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Mr. KELLY. How many pupils were there at the time that school was closed?

Mr. MERITT. During the last year the school was in operation, there was an average attendance of nine pupils.

You will recall, gentlemen of the committee, the statement of Mr. Ballinger in regard to the general school situation in the Chippewa country. He almost had me convinced that we were wasting funds outrageously in the conduct of these schools, his plea being so very eloquent on that subject. But when we review the real situation we can find nothing about which there can be serious complaint. I find that in the Chippewa country we have at this time, among all these Chippewa Indians, consisting of 12,000, only five day schools; Nett Lake with an average enrollment of 29 and an average attendance of 25; Grand Portage with an average enrollment of 14 and an average attendance of 12; Pine Point with an average enrollment of 46 and an average attendance of 32; Round Lake with an average enrollment of 14 and an average attendance of 12; and Twin Lake with an average enrollment of 46 and an average attendance of 33. Mr. RHODES. What do you mean by an average enrollment?

Mr. MERITT. That is the number of pupils who are enrolled during the year.

Mr. RHODES. Would it not be proper to refer to that as the total enrollment and not the average enrollment?

Mr. MERITT. We would have no complaint to make as to that change in the wording. Now, as to the boarding schools in the Chippewa country, we have at this time four Government boarding schools, Leech Lake with an enrollment of 66 and an average attendance of 34 at a per capita cost of $251 and a total cost of $23,184. Cass Lake boarding school with an enrollment of 54 and an average attendance of 34 at a per capita cost of $136 and a total cost of $5,639. Red Lake boarding school with an enrollment of 84 and an average attendance of 58, and Cross Lake on the same reservation with an enrollment of 80 and an average attendance of 57; these two boarding schools on the Red Lake Reservation cost per capita $247, or a total cost of $28,442, out of the funds of the Chippewas in the State of Minnesota.

In addition to these five day schools and four Government boarding schools we have contracts with two Catholic Mission schools, St. Mary's Catholic School with an enrollment of 71 and an average attendance of 53, costing the Chippewas $5,292, and payable out of the Chippewa in Minnesota fund; and at the White Earth Reservation we have a contract with St. Benedict's Catholic School, which has an enrollment of 115 and an average attendance of 97, at a cost of $9,525 payable out of the funds of the Chippewas in Minnesota; the contract price for the pupils in these schools is, if I remember correctly, $108.

Mr. ELSTON. Does that include board and tuition?

Mr. MERITT. Yes, sir; but it should be borne in mind that this does not cover the actual cost of the service rendered.

Mr. KELLY. Those figures show 393 pupils enrolled in all at day and boarding schools; does that include all the children?

Mr. MERITT. The other children are taken care of in the public schools of Minnesota and we are going to discontinue these remaining

schools just as fast as we can do so with justice to the Chippewa Indian children.

Mr. KELLY. Would you say there was an opportunity for every Indian child to get education in the public schools who are now in these other schools?

Mr. MERITT. I believe that a large percentage of the children who are not in Government schools could be taken care of in the public schools, but it would not do to abolish these schools too quickly because there are not public-school facilities enough to take care of them all just at the present time.

Mr. KELLY. Are there any Indian children now with no opportunity for getting educational advantages in any school?

Mr. MERITT. We are having at this time a complete review of the school situation in the Chippewa country, and I can furnish you that information at a later date if you desire it then. Now, gentlemen, these figures are for the fiscal year 1919, and I think you will find them reasonably correct.

Mr. RHODES. Under your present plan affecting these schools, about how many years would it be before you can anticipate the Government will be able to abolish all these schools?

The CHAIRMAN. You are speaking with regard to the Chippewa Indians, Mr. Rhodes?

Mr. RHODES. Yes, sir.

Mr. MERITT. We have been abolishing the Chippewa schools at a very rapid rate in recent years but it will be some time before we can discontinue all the Government schools in .the Chippewa country. However, I believe that within the next four or five years it will be possible to discontinue at least one half of the schools of the Government as now operated.

Mr. RHODES. What I want to know is whether the Government has definite plans in regard to terminating governmental supervision over these Indian schools?

