Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-19
TURNED THE TABLES
When the Cree Indians Went
On a Strike.
FACTOR HAD HIS SAY
RAISED THE PRICE OF THINGS IN
THE STORE.
So They Profted Not by the Increase
in the Value Of
Skins.
FACTOR HAD HIS SAY
special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
EDMONTON, N. w. T., August %, 1904.
The union is spreadng-the labor union L
mean. 1t has broken out lately among the
Bush Crees on the upper Athabasca.
AT one of the Hudson Bay posts, pre-
sided over by sturdy Scotch factor. the
labor question has been fought out and the
Indians sense of humor also his rights to
sell his labor and his furs found out and
fixed.
Whatever of bylaws and constitution the
red men possess is preserved in the I'M
erring memory of the men of the union. 1t
was all due to the eloquence and enterprise
of Cree prince, named Paul Forchet. His
elder brother was chief but his seven
younger brothers were all respectable work.
ingmen, voyagers, hunters, trappers and
fur catchers. The northern Indian Is not
lazy. The father of Paul was a Hudson
Bay trapper, his grandfather too, and his
father Also" as DR.. Drummond would say.
For more than hundred years the For
chefs had rendered allegiance, good service
and skins to the company. But conditions
were changing Also the Crees were pick
ing up pointers from free traders and traV-
elers Paul had been out to Edmonton, had
tasted liquid lightning that can be called
across polished plank by the music made
in the clatters of coin. He had learned the
magic of money, scraps of painted paper or
bits of silver, that had the purchasing power
of many skins. 1t made Paul restless.
Now, of a truth, it is the easiest thng on
earth to convince a man that he is getting
the worst Of it, is being bilked and buncoed,
and that he is, and of right ought 10 De,
"agin the government. therefore IL was
easy for the eloquent Cree to interest the
Indians in their own affairs.
When he had them we'll in hand ne
waited for the factor. PAU was a oo[ia
spell-binder, and he knew the value OF
being backed by goodly company oI Ills
fellows in full sympathy.
Amazed His Hearers.
An educated half-breed who was present
upon that occasion, says Prince Paul
amazed his hearers, the old Scotch factor
and himself. In language that flowed full
and strong like the peace river he told the
story of the Redman, his devotion to duty,
his loyalty to the company. He entranced
the traders and amazed the !ndlans as ne
portrayed the tragedy of winter, OF the
long hunt for food when the post was
starving, of the growing scarcity or Iurs
and the ever-increasing difficulty attending
the trapping of the various members Oh
the furry family.
When he had them going he shut off
suddenly, lowered his voice, took side
trail and followed up a deep, signihcant
ravine to the post of free trader HIS
and weigh each sentence each word. For
half an hour the eloquent Cree followed
this side trail, which they all knew would
end at the door of the free trader or the
French company. If he fancied his brothers
were losing interest he would swing, half
facing them and call attention to the scars
upon their foreheads, of truth made by
the headstrap, but attributed by the I'M
passioned prince to their crown of thorns.
And their bent backs-you know what did
that he would say to the factor. 1t was
carrying the company's cross.
Another quarter of an hour was given to
a recapitulation, bringing him back to the
point which could have been reached and
covered by a Yankee in three words, viz:
There are others
New Schedule of Prices.
Another pause, and then with perfect
French polteness he unrolled his ultima
tum which had been written out in full by
an interpreter, and which is treasured by
the old factor as relic Of the companys
first strike. The following was Forchets
schedule: