nald, was a sort of composite organization which needed
careful handling to prevent explosions, and some vast new problems such
as the construction of a transcontinental railway were in that day
swinging into politics. So, despite Butler's urgent report in 1871 and
the rumours more or less exaggerated of intertribal Indian fights with
the accompaniments of massacre and scalping-knife torture, the
Government took another year to think over it, and in 1872 sent
Adjutant-General P. Robertson-Ross to make a general reconnaissance and
bring back further expert opinion. And Colonel Ross, after many many
months of travelling, brought in a quite pronounced series of
suggestions pointing out the great need for such a force as Butler had
suggested, and definitely advised the placing of detachments of "mounted
riflemen" all the way from Manitoba to the Rockies, and for that matter
from the boundary line to the Pole.

It is interesting to note in this report of Colonel Robertson-Ross a
reference to the matter of the uniform of the proposed force in the
following paragraph:

"During my inspection in the North-West, I ascertained that some
prejudice existed amongst the Indians against the colour of the
uniform worn by the men of the Rifles, for many of the Indians
said, 'Who are these soldiers at Red River wearing dark clothes?
Our old brothers who formerly lived there (meaning H.M.S. 6th
Regiment) wore red coats,' adding, 'we know that the soldiers of
our great mother wear red coats and are our friends.'"

The Indians like the bright colour, but they also in this case connected
it with the regular regiment that had come to the Red River to keep the
peace. Referring to this same subject of uniform, Mr. Charles Mair,
noted author and frontiersman, recently said: "There is a moral in
colour as in other things, and the blind man who compared scarlet to the
sound of a trumpet was instinctively right. It does carry with it the
loud voice of law and authority so much needed in this disjointed time.
It disconcerts the ill-affected and has no small bearing in other ways."

The Hon. Frank Oliver, of Edmonton, who has known the West from the
early days, wrote not long ago on this point:

"For nearly half a century throughout Canada's great plains, the
red coat of the Mounted Policeman was the visible and definite
assurance that right was might. A red speck on the horizon was
notice to