In presenting the following record of the graduates of the Carlisle School, than which no like school in the country can show a better record, it is desired to call attention to several facts to which the reader should give careful attention.
First. The Carlisle School is not a university. The character of its academic work, with the exception of that of the business and the telegraphy departments, is of the grammar grade. Some studies which are included in the regular high school course are taught, but no so called higher education is given. Consequently, its record should be compared with schools of a similar character among the white people; and in comparison with these, or even in comparison with our colleges, the total number who have made good will compare to splendid advantage. Out of the total of 514 graduates, only five have been so called failures; the rest have made a marked success in their various spheres of activity.
Second. Attention is invited to the fact that Carlisle has inspired a large number of its graduates with the desire for further advanced, collegiate education. It will be seen from their records that a number of Indians who have been graduated at this school have continued their way in institutions of higher learning, and in practically all such cases have worked their way through.
Third. In the record of the women graduates, it will be noted that 142 are housekeepers. It will thus be seen that their education has not weaned them away from married life. A careful examination of the records of these young ladies shows that they are the mistresses of modern homes, nicely furnished, and that their children are being well cared for and carefully educated. These are not so called squaws who live in tepees or hogans amid the squalor of the reservation, but thrifty, industrious wives and mothers whose homes compare well with the homes of good white women in similar circumstances.
Fourth. It will be noticed by examining the distribution of graduates that out of the 514 who are living 300 are successfully engaged in vocational activities away from the reservation, and have been forever severed from federal supervision. No longer content to be wards, they have speedily become citizens. The 209 engaged at work on the reservation are leaders among their people, and examples of probity and industry.
The occupations of the 514 living graduates are as follows:
Employed by the United States Government Indian Service
Clerks and Stenographers 13
Disciplinarians, Field Matron, and Asst. Matrons 20
Instructors 41
In the Academic Branches 15
In the Household Arts 12
(Cooking, Laundering, Nursing, Sewing, etc.)
In the Industries 14
(Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Engineering, Farming, Shoemaking, etc.)
Superintendents 2
Supervisors (National) and Overseers of Indian Employment 2
Interpreters, Laborers, Night Watchmen 6
Total 85
In the Army 4
In the Forest Service 2
In the Navy 1
Mail Carrier 1
Total 93
Business, Professions and the Industries
Agents, Cashiers, Clerks, Managers, Salesmen, and Stenographers 30
Band Leaders and Traveling Band Men 7
Farmers and Ranchers 50
Housewives 142
In Business for Themselves 19
(Merchants, Real Estate Dealers, etc.)
Laborers 15
Carlisle Indian School Catalogue 85
Professions 22
(Civil Engineering, Dentistry, Journalism, Law, Lecturing, Medicine, Nursing, Teaching, etc.)
Railroaders 8
(Foremen, Firemen, etc.)
Students 28
(Business Schools, Universities, etc.)
Trades 78
(Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Dressmaking, Harness making, Laundering, Printing, Skoemaking, Tailoring, etc.)
Total 400
At Home Working with Parents 10
Occupation Unknown 6
No Occupation 5
Distribution of Graduates
Living 514
Deceased 69
Total number of Graduates 583
Working at home on allotment, or near it 147
Working near home 32
In Government Service at home 30
Total 209
In U. S. Indian Service away from home 60
Married and living away from home, many in white communities 66
At work away from home in white communities 149
Students in white schools away from home 15
Students in Indian Schools, here or elsewhere 10
Whereabouts not known 5
Grand Total 514
Returned Students
Careful records are being gathered of the more than 4000 students who have only stayed at Carlisle long enough to complete partial terms. It has been found from returns which have already been received that out of 2189 approximately 94% are successfully earning their living, and evidence by the uprightness of their lives that even the short term spent at this school has been a vital influence for good.