THE PASSING OF THE SCARLET RIDERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3475, 19 October 1920, Page 51

THE PASSING OF THE SCARLET RIDERS.

With the re-organisation of the Royal North-West Mounted Police as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the extension of their activities beyond the prairie provinces, the premier> mounted police force of the world and its most picturesquely uniformed, passes out of the history it has created in the West during more than 40 years. Though the force will still exist, along perhaps broader lines and with wider jurisdiction, it will not be composed of the "mounties" who brought law to, and for so long maintained it in, the prairies. The times do not demand the same standard as that of the men who lived up to the motto: "Get your man, no matter what the cost." To oldtimers who loved and respected the force, this act of merging it with the Dominion police signifies that its work is done. Of recent years, with the gradual settlement of the West and the stringing of wire fences, with the disappearance of the cattle thief, the horse rustler, the bootlegger, and the. desperado, the force has not drawn the same type of men to- its ranks, and. as the work became easier and more stereotyped, the fearless dare-devil adven-. turers, who in the earlier days were widely known as the "riders of the plains," and made the force universally honoured and respected, were less often found in it. The force was organised—a cavalry, semi-military unit of picked riders—in 1873, and has grown with the West. Its history is that of the Dominion's great western territory. In reading the chronicles of the prairie provinces one cannot help but be struck with the utter dissimilarity of their growth and that of the western states of America, though conditions- were in nearly every respect the same. Whilst the latter was characterised by lawlessness, lynch law, every manner of crime, and rule of the first draw, the former was absolutely free from any but remote and individual misdemeanours. Whilst in the one life was held of most. trivial worth, payment for the merest personal insult; in the other a man was as safe and sure of protection and retribution as in the most civilised city. Just ponder on the difference between the histories of Alaska and the Yukon, two territories with but an imaginary international boundary, and account for the stupendous contrast. Without a shadow of doubt it was the influence, the zeal, the individual efforts of that little body of men in the big North-West who were the guarantors of British justice in the outposts of the Empire. Against insuperable odds they aided the birth of. a nation and made a name which ranks high in police and military annals throughout the globe. The magnitude of the undertaking can be partially conceived when the area of their jurisdiction- and patrol, and the primitive pioneer conditions which faced them are considered. Each prairie province, like the Yukon territory, is several times as large as the United Kingdom. This little band of dauntless men, scattered over the' wild, sparsely settled vasts of the West, riding the lonely trail in solitude, earned the respect and awe of lawbreakers by their splendid qualities and fearless individual courage, though not without paying a heavy toll. Their duties were ever the most varied. They have been the guardians and foster-parents of the ranchers and pioneer farmers of the country.} The accounts of detachments, written in the simple, direct language of military records

and rival works of fiction embellished with all the arts of the story-teller. How one lone constable, after days and weeks of training takes the horse or cattle thief from the midst of his comrades ; -journeys to the far north and the Yukon in the dead of winter by dog teams after reckless desperadoes; makes a trip to the Arctic occupying two years in order to apprehend two missionary murderers in the midst of their Eskimo tribe;" hunts after bootleggers and their caches; searches for snow-blind men or lost homesteaders' children; undertakes long journeys after homesteaders whom solitude has driven insane and brings them back to civilisation manacled to their person, travelling, eating, sleeping together—such records have ineffaceably stamped the mark of these men upon the west country. Not a small part of their early work ■was with the Indian tribes, then by no means placidly accepting the usurpation of the white a man—a constant source of trouble and menace. Such was the prestige of the force that a solitary constable could ride into a band of Indians and without more than moral opposition from the rest of the tribe arrest his man. This was not accomplished - in a day, however, and years of hard work, skilful diplomacy, careful administration, and the sacrifice of not a few lives were necessary before the red man learnt that if the mounted policeman was the instrument of inexorable British law, he could also prove a very good friend. The records of the Royal North-West" Mounted Police were largely built up from individual achievements, the' acts of the famous "squads of one." Pull of resource, reliability, initiative, and utterly fearless, it devolved upon every man to think and act for himself; he bore tremendous responsibilities. The force in its .earlier days was composed of men attracted to the hard, dangerous frontier life from the ends of the earth; men willing to risk their lives for little pay and little promise for the sake of. the wild open life, the adventure, the thrills of tjje day in the saddle. For years it was largely made up of a good class of young Englishman—the younger eon typo —with no prospects in the Homeland, but of indomitable

patriotism. Latterly, many ex-army men, especially from the cavalry, found their way to. its ranks. More than anything else in its make-up did the force resemble the French Foreign Legion. Their deeds have found permanent tribute from many a brush and pen. Russell,, the cowboy artist of Montana has immortalised them 5 they figure in every western Canadian novel which deals with the romances of the silent places; and thi dangers and vicissitudes of their calling are eloquently described by R. J. 0. Stead) the Poet of the Prairie." A pecuHat quality of the force, which it haa. lessly : borne out in its history, is that i$

Never Forgets a Criminal once he has oome to its notice, and once on the trail of a malefactor or suspect it never gives up until he is apprehended. Long after a case has been forgotten by, the general public, and criminologists have added it to the long lists of unsolved crimes, the newspapers announce a sational arrest in some remote locality. All the while the detectives and officers of the force have been silently following the trail and piecing evidence together. Members of the force who have served their time have figured prominently in the business, industrial, agricultural, and administrative life of the West and continued the role of pioneer in calmer channels. Many are now notable figures in the prairie provinces. One is the chief police magistrate in the city of Calgary and elated for the Dominion police coinmissionership; another is the postal chief in the same city; one has made a name for himself and the force as a novelist} another has used his brush to the same end; several are wealthy ranchers; many have risen with the prosperity of the West to great oomercial positions; almost all have maintained in civil life the name the force acquired for efficiency, honesty, and achievement. As a strictly military body they have proved themselves among the best. They suffered severely in the quashing of the North-West Retellion, and it was largely due to their splendid work that the rising was not more successful. Many fell in the South African War, and in the recent Armageddon, apart from the numerous enlistments from time-expired men, the force was represented in the Canadian Cavalry Brigade as well as by a troop in Siberia. In the Dominion, too, where at the outbreak of hostilities the force was recruited to nearly double its previous strength, their patrol obviated any trouble from the large 'alien population on the prairies and in the woods of the West, and Canada was practically immune from hostile acts within her borders. Last year, owing to enlistments for overseas service, the strength of the force had fallen to 500 men. With demobilisation, the force came back to peace-time strength, and under the new organisation and the amalgation with. the Dominion, | police, is expected to number 1800 rank and file. The headquarters, which since the institution of the forc.e have been at Regina in Saskatchewan, have been removed to Ottawa, the Dominion capital, and the jurisdiction of the new body extends over the greater part, if not the whole of Canada. From the prairies which the Scarlet Riders patrolled for so many years, the old force has passed. No longer will the trials in summer derive an added touch of colour from the broad-brimmed stetson hat, the scarlet coat or khaki fatigue jacket, the blue yellow-striped riding breeches, and long jackboots 'of this most picturesque cavalryman; no more will the snowcovered roads know the moccasined, furclad figures ever riding the vigilant patroL They have brought a wide realm safely . through the years of its infancy, and with the gigantic territory strong on its young legs, the fostering work of the Royal North-West "Mounted Police is well and satisfactorily done. —E. L. Chicanot in United Empire. v -