Commissioner of Indian Affairs Cato Sells writes a lengthy letter to G. McM. Ross in which he thoroughly disagrees with Ross' claim that Carlisle Indian School students should be paid for their labor, reasoning that the government pays for their lodging, food, and education, that students can earn money on outing, and that their labor at the school helps to teach them the value of hard work and self-reliance.
Ross sends Sells a pamphlet entitled "A Plan for the Reorganization of the Public Schools" that he had written himself. The rest of the document features correspondence between Ross and various officials. Most of the correspondence has little to do with Carlisle, but in one letter, Ross describes students not being paid for their labor at Carlisle, and other schools, as exploitative.
