less rapid than in literature. The training of women for medical
practise was long opposed by medical schools and men physicians.
Equally tedious was the effort to obtain legal instruction and
admission to the legal profession, and even to-day the admission to
theological schools and the ministry is seriously contested; yet all
these professions are gradually being opened to women. In 1896–97
there were in the United States 1,583 women pursuing medical studies
to 1,471 in 1895–96; in dentistry, 150 women in 1896–97 to 143 in
1895–96; in pharmacy, 131 in 1896–97 to 140 in 1895–96. In law courses
of professional schools were 131 women in 1896–97 to 77 in 1895–96; in
theological courses 193 women in 1896–97.
The only aggressive work done by this bureau is in Alaska, and of this
Dr. Sheldon Jackson is agent or superintendent. Besides doing a great
work in education, this department has brought about 1,300 deer from
Siberia to take the place of dogs, mules, and horses in transportation,
and at the same time to give milk, butter, cheese, and meat to the
population. The reindeer are self-supporting, living on the moss which
grows abundantly.
These animals are loaned to individuals or missions, and at the end of
five years the government requires an equivalent number to be returned.
The Eskimo, the Lapp, and the Finn become expert in handling these
herds, now numbering many thousands. By them mails are carried, and
whalers, sealers, miners, and soldiers rescued from starvation, danger,
or death.
The education as well as religious training of Alaska is up to this time
conducted through the mission stations, all of which are visited,
encouraged, and assisted by Dr. Jackson.
The _Youth’s Companion_ tersely states the present condition of things:
When the churches first planned to send missionaries and teachers into
Alaska, representatives of the several denominations met and divided
the territory among them. Should the traveler ask the ordinary Alaskan
miner what is the result of effort, he would probably be answered that
there has been no result. The miner, in the words of Dr. Sheldon
Jackson, is unconscious that the very fact of his presence there at
all is the direct outcome of Christian missions. In 1877 Sitka and St.
Michaels were armed trading-posts, out of which the soldiers shut the
natives every night, that the inhabitants might rest in safety. For
ten years not a single whaler dared to stay overnight at Cape Prince
of Wales, so savage was the native population. Now, in all those
ports, the miner and whaler and traveler can dwell in safety, because
of the civilizing work of the missionaries. Probably ten thousand
natives have been brought under Christian influences, and many public
as well as mission schools have been opened.
Among the Moravian missions of the Yukon Valley few of the natives can
read or write. At bedtime a bell rings, and the entire population goes
to the churches. A chapter in the Bible is read, a prayer offered, a
hymn sung; and the men, women, and children return to their homes and
go to bed. Where in the United States can be found a better record?
In introducing religion with the arts, sciences, and conveniences of
civilization, Dr. Jackson’s work reminds one of the words of Whittier:
I hear the mattock in the mine,
The ax stroke in the dell,
The clamor of the Indian lodge,
And now the chapel bell.
I hear the tread of pioneers,
Of nations yet to be,
The first low wash of waves where soon
Shall roll a human sea.
XXI
BRANCHES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
The Gallaudet College for the Deaf is situated in Northeast Washington,
at Kendall Green. It is surrounded by about one hundred acres of ground.
Until within a year it has been known as the Columbian Institution for
the Deaf and Dumb, but the Board of Directors, at the request of the
alumni, wisely changed it to Gallaudet College, in honor and memory of
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of deaf-mute education in America. The
honor is also deserved by the Hon. Edward M. Gallaudet, LL.D., its
president at the time. He is probably the greatest teacher of mutes now
living. He is certainly the most distinguished one. It is the only real
college for this unfortunate class in the world. All the other schools
for mutes in this country only prepare them to enter this institution.
The college embraces, in a four years’ course, languages, mathematics,
natural science, history, philosophy, and political science—about the
usual classical course in any college.
They are instructed by what is known as the combined method—that is,
both the oral and sign methods are used.
Mutes among themselves greatly prefer signs. All mutes can not learn the
oral method, and I know by experience among mutes that the talking which
they learn is not very satisfactory. Their voices are too loud or too
low; in some of them the sound of the voice is most distressing, not
having the ear by which to regulate it.
I met one woman in Washington stone-deaf who could talk as well as any
one, and I had met her three times before I knew she was deficient in
any sense. Then she took me by the shoulders and turned me toward the
window, saying: “I do believe you are talking. You know I can not hear
thunder, so I must see your lips.”
The director for the school of mutes in Japan made a lengthy visit to
Washington to study the methods of the college instruction, and several
countries of Europe have sent delegates to examine its workings. Dr.
Gallaudet has visited every great school for mutes in Europe—not once,
but several times—so that he brings to his great work not only his own
skill, knowledge, and experience, but also the results of his
observations in many lands.
