duty of the
Mounted Police to back the administration of law, to answer the
challenge of lawless men, and to prove to them and to the world that the
dictum above quoted was a lie in so far as Canada was concerned. And
these intrepid men in the scarlet tunic did their duty so well that the
world learned a new lesson by seeing policemen preserving order without
killing anyone where it could be avoided, even at the cost of their own
lives. The Mounted Police know how to use their "guns," but they never
in all their history degenerated into "gun-men."

And, in addition to policing the Yukon mining country, these few hundred
men had to guard human life and property in the immense stretches of the
Middle West where, into a country larger than several European kingdoms,
tens of thousands were pouring in a tidal wave of immigration. From the
ends of the earth these immigrants were coming, hosts of them, alien in
race and tongue, as well as in religion and morals--people who had lax
ideas as to the sacredness of human life and the sanctity of home. They,
too, must be taught to keep the peace, and to become loyal to the
institutions of the free land where they had sought asylum from
despotism and oppression. And nothing but consummate tact, endless
patience along with unvarying coolness and courage, enabled the men of
the old corps successfully to meet this unprecedented situation.

Besides, all that great north country had to be patrolled hither and
thither into the circle under the shadow of the Pole itself. Wherever
the flag flew, Indians and Esquimaux, as wards of the nation, had to be
protected against the dangers of famine, the inroads of sickness, as
well as from the exploitation of unscrupulous men. And they, too, had to
be taught the sacredness of human life, as well as the rights of private
ownership, in order that no loose ideas about property should prevail in
the land. Few things, if any, in the history of the Empire equal the
hardiness, the courage and endurance manifested in the great patrols of
the Police into the ice-bound regions of the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas
of Canada. For years the explorers who have searched for the Poles have
been the heroes of many a story of thrilling influence on the minds of
readers. One would not detract an iota from the achievements of these
gallant adventurers. But for the most part they were equipped and
outfitted abundantly with everything that money could buy in order that
al