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INDIAN SCHOOLS FAIL STARTLING CONCLUSION REACHED DY COMMISSIONER JONES. About i i,(i(io,(imi S.,a on nt.mm v- itl 1 I'unalHlril riiim li.vi-ily lo Afllu. trurtt Hihl I'.m k AkmIii lo l ovnly, hii.I Mom of II, ,hi I..a lino liniltHiUm. The print nt pystcni of education for Ihf Indian, taken as a who!-. says Commissioner of Indian Affairs Joncn, is practically a failure or ut least is not calculated to produce, the results l; 'a'"'" s-tly claimed for It nnd ko hope fully iint.ii Ipated when it was begun. He has no doubt his conclusion will lie received" with Homo Hiirprlse, but a brief review of i emits, ho thinks, will convince tlio moist skeptical that it Is forrcct. "Tlxr.. are now in operation," he t;nys, "113 hoarding schools for the In dian:! with an average attendance of ninif thin,.. 0Vl.r ,; (,(,() prnH( ranging fioui f to 21 years of age. These pupils were gathered from the cabin, Uh wickiup and the tepee. They were 1,,H n J1('t on account of any particu lar mi rit of their own, not by reason of mental fitness, hut rololy because tx,ey had Indian blood in their veins. "The Indian youth finds himself at once, as if by magic, translated from a state of poverty to one of air.ucnce. He Is well fed and clothed and lodged. Hooks and all the accessories of learn ing are given him and teachers pro vided t-o instruct him. Matrons wait on him while he is well, and physi cians and nurses, attend him when he la fdek. A steam laundry does his washing, and the latest modem appli ances dj his cooking. A library af fords hirn relaxation for his leisure hours, athletic sports and the gym nasium furnish him exercise and recre- ation, while music entertains him in the evening. Ho has hot and cold baths and steam heat and electric light, and all the modern conveniences. AH of the necessities of life are given him and many of the luxuries. All of this without money and without price or tne contribution of a single effort of Lis own or of his people. "Here he remains until his education is finished, when he Is returned to his home which by contrast must seem squalid indeed and left to make his vay against the ignorance and bigotry of his tribe. Is it any wonder he fails? Is it surprising if he lapses into bar barism? Not having earned his edu cation, it is not appreciated; having made no sacrifice to obtain it, it is not valued. It is looked upon as a right and not as a privilege; it is accepted as a favor to the government and not to the recipient; and the almost inevit able tendency is to encourage depen dence, foster pride and create- a spirit of arrogance and selfishness. "It Is not denied that some good flows from this system. It would be singular if there did not, after all the fffort that has been maae and the 'money that has been lavished. In the last 20 years fully $45,000,000 have been spent by the government alone for the education of Indian pupils, and it is a liberal estimate to put the number of those 0 educated at not over 20,000. If the present rate is continued for another 20 years it will take over $70, 000,000 more. "What, then, shall be done? And this inquiry brings into prominence at once the whole Indian question. It may be well first to take a glance at what has been done. For about a gen eration the government has been tak ing a very active interest in the wel fare of the Indian. In that time he has been located on reservations and fed and clothed; he has been supplied lavishly with utensils and means to earn his living, with materials for his dwelling and articles to furnish it; his children have been educated and money has been paid him; farmers and mo ;nanlcs have been supplied him, and lie has received aid in a multitude of different ways. In the last 33 years over $240,000,000 have been spent upon an Indian population not exceeding 1S0.000, enough, if equitably diyided, to build each one a house suitable to his condition and furnish it through out; to fence his land and build him a barn; to buy him a wagon and team and harness; to furnish him plows and the other implements necessary to cultivate- the ground, and to give him something besides to embellish and heautify his home. "What is his condition today? He is still on his reservation; he is still being fed; his children are still being educated and money is still being paid liim; he is still dependent upon the government for.: existence; mechanics wait on him and farmers still aid him; he is little, if any, nearer the goal of . independence than he was 30 years ago, and if the present policy is continued he will get little, if any, nearer in 30 years to come. It is not denied that under this, as under the school sys tem, there ha3 been some progress, hut it has not been commensurate