in the
light of what has been said, is not the duty of Christianizing the
Indians a debt of honor, a "preferred claim," which should take
precedence over others? In this way only can we partially atone for
our "century of dishonor."

The history of the past few months, and the famous order with regard
to the use of the vernacular, ought to arouse the church to new
efforts. The probable instigators of it are known to friends of the
Indian, and it shows the necessity of increased activity on our part.
The order was despotism itself, and would have done credit to a
Russian Czar. It was a blow aimed at the Indian's highest religious
interests, and the President of the United States, instead of
explaining and translating it, should have recalled it as an act
unworthy of Christian civilization in the nineteenth century.
Everything is still done to hamper the Protestant missionary work.
The A.M.A. has a theological school, and the Government allows (?) it
to teach a theological class; but, when the students are chosen and
ready to come, the Government agents prohibit their coming. We have a
young man who has been waiting for a year for a permit from
Washington. The same obstructive policy meets us when we try to get
pupils under the Government school contracts. And even after we have
obtained the order from the Government to procure the pupils from a
given agency, the Government will, at the same time, instruct the
Agent to let no pupils go till the Government schools are full. In
this way the Christian Indian parent has taken from him the right to
send his child where he desires, for the Government stops his rations
and annuities if he refuses to send to the Government school. The
vote recently passed at the General Association of Congregational
Churches in South Dakota ought to be taken up and echoed through the
land, protesting against the assumption, by the Administration, of
the right to control our missionary operations, dictating what pupils
may attend our schools, or what language may be used in them.

In conclusion, let us gird ourselves anew for the struggle that is
before us, to fight the enemies of Protestant Christianity,
entrenched as they are in our Government, the Indian ring, the cattle
kings, the land grabbers and the thousands whose selfish interest it
is to keep the Indian ignorant. This is no holiday affair; it means
earnest, determined work. We must give the Indian the Gospel of the
Son of God as his