Mr. MERITT. To this extent; that wherever it is possible to get the children in the public schools we take them out of the Government schools, and our plans, of course, will necessarily have to meet the school situation as it develops around the various Indian reservations. Take the White Earth Reservation, for example, if they establish public schools on the White Earth Reservation sufficient to take care of these Indian children, we will discontinue the schools there immediately, but on the Red Lake Reservation it will be some time before we can discontinue these schools on account of the conditions on that.reservation.

Mr. ELSTON. How would this statement affect the legislation we are now considering? I do not understand the relevancy.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you referring now to the Fond du Lac item? Mr. MERITT. I have already referred to the Fond du Lac matter. Mr. Ballinger in his statement attempted to create the impression that we had large areas locked up in the reservations in the Chippewa country contrary to existing laws and he quoted in part data found on page 286 of the hearings on the Indian appropriation bill of December 8, 1919, and referred to Fond du Lac as having an area of 39,567; Grand Portage as 24,191; Leech Lake 105,047 acres. I shall not continue to quote all the figures but the balance of the statement contains two others to which I want to refer; Red Lake 416,088 and

White Earth 442,231 acres. Now, Mr. Ballinger would have you infer that we have large areas of land located in these Indian reservations contrary to existing law, while this statement would make it appear, according to Mr. Ballinger's statement to the committee, that we are doing something illegal but the truth of the matter is that this statement refers to lands both allotted and unallotted within these reservations. Mr. Ballinger did not quote the White Earth Reservation of 442,231 acres as being held up illegally, because that would have been too absurd for the reason that everyone who knows anything at all about the White Earth Reservation knows that the entire reservation has been allotted, and also he did not state to the committee that we have a provision in this bill, which we submitted to Congress, which will authorize the disposition of all the surplus lands within these reservations except the lands absolutely needed for administration purposes.

The CHAIRMAN. I may be a little dense and no doubt am, but what would be Mr. Ballinger's object in attempting to show a situation like that, from your standpoint?

Mr. MERITT. I will answer that in a few moments when I close this statement in regard to the Indian schools. We believe we have in the Chippewa country schools that will compare favorably with other schools in the United States; we believe that the Indian schools connected with the Indian Service throughout the United States will compare favorably with other schools. We are conducting these schools at a cost very much less than the cost of other schools throughout the United States. You will bear in mind, gentlemen of the committee, that the per capita cost of these schools at this time, where we furnish board, clothing, books, medical attendance, and everything pertaining to these schools, is kept within $250 on an average.

Mr. ELSTON. For how many months per year?

Mr. MERITT. Nine and ten months, and that cost you must recognize, in this day of high cost of living when food and clothing has advanced anywhere from 50 to 100 per cent in the last four or five years, is very reasonable, indeed.

Mr. RHODES. Not only reasonable but remarkable, indeed, if you are getting the service.

Mr. MERITT. We are rendering a service along educational lines that is unequalled in the school systems of the United States. In these Indian schools we have for years been doing things in training the Indian children that are just now being taken up by the most advanced public schools. For example, keeping track of the weight of the children. We have been doing that for the last 10 years. Also requiring a certain air space for the children; furnishing dental work for the children, furnishing physician service at these schools, and rendering this great service to these children at a cost that is indeed remarkable.

The CHAIRMAN. Remarkable for its cheapness?

Mr. MERITT. Remarkable for its cheapness and for its effectiveness, because when we take these children into the schools a large number of them can not speak English, but after a few years' training they go out as graduate speaking fluent English and capable of going into a white man's community and earning a living at good wages. We are turning out carpenters, blacksmiths, printers, painters, and, in

fact, mechanics of all kinds, and they go out in the States and take places in the community as trained mechanics. In order to indicate to you the appreciation of this splendid work of the Indian Service by people who know, who have investigated these schools, I am going to quote to you a statement made by Dr. Samuel A. Elliott, an honored member of the Indian Commission, who is not in any way connected with the administrative offices of the bureau, but his duties require him to see a great many schools and agencies. Dr. Samuel A. Elliott is a son of Dr. Elliott, president emeritus of Harvard University, is one of the best educated men, and has as broad and keen a mind as any man you will meet and knows what he is talking about always. This is what he says:

I can truthfully say, after mature investigation and deliberation, that the Indian system of schools in this country is the best in America, as the Indian system recognizes that education is not merely the accumulation of facts but the interpretation of facts and their application. The end of Indian education is not the acquisition of knowledge so much as the creating of power.

