“PROTESTANT INDIAN MISSIONS.”
By Editor
UNDER the above heading the Rev. R. J. Cresswell wrote to the New York Observer some time ago. We are sure that the facts set forth will be of interest to our readers, and therefore give them in Mr. Cresswell’s words, condensing when possible:— “‘The Catholic Church alone has labored to save the Indians from extermination.’ So writes a Romish priest in the public press. This and kindred misstatements are widely scattered, and quite generally accepted as true. What are some of the facts? Take the Dakota Indians for example. What is their present condition? The Flandreau Band, in Moody County, South Dakota, own their own homes—good homes and fine farms, well stocked. There is not a Catholic Indian in this settlement. Every adult is a Protestant communicant; most of them are Presbyterians. Their superintendent is the Rev. John Eastman, a native Presbyterian minister of much power, in the prime of his life. Every child of school age is in school. The great ambition of the young men of this band is, not to become hunters and trappers, but ministers and teachers of their ignorant brethren elsewhere. “Sisseton Reserve, in Roberts County, South Dakota, containing 1,000,000 acres, is inhabited by 15,000 Sisseton and Wahpeton Indians. Very few of them are Catholics. The Indians themselves twice refused Archbishop Ireland permission to establish a mission among them. The Rev. Stephen Return Riggs established Good Will Mission at this agency twenty-four years ago, and it has been ever since in efficient operation. It is now in excellent condition. It is supported by the Woman’s Board of the Presbyterian Church. It has 150 students in training. The government also supports a school here. Of the 382 children on this reserve, more than 300 are in school. But very few are absent whose physical condition will permit their attendance. On or very near this reserve there are eight strong Presbyterian congregations and two small Episcopal Churches. Some of these church edifices are very beautiful and commodious! These Indians own their own lands in severalty, are quiet, industrious, and intelligent. There is considerable wealth among them, and will be much more when the government pays them in full. This fact partially explains the great anxiety of the Catholic ecclesiastics to force a Catholic mission upon the band. “On the Fort Totten Reserve, near Devil’s Lake, in North Dakota, the majority of the Indians are Catholic in their faith, so far as they have any. Archbishop Ireland claims it as a Catholic reserve altogether, yet even here there are two Presbyterian congregations, with a good membership and many adherents. So strong is the Protestant sentiment here that they entertained in 1886 the great annual Dakota conference of Christian Indians. “Very many years ago the Presbyterian Church organized the Presbytery of Dakota, for the management of this peculiarly blessed work. It now consists of 18 Indian congregations, with 1,200 communicants, manned by native ministers and officers, having under their care all the machinery of the Presbyterian Church. The Congregational Association, organized more recently, comprises six congregations, as well organized, manned, and equipped as their Presbyterian brethren are. These Indian Presbyterians and Congregationalists are very generous in the support of their local work, and also in sending the gospel to their pagan brethren. Their average annual contribution to missions is more than $1.00 per capita. A part of the fruitage of their missionary efforts is the establishment of a Presbyterian Church and mission stations in Manitoba among their people, who fled across the British line in 1862. Their Y. M. C. A. also supports a mission in the deep wilds of the great Sioux reservation. “Besides these organized churches, twenty-four in number, the home board of the Presbyterian Church and the American Missionary Association have many schools and mission stations at Greenwood, South Dakota; Santee, Nebraska; Poplar Creek, Montana; Fort Berthold, North Dakota, and at several points on the Sioux Reserve. They own a good press, by which they provide a religious literature for the whole tribe. They publish a monthly journal, the Word Carrier, in both languages. They prepared the Dakota dictionary, which was published by the Smithsonian Institute. But their crowning work was the translation of the whole word of God into the Dakota tongue. It is published by the American Bible Society. What Catholic mission ever did such a work as that for any tribe? Fully one-fifth of the Dakota tribe is now under the control of the missionaries of these two great Protestant denominations. Many young men and maidens are in their schools in training for ministers and teachers of their own people. The number and power of such are increasing very rapidly. The Episcopal Church is also prosecuting a vigorous missionary work in behalf of this tribe. “And what is true of the Dakotas is true also of the other Indian tribes of the United States. The Presbyterian Church has great interests in the Indian territory, and she controls largely the missionary work among the Maskans. The American Missionary Association has many important missions in successful operation among our Indian tribes. The other great Protestant missionary organizations are also doing efficient service on these lines. Protestant teachers, with open Bibles, are abroad among these tribes. Success is crowning the efforts of those missionaries of811a pure faith. The Protestant missionaries are generally opposed to contract schools. The Catholics favor them because thereby they draw several hundred thousand dollars annually from the national treasury. “Edinburg, North Dakota.”