The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-20
HOME RULE THE EEsr.

HOME RULE THE BEST.
Two incident, of recent occurrence-one
in Massachusetts and the other in CaIifor.
mattel somewhat against the policy Of
diyesting municipalities Of the right 70
control their local police departments.
In Boston. some years ago, the police
department. under local control became
corrupt and inefficient. which led many
influential journals and citizens to take the
position that not only Boston but all other
New England cities, owing to the many
tough characters that were attracted TO
manufacturing centers. and also owing to
the undue influence of the liquor interest,
We're incompetent to secure and control q
worthy and competent police force. In
consequence successful effort was made
to vest in the Governor the appointment OF
commissioners invested with complete
control.
But experience has not justified expec-
tations as to the reformatory effect of this
change. While the same influences have
been potent in debating or shaping guber-
Material appointments that were effective
under home rule, supervision and ac-
countabiiity have been further removed
from the people in whose interest the
policing is presumptively maintained. 1t
has been demonstrated that it is more
practicable and easier for the people of
Boston to call an unsatisfactory Mayor
and local government to account, and to
correct grievances at their hands, than to
pursue the same course with an unsatis-
factory Governor and his appointees.
The result has been growing ineffici-
ency on the part Of the police, utter disre-
gard of local opinion, and multiplication
Of gross outrages against which citizens
appealed in vain, and for which their SUI
perlors did not condescend to make even a
pretense of holding the perpetrators to ac-
count. On the 18th instant long series
of snch outrages eliminated in acts of off,
cisl brutality in utter contempt of public
opinion, which has hardly been matched
in the mushroom cities of border BOOM
land. A newspaper reporter who desired
to enter the church in which were being
conducted the funeral services of Bishop
Paddock, in order to describe those cere-
monies, was the recipient at the church
door OF = volIey of profane and obscene
abuse by one policeman, and was violently
assaulted and dubbed by another.
In the same line are current reports as
to the sale of positions on the police force
of San Francisco, in connection with
which member of the California legisla-
ture has been under investigation. And
1t happens that the police commissioners
of San Francisco are farther removed than
those Of Boston from local control or ac-
countability. They are, in fact, law unto
themselves. accountable to no superior au-
thority, and in absence of further legisla-
ton may hold for life, though such was
not the intention or the law at the time Of
their appointment
This strangely un-American and un-re-
publican state OF affairs is due to the slip
shod method of framing the new constitu-
ton adopted by California in 1879. By
that instrument the officers empowered to
appoint the successors to these commits
sioners were abolished. and no provision
was made for a transfer of that power
Their intended terms expired years ago,
but they are legally entitled to hold until
their successors are appointed and quail
fed, for which there is no legal provision,
and they or their friends have opposed at
tempts to provide remedial legislation.
Fortunately these commissioners are be-
lieved to be honest and upright, as they
are known to be capable. But this is
merely piece of good luck. Protection to
life and property would be equally at their
mercy if the reverse were true. And to
justify their life tenure, or their retention
Of their positions free from local account
ability as essential 10 the greater security
OF the community, is to negative the fnnda-
mental American idea of the capacity of
the people for self-government.
Ii will not do to make that admission,
unless We are prepared to see with indiffer-
cnce all our free institutions undermined.
There may be and doubtless from time to
time viii be grievances and corruption
under the operation of home rule. But
unless the people Immediately affected are
more reliable than is any higher and more
remote authority for their correction, our
whole system of government rests on a
false basis. But the people are reliable;
the most reliable dependence in such
emergencies, and il is best to hold their
local officers directly accountable to them
and subject to their immediate control and
right of removal.