New-York tribune. [volume], December 07, 1902, Page 14, Image 40

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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AN ATTACK ON THE EDUCATED INDIAN CONTRASTED WITH FIGURES FROM THE FAMOUS CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL
EDUCATING THE INDIAN.
SUCCESS ATTENDANT ON THE WORK OF
THIS CARLISLE SCHOOL—GRADU
ATES DOING GOOD WORK.
The federal agent on the Ponca and Oakland
Indian reservation. In Oklahoma, in his recent re
port to the Commlssirner of Indian Affairs, se
verely arraigned the policy of educating the
Indians. Among other things he said:
Hardly any of the young Indians— who
have graduated from non-reservation schools,
as well as those who have attended for a num
ber of years — do any work at all. It can be Bet
down as a perfectly safe rule that as a class the
young educated Indians are the most worthless
ones In the whole tribe. Nearly all of the work
dene by the tribes is performed by the mid
aged, able bodied ones, who cannot write or
speak English.
The educated Indian coming from the schools
usually gives the excuse that he has nothing
with which to work, neither money. Implements
nor stock of any kind. This is true, but I notice
that they manage to live on their annuities and
lease money, and buy horses, buggies, etc, on
credit, and borrow money from the banks, with
very little prospect of ever being able to pay
their debts. Any able bodied man or woman is
able to obtain work at fair wages.
Many of their people are addicted to drink,
and both men and women are Inveterate gam
blers. They have practically nothing to d'>.
Their days are spent In almost utter Idleness,
and vice and debauchery are rampant. The
degradation of these people will continue and
increase until they are made to work and live
by the result of their labors.
When Superintendent Pntt of the famous
Carlisle School for Indians was asked last week
how far the records of that school would bear
out or contravert this report of the Indian agent,
he forwarded to this office the following tig
ues:
Carlisle has 290 living graduates. Careful in
formation collected this month shows 24 em
ployed by the government, at salaries of from
$i.'4O to $'JOO a year; li<» attending higher schools,
colleges, etc.; is 3 married, keeping their own
bomes; 47 honorably employed away from the
reservations, in banks, as clerks, as mechanics,
in Independent business, etc.; 1 lawyer. 1 In the
army, 26 farming and stock raising in the West
on allotment; 19 at home with parents, Ii grad
uate nurses, practising in cities; 3 bad and
worthless, 13 no Information.
When the first party of Indian children came
to the peaceful Pennsylvania valley of Carlisle
to begin their Instruction und-r the direction of
the government, there was consternation among
the quiet farmers. The party consisted of eighty
untaught boys and girls from the Sioux agencies
at Rosebud and Pine Ridge, In Dakota. They
wore blankets after the fashion of their tribe,
painted their faces and bedecked their bodies
with gaudy beads and other ornaments. Some
of them were nearly grown up, and the farmers
had visions of midnight raids from howling
bands of scalp-lifting Indians. This was twen
ty-three years ago, and there were few who did
not prophesy the utter failure of the school.
To-day Carlisle, with its many unique features
and tur the wonderful work which It has done
for the Indians, Is one of the best known insti
tutions of education in this country. The scalp-
Ing parties which the farmers feared never
tame, the expected outlawry did not materialize,
nor has there ever been a sign of treachery.
Instead, there ha 3 been a steady development
of tin- institution, which started with the old
buildings of an abandoned army post. The
number of Indian boys and girls has increased
to more than a thousand, representing seventy-
ELven different tribes. The presence of these
savage youths has brought about no change in
the quiet community, and the farmers have had
far less trouble than those who live in the
vicinity of a college or a university which takes
its students from civilized homes.
New-York hap come into contact with the
Indian school through two branches of student
activity— the football team and the Indian band.
The band was a success on its merits— it played
NEW- YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED^SUPPLEMENT^
INDIAN ROYS MAKING CARRIAGES.
The upholstery section at the Carlisle InJian School.
good munic and drew admiring crowds. The
football team makes many friends every time it
plays on a New-York gridiron, because it
plays the strenuous game and plays It hard. It
usually plays more of the big college teams
during the season than any other eleven, and
the training which r- suits is invaluable to the
opponents of the red men. Once in a while the
Indians get together in an Irresistible fashion
and one of the big universities lowers its col
ors, as Cornell did a few days ago.
Tli.- Indian school Idea sprang from the neces
sity of ■■■ ii B ■■ i a number of Kiowa, Co
manche, Cheyenne and Arapahoe braves, taken
as prisoners of war in the fierce Indian cam
paign of 1875. They were to !>•■ sent in chains
to old Forl Marion, at St. Augustine, Fla. Be
fore the part j started East Captain K. H. l'ratt,
who is now in command of the Carlisle school
with the rank of colonel, wrote from Fort Still
to < leneral Sh< rldan. at Chi< a^":
The young men in this party (the Indian
prisoners) while undergoing this banishment
should !■<• educated in English, trained in our
• :. Ti.-s. and brought in contact with "iir
civilization aa much as possible, f'>r k<«>ii.t or
later they will !■•• returned to their tribes, and.
after all," they are not so culpable as their old
leaders, being more like soldiers acting under
orders.
Not long after their arrival in Florida their
chains were removed and they were allowed to
work about the fort. Presently, ho trustworthy
had th-y proved, work was given to them in
the town. Women <>f St. Augustine became In
terested i r : them, and a school was started in
the fort prison. They were so appreciative that
when their term of banishment was ended more
than a score of them asked permission to con
tinue their education in the East.
