may not know the history of the
West as some of us do who have lived in the country all our days and
have witnessed the developments throughout the passing years. Nothing
could be a greater mistake than to look upon the Mounted Police as a
body separate from the elements that have gone to the making of the
Canadian West. As a body, it is true, they were aloof from partisan
political strife, from class struggles in the social order and from the
activities of commercial endeavour, but their influence was felt
constantly on the pulse of the growing country which, like a boisterous
growing boy, needed restraint and guidance in reaching the fullness of
its powers. They were not party men, politically or socially, but they
saw that every person and every organization that was sane and
law-abiding and constructive, got fair play without interference from
anyone. The Police did not as a body engage in commercial activities
themselves, but they made it possible for the settler and the miner and
the railroad-builder and others in all lawful occupations to go about
their work in peace and develop the country under the shield of police
protection. In brief, the record of this famous corps is woven into
Western history to such a degree that without the fibre of that record
the present great fabric of a new land, strong, sound and unbreakable,
would have been impossible.

Two things specifically might be said here in this regard. Butler, in
the famous report already quoted, dwelt eloquently, it will be
remembered, on the necessity for the organization of a force that would
be a protector and guide to the settlers who would flow into the West.
It is rather a curious coincidence that when the first of the Mounted
Police contingent came over the Dawson Route they assisted families on
the way to the Red River country who would probably never have got
through without the help of these kindly giants. And that was just a
prophecy of what was to be the rule. Settlers did not hesitate to go
where there was Mounted Police protection and the occasional patrol to
remote homesteaders to see whether there was anything required made the
lot of many a lonely household much more carefree and happy than it
would otherwise have been. There is absolutely no doubt that the tide of
humanity flowed freely into the vast new frontier land by reason of the
fact that the scarlet-coated riders had made the wilderness a safe abode
and a place of opportunity for