Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/363

 If by the declaration that the red man's story will never be told, is meant that there is a darker hue than has been given to the white man's side of the conflict, evidently it should not be told. Enough has been recorded of both sides to show that too large a part of both races are at times given over to destructive frenzy. That is the way with all tribes and nations, and this fact or the degree of the fact is not in the right direction to find the measure of their advancement, which, in the language of the mathematician, is to be found in the summation of the series.

We have only to look across the line into the British possessions of North America to see that their treatment of the Indian has been more promotive of peace and good will than ours, and some people are swift to conclude that the Canadians are of a higher moral tone than the people of the United States. The true reason lies in the fact that their system of government has a more constant and more powerful restraining influence upon the lawless class in society. There is more individual freedom with us, and consequently more room for departure from the normal line of conduct. This difference is boldly in evidence to those of our citizens who have lived in mining regions governed by Canadian officers, whose official tenure does not depend upon the mood of the populace. The mounted police of the Dawson country is a much better protection to the inhabitants than our system of elective sheriffs and constables. My brother, John C. Davenport, who owned gold mines in British Columbia, was very decided in his preference for the summary proceedings there, in restraining the predatory class that infest the mines of every country and by collusion and false swearing beat honest people out of their rightful possessions. The commissioner appointed to investigate cases of conflict, examines into the merits of each and makes a report, upon which the "frauds" are admonished to take themselves off, and in case of refusal are lodged in jail. As a general rule such methods are satisfactory to honest claimants, but when those armed with such powers become, pecuniarily or otherwise, interested in a vitiation of