Monday, February 9, 2015

The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau pg.104-105

It is generally recognized, and I believe that it is of record in the Indian Office that Mrs. McFatridge has been a disturbing element at other places in the Indian Service where she has been employed. As said above I regard her influence among Indians and employees as highly pernicious and retrogressive. I cannot be too emphatic on the point. Mrs. McFatridge, I was informed by persons whose credibility I strongly believe in, told that she doubted the fidelity of her husband and that she intended to leave him. I trust that the Indian Office will never regard this as mere gossip-it is not-nor is it submitted for the purpose of gossip-it is submitted officially. What respect can have for a woman who will publicly discuss the virtues of her husband, or express a doubt as to his faithfulness, to other women? Has not the government of the United States a right to demand a high standard of family life among its employees? Should not the family of a Superintendent be free from any taint of scandal or intrigue? I do not doubt the fidelity of Superintendent McFatridge to his wife-I have always regarded him as a moral man, but it is a gross impropriety in Mrs. McFatridge to make a matter of common talk and gossip that she doubts that her husband is true to her. This is but an illustration of another trait of character of Mrs. McFatridge –her extreme jealousy and suspicion. I would not mention these facts did they not have a bearing on the administrative conditions at the Blackfeet Agency. But this is not the first instance in the Indian Service where a woman has been the storm center and the disturbing factor in the transaction of public business.”
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau  
pg.104-105 

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