The American Missionary — Volume 45, No. 02, February, 1891Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 45, No. 02, February, 1891
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
While public attention is everywhere called to this matter, it is time
to agitate for a radical change in the whole administration of the
Indian service. We believe that this should be disconnected entirely
from the Department of the Interior, and be made a _separate
department_. This whole Indian question is so important and so complex
that it ought not to be simply an annex to a department which has under
its control land, patents, etc. It should stand by itself; there should
no longer be a divided responsibility, which is always productive of
evil. We are finding the necessity in our cities of making
responsibility more direct and personal. The time, we believe, has fully
come to reorganize the Indian service on this basis. Our criticism is
not against any individual, but against a system which is the growth of
many years.
We would suggest the following;
1. Have the Commissioner of Indian Affairs responsible only to the
President and to the public. What he does, or may do, shall not be
controlled by the Department of the Interior.
2. Ask Congress to provide such legislation that no agents or teachers
shall ever be removed without proper cause.
3. All inspectors and special agents shall be under the absolute control
of the Commissioner.
4. There shall be a division of the Indian reservation into school
districts, with an assistant superintendent for each. It shall be their
duty to visit the schools constantly, and keep themselves in full
sympathy and touch with the work. This is the method in the States--an
official responsible for a field which he can properly cover.
* * * * *
_EDUCATORS' CONVENTION._
The recent Educators' Convention of Atlanta was a large and significant
gathering. Such consultations of teachers carry a wide and beneficial
influence. We learn that the papers and addresses were of a high
character, and that the discussions were carried on with great interest,
and we have no doubt that the educational work throughout the South will
feel the upward impulse of this Convention.
We quote the following paragraph from the excellent report in the
_Congregationalist_:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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