The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1877-01-11
LAWLEssNFss,

hitnouSn the peace OF the Common
wealth during the year has been unbroken
| feel it my duty to call your attention t.
the plan for providing against future con
tlngencies set forth in my last annua
message. Such emergencies from time tC
time may be considered inevitable, and il
| spite Of the fact that much has been done
within the past year to break them up ant
discourage their formation, organizations
may continue to exist whose lawlessness
will require more than ordinary measures
to repress. To devise such measures vii
be matter of ordinary wisdom, and tc
provide them, precaution of common
prudence. theoretically the sheriff is
clothed with the power of the county A
pleasing, delusive phrase (which keeps the
word of promise to the ear and breaks it tc
the hope" The posse comitatis is the rem
edy of a warlike age. In these days of ex,
tended industries and complicated social re-
lations, with all their pacific influences, il
is painfully inefficient At all times the
fears, and frequently the prejudices of q
community in which disturbances occur
prevent the decisive action of the sheriff
1t is at the best opposing mob to mob. Re
sistance to law, or systematic violations Of
it by large bodies of men, can only be sup
pressed by an organized force Such 9
force the State has in its militia But tc
ba effectual, the demonstration of military
power should be overwhelming and there
fore large. 4 hundred policemen or con
stables organized under the command OF
the sheriff might supply the place of a regi
ment Of soldiers. The frequent use oi
troops has ever been distasteful to free
people, and while casting an unpleasant
duty and delicate responsibility upon the
Executive, and causing loss to large mum
Der of peaceful citizens called away from
their usual avocations, entails, likewise, an
enormous cost upon the tax payers of the
State. And there is always more danger
of bloodshed in employing troops than in
the use of civil power. For these seasons
which have acquired additional prominence
in the light of the unusual military ex-
peuses of 1875, am constrained to press
upon you what seems to be an adequate
remedy.
The sheriff is the representative and in
strument of executive authority in the coun-
~. In the discharge Of his responsibility
the Executive has large, well diScip plined
body OF militia at his command, while the
sheriff is left with one or two coustables
and the rude machinery of the posse
coniitaiiS. 1t is true, he can call upon the
Executive for assistance. But for the rca-
sons set forth above, it is advisable that the
necessary support should be of Il civil rather
than Of a military character, and prompt
ness is always essential III dealing with law
less men. The proposition | have to sub
nit to YOUR honorable bodies, is the pas
sage of law which will enable the sheriff,
III troublous times, to organize d force COM
mensuratc with the opposition to be over
come. \ force that may be called into be-
ing at the beginning of an exigency, con-
tinued while it lasts, and disbandcd at its
close If, when the sheriff calls for aid to
suppress riots and unlawful assemblies, or
to protect the people from systematic mur-
der, arson and intimidation, the proper
authority could empower him to enroll a
coustabulary sworn into the service OF, and
raid by, the county, many disturbances which
tary could be settled by civil process.
Troops would then be necessary only on
the gravest occasions. But such crises
would only occur after an honest effort had
been made to suppress the outbreak by the
local authorities, and not, as now, after a
few spasmodic efforts which are supposed
to exhaust power which is in fact scarcely
seen and never felt.
It Is the more important that your at
tention shall be given to this because of the
growth Of lawicssncss in our national life.
We rejoice in the fact that we are law
abiding people, and we have, in truth, a
basis for our pride. But there
is in every civilized society lawless ele-
ment, and courts and police are at once the
guards and measure Of It's force During
the past decade these lawlcss characters
have been receiving a dangerous education.
They have seen, throughout large section
of the country, systematic intimidation IN
which the perpetrators of murder, arson
and innumerable crimes against persons and
have escaped with impunity, and
in too many instances, accomplished their
ends. They are melted by the probability
of ike immunity and the hopes of like sue
cess to pursue the same method. As
to the dangerous education Of
the times, [ earnestly advise the formation
of civil system which will convince the
lawless classes Of the futility of all such at
a power that will be prompt and
effective that can be directed at once to the
threatened locality and crush insurrection
before it gains standing and momentum.
PENITENTIARIEs AND PRISONS.
At the last session of the Legislature
your attention was called to the overcrowd-
I'd condition of the Eastern Penitentiary, at
No action was taken there
On, and during the year the inspectors were
embarrassed to provide for the
consigned thereto. The institu
ion has $50, cells, and there are now in
confinement 944 convicts OF this number
235 are confined on sentences under two