with the money spent and the effort made. "It is time to make a move toward terminating the guardianship which has so long been exercised over the In dians and putting them upon an equal footing with the white men so far as their relations with the government are concerned. Under the present sys tem the Indian ward never attains his lnnjuilty. The piardian: hip ejus crx In an unbroken line from father to Hon, Mid generation nft'f wncratiou the In dian live. and dies a ward. "It Is the fumtlon of the Mate to r.eo tnat the Indian has the opportunity for Hclf-support, nnd that lie in afforded the Katne protection of bis pcjHon and property as Is Riven to ot.iers. That bilng done, he should bo thrown en tirely on his own resources to become a useful member of the community In which he lives, or not, according as he exerts himself or falls to make an ef fort. He fchould be located where the conditions are such that b"y the ex ercise of ordinary Industry and pru dence he can support himself and fam ily, -lie must be made to realize that in the sweat of his face he Khali eat his bread. He must be brought to. recognize the dignity of labor and the importance of building and maintain ing a home. He must understand that the more useful he Is there, the more useful he will be to society. It is there he must find the incentive to work, and from it must come the uplifting of his race." SEARCHING FOR WATER. Iterent I)N ovi-i Mmle by tlin I'liileri Stale, (at'otoglra! Survey, The steady increase in the use of irrigation in parls of the west, and the success which has attended its prac tice, has naturally led to a close in Fpectlon of largo tracts of land which are now desert wastes, in the hope that they may also be brought under cultivation. Many thousands of acres of desert land in the arid sections are remarkably fertile and capable of fur nishing homes for largs populations which may become centres of thriving Industries if only water, their great need and absolute necessity, can be procured. The small annual rainfall and the still more serious lack of rain during the critical crop growing months, have kept these lands as poor pastures or even barren deserts. For tunately the arid sections are seamed by numerous lofty, forest clad and often snow capped mountain ranges from which flow the purest streams. Thus the streams and rivers, and the underground or artesian well waters whore they exist, have become the pivotal factors on which rest uie agri cultural development of immense sec tions of the west; their waters must be brought to the land before it can be productive. m view of these facts the investi gations of two parties, among others, of the United States geological sur vey, which were engaged in studying Uie water resources of the northwest, will be of interest. Professor Israel C. Russell who has been working on the great lava covered section of southern Idaho, reports the discovery of an artesian basin over a hundred miles in length, whose western limit, though undermined, lies in tne vicinity of Nampa and Caldwell, near the Ore gon border. The land which can be supplied with water from this basin lies along the Snaxe river and in Bru neau valley, a tributary to the Snake on the south. Several flowing wells exist in this locality already and there are indica tions of artesian water also near Sho shone. In connection with his investi gations Professor Russell collected a large amount of information relative to the agricultural and timber re sources of the region which are con siderable. The other party, under Mr. F. H. Newell, the chief of the division of hydrography of the geological survey. made an extended reconnoisance of northern Oregon with reference to the , water supply of that section. They j penetrated into the wilderness of cen- tral Oregon along and to the head of i the Deschutes fiver and turning to the ! eastward skirted the northern portion of the great Harney and Malheur des erts, into which the mountain ranges to the north send many streams. The party was much impressed by the op portunities of development in central and eastern Oregon. Valuable Food Product. Fish powder is the very latest adli tion to the list of foods, and it is said by physicians to be the best and most nutritive food product in condensed form that has been discovered. It can be made in the home, with very little trouble and expense. Any kind of fresh fish will do. First steam them in their own moisture, then, after cool ing and drying the mass obtained, ex pose it to the air for a short time. The next step is to shred the fish and then treat it to a bath of alcohol and citric acid, that all fat, glue and mineral matter be removed. After drying, it must again be boiled, dried and ground. The result is a kind of meal