f the saving
assets of Canada and the Empire.

Up in the Arctic areas during those days of war when some were on duty
in France and across our own plains and mountains, the Police were
battling against hostile climatic conditions that the sacredness of
human life might be impressed on the inhabitants of the most remote
regions under the flag. And sometimes their equipment was not very
ample. One laughs when he sees attacks made upon Mounted Police
expenditure. A country vaster than several European Kingdoms cannot be
kept in peace and quietness for a trifle. If the Mounted Police were
withdrawn and lawlessness was allowed to run riot in the country, people
would soon realize that it is not the proper administration of law, but
the absence of it which bankrupts a country. As a matter of fact, as
this story has shown again and again, these men of the Police were
constantly practising economies in regard to the very necessaries of
life in case they should be considered as asking for too much. Here, for
instance, in that war year when millions were being poured out
elsewhere, we find Superintendent Demers, who with his men had to patrol
the dangerous northern coasts in the Hudson's Bay region where wrecks
and drownings are frequent, asking apologetically for six life-belts, as
"patrols by water have to be made without any precaution against
possible accident." We hope he got them. These men were not playing on a
mill-pond, but were fighting storms in the fields of ice and reefs with
bull walrus thrown in as an extra peril to guard against.

War echoes are heard during that period, but for the most part alien
enemies soon recognized the wisdom of pursuing their work quietly, and
in such cases they were not molested. And amidst it all we find the
record of quiet heroisms as these Mounted Policemen who were not allowed
to go to the Front pursued the steady round of their duty at home. Here,
for instance, in 1915 we find Superintendent West, who was in charge at
Battleford on the Saskatchewan, telling us of a piece of work whose fine
courageous quality those who know the country can especially appreciate.
West says, "Typhoid fever broke out amongst the Indians on the Island
Lake Reserve and Constable Rose was sent from here to see that
quarantine was enforced." Typhoid is a serious business in the dry
season, and the constable would have done his regular duty if he had
just put the place under quarantine and kept anyone from g