New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-09

IN conduct himself as II he WeTe thc pau" ''
vocote of the dram shops rather than the repre-
sentative of the interests of the city, ana AS
sistant District Attorney Fellows has held that
oo.i,ioo How could he be hard-hearled il
a,,, indictmapts should be sought against vlo-
Iafors Of the Excise law7 The number Oh
places in this city where liqu0r ID sciu IS NOW
jarper than ut any previous time in the history
of New-York. The number of places whete
tbaro il onv nretence of obedience to the law as
90 sunday sales. AS TO the hour of closing, az to
dealing ont strong drink to minors, is smaller
than ever before. There was great o"'ciy "
few wears ago from men who sympaIhlze WIN
lawbreakers when the statiOn-houses were nlieu
with criminals who sold liquor on ouhuaS
That cutlery was mischievOus and unwarIap'ou'
Those arreFts certainly diminished the uhia"-
ful sale of liquor TO an extent that mas neN0i
been approached since. In fact, under our pres
emf system such so-called "arbitrary arrests
seem to be the only means FOR accomplishing
ANYTHING. Nothing of importance mas Ocen
done since that time. The Excise Board DiaIhes
the Police Department for inactivity Inc
Police Department blames the Police JUSTICES
and the Police Justices in turn blame the police
men for not furnishing sufficient evidence IL
n case ever gets so far as an Indictment oy Ine
Grand Jury, the District Attorneys ONCE mos
itself overwhelmed by the flood OF business on
;ts hands. These minor offences cannot be
taken HID until the men lying in the Tomos
CHARGED with grave crimes and deprived OF
their liberty are brought to trial Somehow
the Tombs never gets cleared, ana the guilty.
liouor. sellers rarely get tried. Dd lt ever occur
to District Attorney that if tile Excise law
were enforced with vigOr the number OF men I'D
the Tombs accused of murder and other felo-
MES would fall of to a wonderful ,cxtentf
The trouble back of all this is simply politics.
The Excise Board, the Police Board, the Police
Justices and other officials, it they had any
wish to punish the lawbreakers, could linda
way easily enough. But behind every Sunday
liouor-scller is a compact little band OF voters
that he carries at every election, and Com
missioners. Justices and Assistant DIstrct-At-
torneys all stand in more awe OF the votes con
troled by the saloon keepers than Of their oatlls
of Office. SO long as ammany Hall and Irving
Hall and every Democratic hall is controlled by
fine groggeries, and so long as their influence Is
rs strong in the Republican Central Committee
rs if is Mt present improvements will be very
slow. The road to preferment III politics III
this city too often lies through the bar-room'
Too many keepers Of saloons occupy seats III
our City Hall and our State Capitol. The most
Objectionable and offensive Of our Aldermen are
generally liquor-dealers. The most corrupt
ami shameless of our Assemblymen and Sena-
tors are usually graduates Of the gin-mills. a
remedy for these evils may perhaps be found IN
such an awakening of public sentiment as took
place recently in Ohio. 1t is difficult to discover
any other way in which our city Offices and
legislative halls can Ice purged of the corruption
for which the overwhelming power OF the
liquor traffic in politics is so largely responsible