or flour, which can be utilized in a great variety of ways, as, for in stance, mixing in soups, frying oys ters and making omelets. The flour has neither taste 'nor smell, and it will keep indefinitely. Might I'e tlio Kxplnuatlon. "She's such a matter-of-fact, business-like young woman that I'm sur prised she married him. lie's not very rich." "No; hut he's very old, and he car ries a big life insurance." Chicago Post. DR.TAU1 AGE'S SERflON The Ilmlnent Diviner 5unday Discourse. Subjt-rti Gort Io thft IinpomtllilA Pmna M on.lri i of Divine roworSuprrlor to l.erj Law of Niitur Which II Hal Mails I'or Mankind. Wakhimjto.v, I). C. In this discourse Dr. Talinngi; make pr.ietieil use of uu or eurrcnee m the Orient which has seldom attracted particular attention; text, 11 Kings vi, C, "The iron did swim." A theological seminary in thu valley ti palms near the Kivcr Jordan, had become no popular in the time of Elisha, the pro phet, that nioro accommodations were needed for the. students. The classroom and the dormitories munt be enlarged or an entirely new building constructed.. What will they do? Will tliev mid up to Jerusalem and s.dieit contributions for this undertaking? Will they send out n gent 8 to raise the money for a now theo logical seminary? Having raised the money, will they pond for cedars of Leb anon and marble from the quarries where Ahab got the stone for the pillars nnd walls of his palarc? No; the students propose to build it themselves. They were rugged boys, who had been brought up in the country and who hid never been weakened by the luxuries of city lif?. All they a.sk is that Elisha, their professor ond prophet, go along with them to the woods nnd boss the job. They start for the work, Elisha and his students. Plenty of lumber in tho.e regions along the Jor dan. The sycamore is a itout, (strung tree and good for timber. Mr. Gladstone asked me if I had seen in Palestine any sycamore tree more beautiful than the one we stood under at Hawarden. I told hira I had not. The sycamores rear the Jordan are no.v attacked by Elisha's students, for they must have lumber for the new theo logical seminary. I suppose some of the students made an awkward stroke, anil they were extemporized axemen. itand from under! Crash goes one of the tree3 and nnotlier and another. Hut something now happens so wonderful that the occur rence will tax the credulity of the ages, so wonderful that many still think it never happened at all. One of the students, not able to owu an axe, had borrowed one. You must renlember that while the sxc of olden time was much like our modern axe, it differed in the fact that instead of the helve or handle being thrust into a socket in the iron head the head of the axe was fastened on the handle by a leathern thong, and so it might slip the helve. A student of the seminary was swinging his axe against one of those trees, and whether it was at the moment he made his first stroke and the chips flew or was after he had cut the tree from all sides so deen that it was ready to fall we are not told, but the axe head and the handle parted. Being near the riverside, the axe head dropped into river and sank to- the muddy bottom. (Jreat was the student's dismay. If it had been his own axe, it would have been bad enough, but the axe did not be long to him. lie had no means to buy an other for the kind man who had lorncd it to him, but God helps through some good and sympathetic soul, and in this case it was Elisha who was in the woods and on the river bank at the time. He did not see the axe head fly off. and so he asked the student where it dropped. He" was nhown the place where it went down into the river. Then Elisha broke off a branch of a tree and threw it into the water, and the axe head rose from the depths of the river and floated to the bank, so that tho ctudent had just to stoop down and take up the restored property. Now you see the meaning of my text, The iron did swim." Suppose a hundred years ago some one had told people the time would come when hundreds of thousands of tons of iron would float on the Atlantic and Pacific- iron ships from New York to Southamp ton, from London to Calcutta, from San Francisco to Canton. The man rnakinc 6uch a prophecy would have been sent to an asylum or carefully watched as incom petent to go alone. We have all in our day seen iron ewim. Now, if man can make hundreds of tons of metal float, L am disposed to think that the Almighty could iake an axe head float. "What," says some one, "would he the use of such a miracle?" Of vast, f infi nite, of eternal importa-nce. Those stu dents were preparing for the ministry. They had joined the theological seminary to get all its advantages. They needed to have their faith strengthened; they needed ia be