Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-22
A TIP TO THE COURT.
About Three Hundred Licenses Ought
10 be Granted This Year.
SUCH is ROGER O'MARA'S OPINION.
Reports of Chief Bigelow and the Assistant
Police Superintendent.
COMMON AND SELECT COUNCILS CONCUR

Assistant Superintendent of Police Roger
O'Mara gives his views of measures, men
and things generally connected with crime
and government to the Department of Pub.
lie Safety for the year ending January 81,
1890. His report starts with the cheering
intelligence that Pittsburg, as moral, law
abiding and we'll governed city, leads any
village of similar proportions in the United
States. 'Twasn't bad before, he thinks, but
since the present administration took the
reins, crime has decreased 80 per cent. The
strange woman, gambler, bunco steerer ct
id omne genus have all been forced to hide
their diminished heads, and their open por-
tails no longer invite the unwary to dissipate
his heard-earned money, but what few pro-
prietors are left skulk in the dark.
Mr.. O'Mara next dwells upon the neces-
sity of physical culture among the police,
SO that they may be able to do up toughs,
and recommends the establishment of police
gymnasiums, where these accomplishments
in the "manly art' may be acquired, and
recommends that such culture be made CON-
pulsory. He would also unite with physi-
cal culture accomplishments Chesterfeldian,
grace of movement, cleanliness, neatness,
suavity in demeanor, promptness in action
and self-poise generally, and these accom-
plishments are provided by drilling.
WHERE THE LAW FAILS.
The inability of the law to wrestle en-
tirely successfully with some forms of vice
is enforced by review Of repressive effort
beginning before the building of the pyra-
mids is dwelt upon at length, and the dire
consequences Of exposing youth to the
cadr1 inf nf ct1nh win cot
forth, and the light from the essay is made
to focus upon the employment of messenger
boys in the carriage of messages to the
haunts of sin and depravity. Mr.. O'Mara
recommends that call boxes in the haunts of
vice be removed, and that the proprietors of
such places be punished for allowing minors,
and especially messenger boys, to enter their
doors under any pretext. "Let US do our
duty and leave the rest to God"
The Assistant Superintendent thinks that
in the management of thieves and thugs and
persons who carry concealed weapons, pre-
vention is better than cure, and says their
prompt arrest, when known, has had much
to do with ridding the city of them, as those
in other cities have come to the conclusion
that Pittsburg is not salubrious for men of
their cloth. He recommends that the law
against carrying concealed weapons be
rigidly enforced on all classes, from the
first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his
throne even unto the last born of the maid
servant that is behind the mill.
THE sPEAK-EAsY BUSINESS.
Mr.. O'Mara's homily on the speak-easy
and the illegal liquor traffic in general is
sufficiently eloquent to pass muster in W.
c. 7. U. meeting. He says this illegal traf-
fc has caused the police department as
much trouble as any other form of vice.
The various efforts TO suppress ''holes in the
walls are narrated, and "yet the police
bureau has been informed that there are at
least 792 illegal liquor houses in the city,"
Notwithstanding, however, the diabolism of
the speak-easy proprietors, the Assistant
Superintendent regards those who having a
legal wholesale license, sell to them know
ingly as still more .culpable, and while he
does not Recommend punishment
without benefit of clergy, yet he castigates
them with great severity, and thinks there
should be q law enacted similar to that
which prevents wholesale dealer in leaf
tobacco from selling except to those who ex-
hibit license showing that they are legally
authorized dealers in tobacco, cigars, etc.
He finally indicates his proposed remedy,
viz, the granting OF 300 retail licenses, say
ing that the first year the Brooks law went
into effect 250 were granted, and the speak
easy was almost unknown. He thinks the
subsequent growth of population justifes an
increase of 80. He argues that were all to
get license they would be forced to sell on
Sunday to make living and pay $500,
which, IN his opinion, would be conducive
to a worse state of affairs than is at present
produced by the few saloons and many
speak-easies.
The department is congratulated on its
success in sending Doodle aldermen and
their allies to the penitentlary.
WANTS THEM sQUELcHED.
The suppression of private detective
agencies by law is recommended. IF we
must have detective agencies they should
be under police control as a protection to
our citizens"
The city is congratulated on the fact that
labor strikes during the year have been
conducted by "men of good common sense"
and that consequently they have done no in
jury to society or property.
Favorable mention is made of the effect
of division of the city into districts under
police inspectors, and the appointment of
matrons at the police stations.
The report concludes with a resume of the
work done by the Pittsburg police in Johns
town at the time of the food, and denial
of the statements of thieving and plunder-
ing Of both the living and the dead, and
says the main portion of those reports was
traced to the propensity of sightseers who
picked up all sorts of trinkets as souvenirs
of the calamity. Favorable melton is also
made at considerable length of the Health
and Fire Bureaus.