, 1881-04-03
THE NoN-ENFORCEMENT ISSUE

] AlT. daTIlS0u has presented TO the people
| of Chicago strange issue to be determined By
their votes, and that is, the approval or non
| approvalof his policy Of the no1l-enforcement
| Of the ordinances against crime and immoral
1ty. uehas publicly justified this non enforce
| mentpolict on the ground that he does not be-.
lleve they can be enforced, and he asks 4 re-
election that he may be vindicated i'll his nom
action. We question whether public officer,
especially the Mayor Of a city, has ever ap-
pealed to the people to reflect him because
be had refused even to attempt to execute
the laws against public indecency and con-
fessed and notorious crime.
The crimes and offenses which he refuses
to suppress or try to suppress are not technical
otfenses concerning which there is any posi-
Bile difference of opinion, or which have pal
liating feature. They are offenses of charac-
ter against which common humanity reyolts.
They are twofold. ~ The licensing of es-
tablishments kept by notorious criminals as
the resorts for thieves, and in whic, are
hatched or committed robberies and ill forms
of violence; which are the resorts Of women
who, in addition to the absence of shame, are
also experts in all other forms Of crime, and
are the companions and accomplices of the
male robbers and thieves who infest these
dens. (2) The licensing Of these establish
ments to the persons we have described, for
the purposes we have stated, and for the ad-
ditional purpose Of kidnapping, tempting, and
by force carrying from their homes girl chill
dren from II to Is years of age, and keeping
them In these establishments Tor prostitution,
and fer practices too beastlyto be mentioned; :,
teaching these children to drink and to rob
the 14ep and boys whom they have inyelgled
into these dens.
Outside Of the City Of Chicago, there is not
in the civilized world an establishment
licensed by the Mayor for the capture and
purchase Of girl children and their forcible
reduction to prostitution, nor their public
parade by day and by night to induce men
and boys to drink, be druggcd and robbed.
And what is more shameful than all other
things is the fact that the only Mayor of
civilized community that grants such
licenses for such a purpose to such persons
attaches to Ills name the official title, mayor
of Chicago"
asks the people of Chicago to "vindicate "
this official sanction and license to this most
degraded traffic by reGlecting hlmf to office.
Mayor Harrison insists that the city shall
be governed without laws.-tl,at is, that the
laws against gambling and child-prostitution
shal! not be enforced. To his pious aspira-
tfon, "Would to God ! could" he should
have added the. sentiment directly sug-
gested by his action, Thank God, haven't
tried" Tile laws OF the city to preserve
public decency have been disregarded and
abrogated by the Mayor that lie may swell
the ranks of the criminal classes by extend
lng to them full license to practice vice in its
most hideous and detestable forms. >.
How does Mr. Harrison know he cannot
enforce the city laws against public indie
cency and blackleg robbers?% He has never
tried There has never bcch n day since
Chicago had a government in which the pub
lie authority has not been able to close up
the public gaming-houses: and suppress
every saloon and other establishment where |
men and women. boys and girls were public
[y congregated for criminal, immoral, and |
indecent practices. No other Mayor of Chi
cago ever directed the police not to close up !
such establishments, and the only reason
why the ordinances have not tbeen enforced |