Congress appropriates about $50,000 per year for the support of this
college. Here the mutes from the District of Columbia and of the Army
and Navy, besides sixty indigent students from different parts of the
country, without charge for board, receive a college training. Beside
these there are many who pay full tuition. The annual attendance is
between one and two hundred. About six hundred young men and women have
been graduated, showing that deafness does not interfere with the
highest mental culture.
The following extract from the report of 1893 will give an idea of the
beneficent work of this government institution. The report says:
Fifty-seven who have gone out from the college have been engaged in
teaching; four have entered the Christian ministry; three have become
editors and publishers of newspapers; three others have taken
positions connected with journalism; fifteen have entered the civil
service of the government—one of these, who had risen rapidly to a
high and responsible position, resigned to enter upon the practise of
law in patent cases in Cincinnati and Chicago, and has been admitted
to practise in the Supreme Court of the United States; one is the
official botanist of a State, who has correspondents in several
countries of Europe who have repeatedly purchased his collections, and
he has written papers upon seed tests and related subjects which have
been published and circulated by the Agricultural Department; one,
while filling a position as instructor in a Western institution, has
rendered important service to the Coast Survey as a microscopist, and
one is engaged as an engraver in the chief office of the Survey. Of
three who became draftsmen in architects’ offices, one is in
successful practise as an architect on his own account, which is also
true of another, who completed his preparation by a course of study in
Europe; one has been repeatedly elected recorder of deeds in a
Southern city, and two others are recorders’ clerks in the West; one
was elected and still sits as a city councilman; another has been
elected city treasurer and is at present cashier of a national bank;
one has become eminent as a practical chemist and assayer; two are
members of the faculty of the college, and two others are rendering
valuable service as instructors therein; some have gone into
mercantile and other offices; some have undertaken business on their
own account, while not a few have chosen agricultural and mechanical
pursuits, in which the advantages of thorough mental training will
give them a superiority over those not so well educated. Of those
alluded to as having engaged in teaching, one has been the principal
of a flourishing institution in Pennsylvania; one is now in his second
year as principal of the Ohio institution; one has been at the head of
a day-school in Cincinnati, and later of the Colorado institution; a
third has had charge of the Oregon institution; a fourth is at the
head of a day-school in St. Louis; three others have respectively
founded and are now at the head of schools in New Mexico, North
Dakota, and Evansville, Ind., and others have done pioneer work in
establishing schools in Florida and in Utah.
In Dr. Gallaudet’s travels he was met in every country by the educated
mutes, and by his sign language could converse with them, showing that
the world has at least one universal language. Every honor that grateful
hearts could shower upon a devoted friend and philanthropist was shown
the doctor in his travels in Europe. He deserves them all.
The Smithsonian Institution is situated on a fifty-two acre reservation
between the Capitol and the Potomac River. The main building is near the
center of the grounds opposite Tenth Street, West. It is built of a fine
light purplish gray freestone which is soft when it comes from the
quarry, but becomes almost like granite on long exposure to the air. It
constitutes the great National Museum, in animal, vegetable, geological,
and even social life. Relics of almost every administration,
particularly from Washington’s to Jackson’s time, are preserved here.
James Smithson was the natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, first Duke of
Northumberland. James Smithson took a degree in Oxford in 1786. He died
in Genoa, June, 1829. He desired to found in the United States, a land
he never saw, an institution which should live in the memory of men when
the titles of his ancestors, the Northumberlands and the Percys, were
extinct and forgotten.
The institution is for the increase of knowledge among men. It assists
scientific men in original research, and it publishes the results, which
are sent to leading libraries, and are also accessible to scientists
throughout the land.
The bequest was for several years before Congress, but in 1846, when the
funds had reached three-fourths of a million dollars, the Smithsonian
Institution was founded.
Its translators turn all scientific works into English, so that
Americans can have the benefit of them in their own language.
Miss Thora Steineger, a Norwegian lady, has charge of the classification
of all animals received by the Smithsonian. Women’s work in the
scientific departments is gradually increasing, as colleges, like
Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, and Bryn Mawr give more and more attention to
science.
Here one can see the birds of all lands, animals of every clime,
vegetation from every latitude. The idols of heathendom glare at
passers-by; the quaint costumes of the Asiatics, the Eskimos of the
extreme North, and the inhabitants of the islands of the sea are worn by
wax figures so lifelike that one almost fears to make any comment in
their presence.
The fruits of much of the learning of the world are under this roof, and
every youth in our land should see its classic stores.
XXII
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
This bureau is located in a beautiful white marble building between
Seventh and Eighth streets, facing the Patent Office. These two
buildings are among the very best specimens of architecture in the
capital.
Hon. William A. Jones, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, receives a
salary of $4,000; the Assistant Commissioner receives $3,000. They have
about one hundred assistants in Washington, consisting of clerks,
bookkeepers, stenographers, superintendents, architects, draftsmen, etc.