persuaded that God can do every thing; they reeded to learn that God takes notice of little things: that there is no emergency of life where lie is not will ing to help. Standing on the banks of that Jordan, those students of that day of the recalled axe head had their faith re-enforced, and nothing that they found out in the class- J rooms of that learned institution had ever done more in the way of fitting them for their coming profession. I hear from different sources tlmt there is a great deal of infidelity in some of the theological sejninaries of our day. They think that the Garden of Eden is an alle gory, and that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, and that the book of Job is only a drama, and that the book of Jonah is an unreliable fish story, and that water was not turned into wine, although the bartender now by large dilution turnsi, wine into water, and that most of the so called miracles of the Old and the New Testaments were wrought by natural causes. When those infidels graduate from the theological seminary and take; the pulpits of America as expounders o!: the Holy Scriptures, what advocates they will be of that gospel for the truth of which the martyrs died. Hail the Poly carps and Hugh Latimer:! and John Knoxes of the twentieth cen tury, believing the Bible is true in spots! Would to God that some great revival of religion might sweep through all the theo logical seminaries of this land, confirmin,' the faith of the coming expounders of an entire Bible! Furthermore, in that scene of the text God sanctions borrowing and sets forth the importance of returning. I do not think there would have been any miracle performed if the young man had owned the axe that slipped the helve. The young man cried out in the hearing of the pro phet, "Alas, m.wter, for it was borrowed!" Ire had a right to borrow. There are times when we have not only a right to borrow, but it is a duty to borrow. There are times when we ought to lend, for Christ in His sermon on the mount declared, "From him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." It is right that one borrow the means of getting an education, as the young stu dent of my text borrowed the axe. It ia right to borrow means for the forwarding of commercial ends. Most of the vast for- turn that i.t.v ov trt.fi i T.v t',y t.inj cr I liiit 'hcil nut 4 I ltiied il'!;tr, ! Iho-e Ktu'.G-r ut tiiif valkr rf pahm. by the J..r.l.u II I I I hyu.-.il (.vr.ri-t li Bod lin I ' . h 1 i i.l Shut would he'p them 111 their liieni.il an.SI (pilltual arlitcviMiitrita We who me toibiif for t'i; worM' helirr Tnent i; 'c brawn is well as Lru a, pi iuiiji bodies as well a.i iH.'iniued munis f.xl cine (tecratd souls. Many of tlnwe wbo r now doing the bent work in ehureh am! state jrot mum'! and power of end.iicinr from the fact that m .uiy hiu they whk compelled to u-.e axe er plow or ilail 01 hammer, while many who were brought up in the luxuries of hie give out betor the battle is von. Thoy are keen and sharp of mind, but have 110 physiral eii durance. 'J hey have the axe head, but nc handle. The body is the handln of th 1011!. I)o not feel lonely because' your nearest neighbor may be miles away, beeati'.e tin width of tlin continent may separata you from the place where your cradle wag' forked and your father's grave was dug. Weakened though you may be by lion's roar or panther's scream. Cod will help you, whether at the time the forest around yon raves in the midnight hurricane or you suffer from something rpiite insignificant,, bkf the loss of an axo head. Take your Bible mit under the trees, if the weather will permit, and after you have listened to' the solo of a bird in the tree tons or the long meter psalm of the thunder, read those words of the Bible, which must have been written out of doors: "The trees of th Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted, where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees ore her house. The high hiJlfl are a refuge for the wild goats and the rcks for the conies. Thou makest' darkness, and it is night, wherein ail the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth,. they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goetfr forth unto his work and to his labor intil the evening. