The Indianapolis journal., 1883-02-27
THE POLICE POWER.

payers OF TINS city 10 the measure tnere can
be little question among intelligent men,
and thatSenator Fletcher, in his advocacy,
represented the worst elements of society
and the very worst elements of his own
party there can be as little doubt. Not that
some good and reputable men are not
favorable to the measure, for there may be
such; but the spirit which conceived it and
the motive which pushes it are thoroughly
exposed in the character of the men who are
and have been most prominently mentioned
| for commissioners to execute its provisions.
Complaining of partisanship in the existing
system, the Legislature has refused to do
away with an emphasis of that evil, but has
made the proposed metropolitan board abso
lutely partisan, and more than that the COM
missioners are and would be, generally, not
citizens of Indianapolis, and presumably total
ly unacquainted with the affairs they would be
called upon to administer. To talk about
bill such as this being in the interest of fair
elections and of better enforcement of the
laws is to talk drivel, if not unmitigated and
intentional falsehood, and no one has the
| opportunity or the ability to know this bet
ter than Senator Fletcher. Fair and honor
able C2) would be the elections and
safe and equable (?) would be the
| administration of the laws with the police
powers in the hands of men of such chaTac
ter and antecedents as those generally named
in uyifl
bill. Sim" Coy and Jim" Bowling are
names of citizens fairly redolent with prom
Use and hope of fairness in elections and Of
integrity and uprightness in the administra-
ton and enforcement of law. The citizens
of indianapolis have had one taste of the
quality OF police force under such manage
ment. They remember the "best the city
ever had!'' They recall the open riot of law
lessness, the undisputed reign of thuggery,
and the high taxation and utter want of pro-
lection incident to the two years of such po-
lice control-a control that was thrown off
by an indignant people at the earliest OPP
portunity by an emphatic majority OF
1000 votes, to which, if we are not
| mistaken, Senator Fletcher himself con-
| trbuted. And yet. forsooth, we now hear
of the relegation of the police power of the
with the further wrong and weakness of
entire responsibility-in the name of fair
elections and a better administration of the
lawl Could partisan absurdity any further
go?
There can be no question of the uncensti-
tutionality of this measure In its existent
shape. The Journal was the first to direct
public attention to the adjudication of this
question in Illinois, in a case coming UP
from East st. Louis, in which city metro
politan system Of police was provided by the
State Legislature in what really seemed to
be the interest of good order and public
morals. The case is Hinze vs. the People, 80
ILL.,, 406 The court-as able one as there
is in the country-in pronouncing its opin-
| ion, said:
"These police commissioners are not the
corporate authorities of East ST. Louis, and,
therefore, can have no power of taxation.
They are not elected by the people of that
city nor appointed in any mode to which the
| people have given their assent. The act Gre
ating them has never been accepted by the
! people or by the city council, but on the
other hand, the council has constantly de-
MED the authority of the commissioners. So
| far from being corporate authorities, these
| commissioners, by the act in question, are
| forced upon the people OF this municipality
| without reference to their wishes or consent
TO hold over them the tremendous power of
unlimited taxation, and in the exercise of
this power, to be placed entirely beyond the
reach of those whose property is at their
mercy. Such legislation cannot be recon-
ciled with the constitution
The case was before the court repeatedly,
and always with an adverse result 1t was
argued that the State had the right in certain
cases to impose local taxes for the general
good, and while the court held that munich
pality could be bound for the expense OF
/ suppressing an insurrection or OF furnishing
reasonable security for life and property, in
the event of failure to perform its duty in
this regard, the court further said:
| 'It is perfectly obvious that this case does
not fall within the first of these supposed
| contingencies, as there is and can be no pre-
| tense that any military force was employed
| to suppress an insurrection. In this case the
| Legislature has not levied tax, even if the
! municipal authorities have failed to furnish
police force adequate to the protection of
life and property and the good order of the
city; but on the contrary, have required the
appointment of commissioners, who are in
| trusted with the police government of the
| city, and empowered them to incur the ex-
pense of the same, to be imposed upon the
city"
The court went further, and held that the
the false principle of giving the police com
missioners power to impose burden and a
tax on the people, it was wholly unconsti-