Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-12
FAMOUS MOUNTED POLICE
HELPED TAME NORTHWEST
Northwestern Corps Ranged Far
Into Arctic to PUNISH crime
and Extend Relief.

QAIN
ot.a,vo Feb 2.--That famous corps,
the Roval Northwest Mounted Police,
has ceased Ia exist. 1t il now merged with
the Canadian Mounted Police.
For half century THE Scarlet and
cold, Of the riiicrs Of the plains had been
tho SYMBOL of law and order IN territory
as vast as the United States west OF the
Mississippi. From hudson bay to the
Rock;cs. from the International Boundary
- and bcyond the Arctic circle they car
r;ei security to the law-ahiding and terror
10 the jaw-breaking. On the vast prairies,
in mountains and forest, through the ice
bound reaches of the Arctic coast, they
made '1he long patrol" protecting the
settler. succoring the weak and adminis-
tering Justice with relentless hand TO
white and red. to British and alien.
The march of civilization has brought
into this vast territory prosperous set
tiers, where the Royal Northwest Mount
ed Police found the Indian of the sun
dance and scalp knife. the oxcitable Metis
the French half-breed of the plainsl, and
the outlaw who sought this mo Mans
Land" TO escape justice and continue IN
crime. The Indian and Metis are now
peaceful farmers, the ranch has been re-
placed by the farm, and railways now
cover the country rs thick as the indian
trails of the seventies. Only IN the tar
North is any of the original work OF the
police left. Here in the great barrens,
along the desolate shores Of Hudson Bay
and ihe Arctic Ocean. through the Rock
ies IN Dawson will "thc Scarlet and Gold
ia thelIone patrol. The famous corps has
done its work and has lost its identity IN
The new national force. The uniform has
he,b preserved; the romance and esprit de
corps have gone. Il,
Scatlet and Gold, Scarlet and Gold,
Symbols of justice you ever uphoid.
Half of your daring has never been told,
Scarlet and Gold, !,
Canada's riders in blizzard and cold,
Scarlct-Scarlet and Gold.
ORIGIN OF CORPS.
For nearly two centuries the Hudson
Bav Company had ruled that vaAt terri
tor,, between Hudson Bay and the Rock
les when in 1870 the Dominion OF Cana
da acquired possession. The great COM
many had been n guardian to the warlike
BIaelfeet. Assiniboines and Cree Indians,
and kent in fashion law and order. The
hardy Scotch factors had in many lnstanc-
es married into the tribes and their IN
fuence was powerful and firm. Then came
tho change in control. II became mo
mans land" with the great company
without authority and the DOMINION
government without any machinery to
enforce its edicts.
II was n dangerous period. The United
States government was seeking to curb
the fierce Sioux. They, In turn, were
making ovcrtrlres TO the Canadian lndl-
ans to ioin them. The whisky runner was
unchecked in his debauchery of the In
dian 1t was at this period that the Royal
Northwest Mounted Police came into
existence, and since then have been the
most potent influence in preserving order
in this vast territory. Three companies
were modified at Winnipeg, or as 1t was
then known, 'Fort Gary" Three other
companies came through the United
States and Joined them, and in all 500 /
men restored and preserved order IN a |
territory as large as Europe, without n |
railwav and peopled with nearly 100000 |
Indians rent with tribal wars and en- |
Uttered against the whites by the deple- |
tion of the buffalo herds, the almost sole !
source bf their existence. IL was then that |
the famous scarlet and gold uniform |
was adopted. To the Indian the red |
coat svmbolized the power of The Great |
White Mother and Colonel Robertson |
Ross, Organizer of the force, suggested this !
uniform in his report.
"Dliring my inspection IN the North |
west i 4ascertained that some prejudice |
existed laIpong the Indians against the |
color II the uniform worn by the men of |
the riaes for many Indians said, Who are |
those soldiers at the Red river wearing |
dark clothes? Our old brothers who |
formerly lived iher, lmeaning III. NJ. ). |
Sixth Regiment) wore red coats, adding, !
We know that the soldiers of our great /,
mother wear red coats and are our friends.
And in this way, TO impress the In |
dams of the plains, was adopted the uni |
form that has gwen distinctive identity to /
this famous corps.
From the Red river the new force made /
its first long patrol Through what was
then known as the Great American |
Desert it struggled fer 500 miles, estab- /
fishing posts. and finally wintering at /
Fort Mcleod. in the foothills of the |
Rockies. From there its activities spread, |
until now on Hudson Bay, Coronation |
Gulf, the frozen Arctic and the desolate
Yukon, are posts from which patrols
keep watch. BY horse, canoe and dog
train they carry the authority of the law
to the Eskimo OF Arctic, the whalers of
Herschell Island and the goldseel1er of the
Rockies In the last so years they have
brought the wild Indian into treaty"
have made the cattle rustler or whisky
runner only name, and in the Klondike
rush that seething mining camp Of Daw-
son was as safe as an Eastern hamlet.
During the regime of the Riders of the
Plains, Canada's western domain passed t
from a country Of tribal conflict through /
the railway stage, when our first great /
transcontinental was thrown across the /
prairie without provoking strife with the |
original owners of THE country, to the |
period of peaceful settlement and the up |
building of moderR cities, and In these |
varied stages the famous force adapted |
itself TO the conditions without loss In ef- |