But, this being the fact, it simply increases the necessity laid upon us to meet the requirements of the present day. The door is open for the Indian to become a citizen; and in this land, whenever any man receives the privileges of citizenship, it is incumbent upon us to see to it that he is fitted for that sacred obligation by the church and by the school.
This is a necessity of our republic which we have recognized from our earliest day. When our fathers came to this land, they located side by side the school house and the church; and, wherever we have sought to open the privileges of the suffrage, and the dignities, and honors, and joys of citizenship, to any class of people among us, we have always felt it to be an imperative necessity to see to it that they had both these sacred training schools, the educational institution and the religious institution, side by side.
Now to-day we have unusual opportunities. Everything seems to be coming to a focus in regard to our work for the Indians. Never has the time been so auspicious as it is to-day. Never have there been so many things combining to show to us that if we are to improve the opportunity God gives us to care for the Indian--this man who held this land before we came to it and from whom we have taken our possession--we must do it to-day. There are other great needs about us, other races and other classes and other conditions; but there is no other class appealing so intensely to the sympathies of all our people to-day, as is the Indian. This is one great explanation of the remarkable increase of the work of this Association among the Indians. How did it ever spring from an expenditure of $11,000 annually to $52,000, as it is to-day? Partly because the Government has been willing to aid, but still more because our people throughout the land have been intensely interested in the Indian and have been glad to help him. They have said by their gifts that now is the time, and we must leap to improve this opportunity or else it will slip away from us forever.
It is the conviction of your committee--and I can voice it most perfectly--that we must improve this opportunity before it is gone, and that this people who have long suffered at the hands of their white brethren have a claim to our earnest Christian sympathy and to our heartiest effort to put them upon their feet. They are more than ready, they are anxious for our aid, they are crying to us for help.