New-York tribune., 1881-07-17


mands of real necessity.
Where shall the assurance be found that the
$500 men we have are faithful servants and
are used to the best advantage In the char
acter of the Commissioners Hardly. The
president of the board since Roscoe Conkling
delivered over the United States Senate to the
Democrats, has shown that he rates his duties
to the Conkling faction first, his duties to the
city which employs him second. Hasty trips
to Washington and Albany, and frantic
efforts to influence legislators in the
interest of an ex-senator who is fight
ing his party, are not the means to
make the department efficient and sufficient
for the needs of the city. The craftsmanship
of Sag HaIbor is not of and fine a
quality that the proper administration of the
Police Department is too little to absorb all
its restless energies, if that craftsmanship is
to accomplish anything. Mr. Mason, the Re-
publican colleague of Mr.. French, has many
good qualities. But whether his abilities are
especially adapted to raising the standard
of the force may perhaps be doubted. Mr..
Nichols has never shown any capacity for Off
ca position. His proper sphere is in the
Blossom Club and Tammany Hall primaries.
Mr. Matthew'S the remaining member of the
Board, seems to be rather negative quantity
in it. Can the people then fully accept the
claim of these four officials that they are getting
the most good to the city out of the force they
now have That they are handling the strength
now at hand with the least practicable waste
If the community can hardly find assurance
in the Commissioners, is it to be found in the
officers and men? Physically the policemen of
New-Iork are impressive. SO far as thews
and sinews go, they are magnificent body.
And thp . 800 melinda 1Oonv roo1 citiznnG
COOL vigilant patient, rcsolute and brave But
who that has watched the patromen in their
daily rounds, has noted the reports of the
proceedings in the lower Courts and has kept
his eye on the trials at Headquarters can doubt
that weak spots abound in the force, that idle
ness, drunkenness stupidity and brutality are
far too common? The old curse that weakens
| and corrupts so large a part of the city
| service corrlpts and weakens the Police
Department. The appointment of patrol
men at the urging of ward "heelers,n
without regard to the worth of the appi-
cant, the promotions at the instance of pOlit
clans rather than at the prompting of merit
| the partalty which Furnishes lightly or not at
all the culprit who has strong hackers -
| these things degrade and demoralizc the de-
| partmcnt. The standard is low. With Police
| Board whose President neglects his duties to
labor for the unpopular head of rebeious
| faction, what can be expected of the patrol
men, roundsmen and scrgeantsP With captains
who keep their places on account of the par
tisan work they do, what shall we look for in
| the suhOrdinates
| One result of the mismanagcment of the de-
partmcnt must almost daily force itself on the
attention of the most careless. Policemen with
few exceptions forget that they are public ser
| -.
sons who are supported at the expense of the
taxpayers. Onicchodcrs, high and low, rarely
seem to realize that it is the common people
who pay for their bread and butter, and that
they owe something to their employers. This
forgctfulncss is especially obnoXious in the
case of policemen, who above other bcnc6-
ciarics Of the public purse are bound to be
helpful to the citizen. III a special sense they
are meant to bc a public convenience and To
make themselves as useful rs possible to the
community at large. But too often they look
| on the ward politicians their only mas
ters. 1t is not at all unusual here for po-
lcemcn when called on to render
service which comes within the line of their
duty, either to refuse roughly OF to comply in
so churlsh and offensive n way as to make the
applicant regret his tcmcrity. Respectable
citizens making legitimate inquiries in police
stations are often treated with scant courtesy.
They order these things better in London
| and Paris. But bad manners and rudcncss are
minor faults compared with the brutality
which is not infrequcnt. 1t is not too much
| to say that the majority of New-Yorll police
| men are Over-cagcT to ply the club and use
| the pistol. Prisoners brought III bleeding and
| bruised, and even with limbs broken by the
cruel violence of their captors, are often seen
in station-houses. Your ordinary patrol
man makes rothng of whipping out
his pistol and blazing away at
fugitive who has been guilty of some petty
theft or of beating to insensblity drunkard
| who feeby reSists arrest. No man in uniform
or out of it should be allowed to use pistol or
| club unless his life or person is in serious dan
ger. He who resorts to violence except to
| save himself from perlOus attack should be
made to feel the rigor of the law, whether he
wears gilt buttons and badge or paste diamond
| and dyed mustache. But that is not the
| lesson the captains give their men, One
| captain is reported to have said that there
| was more law in his club than in the whole
| Supreme Court. That shows his way of man
| aging precinct. Such talk and such methods
| might do very well in frontier town like
| Leadville where the pistol thins out the popu-
| latiOn much faster than a pcstilence could
| lessen it, but they are wholly out OF place in
| a civilized community. Yet the man who
| makes these boasts and follows them with yio
| lent practices is whom the Police Commits
! siOncrs delight to honor. Is it any wonder
| then, that it is sometimes hard to tell which is
| the brute, the bluc-coated ruflian with
| the cub or the rcd shirtru TN nor y.;.I A.