Kansas line, 6 miles south from Arkansas City, Kans. In the reservation are thirteen and a half sections (8,640 acres) of as choice farming land as is often seen, nearly all of which is available for cultivation.

1

There is under cultivation about one section (640 acres); the remainder is used for hay-cutting, grazing, etc. Farming is done upon an extensive scale; 100 acres are in corn, 100 in wheat, and 200 in oats. The great kitchen garden for the use of the school is luxuriant in its growth of nearly every vegetable for the table known in the latitude. The orchard of peach trees presented an appearance of healthfulness and thrift.

Apple, apricot, nectarine, pear, and other young trees were coming forward and will soon yield abundant fruit. The soil is kept so well tilled that in these nurseries scarce a weed was to be seen.

The superintendent informed me that one object he has in mind in developing these nurseries is to have plenty of young fruit trees of the choicest varieties for the farms of the scholars when they make their homes upon their allotments. The work upon the farm is largely done by the boys under the supervision of the farmer; they are good workers and were seen in all directions, handling the plow, harvesting the wheat, pulling weeds in the garden, gathering vegetables for the table, milking the cows, or at some other employment. The smaller boys were in the class

rooms.

The buildings are upon a grand scale, something unequaled in appliances for the work for which they were constructed. The material used in building the fine edifices is a light-colored stone which is quarried upon the farm; it makes a beautiful structure, and the architecture of the two which were completed a year ago and which have been in use meantime, is of a high order. The internal arrangement of the girl's building is as nearly perfect as human experience has devised or conceived. The building containing class-rooms, with the superb auditorium on the upper floor, is a model in every respect. The building in which is the great kitchen and dining room is also a model in its way-clean, spacious, well ventilated and comfortable.

The stable for the horses, as well as the immense barn for hay and for the cattle, are upon a grand scale; not so expensive, but large and convenient. Everything is planned for an extensive work, and yet when I got the figures as the cost of the structures recently finished they seemed small to one familiar with the cost of putting up large and fine buildings in the East. Much attention has been given to sanitation, so that the health of scholars, teachers, and employees ought to be good; this work is not yet completed, however. One feature of the plan consists of a furnace with a large and tall chimney, where is burned the refuse, etc., of the establishment. The building used for hospital purposes is a marked exception to the others; it is an old, low, frame structure, inferior and ill adapted to the purpose for which it is used. Requisition has gone to Washington for a new edifice, which I hope may be granted. Only a few days prior to our visit the tall chimney connected with the kitchen was struck by lightning and a good deal shattered. Masons were running up a staging preparatory to a careful examination to see if it could be repaired or if it must come down. Fortunately, though shattered and apparently split, it did not fall; had it fallen it would have crushed the kitchen roof and might have fallen upon the hospital, which is quite near.

Great preparations were in progress for the closing exercises of the school, which were to occur within a few days. The handiwork of the girls as exhibited in the triumph of combination in lace and satin, for graduation gowns, was worthy their white sisters; and the work was all their own. We saw nothing of class exercises, but the art specimens exhibited, the work of the scholars, was superior.

Work and progress are the watchwords here, and withal there is a moral side; there is so much of religious and Christian influence that a branch Young Men's and a branch Young Women's Christian Association are maintained.

CONCLUSIONS.

Several features impressed themselves upon my mind which were gratifying. Increased efficiency in the schools I mention first, a higher grade of teachers as a whole, better attendance on the part of the scholars, greater regularity, and less absenteeism. Most schools visited were filled to their limit, and some were overcrowded. I visited no school where the scholars seemed to be unhappy or discontented. I found very little sickness, and only one who was seriously so, and yet she was with her mates at the supper table, but was suffering from pulmonary trouble. More of the children were learning to work on the farm, and there was improvement in that work.

The tribes visited this summer had had less intercourse with the whites, so that the scholars were mostly full-bloods and were freer from the evils which contact with low whites imparts. Much can be said in favor of civil-service appointments, and

I am more and more satisfied with the working of the law, and advocate its further extension. This is the result of observation, for I have come gradually and through experience to favor its application in the school service. One superintendent whom I met, a civil-service man, was successful as a teacher, but a poor manager of the farm. Such cases occur, but I am satisfied that much of the improvement is owing to the toning up of the service, and the civil-service law and rules have done much to this end.

Very respectfully,

Hon. MERRILL S. GATES,

DARWIN R. JAMES, United States Board of Indian Commissioners.

President of United States Board of Indian Commissioners. BROOKLYN, N. Y., August 23, 1894.

APPENDIX.

