Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/578

560 tered by the distinction of being the friend of these wild people, and his theory was that he could govern them through his hold on their esteem. Knapp was accused by Jack of causing his people to labor at making rails for fencing, with providing insufficient food, and with moving them from place to place, although he had only proposed to remove them to land more suitable for opening farms, and furnished with wood and grass, and this, Meacham said, was reason enough

for their leaving the reservation. He now called upon the commandant of the fort to take measures to return Jack and his band to the reserve, and also insisted upon the relative positions of the civil superintendent and military agent being made clear by the department at Washington. Having a military agent did not seem to work well, since Captain Knapp, through his knowledge of affairs at the fort, and the inefficiency of Goodale's command, refrained from making a requi-