A statement of that kind from that character of a man, who has traveled over these Indian reservations and gone from Indian school to school and knows what he is talking about, should carry some weight with not only this committee but with the country at large. Mr. RHODES. Is that opinion concurred in by members of the Indian Commission?

Mr. MERTT. I think it is.

Mr. RHODES. You have no diverse or conflicting reports on that subject?

Mr. MERITT. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That does not signify that other members or other people have not had diverse reports on the schools?

Mr. MERITT. Not at all, because you will find diverse reports on every school and agency in the United States. As I pointed out yesterday, there are different factions on these various Indian reservations, and criticism is the most liberal thing you will find connected with Indian affairs. It is the easiest thing in the world to criticize and the hardest thing to execute.

The CHAIRMAN. What I had in mind was a letter we received from a superintendent, a friend of the Indian Commissioner, not in any way criticizing things.

Mr. MERITT. I understand, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when I came to the committee room at the beginning of this hearing I did not intend to make a statement. I was simply going to be contented with submitting to the chairman the legislation we had so very carefully and patiently drawn after conferences with representatives of the General Council of the Chippewa Indians, their attorney, Mr. Ballinger, and after a conference with the Indians from the Red Lake Reservation and the attorney for the Red Lake Indians, Mr. Henderson, but after hearing the statement of Mr. Ballinger, and a very carefully prepared statement it is, which has required a great deal of time and attention to prepare it, and which he has prepared after conference with some of the shrewdest Indians in the Chippewa country, I felt it my duty to answer in this off-hand, unprepared, and extemporaneous way some of the misleading statements Mr. Ballinger has made. I have not time to answer all of them, but have tried to bring to the attention of the committee some facts in connection with Chippewa matters.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, in view of the general Indian situation I feel it is my duty to call a matter to the attention of this committee, not having in mind the members of the general council of the Chippewa Indians, or any other particular Indian in the Chippewa country, or Mr. Ballinger who has spoken here regarding the Chippewa situation. I want to make this statement with that distinct understanding: There is more propanganda in connection with the Indian Service at this time than at any time I have known since I have been connected with the Indian Bureau for a period of 15 years. This propaganda has been unusually active in Washington this winter for some reasons that we are unable to know all about. The Washington papers very frequently have contained statements during this winter regarding Indian matters that are wholly erroneous and tend to create wrong impressions. We do not know the source of this propaganda. For example, one of the Washington papers recently quoted a story about the cattle situation on the Blackfeet Reservation and the reading of that news item would convey the impression that the Indian Bureau had permitted 6,000 cattle to die on that reservation of neglect. It is known by everyone familiar with the situation in Montana that there was a severe drought in that State during the last year and there has been an acute situation among the cattlemen throughout the State and this also applied to the cattle situation on the Indian reservation; but the statement that we have permitted a loss of 6,000 head of cattle on the Blackfeet Reservation is absolutely untrue and absurd. There has been not to exceed 10 per cent loss on that reservation and that loss will compare very favorably with the losses of outside cattle owners in the State of Montana or any other State.

Mr. KELLY. That means how many cattle have been lost, Mr. Meritt?

Mr. MERITT. I have not the exact figures before me, but my impression is that the loss is considerably less than 500 head of cattle on that reservation. I am simply stating this as a sample, gentlemen of the committee, of the absurd statements that are being brought to the attention of Members of Congress at this time, and being published in the press of the country in regard to the Indian Service. This propaganda and this agitation has been actuated by selfish, venal, and vicious motives. There is a disposition on the part of some interested people who have selfish purposes in view to drag down the administration of Indian affairs in this country so that they can accomplish the ends they desire. For example, attorneys have gone out on various reservations and have made illegal contracts with Indians so that they can represent these Indians. They have not submitted these contracts to the Indian Bureau for approval because they know that the Indian Bureau will not approve such illegal contracts.

Mr. RHODES. Without declaring the names of the attorneys, can you not name some of the tribes?

Mr. MERITT. I prefer not to mention either attorneys' names or the names of Indians.

Mr. RHODES. I think it would be fair to the committee to make a full statement; perhaps you would not feel justified in naming individuals, but I think you could give us the names of the tribes.

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