Of persons connected with Indian affairs, on the field, including Indian
agents, storekeepers, teachers, farmers, and artisans, fully 10,000 are
paid government money. There are in the United States, exclusive of
Alaska, 269,388 Indians under the government care. Of these, 184,881 are
not included in the five great tribes. Over 98,000 of these Indians wear
the dress of civilization, and over 46,000 can read and write. Of
communicant church-members there are 30,935—not a very large proportion
after two hundred years of instruction.
There are 59 agencies, and about 20,000 Indians outside of the agencies.
The reservations are, generally speaking, the lands which white men
considered they would never want, being the most barren, forlorn,
hopeless spots in the state or territory in which they are located. Bad
as they are, many of them are now coveted by the white man, who, under
the plea of breaking up Indian tribal relations, will within a few years
buy or appropriate the last acre.
There are now no nomadic tribes; the hunting-grounds are all taken, and
the Indian must work, receive government rations, or die. The Indians
receive over $200,000 in money, some by contract receive rations through
removal, and all are assisted with agricultural implements, seeds, and
breeding animals.
It was once my lot to see an Indian tribe forcibly removed from some
place in the North to the Indian Territory. A more sorrowful sight can
scarcely be imagined. My recollection is that they were the Nez Percés.
They were large men with fine heads and faces. The women were worthy to
be the mothers of warriors. As they camped for the night, the men
gathered in small circular groups, sat Turkish fashion on the ground,
and smoked their pipes in absolute silence. Sorrow, dejection, and
despair were written all over them. The women pitched the tents and
cooked the suppers, with the bent bodies and cast-down countenances of
broken hearts.
A company of regular army men was their escort. I spoke to the officers.
The captain said: “I hope my government will never again detail my
company to do such work. It simply uses me up to see these
broken-hearted people. Many have escaped, but I can not shoot them.”
That they have been deeply wronged, no one doubts; that they are still
in many cases victims of the white man’s cupidity, is self-evident; but
the government is trying to do the best now possible for them. It is not
possible in a short time to correct the errors of a century, but when
kind hearts and wise brains are acting in their behalf the future may be
considered more hopeful.
It is gratifying to see that the present Commissioner urges that local
schools shall do the work with the Indians, for even tho the Indian
should learn less, his home ties will be maintained, and his knowledge,
as it is acquired, will be applied in the home. Then the _reconcentrado_
methods can be abolished.
Young Indians should be placed with farmers to learn farming, and paid
as much as their work is worth. In the same way girls should learn
housekeeping. Of all people the Indian is a social being. If placed on
farms all the homes would center in one place. Our young white people
can not stand the loneliness of the farm; how can we expect people who
have had tribal relations to endure it?
The white man’s trades and occupations only to the degree positively
needed should be forced upon them; but their own bead-work, fancy
baskets, queer pottery, and Navajo blankets should be greatly improved,
and their artistic tastes in their own line cultivated. Let us make them
see that we white people like their own characteristic work, and we will
not need to turn their industry into new lines.
Miss Estelle Reel, Superintendent of Indian Schools, visits all the
Indian schools, whether in civilization at Carlisle and Hampton or at
the farthest reservation. She receives a salary of $3,000, with an
allowance of $1,500 for traveling expenses. Stage-coach, buckboard,
railroad, boat, and canoe are familiar servants in her work.
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
Looking from the Capitol
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
GRAND STAIRWAY OF THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE ROTUNDA (READING-ROOM) OF THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE PENSION OFFICE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE GERMAN EMBASSY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE BRITISH EMBASSY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE FRENCH EMBASSY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY
]
Every line of her splendid reports teems with heart-and-soul enthusiasm.
She has just put out a book entitled, “Course of Study for the Indian
Schools of the United States, Industrial and Literary.” Besides the
common school branches, it treats of the elements of agriculture,
bakery, basketry, blacksmithing, carpentry, cooking, housekeeping,
laundry, physiology, shoemaking, tailoring, upholstering, and, in fact,
almost everything needed in daily living. Through it all runs a real
practical teaching in morality—that good work is truth, bad work is
untruth. Work in any one is the measure of character.
You remember President Roosevelt, in his New York speech concerning
missions, spoke of the great underpaid army of faithful clergymen all
over this land who, in obscure places, hold up the correct models of
morality, who keep the ideals of the nation to honest, simple, earnest,
true daily living. Much more is this true of the missionaries among the
Indians.
I remember once visiting the Indian school at Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Professor Bryan was then at the head of it. The school was partly
supported by funds from the Presbyterian Church and partly by government
money. At the table I was trying to find from each one his or her share
in the great work they were doing. I asked each one, and each gave me a
short, graphic account of his work. I sat at Professor Bryan’s right
hand; just opposite me sat a brightfaced German, looking the wisest
person at the table. As I came to him I said, “And you, Professor?”
