The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-10
DEALING WITH VIOLENCE
INSPECTOR BYRNES ON tn EFFI-
CIENCY OF NEW YORK POLICE.

An amusing Experience with One
of the Toughs The Inspector Says
Shooting Should Be the Last Resort
European Police officers.
Copyright 1897
New York, March 9-The recent street
car troubles in New York suggest interest
ing comparisons between the cities Of the
Old World and our own metropolis, with
regard to riots. For nearly one week the
streets of this city we're the scenes daily of
conflicts between large bodies Of citizens
who fought against each other as well as
against the police. 1t is safe to say that had
similar conditions prevailed abroad, there
would not only have been a series Of general
riots hut great deal of bloodshed ard a
demonstration that the local police were not
capable of handling the emergency.
Lot US review the situation briefly. Here
on Manhattan Island were somewhat more
than 5000 men employed in the necessary
business Of transferring people from one part
OF the city to another They felt that they had
grievance; whether the fact justified their
feeling or not, do not propose TO decide,
and the wisdom or folly of their subsequent
course, leave to others to discuss. The
fact with which the police had to deal lay
Ia the sudden appearance of nearly all these
5000 men, not only as voluntary oilers,
but as an organized body determined to OBJ
struct the business Of transportation even to
the extent of preventing involuntary idlers
from obtaining work until the several cor
porations involved should have yielded to
their terms.
IT MAY NOT BE OUT OF PLACE,
however, to call attention to the general
makeup of street railroad employees. In
so large a body Of men as 5000, At is natural
that there should be some Of superior in
telligence and rather better than rudimen-
tary education. Various hard circumstances
in life combine naturally TO bring into the
lower paid OCCUPATION, SONS men whose
talents and schooling might have fitted
them for a more profitable business. On
the whole, however, the ranks Of dri eers, con
ductors and stableusn are recruited from
the unschoOled and the untaught. TINS Is
no theory, but the inevitable conclusion that
follows many yea rs Of careful observation
and cons ant dealings with all the many
classes of people that make 10 the popula
ton of a great city
The ag tation OF labor problems in recent
years has led, as everybody knows, to the
rise of organizations of great strength
among workingmen. These organizations
depend fT their energy upon the willingness
TO the general body Of employees TO follow
the counselS OF leaders Experience in iude-
pendent strikes in the vari lus trades and
employments for many years has taught
workingmen the severe lesson that
without unity Of purpose and Conference of
action comparatively little could be gained.
SeiZiug hold of this idea, some men, whose
ambitions were greater than their scruples,
played upon 1t until the general body of
unskllled employees was convinced that
their only safety lay in thai unity which
was represented by the ideas Oh the Seif-in-
stitutsd leaders. | call attention TO this
fact with what may seem Unnecessary em-
phasis because it underies so deeply the out
come OF the recent strike, that a fair un-
derstanding Of the events cannot be reached
without realizing its force. | do not believe
that more than one in ten of all the street
railroad strikes personally fell the griev-
ance which was published as the cause of
their action. That there may have been
cause for COMPLAINT ia overwork and short
pay do not doubt, but, as admitted by the
strikers themselves, tbs chief object sought
for was the recognition Of their organiza-
ton, which meant of course the recognition
of the leaders. Obedient 10 their leaders,
commands. they left their work and stald
away from ii in the face of the overwhelm-
ing flood of labor-seekers, solely because of
the influence their leaders exercised upon
them. After tho most ndid observation
| am led to the conclusion that the strike
would not have taken the course it did,
namely, that of immediate riot, had the
men felt each one pers lnaly the weight
of grievance gainst his cOmpa ". In
all the lab II troubles that have occurred here
since | have been connected with the police
force of this city there was none turned SO
quckly into organic d violation Of the law a.
this one did. The railroads had been tied up
scarcely fogr hours befo there were VIC
lent outbreaks that req aired the utmost ex-
ertions Of the police to quel.
FIHAD EVER HAD OCCASION
to dou the efficiency of the regular police
force of New YORK, these recent street-car
riots would have dispslled it entirely There
was no thought, except in the minds of a
few persons Nho did not realize what they
were talking about, of calling out the mill
tary. To US, upon the inside of the situa-
ton, as well as to careful observers, it was
evident from the start that the police were
able to cope with the situation, although
esery man on the force. from the superinteu-
dent to the freshest reserve. will admit t at
it required long hours of hard and constant
labor as well as quick aud energetic action
and tho exercise VI good judgment. Had
a similar body Of men Of equal or even less
numbers suddenly thrown themselves Idle
upon the labor market of London. or Dub
lin, or Paris | am certain that the military
forces of the general government would
havs been called into action by the emsr-
gencies of the occasion. 1t is no uncommon
thing in reading the history of European
nations to learn Of platoOns Of soldiers firing
miscellaneously into mob Of rioters Such
occurrences in this country are rare, d
there has been nothing of the kind in New
York for very many yeirs.
IL might take too much space to discuss all
the reasons that occur TO mo for this differ
ence. They are involved in the c1nstitu-
tons Of the different social fhbrics which
are considered. In one word 1t may be said
that the Influences Of republican ms itutious
upon the mass Of the people are more con-
ducive to good order aud common sense
than are those institutions which are found
in monarchies, or in countries which have
recently shaken Off the rule Of kings Il
may not be out of place, however, to call
attention TO two points which throw light
upon the greater efficiency Of the New
York police as compared with those, say Of
London and Liverpool The first relates to
the police regulations themselves. The off
quoted and sometimes ridiculed expression,
"move on which is the outcome of our
police regulations, sugg SITS great deal
more tn IN II seems to. II means that our
policemen can exercise their discretion to
some degree, not IN furnishing disorder, but in
preventing It. In Liverpo /, however, ax-
cept in times Of actual Law iessneSS, the police
man is entirely powcrless - exercise such a
simple and eticacoas measure O prove ltiol
of crime as that Of clearing the streets II