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thon made all. The earth is full of Thy riches." How do vou like that sublime pastoral? My subject also reminds ns of the im portance of keeping our chief implement for woik in good order. I think that youn theological student on the banks of Jor dan wrif to blame for rot examining the axe before he lifted it that day against a tree, lie could in a moment have found out whether the helve and the head were firmly fastened. The simple fact was that the axe was not in rood order or the strongest stroke that sent the edge into the hard' sycamore would not have left the implement headless. So God has given every one of us an axe with which to hew. Let ua keep it in good order, having been sharpened by Bible study and strengthened by prayer. The reason we sometimes fail in our work is because we have a dull axe or we do rot know how aright to swing it. The head is not aright on the handle. At the time we want the most skill for work and perfect equili brium we lose our head. We expend in useless excitement the nervous energy that we orrglic tn have employed In direct, Btraightforward work. Your axe may be a pen or a type or a yardstick or a scales or a tongue which in legislative hall or business circles or Sab bath' class or pulpit is to speak for God and righteousness, but the axe will not be worth much until it ha been sharp ened on the grindstone of affliction. Go' right through the world and ga right through all the past ages, and show me one man or woman who has done any thing for the world worth speaking of whose axe was not ground on the revolv ing wheel of mighty trouble. It was not David, for he was dethroned and hounded by unfilial Absalom. Surely it was not Paul, for he was shipwrecked and whipped with thirty-nine strines from rods of elm woo 1 on his way to beheadment. Surely it was not Abraham Lincoln, called? by every vile name that human and satanic tnrpitude could invent and de picted by cartoonists with more meanness than any other man ever suffered, on the temples. But I have- come to the foot of the-Abu. which we must climb before we can see posted on. affairs at home and abroad?' the wide reach of my subject. See in all You will, answer the question affirma this theme how the impossibilities may I tiw,w u -j; ,,,, j be turned into possibilities. That axe t,vey b ""ding, us your name, and; head was sunken in the muddiest river j cubscription for this paper for. a.yearv tnat could be found. The alarmed student of Elisha may know where it went down and may dive for it and perhaps fetch it up, but can the sunken axe head be lifted without a. hand thrust deep into the mud at the bottom of the river? No;-that isi impossible. I admit, so far as human pow er is concerned, it is impossible,, but with: God all things are possible. After the tree branch was thrown upon the. surface of Jordan "the iron did swim." Some oae asks me, "Did you ever sw iron swim?" Yes, yes; many & time.. I saw a soul hardened until nothing could make it harder. All styles ofsin had plied that soul. It was petrified' as to all fins' feeling. It had been hardening fur thirty years. It had gone into, the deep est depths. It had been given-up as lost. The father had given it up.. Thu-mother, j the last to do so, had givem it up. But j one day in answer to some prayer a branch j of the disfoliaged tree of. Calvary- was i thrown into the dark and sullen stream, 1 and the sunken soul responded to. its pow er and rose into the light, and,, to. the as- ! tonishment of the church and the world, I the iron did swim. 1 have- seen, liun- clreds of cases like that. When the- uying bandit on the cross beside Christ was con- of the country's lingering, wild uui verted. When Jerry JdcAuley,. & ruffian ma Is. graduate of Sing Sing prison,, was change 1 into a great evangelist, so- useful in reela- I mation of wandering men and women that 1 the merchant princes of Newr York estab lished for him the Water street nnd Cre morne missions and mourned at his burial, amid the lamentations of, a city. When Xcwton, the blaspheming sailor, under the power of the truth was brought to Christ, and became one of the luigbuest preacher of the gospel that England ever saw When Jolin liunyan, whose curs shocked evei the profane of the fish mar ket, was so changed in, heart and life that lie could write that wonderful dream, "The Pilgrim's Progress," in such a way that un counted thousands liave found through it the road from the "citv of destruction'' to the "celestial city." In all those cases ! think iron was made to swim. I worship the God wdio can do the impossible. .You have a wayward boy. Only Ood knows how you have cried over him. You have tried everything for his reformation. Where u he now in this city, in this country, or has he crossed the sea? "Oh' you say, "I do not know where he is. He went away in the sulks and did not say where he was going." Yon. have about made up your mind that yon will never hear from'him again. Pretty hard pay he gives you for all your kindness and the nighty vou at up with him when ho was sick, Tcrhaps he struck, you one diy whea ' r,"n t C't re I .' tu I.N 1 It li, liirl li-t (ijas'Ht. oii a-.. h'tiiil m rifim-v t-i'.iiii. father! Mother! 