“Madam, I am the cook.” Whether my face flushed with surprise or not I
do not know. No one smiled. After a somewhat embarrassing moment for me,
he said: “Madam, since I was a little boy I have desired to be a
missionary to the Indians. I received a good education, graduated at the
Berlin University, took a course in theology at a seminary in Germany,
then came here, where I found that my imperfect English was an
insurmountable barrier to religious work among the Indians. We had no
cook. Some of our best teachers were ill nearly all the time, so I
became the cook, and I do it unto God, believing that every soul saved
by these devoted workers, whose health I have improved, is part of my
work. Do you approve?”
“Do I approve?” I said. “Why, every pot and kettle becomes a sanctified
implement in your hand. The Master said: ‘And whosoever of you will be
the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom
for many.’”
XXIII
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The great necessity for a separate building for a Congressional Library
was first urged by Mr. A. R. Spofford, in his Librarian’s Report in
1872. An appropriation was made for the purchase of the ground in 1886.
The site consists of ten acres of ground, facing the east front of the
Capitol. The ground and the old buildings upon it cost $585,000, and the
building itself, $6,032,124.34.
It is the handsomest, most convenient, and best lighted and ventilated
library building in the world, and I believe it to be the handsomest
building for public purposes in the world. The building is of the
Italian Rennaissance order of architecture. It has three stories and a
dome, and covers three and a half acres of ground. Its dimensions are
470 × 340 feet, and the height of the wall 69 feet.
The Library, or collection of books, was founded in 1800, Congress
appropriating $5,000 for that purpose. When the Capitol building was
fired by the British, this Library was nearly destroyed. It also
suffered from fire in 1851.
The Library of Congress purchases rare books from all lands. Its chief
source of supply is through the copyright law, which requires that two
copies of every book copyrighted should be sent to the Library. It has
acquired by gift or purchase the Library of Thomas Jefferson, of 6,700
volumes, for which $23,950 was paid, the Force Historical Collection in
1865, the Smithsonian Library in 1867, and the Toner Collection in 1882.
The Smithsonian division is largely composed of books on scientific
subjects. The law library of over 92,000 books yet remains in the
Capitol building.
The Force Library is a fine collection of books, manuscripts, and papers
concerning the early history of America, especially of the Colonial
times.
Every picture, photograph, piece of music, engraving, dramatic
production, pamphlet, or brochure published in the United States can be
found here in the copyright edition. The collection is the largest in
the western hemisphere, comprising about 1,000,000 books and pamphlets.
The Library has forty-five miles of shelving, which is more than twice
its present requirements. There are in the book division 207 employees,
and in the copyright-rooms 49. The caretakers number 116. The
appropriations by Congress for service, and for the printing, binding,
and purchasing of books, amount to not less than $1,000,000 annually.
Any one can read or study in the Library, but only Congressmen, members
of the Supreme Court or their families, or the President’s family, are
permitted to take books from the building. No pen-and-ink work is
allowed in the Library, for fear of stains.
In the basement, one room is set apart for the blind, where they may
read for themselves, and almost every afternoon they have a concert, or
some noted author reads from his own writings, or some distinguished
speaker lectures before a most appreciative audience of blind people.
[Illustration:
ONE OF THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
]
The present Librarian is Mr. Herbert Putnam, of Boston. The most
interesting personality in the building is Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford,
who was the Librarian from 1864 to 1897. He was appointed during Mr.
Lincoln’s administration. He is a walking encyclopedia.
I once asked him for the names of a few books on anthropology. He poured
out such a stream of titles and authors that I was obliged to call for
quarter. He then wrote me out a list of fifteen titles and authors,
taking only a minute or two for the whole matter. He seems conversant
with every subject. His memory concerning books is simply phenomenal.
In the Library is a perfect copy of Eliot’s Indian Bible, published in
Cambridge in 1661, the last copy of which brought $1,000. Here, too, may
be found the works of Cotton and Increase Mather (1671 to 1735), and
leading journals, all publications of our country from 1735 to 1800.
Bound volumes of many of them can also be found here. The first edition
of the Mormon Bible, published in 1830, and printed at Palmyra, New
York; Archbishop Cramer’s version of the Bible, 1553; Martin Luther’s
Bible; and the Catholic version of the New Testament, 1582, are among
the rare volumes in the Library of Congress.
An extract from a copy of the Washington _Post_ of 1897 well describes
the official test of the device for sending books to and from the
Capitol:
An official test of the device for transporting books between the
Capitol and the new Congressional Library was made yesterday
afternoon. Mr. John Russell Young, the Librarian; Chief Assistant
Librarian Spofford, and Superintendent Bernard R. Green assembled in
the small receiving-room, just off Statuary Hall, about 2 o’clock. Mr.
Young had prepared for the test a list of books known only to himself
until they were ordered from the Library.