Yet I feel it a duty to
present a true picture of the situation of the Indian bands and of the
two great powers that govern in the country and whose interests are
the very opposite of each other.
These two governing parties are the Hudson Bay Company and the
Dominion Government. There is not the slightest doubt, but their
interests are directly opposed. The company has made its millions out
of the fur trade and its present support is the same trade. The more
the Indians hunt the more the Company can make. Now the Government
desires to civilize them and to teach them to cultivate the soil. The
more the Indian works on his farm the less the Company gets in the way
of fur. Again, the more the Government supplies the Indians with
rations the less the Company can sell to them.
Two buffalos are not given for a glass of whiskey--one-third highwines
and two-thirds water--as when the Company had full sway. The fire-
water is not permitted to be brought to them now. No longer have the
Indians to pay the exorbitant prices for pork, flour, tea, &c., that
the Company charged them. The Government has rendered it unnecessary
for them to thus sacrifice their time and means. Did the Company ever
try to civilize or christianize the Indians! Most certainly not. The
more they became enlightened the less hold the Company would have upon
them. Again, if it were not for the Government, the lights of the
gospel would scarcely ever reach them.
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