An attempt was made to unite the problem
of the Indian with 'bat of the negro. A num
ber of Dakota children were placed In the
Hampton Institute in Virginia. The problems
were different in so many respects that it soon
became apparent that if the Indians were to
be civilized by education a separate school was
necessary. Captain Pratt was finally ordered
to start si:<h a school, and the place selected
was the fort where cavalry had for years been
trained for Indian fighting on the plains.
"God helps them that help themselves" was
the motto adopted at the organization of the
institution in 1879, and from it there has been
no deviation. Carlisle does not try to fit the
Indian to return to the semi-civilization of the
reservation. A greater good 13 attained by
fitting him for citizenship and for competition
with the rest of the world iii any part of the
country.
Its greatest feature, perhaps, is the industrial
departments, in which the Indian youth spends
one-half of each school day. At the age of
sixteen the students are allowed to select their
trad'\ and they thereafter follow it under a
trained instructor or competent me, banic. They
advance through the various stages from helper
to journeyman. Carpentry and cabinetrnaking.
blacksmithing and wagonmaking, painting, har
nessmaking, tinsmithing, shoemaking, tailoring
arid printing are among the trades open to them.
The women are trained in domestic sciences,
sewing, laundry and hospital work. Farming
and dairying on scientific lines are taught on the
farms near the school.
Every student who goes to Carlisle is ex
pected to spend at least one year In a country
home. This year is called an "uuting," and the
indian looks forward to It with much pleasure.
It gives him an insight into and a taste of
civilized home liff such as he could not know In
the rude tei sof his fathers and which cannot
b^> brought out at the s< hooL The students at
tend the nearest public school during the win
ter, and out of hours do the work which makes
up for their board. In the months when they
are not in school they receive small wages.
HOLLOW CAR AXLES.
It is well known that a given amount of metal
arranged in the form of a tube will possess
greater rigidity than as a solid bar. The prin
ciple was long ago utilized in the formation of
the square columns of steel frame buildings.
I.at.ly it baa been applied to the immense
shafts of ocean steamships, which are subjected
in severe bending as well a» twisting strains.
A hollow shaft is stiffer than a solid one of the
same weight The most recent use of the idea
is In the manufacture of axles for cars.
A large number of hollow axles have been
made in one of the shops of the Carnegie com
pany, at Plttsburg. It is asserted that less
metal Is used in thorn than !n the ordinary axle.
They also require much less machine work to
finish them. From the manufacturer's point of
view, at least, they are more satisfactory than
these which they are designed to replace. Just
INDIAN ROYS LEARNING TO BE BLACKSMITHS
At the Carlisle Indian School.
what service may be expected of them Is an
other question. In order to settle that question,
a lot of cars are now being built with hollow
axles under one truck and solid ones under tha
other. These are to be run for six months, and
then examined for signs of wear.
NEW BUILDING MATiUUAL.
AN ASBESTOS COMPOSITION WHICH
TAKES THE PLACE OF WOOD.
An enormous warehouse for the storagre of
fresh meat imported from Australia and other
countries has Just been constructed at the Al
bert Docks, in London. This is equipped with
the best appliances for refrigeration, and it Is
said to be the only warehouse of its kind in
London that delivers directly to the railroad
ivstem of the country. Another novelty which
is reported by the English press i 3 that a sub
stance called "uralit*-" has entered largely into
its construction.
Uralite, according to recent consular reports
to the American Government, is the invention of
a Russian artillery officer and chemist, Imsete
netzky. A possible similarity between some of
it 3 qualities and those of the mountain chain
that separates European Russia from Siberia
doubtless suggested the name. At any rate. Its
chief trait is Its power of resisting fire. This
might be inferred from the statement that it
is a composition of which asbestos is the chief
Ingredient. It is also a non-conductor of heat,
and on that account particularly serviceable la
cold storage warehouses, breweries and other
buildings where it is desirable to check radi
ation. With the addition of a little paint It can
be made absolutely waterproof. Finally, it la
not acted upon by the chemicals in ordinary
smoke or factory fumes, such as destroy galvan
ized iron.
i:%- van ing the amount and kind of the other
Ingredients— silicate and bicarbonate of soda and
chalk— two kinds of uraUte may be made. Ona
Is soft, like wood, and may be worked like the
latter, or moulded so as to exhibit decorative
reliefs. The other variety Is harder, resembling
stone, and emitting a metallic ring when struck.
Since It does not warp or swell under the In
fluence of moisture, it Is peculiarly adapted to
service on shipboard: but its main use will prob
ably be for cabinet work and building on land,
where fireproof properties are wanted— these
recommend it for electric railway curs, for in
stance.
Asbestos is a fibrous material, and Is often
called min-ral wool. In making uralite out of
it the stuff is treated something like paper pulp,
being tirst beaten so as to loosen up the threads.
Water is added to facilitate the operation, and,
after draining, the material Is colored by the
Introduction of a little whiting, carbon or red
oxide, which is thoroughly incorporated with the
fibre. While yet wet and plastic the asbestos is
lolled out like pasteboard into sheets of the de
sired thickness, and. like pasteboard, it Is built
up by depositing one thin film upon another
until the proper depth has been secured. A
limited amount of silicate and carbonate of
soda Is added when the films are being drawn
out of the mixer. After being squeezed In a
hydraulic press and dried by passing through
warm rooms the sheets are again coated with
solutions of these chemicals, and are then ready
for use. The hardness of the material depends
largely upon the number of coatings it receives
at this time.
Uralite. in spite of Its mineral character,
weighs only about one-fifth as much as Iron,
POOR PUO.
From The Philadelphia Press.
Cholly-I nevah met such a «BM* girt While I
was railing there the othah evening she made me
pet her pug dog and awsked me If I didn't want t*
kiss the beast.
iliss Pepprey— The idea! Perhaps sh» doesnt
know that you smoke cigarettes.