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Show 123 is not strange or unnatural. My own opinion is that any such change would work great injury and injustice to these Indians, yet I know that many in this Territory would do anything to bring it about. Should such change be made without full and ample provision and compensation, I should blush for the honor and good faith of my beloved country, which would thus blight the struggling hopes and prospects of its weak and dependent wards.2' The coming of the whites into closer proximity to the Reservation caused an additional problem. The founding of stores in the neighboring town offering a far wider selection of items than the Agency traders could handle caused the Indians to trade in Ashley, Fort Bridger and other towns. This forced the agency trader out of business. Even though Critchlow had been very quarrelsome with the traders, he was in a different mood when he was without their services: The want of a trading-post might also be mentioned as a source of inconvenience and loss to the Indians, and annoyance to the agent, as it necessitates the absence of the Indians from the reservation, to dispose of their products, and procure necessary supplies. It also affords some of them an ^opportunity for procuring and bringing in intoxicating liquor, which they do not fail to embrace. This has become a growing evil, but we hope by the aid of our police to break it up and even procure the arrest and conviction of those who sell it to them.28 Although his report for l88l was on a very hopeful note, Critchlow's decade was ending. Even though his tenure was for twelve years, his ability to change conditions fdfr the better ended in his 27Critchlow to Commissioner, August 15, I878, in RCIA, 1878, p. 624. 28ibid. |