Hosteen Deete Sahghy said:

"We started from Gallup, N. Mex., and it took us three nights to go to Chicago. The agent wanted us to see the Americans and to see how they live. The place where the Fair was is fenced on one side, and on the other is a lake; one side there are houses, big houses, all fenced in. The white people's and Indians' world is round, and people live all over, east, west, south, and north. Indians don't believe the world is moving; but the white people showed how it moves, and they showed the Indians how to live, and everything. 'Way back, when the white people commenced to live, they lived like the Navajoes; now they show the Navajoes how to live. It took four years to collect all the things at the World's Fair. We saw all different kinds of shoes and hats, etc., from all different parts of the world; all other goods, and things brought from everywhere.

"It was like sweeping together all these things and all the people at the Fair from all the world. It might take some by steam to cross the ocean three months. Navajoes were brought for the whites to see and to see the whites. We saw machinery that made cloth. It used to be made by hand, now all made by machinery, and that is what they want Indians to see; and the locomotive and cars that were first made not long ago, not one hundred years yet. There was an old can and they stopped it up and saw how to make an engine; that the steam was strong. Different kinds of calico were gathered there, and old axes and new. Now they eat different kinds of food; way back they did not eat good food. Away back they used to cut trees for wagon wheels; now they make them different. Away back they used to have log huts; now they have good houses, and steamboats that run along on the water, and big cannon to shoot off on the water.

We

"The boats were there like which men had when they discovered this country. White man said there might be more land. That ship went back across the ocean and told the people more land here, and more came across. Mexicans at first came over. 'Way back the ships used to go by sail and wind; now they go by steam. saw lots of white people's guns. 'Way back they did not have good guns; now they have good ones. Light used to be from lard or grease, and then oil; now it's electric lights. The white man caught the lightning and found out how to make electric lights. We saw different kinds of hoes and plows and shovels-all things to work with. To know how to read and write does good, for they can think more; they can see more; they see better with eyes. It is better to read and write than to be strong. We saw everything gathered from all over the world. Lots of white people going back and forth, and they been doing that all summer. It is time to let up now." Peshoki spoke as follows:

"We thought when we got back we could tell the children what we saw at the Fair. That is what the agent took us there for. When we started from home we saw farms all the way. They are farming all the time back there. They don't lay around in the sun; they work all the time. There lots of white people work all the time for a living. The Indians looked to see how it is done; how the white people do the work. We seen for all the Navajoes. If you don't believe it, it is all right. "The Navajo does not keep track of the days and nights like the white man. He don't think. "Back there the wheat is all planted and green (autumn wheat) and the corn is gathered nice. That is the way it is back East. You can think about it. I never dreamed of what I saw there. Now I have seen it. Coming back I never slept for thinking of it.

"You should let your children go to school to learn to read and write. They don't read and write much, but better leave the children in school. No difference how much you love them, better let them go to school. Look back how the whites

used to live. 'Way back learned to do better. Better have them go to school and learn to do all kinds of work. Some of the Navajoes said when we went away we were not coming back. It took six days to go and come. We came back; we did not go there to live. White people looked at us all the time. We went to see two big white headmen. They were glad to see us.

"We did not get money from Washington to go. Got the money from other men. The agent worked all summer to get money to go. Just enough to go to Chicago, not to go to Washington. Saw lots of white people. More than ants, when you shovel out a hole where ants are. Two schoolboys went, so they can tell each other."

Hosteen Bagota said:

"I want the people to send their children to school to learn to read and write. The old people will think the same way. I want the boys to learn to read and write, so they can deal with the white man. I am glad we went to the Fair. I never knew how the white people lived until I saw it. Never thought about it. When we saw a car, did not know how it was made. Never thought about it. Do not know if the schoolboys could make an engine; might when they get older and learn. "I have wished a thousand times since I came back that I was a boy, so I could put myself in school. I have put two children in, and a neighbor has put one in. "The headmen were ashamed of their hogans after seeing the houses the white men lived in.

"I have told the people that after we traveled a night and a day the white people were taking care of the earth all the way. Look at our country; we ought to be ashamed of it. Look at the difference.

us.

"We were treated well; the white men did not push us, or crowd us, or swear at If we die out in our country the flies and worms see us; if we die in the white man's country lots of people see us. When we saw a picture of a coyote killing a lamb old chief said he was bad, ought to be ashamed of himself; he could do that back on the reservation but ought to be ashamed to do it here.

So

"The white people are like ants, industrious, working all the time; they are thick, coming and going all the time. Before, we thought the agent told lie when he told us how many white people there are. All believe now because so many of us saw. many headmen (chiefs) saw. Now the people came and went to hear all about it. Formerly they paid no attention.

"Hosteen Nez used to say anything told was a lie. When he got to Chicago he liked to have ten fits.

"The headmen see that it is the head and the hands that do the work, mostly the head.

"To see the progress of the white man, like the corn growing from the seed, fast in one season. Old things are like the seed. From the old to the new is like from the carita [Mexican cart with wheels of solid wood] to a Studebaker wagon.

