mestic cottons, etc.; which they do _at
the rate of 300 or 400 per cent_, and if one-fourth of the price
of these articles be paid, he is amply remunerated.[84]

Nor were these the final injustices and infamies heaped upon the
untutored aborigines. It was not enough that they should be pillaged of
their possessions; that the rights guaranteed them by the solemn
treaties of Government should be blown aside like so much waste paper by
the armed force of the American Fur Company; that whole tribes should be
demoralized with rum and then defrauded; that shoddy merchandise, for
which generally no market could be found elsewhere, should be imposed
upon them at such incredibly high prices, that they were bound to be
beggared.[85] These methods were not enough. Never were human beings so
frightfully exploited as these ignorant, unsophisticated savages of the
West. Through the long winters they roamed the forests and the prairies,
and assiduously hunted for furs which eventually were to clothe and
adorn the aristocracy of America, Europe and Asia. When in the spring
they came in with their spoil, they were, with masterly cunning,
artfully made intoxicated and then robbed. Not merely robbed in being
charged ruinous prices for merchandise, but robbed additionally in the
weight of their furs. Forsyth relates that for every dollar in
merchandise that the Astor company exchanged for furs, the company
received $1.25 or $1.50 in fur values, undoubtedly by the trader's low
trick of short weighing.

A LONG RECORD OF VIOLENCE.

In law the Indian was supposed to have certain rights, but Astor's
company not only ignored but flouted them. Now when the Indians
complained, what happened? Did the Government protect them? The
Government, and especially the courts, were quick and generous in
affording the greatest protection and the widest latitude to Astor's
company. But when the Indians resented the robberies and injustices to
which they were subjected beyond bearing, they were murdered. They were
murdered wantonly and in cold blood; and then urgent alarmist
representations would be sent to Washington that the Indians were in a
rebellious state, whereupon troops would be punitively hurried forth to
put them down in slaughter. In turn, goaded by an intense spirit of
revenge, the Indians would resort to primitive force and waylay, rob and
murder the white agents and traders.[86]

From 1815 to 1831 more than 150 traders were robbed