“It is often asked—since the United States had so much trouble with her western Indians, why has Canada had no trouble with hers? There are several good reasons. First, Canada, from the start, had a better method of dealing with the Indians. She was firm with them, and never deviated in the least from this course. They were awed by the Canadian police, and it is a well-known fact that this mounted police really protected Canada’s frontier. Whiskey peddlers, as well as fugitive criminals, knew this, and knew how firm and just these police were, and the Indians entertained the same feeling toward them. Second, the Canadian Government always strictly kept its word with the Indians and never broke its agreements with them. It invited and warranted their confidence. Moreover, the Indians claimed no land over in Canada, as they did in the United States, and their best reason for keeping peace with the former when at war with the latter, was that they might have a refuge at hand, to which to fly in times of need. When they crossed the Canadian line, they knew they were safe from hostile pursuit. It was a healthy country, well watered by clear, cold streams; mountainous, where Indians could easily hide when hard pressed. It had plenty of game to sustain them, and beautiful, warm valleys, full of nutritious grasses and plenty of wood, where they could winter comfortably and feel in safety and at home. In summer it was an equally ideal place to live. It was also a place where they found a ready market for stolen horses and sold them to advantage. One may ask why they could not have selected Texas for like purposes. Well, for just the opposite reasons from those which led them to select Canada. Texas was much more unhealthy; they had always been at war with Texas, and besides, it was a glorious country upon which to forage. There they raided the frontier and not only got all the stock they wanted, but many other things that were useful to them. “One should consider the natural propensities of the American Indian, and be convinced that he was better off in his original state than at the present time, with all the so-called advantages civilization has brought him. This was especially true of the Plains Indian. By nature he was a nomad, a warrior, a hunter, living in the open air. Under conditions favoring this nature, he was a healthy, hardy, happy individual, like any product of natural growth; under the absolute reversal from this to conditions imposed upon him by civilization, he became diseased, debilitated, and inferior; as might be expected from any unnatural growth.” THE PLAINS INDIANS OF TODAY