"We saw nice trains on the road, but a fine one at the Fair. Indians not fit to ride in it. It seems that other tribes are ahead of the Navajoes. When I saw the big guns I told the medicine men what did they mean by telling the young men they could protect the Navajoes against all the whites. Two white men with one of these guns could whip all the Navajo tribe. Out here we make fun of the Americans on the horse. Americans East can do anything on the horse.

"I was asked by an ignorant Indian from Cotton Weed Wash if there were more white men than Navajoes. I showed him the dust and grass, and told him I could just as soon try to count them as to count the white people; that he lived on the water as well as on the land. Then he sat down and wanted me to tell him all I saw. I told him I could not if I talked till I was gray."

APPEAL.

To our Great Father at Washington, the President of the United States:

We appeal to you to help us. We believe you have an interest in our affairs and that you will listen to our grievances. We have no one to plead our cause for us, and we therefore come to you, our Great Father, trusting in the kindly and generous disposition you have always shown toward your red children.

We want to tell you that we have parted with the greater part of our lands to the Government in order to make homes for our white brothers, who are now living in peace and harmony with us as their neighbors. We sold these lands to some white men whom the Great Father (your predecessor) sent to us to treat with us, who were known as the Cherokee Commission.

They were not men of generous spirit and did not exercise the proper regard for our rights that they should have done. They were not liberal with us but drove a close bargain with us and cut down the price to be paid to the small sum of 40 cents per acre. We held out for a bigger price for a long time, but they finally threatened

us if we did not accept their terms the Government would take our lands away and we would get nothing but what it chose to give us.

They promised us $1,500,000 for our surplus lands, but it has not been paid us according to our contract. A large part of this sum was withheld from us and paid out to a company of attorneys that we never employed; and although we loudly protested against this payment, and our friends did the same for us, yet nevertheless the money was paid out and our people have been compelled to bear the loss.

We want to tell our Great Father that the Interior Department allowed this outrage to be put upon us by approving a contract that a few of our people who were influenced by the promise of reward and who were in the pay of the attorneys had signed, falsely representing themselves to be our authorized agents, when, in fact, they were the paid employees of these attorneys. (See affidavit of parties to this contract, hereto appended as Exhibit A.) It is proper that you should know that our agent, in order to make this contract binding on us as tribes and give it a legal effect, did append his certificate to the effect that the contract was made by representatives of a majority of all the Indians, and that they were selected at a full council of the representatives of the two tribes, and was free and voluntary on their part, when, in fact, the parties to this contract on the part of the Indians were selected by the agent and one of the attorneys, as will be seen in evidence, and did not therefore represent anything like the majority of our people, not even as much as one-fourth of them. We offer in evidence Appendix B, showing that this so-called contract was never read or interpreted to the parties who signed the same on the part of the two tribes, and that they did not know its contents when they signed it. These so-called representatives were promised many things of value if they would sign the contract with these attorneys. The interpreters employed were in the pay of the attorneys; one of them has sworn that he was promised $10,000 if the deal was consummated and the attorneys received any money; but in the end they only paid him $500. The others were paid from $100 to $200, while others still were promised pay, but did not get it.

Our Great Father, we ask you to read the report of Prof. C. C. Painter, of the Indian Rights Association, published in pamphlet form March, 1893, concerning this so-called contract. He made a full investigation into all the circumstances connected with this fraudulent contract. We also invite attention to the papers and correspondence published in Senate Ex. Doc. No. 18, Fifty-second Congress, second session, in compliance with Senate resolution of June 1, 1892, pages 1 to 51 and 201 to 247, touching the matter of contract of certain attorneys with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. It contains the report of Capt. J. M. Lee, U. S. A., transmitted to the War Department by Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A., commanding the Department of the Missouri. Also copy of charges preferred against these attorneys by Captain Lee, all of which are heartily indorsed by us.

We wish to add that our people as tribes did not assert any right or title whatever to the treaty reservation in the Cherokee Outlet. We had not been allowed to live there, and had never lived there; but had been in peaceful occupation of the Executive order reservation for more than twenty years, and our rights to this land had been recognized by the Government in every official reference thereto.

The Interior Department did not recognize that we had a title to the treaty reservation in the Cherokee Outlet, and until these attorneys suggested it, our people had never given it a thought.

Our Great Father, we have not space in this paper to give you all the facts in this case, but we are prepared to prove beyond the possibility of successful contradiction, that fraud, collusion, deceit, and trickery have been practiced on us, and to the end that all the facts and evidence may be brought to light, we earnestly pray and beg that you will ask the Congress now in session to appoint a committee to investigate this whole matter. This will give us an opportunity to be heard in our defense, and to show how grossly we have been wronged.

