Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1887
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
1887
[…] Ample provision ought to be made to accommodate these 186 Indian children. We are told that the stability of the Government depends upon tho virtue and intelligence of the people, and that these are only the product of a healthful and intelligent education of the youth of the country. But higher results accrue to the lndian race by educating their children. Education cuts the cord which binds them to a pagan life, places the Bible in their hands, and substitutes the true God for the false one, Christianity in place of idolatry, civilization in place of superstition, morality in place of vice, cleanliness in place of filth, industry in place of idleness, self respect in place of servility, and, in a word, an elevated humanity in place of abject degradation. […]
Source(s):
“Reports of Agents in Dakota,” Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1887 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1887), p. 61.