30 LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846
questionably accelerated the growth and settlement of the coun- try in a manner which could not have succeeded but for such timely assistance. The missionaries are not, however, to be for- gotten ; they did much for the early emigrants, but their means were more limited. I was told at Vancouver that the amount of debt due the company by Americans exceeded eighty thou- sand dollars; and that so little disposition was shown to pay off this debt, that it had been determined to refuse any further credits.
Some few persons, arriving here with titles and pretensions, had obtained credit for more than a thousand dollars; and these very men, since further credit had been refused, were foremost and most violent in denouncing the company as a monstrous monopoly, &c.
The bulk of this debt, however, is due in sums of from twenty to two hundred dollars, and seems to be the cause of no un- easiness to the officers of the company, who told me they were often surprised by the appearance (after an absence of years) of some debtor who came forward to liquidate the claim against him. Much of this large amount will probably be lost to the company ; but there is some reason to presume that the larger credits were granted to individuals whose political influence was thus sought to be procured ; and that the company, in this respect, should have made false calculations, and lost their money, is not so much to be regretted.
The honor of enrolling the names of doctors, colonels, gen- erals and judges upon the debtor side of the ledger, they may also consider a partial indemnification for what they may event- ually lose.
However unlimited, therefore, may be our gratitude for their kindness to the needy emigrants in earlier years, we can- not suppose it was necessary of late to have been so profuse in such grants ; and I have no doubt their determination to with- hold further credits will prove advantageous to both parties. The country is now so generally settled, and furnishes so much surplus, as to enable the people to supply the indispensable
