PLATFORM OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL LAKE MOHONK CONFERENCE OF FRIENDS OF THE INDIAN AND OTHER

DEPENDENT PEOPLES.

The Twenty-second Annual Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian and Other Dependent Peoples rejoices that so much has been accomplished, under the wise action of the National Government, in bringing the descendants of the aborigines of our land to the enjoyment of education, justice and equity and to some of the benefits of our civilization, while the dependent peoples, who have recently come under our care, have been provided with nearly everything that has thus far been possible to improve their condition and to prepare them for the privileges and responsibilities of their new relations. We are encouraged to hope that nearly all the difficult problems with which these various wards of the Nation have been surrounded will ultimately, and perhaps speedily, meet with satisfactory solutions. For the Indians, we feel that our paternal care must be continued for some time to come, while to prolong it unduly will result, as such care always does, in weakness and permanent injury; while for the people of our insular possessions we must guard against the dangers of too much regulation on the one hand and of indifference and neglect on the other. The experience of our people in Alaska shows how easy it is for our Congress to fail to act upon important interests that happen to be remote.

We desire to reaffirm the statement made last year that "in dealing with the Indians the objects to be accomplished are no longer questioned; they are the abandonment of the reservation system; the discontinuance of Indian agencies; such education of all Indian children as will fit them for self-support and self-government; access to the Courts for the protection of their rights; amenability to the law in punishment for their crimes; the same liberty that white men enjoy to own, buy, sell, travel, pay taxes, and enjoy in good government the benefits enjoyed by other taxed citizens; and by these means the speedy incorporation of all Indians, with all the rights of citizenship, into the American Commonwealth."

In continuation of the foregoing, it is the sense of this Conference that the initial steps should early be taken by Congress looking to the closing up of the business of the Indian Bureau, so soon as it may safely be done, leaving to the operation of the laws of the Nation and of the several States and Territories

the protection of the Indians in their rights of person and property, the education of their children, and in securing to them the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.

The different conditions found in different localities should be carefully considered in whatever action may be taken in the interests of education and in the regulations of property. In all situations the common schools for both white and Indian children should be extended and safe-guarded so as to provide for the education of all children to prepare them for good neighborly citizenship, while the evils of race prejudice are, so far as possible, avoided. Where the local authorities of State and county are unable to provide these the general Government should make adequate provision for the proper education of the citizens. Day schools for Indians, where such are necessary, should be extended. Reservation Schools and Indian Boarding Schools must be continued for some time to come, but we believe they should not be enlarged nor increased in number, nor should heavy appropriations be made for permanent improvements. The policy of education, whatever its details may be, should ever have in view the strengthening of family ties and the developing of the sacred relations of the home. This fundamental unit of American civilization should be fostered among the Indians as well as among ourselves.

Indian industries should be encouraged by every practicable means. Instruction in agriculture and the useful arts should be liberally given them, especially should such of their native industries be encouraged as illustrate their distinctive abilities.

OUR ISLAND POSSESSIONS.

The Conference is gratified with the progress that has so far been made in the education and development of a portion of the inhabitants of the Philippine Archipelago. We especially commend the wise system of education that has been put into successful operation there. We would urgently recommend the extension of this system until the people shall all receive the inestimable advantages that will result from it. By these they will be prepared for the important career that awaits them, both in their own government and in their relations to the Nation.

We ask our Government to give especial attention to the industrial development of these islands, and, as being of the greatest importance to them, to speedily provide for the unrestricted entry of their products to the markets of the Nation.

We commend the wise action of the Government in the revision of the laws of Porto Rico, and in establishing an admirable system of education there. We are unable to suggest any improvement in this system, but we strongly urge the expenditure by

our Government of whatever sums may be necessary to secure the advantages of education to all the children of the island. At the present time but one in five of the children of school age receive educational advantages. We are fully aware of the seriousness of this undertaking, but we are convinced that the end will fully justify the means.

The conditions in Hawaii are so different from our other islands that quite distinct problems are there to be met. The large Asiatic population already there places upon the Government a serious responsibility for such an education of their children as will prepare them for the duties of citizenship. Laws should be speedily enacted and efficiently enforced that will conserve virtue and restrain vice.

We recommend to Congress such action as may be necessary to secure the use of the English language in legislation as will comply with the conditions already stipulated.

In all our island possessions we are glad to find that we can unhesitatingly congratulate the country upon the fact that our Government has sent to them so many earnest, zealous, highly trained and capable young men to meet and solve the difficult problems that have confronted them. This gives a hopeful evidence that our connection with these peoples will result to their great advantage and to our own. We feel that it is our duty to develop in all our dependent peoples whatever is strong and good in them, instead of endeavoring to cast them into the mould of our own racial characteristics, believing that thereby they may contribute to mankind something of permanent value.

The real duty before us with all dependent peoples is the upbuilding of character. This must be accomplished by the combined influences of religion and education. Our Government can provide for the latter, but it devolves upon the Christian people of our land to see that the vast interests of religion are not neglected.

LAKE MOHONK CONFERENCE

OF

FRIENDS OF THE INDIAN and

OTHER DEPENDENT PEOPLES.

First Session.

Wednesday, October 19, 1904.

The Conference was called to order at 10 A.M. by Mr. Smiley, who said:

It is now time to call to order the twenty-second meeting of the annual gathering of Friends of the Indian and other Depend ent Peoples. It always gives me very great pleasure to see so many people interested in a good cause gathered together, and this year I think we have an unusually fine Conference. Sometimes before we meet we feel uncertain as to whether there will be a good attendance, but they always come, and this year in view of the Congregational, Presbyterian and Episcopalian Conventions which are now going on in different parts of the country, and drawing away some who would otherwise be with us, I am encouraged to find so many leading men and women here. And I am glad that we have with us an unusually large number of persons representing the Philippines, Porto Rico and Hawaii. The Indian question today is a very different question from what it was twenty-one years ago. Then only $40,000 was spent annually by the Government for Indian education; now more than $1,000,000 is spent every year on education. The whole policy of the Government is changed, and the Indians are receiving more and more their rights and proper protection and care. We don't meet here to scold the Government, by any means. Our object is to discuss conditions in a candid way and to see if we cannot do something to better them. We hope the time will soon come when there will be no need of such a Conference as this on the Indian question, and then we shall give our time to other dependent races-the Hawaiians and the Filipinos and the Porto Ricans, and any others that we may gather in. However, I hope there won't be any more.