306 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



of criminals are like predatory animals and must be harried and 

 watched until this mode of living becomes unendurable. Swift 

 and sure justice begins with a trained corps of detectives. All 

 admit that mobs and lyncnings are a disgrace and menace to our 

 civilization. They arise out of prolonged neglect and freqeuent 

 miscarriage of justice. They would diminish and disappear with 

 a well disciplined and effective rural police. 



A LAND OF LAW AND ORDER * 



ELMER E. FERRIS 



THE development of a new, prosperous country attracts the 

 adventurous as well -as the enterprising. Young unmarried men 

 come West in large numbers. The restraints of former home 

 life and social customs are absent. Under such circumstances 

 it is easy to form habits of drinking and gambling and to fall 

 into other forms of moral looseness. Personal safety and prop- 

 erty rights are more or less insecure. Society tends toward law- 

 lessness. 



Such, however, is not the case in Northwest Canada. Quite to 

 the contrary, it is doubtful if there is any country where person 

 and property are better protected. The Albertan farmer was 

 right when he said that this is a country of law and order. 



One must travel through the country to appreciate it properly. 

 One finds himself in an atmosphere of respect for law. The 

 people feel safe. They assume that the law will be enforced. 

 The amount of crime and disorder that comes under one's per- 

 sonal notice is so small as to be negligible, and one sees com- 

 paratively little of it in the newspapers at least crime occupies 

 a relatively insignificant part of their space. 



The question then arises, What makes it so? What is there 

 about the social organization and the underlying forces of this 

 young civilization that gives it this distinctive feature? It is 

 evident that in the thought of the farmer it was largely due to the 

 efficiency of two institutions, the Royal Northwest Mounted 

 Police and the courts. "When a man commits a crime here," 



i Adapted from the Outlook, Vol. 98, 685-690, July 22, 1911. 