Our Great Father, we pray that you will listen to us and not close your ears to our petition; if we have been wronged and unjustly treated you should help us to make known our wrongs. The truth will injure no one, and we only ask the whole truth to be made public. Therefore, our Great Father, send us a committee of the great council at Washington to inquire into this whole matter; and we, your red children, now striving hard to make a living like our white brothers, will ever pray. Names of signers, also affidavits, omitted.

REPORT OF C. C. PAINTER.

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 10, 1895.

SIR: In accordance with your request I attended the Teachers' Institute at St. Paul. A series of institutes for Indian teachers were held during the summer under the management of Superintendent Hailman, as follows: At Chilocco; Santa Fe; Salem,

Oreg.; Fort Shaw, and St. Paul. These were quite largely attended, and were of very great interest and profit, if all may be judged by the last one held at St. Paul. About one hundred and forty teachers, superintendents, matrons, etc., were present at this last, paying their own expenses, but sufficiently interested to remain almost a week.

A few facts observed seem sufficiently noteworthy to find a place in this report: (1) The eminent fituess ot Superintendent Hailman for the position he holds, and the immense need that his position shall be made permanent, and its powers so enlarged that he shall, without party annoyance or cramping restrictions, be able to do the proper work of his office.

(2) The manifest improvement of the teaching force since the schools have been put under the civil-service reform regulations. It is safe to say that a large majority of a like assemblage, a few years since, would have been without the gleam of an idea as to what Dr. Hailman was talking about, as he explained and illustrated principles of pedagogy. He would have been to them a blank fool, and they to him, as to most others, utter barbarians. Now, there was mutual understanding, sympathy, and helpfulness, for by an exchange of ideas the superintendent gets a broader view of what is peculiar in this work, while they carry away new ideas as to methods, and a greater inspiration in seeking for results.

(3) This conference of teachers from various reservations, from various grades of schools, from the day school, to the distant and fully equipped nonreservation industrial boarding school, begat, evidently, as the sessions progressed, a sense of unity in the school work. Missionary teacher and Government teacher, Catholic and Protestant; superintendent in charge of schools, numbering hundreds; isolated teachers of twenty from an Indian camp, came in touch with each other, got ideas from each, felt inspiration from each, learned to honor each, and parted, feeling that they were colaborers in one common and noble work.

There was manifest, early in the conference, a decided jealousy on the part of the reservation schools-Government and mission-of the nonreservation schools, and a feeling that they were perhaps held in contempt by them. It was asserted that these schools came in and robbed them of their best pupils, and yet did no higher work than they were doing at home with better results, so far as the home and the future stability of the student are concerned. There was also a manifest decadence of this feeling as the discussion continued, from day to day, and it can be confidently asserted that a repetition of such gatherings, with greater permanence in its membership, would eradicate this feeling, so prejudicial to the best results.

(4) Until this school work has been continued long enough for a grading of these various schools strictly as to studies pursued in them, it should be held that the day school has accomplished its highest and best result when it has gained the consent of parent and child that it shall go to the reservation boarding school; and the teacher's success be measured by his ability to do this. And the reservation school should be considered successful in proportion as it can bring forward willing candidates for the distant schools, looking to the day schools in turn to make its losses good.

(5) One's conviction grew stronger all the while, as one listened and observed, that the reservation schools throw too much emphasis, consciously or unconsciously, upon the reservation and tribal idea, and do not educate either children or parents away from it; also, that the nonreservation school has this advantage, that children from various tribes who are gathered in it get more of the idea that they are not simply Apaches, or Comanches, or even Indians, with tribal traditions to cherish and reservation homes to perpetuate with the life which this idea almost necessarily begets, but they are a part of the human family and of the citizenship of this great country, and that their thinking and living is to be adjusted to this larger idea. (6) That the failure of partially educated Indians, especially those from Eastern schools-the others are not, in most cases, sufficiently differentiated by dress, language, or manner of life from the uneducated to render a failure noticeable-is due to the fact that they have found in their education and its circumstances a certain adjustment to the decencies and comforts of civilized life, and a relish for them as they exist, but when thrown back into conditions in which these are not found they know not how to create them.

The question for us to answer is whether education is to be given where the conditions to be delt with exist, and shall have reference to a change of these as its results, or whether it shall be given where it will be largely an adjustment to those which will no longer exist for the pupils after they return home, except so far as there may be developed strength on their part to create them. The conviction, as one listened to what was said, was that the reservation school tends to perpetuate the reservation and tribal idea, while the nonreservation school adjusts the pupil to comforts and decencies, and gives him a taste for them, but does not to any great extent give the ability to create these for himself.

We should not be content to ask which of these is the better, but rather what is best. This, perhaps, has not been found.