'I I ."it is nn in p" - ' I hut I Uo'.iM l,ke to f tl.ul t (!,' iiwM of, the coiiver on ef tlin' boy, fo I. if will iiewr he anything bst n boy to J'mi, Iboiij'.h Vo'.i h'iM In a to n-i l:n iiit v year of ne. I M l you uy hi I nrt 14 iiard? How Inid? 1 1 ir 1 .11 stme you ray, "harder tlmn ',t-it. ll.f.l a iron." But brio is a Ctvi who c.i.v the soul that has bin) i!erp"-t down. Here is a God who enn raNe a soul 'o.it of the b'lW'Kext del'tlii of HI,!' And writ .'b- rdness. I!rn in a God who isfi make v-ui. mvim, the (iod of Elisha, tin' God of ilie young student that stood in d'inay 011 tl; e bank of tli" Jordan nt the timrof the lu'.t ax head. Iviy hold of I he Loi t m a play er that will take no detiinl. Alas, there an; impo.viiMcs I. .'fore thou ennds of people called to (h, w ork that it i- impossible for them to do, called to bear burdens that it is impossiole fui" them to ber, called to endure suffering that it is' inipo-Mible for them to endure. f!ead nil the gospel promises, rally all your faith, anif. while you will always be e,lled t wordiip the God of hope, to-day, with nil the conecnti red energies of my noul 1 im- ' plore you to bow down nnd worship the Goif who can turn the impossibles into the possibles. It was no trivial pl.rpose, but for prand ami glorious uses l'have spoken to you to day of the borrowed', tlio lout aad the restored axe head. CCiryrilit. Vn L. Klop-ch. NEWSY CLEANINGS. In- China the year begins in Fc-lVu-ary.. A e-ru.s.Tdc against ailulleratcd mill; has boon started in Paris, France. A half million of Eastern capital is ,to b: invested in Oregon timber lands. Siueo last September the savin?; deposits of Michigan have incieaiied , ?I, -170,000. The rooplc'u Parly in Idaho has voted not to disband in favor of IL12 Democrats. Workmen have unearthed .?3100 in . $20 gold, pieces in a coal shed at Jcf fersonville, lud. Pittsburg is now building much of the machinery which is to elcchify ijoiiuou uatn lines. ElTorls are being made to form a consolidation of Illinois and Indiana bituminous eoaf companies with a capital, of $100,000,000. Legislative action will be sought by citizens of Beaver Falls, Peun., to Kiippress the practice, common among the women of the place, of playing cards for. prizes. The French cruisers, built ten years ago at. Bordeaux, having proved ut terly unseaworthy, the naval author ities have now decided to repair and modernize them. The Legislature of Kentucky is con sidering, preliminary legislation look ing to. the erection of a new State Capitol, at Frankfort at an estimated cost of. $.1,000,000. An-Ohio town, Bucyrus, having is sued $50,000. of bonds to buy a fac tory, and then meeting a check in .the form of. an. injunction sued out by local parties in interest, has confessed bankruptcy and applied for a receiver. Phosphate rock mined in South Carolina, in I'JOl amounted to S2,(i5(i tons,, ns compared with 119,1208 tons in 1900.. The State, however,, got !f-'3,108 in royalties on the shipments, a decrease of but $1823 from the..iu'o vious year. Do you want an up-to-date, live; newspaper one that will keep, you, or at least six months. PROMINENT PEOPLE;. Governor Odell has just, celehratea: Lis forty-eighth birthday. Senator Depew and Cardinal; Gihv bous are very near the same age;. North Dakota is unique in. that it boasts of only one millionaire,, Colonel; Charles A. Morton, a stock. anC wheat farmer; Representative Littlefield,. of Maine;, Is the fastest talker in the House.. LLc is a. icrror to the official. stem graph-ers. Andrew Carn?gie has given- away more than $10,000,000,. and, John, D. Rockefeller has given, away more tkaa $13,000,000. Ernest Soton-Thompson is gathering recruits in his crusade to, substitute cameras for shotguns in. the pursuit Prince Henry of Prussia, oa his re turn to Germauy from, ike United States, will be depuled to represent Emperor William at the coronation of King Edward.. Captaiu Alfred T.. Mahan. TJ. S. X. retired), known for his publications t-n naval and military problems, has been elected president of '.he Ameri can Historical Association. Senator 'Xathan Pay Scott, of West Virginia, is the ouly man in Washing, ton who wears a black frock coat with a velvet collar, and the style docs uot Beem to take with bis colleagues. Lord Wolseley is busily engaged en his military history, lie has uearly completed the description of Napo leon's campaign of 17Jti. After bis own memoirs he will again take up the "Life of Marlborough." Jay Cooke has at his home at Ogontz a number of historical relics, includ ing a line painting of the celebrated old Indian chief after whom the place is named, and who many a time car led him, when he was a boy, on bis back in ramblin- alyyg. the shores, ot ; Lake Erl $'"' vre iryt;u' fr-.e Ir Ilmv ilil'n n'lit n