CANADIAN MOUNTED

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 50, 28 February 1934, Page 9

CANADIAN MOUNTED

"THE SILENT FORCE" RESPECT OF THE PEOPLE EXPANDING TERRITORY (From "The1 Post's" Representative.), VAKCOUVER, February 1. For sixty years, since the first band of Tecruits set out from. Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, for the Rockies, the Mounted / Police have maintained silence, the tradition of the British Navj-, about their activities. They make no show of anus unless the lives of men are 'at stake. Treating the Indians- as friends, they have always been successful in their contact with the Red Men. , To the dweller of the prairie, the mountains, the silent north, the .arrival ,of . the Mountie is the .coming of. a friend. .Police of other nations have visited Canada, and marvelled at the respe'et, almost amounting to reverence, which the people hold for the Red Goats. : The Force is democratic to a degree. At the moment of writing the son of General Macßrien, | the Commissioner at Ottawa, is making a. dangerous patrol across the frozen Great Bear Lake,. heading northward, searching for three mining men, who were marooned at Manitou Island, unable to get out by air, and somewhat unwisely attempted to make the 175----mile crossing of the lake without dogs, pushing: a hand-sleigh. There is no brighter page in the history of the Mounted than the first march. Hundreds of weary miles, over waterless, treeless prairie in blistering heat wrought havoc with tho ftvemilerlpng column of horses, men,' ox caits, and equipment. IS'inety horses died.. The column traversed 750 miles without seeing a human habitation. Their first objective was Fort "Whooup, said to have been the rallying ground of hordes of American criminals. Times have changed. American criminals give Canada a wide berth, as they fear the Mounties. EFFICIENCY AND (JKOWTH. The' Force was only two years old. when, through the diplomacy of Major Walsh, Sitting Bull, wanted by the United States authorities for tho Custer Maasai're, was captured. Their next important task was tho conciliation of the Indians of the JSTorth-west, and the preparation of treaties of peace between, them and the Dominion. The Biel Rebellion in 1885 tested their strategy.and personal gallantry to the utmost. After the execution of the leader, Louis Biel, the Force was increased to 1000 men. The discovery of gold in the Yukon, and the influx of American desperadoes was, another test, in which the Mounties. had to combat, as well, the hysteria of gold,maddeued manhood, and the,, proximity of the Alaska border.. .■■*;. . ...-,.•.. The pipe-clay helmet and belt of Tommy Atkins were replaced at the turn of the century by the present uniform and hat. Four years later, for their, valorous work, the prefix Royal was granted to the Force. Gradually, the line of operation was extended north till the Eskimos were brought into the.fold. 'Handicapped by a forgotten language the police have an unending record of friendly- intercourse with.the King's most northerly subjects, who'were reconciled to the white man's law. ' When the-Great War broke out, tho Force, was depleted by enlistments. It was in action in Franco as a "special unit.; Another branch saw service in Siberia. Their return was immediately followed by the Winnipeg strike in 1919, when the Mounties- were summoned, when city and provincial police failed, to regain control of the city. Trial and conviction of the leaders followed quickly. A greatly increased jurisdiction led to the name of the Force being altered to take in the whole, of Canada,-under the title of Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Posts were established in the Eastern' Arctic, hitherto unpoUeed. Today five provinces have abolished their provincial police' forces and handed over their functions to the Mounted. The Customs Prevention Service was absorbed, and the remaining provinces are expected to be absorbed gradually.