that done hitherto, by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in the work among the Indians. Our work is confined entirely to the Indian and Oklahoma Territories, and embraces both missionary and educational effort. For many years the society has prosecuted its work among the Five Civilized Tribes, with very encouraging success; latterly, it has established mission stations among the Comanches near Fort Sill, among the Kiowas at Rainy Mountain and Elk Creek; very encouraging reports reach us from all three of these new stations. The society has employed, during the year, fifteen missionaries, one of whom, Rev. Dr. J. S. Murrow, who has been engaged in the work for about thirty-seven years, is now a general missionary, having the oversight of all of our Indian missionary work.

During the past year some new chapels have been erected, and especial attention has been given to the development of the Indian churches in the way of organization and self-management. It is estimated that there are nearly 4,000 Indians who are communicants in regular Baptist churches, and the general average of piety and of Christian life among them compares very favorably with that among frontier people of similar grade of general advancement in civilization. The total amount expended by us for strictly missionary work has been $5,410.

The society sustains 5 schools: Indian University, located at Muscogee, Ind. T., with an attendance of 96 students; Cherokee Academy, at Tahlequah, with an attendance of 58; Seminole Academy, We wo ka, with an attendance of 137: Atoka Academy, Atoka, attendance, 127; Wichita School, Anadarko, Okla., attendance, 43; making a total of 461 pupils-241 males and 220 females. The whole number of teachers in these schools is 21, and the expenditure of the society for their support during the year has been $8,234.21; so that the total amount of money paid for missionary and educational work has been $13,644.21. This does not include the amount that has been paid for the erection of chapels.

Yours, very truly,

T. J. MORGAN, Corresponding Secretary.

REPORT OF AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION'S WORK.

The work of the American Missionary Association, which represents the Congregational churches in the Indian field, was reported by Secretary C. J. Ryder, D. D. The A. M. A., is now reaching some twenty tribes with its schools and missions. There are 8 central stations with 60 missionaries, and 26 "outstations" with 40 missionaries. These missions represent all forms of Christian educational work. Industrial training is a prominent feature in some of these central stations. We have now the following industries taught in our Indian schools: Shoemaking, blacksmithing, carpentering, tinning, printing, cooking, sewing, nursing.

Some of these lines of industrial training are especially important and significant. Take printing to illustrate. The Indian pupil does not learn the English language in an indifferent and loose way, as is often the case, but accurately and exactly through typesetting. He must know the spelling of words and the construction of sentences even to their punctuation, in order to meet the requirements of this industrial discipline. The printing class work under the A. M. A. is the best possible means of Americanizing in language the Indian people.

The Dawes bill has been a very great help in this missionary work among the Indians. The Indians are taking property in severalty and so gaining permanency in local habitation, and little by little getting the idea of possession and of home. This land hunger, or desire for possession of real property, is the basis of all permanent civilization. The Dawes bill is making this possession possible, and the missionaries little by little are bringing the Indians to realize the importance of this personal possession of property. The home love and desire are also fostered by the mission. aries of the A. M. A., greatly to the advantage of the Indians and to the permanency of their development. They also emphasize the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, holding mass meetings at Fort Yates, in which lessons of patriotism by object lessons are thoroughly inculcated. These A. M. A. schools planted on the prairies are the nurseries for the Indians in intelligent Christian citizenship, and are of incalculable value to the Government.

Another interesting feature of the A. M. A. work is the comparatively new mission at Crow Agency, Mont. The Congregationalists are the only Protestant denomination doing work among these Indians, of whom there are about 3,000, with the exception of a school under the direction of the Unitarians, but largely supported by Government funds. This mission of the A. M. A. is under the charge of a devoted young man and his wife, and has proved very useful and promising, but it suffers greatly for lack of funds.

Another important feature of the Congregational work under the A. M. A. in the Indian field is the progress and development of outstations. These outstations are in the heart of the Indian country. The teachers and pastors are converted Indians. As in foreign fields upon the testimony of experienced missionaries, so in our own field, no one can so effectively reach the heathen people as the members of their own nation when thoroughly converted. Acting upon this fundamental principle of successful missionary work the A. M. A. has commissioned Christian Indians who are doing work in the heart of these reservations. This has already proved an essential element and an important one in the final solution of the Indian problem. The A. M. A. has work among the Indians in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Alaska. Notwithstanding the pitiful reduction of funds, this Indian work has forged ahead hopefully and encouragingly. The blessing of God has evidently been upon it and most self-sacrificing missionaries have been at the front. It is with great pain that Secretary Ryder reports that Dr. A. L. Riggs, of Santee Agency. Nebr., has been seriously and painfully ill from overwork, and that Rev. T. L. Riggs, of Oahe, S. Dak., has been stricken with blindness from the same cause. We hope that the loss of Mr. Riggs's sight is only temporary. But is not this an appeal to the churches adequately to support this great work, that this pitiful affliction has come upon Mr. Riggs through the lack of consecrated funds to carry on the work properly, and with sufficient force?

The hospital especially for Indian women and children at Fort Yates, N. Dak., which has been conducted by the A. M. A. for several years has been closed temporarily for the lack of funds. Last year the doctor, a Christian woman from the East, thoroughly trained for her work, reported 40 patients in the hospital, and professionally visited between 1,200 and 1,500 Indians in their tepees and cabins on the prairie. It seems a sad pity that such a magnificent work as this should be discontinued even temporarily. It leaves a multitude of Indian women and children in sad straits when sick.

To sum up I would say, first, that the central missions have suffered in numbers from the loss of Government aid, but improved in quality of pupils because such careful selection was made from the many who applied; secondly, that the outstation work of the A. M. A. has been especially prosperous and encouraging. It has been the prevalence of the gospel of Jesus Christ reaching the Indians in their homes and tepees, and proving as it always does "the power of God unto salvation" to the red man as to his pale-face brother.