Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)

by Larry McMurtry

Kilt the dern Indians so they wouldn’t bother the bankers.” “They bothered more than bankers,” Call said. “Yes, lawyers and doctors and newspapermen and drummers of every description,” Augustus said. “Not to mention women and children,” Call said. “Not to mention plain settlers.” “Why, women and children and settlers are just cannon fodder for lawyers and bankers,” Augustus said. “They’re part of the scheme. After the Indians wipe out enough of them you get your public outcry, and we go chouse the Indians out of the way. If they keep coming back then the Army takes over and chouses them worse. Finally the Army will manage to whip ’em down to where they can be squeezed onto some reservation, so the lawyers and bankers can come in and get civilization started. Every bank in Texas ought to pay us a commission for the work we done. If we hadn’t done it, all the bankers would still be back in Georgia, living on poke salad and turnip greens.”