The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-26


Mr.. Bcrgh and Has Private Police.
1t Is great pity that q gentleman so ami
able, patient, polite and humane as Mr. Bergh
should ever lose his temper, for it does not
become him to be in rage; and to storm and
vituperates and give way to an apparently nat
ural but usually well restrained DISPOSE
ton to be abusive and intolerant is to
imperil public faith in his superiority,
and to give the censorious a fair opportunity
to say that the man who would restrain the
world should at least be able to restrain him.
self. If we could ever bring ourselves to re-
greet the utteranoe of an important truth it
would certainly be from finding that we had
touched Mr.. Bergh too sharply (perhaps. as the
subject Is horsey, we may be permitted to say,
had touched him on the ''raw") by our sug-
gestion that his persecution of the public in
behalf of the rights of animals would prob
ably excite reaction and be the means of for
feiting what had already been gained for the
legitimate objects of his society.
But alas our respect for the truth is
greater even than our regard for MIR. Bergh;
and, much as it distresses us to see him vince,
we are compelled to say again that his success
full demand at Albany for greater power is mis-
chievous and unwise, and is o great step
toward that extreme assertion of q fanatical
idea which universally provokes general
| revolt. Our special objection to the new
and hastily made law is that it organ
ICES for this oity an entirely new and
independent system of police, which is to
operate side by side with the ordinary public
police, but is supposed to direct its attention
solely to those dreadful examples of their kind
who have not such morbidly tender hearts as
the President of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals. Hitherto we believe
Mr.. Bergh's subordinates have only had
authority to make arrests, &C., when author
lied as deputies by the Sheriff, and to the
appointment of such deputies there could be
no objection, because we know, under the
law. who the Sheriff is, and if there is an
abuse of power by any of his sub ordinates
we can locate the responsibility. 1t
is the same with the public police. 1t
is in the hands Of the people who elect the
men with whom the appointing power begins
There is definite responsibility to the public
But now public authority has been given to
private policemen from any need in the
public INTERESTINGLY because Mr.. Bergh
wanted it, and because he would have lost his
temper and scolded dfeadfully if he had not
obtained it. BY the proposed law any one
whom Mr.. Bergh designates becomes police
man, so far as relates to his authority to make
arrests, enter houses, &C.. but he is not
policeman otherwise because no one is respon-
sible for him but Mr.. Bergh.
If it is good thing for police to be organ
lied here under the entire control of Mr..
Bergh and to act at his discretion in the ex-
travagant pursuit of his particular vanity"
we do not soc any good reason why great
many other amiable and humane gentlemen
with somewhat extravagant notions might not
also move to have authority to organize a
private police to give effect to their opinions.
1t would simplify life greatly for whoever
could pay the larger number Of policemen
would carry the day in every argu-
i mfsht. And Mr.. BsFghs police and
his new law tend to simpifcation
in the same way. His law gives him author
ity to go into any house. if he only imagines
somebody is perpetrating ''any cruelty on any
animar"-say trying a physiological expert
ment on rat-and his police give him the
power to carry the Psychologist off and collect
fine to support the society that does these
wonders for the protection of animals Our
opinion is that this law will before
long defeat itself, and we are not sure
that it will not defeat also the more mod
crate acts on the same subject now in force
Everybody sympathizes with the legitimate
protection of dumb animals; everybody grows
impatient when the subject becomes nui-
sance, as it does when pushed beyond its
legitimate sphere. Mr.. Bergh, in defence of
the horse against his too often brutal driver,
will always have the public consent with him;
Mr.. Bergh prosecuting restaurant keepers for
putting turtles on their backs simply shows
his wits TO be on the wrong side of the chin
partition" but Mr. Bergh, with a private po-
lice at his heels, breaking into peoples
houses to put down vivisection or other pur-
suits that he dislikes, threatens to offend pub
lie patience.
Extravagant zeal in any propaganda uni
versally defeats its presumed purpose
Buckle has cogently shown this in his view of
religious prosecutions Addison gracefully
discusses it in the Spectator as a law of hu-
man action, and our philanthropist of one
idea, who would turn the world inside out to
cure the toothache in q cat, is furnishing
familiar illustration of the principle.
THE MURDER OF A YOUNG GIRL by police
man yesterday is not to be considered in the
same category as the police murder of a few
days before The latter crime was without