Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-24
MERELY A BIG BLUFF.
That's the Way DR.. Parkhurst Sizes
Up New Y0rk's Refor nation
UNDER SUPERINTENDENT BYRNEs
He Wants to Give the New Official Full
X. Credit, but Doesn't
BELIEVE HE CAN ACCOMPLISH MUCH

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPATcH.I
NEW YORK, April 23.-'There is more
ostentation than an actual desire to reform,
In this police change. There will not and
there cannot be any genuine attempt to sup
| press the vices called to the attention of the
March grand Jury until the organized
criminality under which we are suffering is
permanently and effectually removed"
Those were the emphatically expressed
declarations of Rev. DR.. Charles H. Park
hurst, of the Madison Square Presbyterian
Church, when asked to-day at his home for
an opinion on the recent police upheaval.
The doctor continued:
shall have to confess that Tam not en-
Enthusiastically hopeful as to the animus or
purpose Of our new superintendent OF
Police. Yet am willing, great deal more
willing, to believe that he is in earnest in all
he has recently said about enforcing the
law, and in what he has already done, than
am to believe that it is done for ostenta-
tious display.
A G-eat Opportunity for Byrnes.
superintendsnt Byrnes won national, or
mny say an international, reputation rs
be, and like to think IL is the case, that he
appreciates the faet that he now has the op.
porsunttr 70 snake national reprta-
ton f9r himself in fsld very
isis; S.f;, He Ms undoabtediy knows. aud cannot
powers Of superintendont, Of Police and
faithfully, vigorously and unfiinchingly
mako those powers tell in the repression Of
and about which so much has been said, he
would win for htrnscK the applause Of the
citizens OF New York and a fame that would
be as broad as our country.
My hope is that he is animated by that
ambition, and that what he has said has not
been simply for the purpose OF quieting the
dist disturbed sd,., condition s q mind as T. is
Of our citizens. Granting. however,
that he desires to really accomplish
so great work. the question at once arises
;.. rs 70 ei Whether he can break through the lin;
and hampered. 1t is true that he is at the
head OF strong department., and with
practically unlimited powers. yet at the
in which the same department. is now CON
Quoted is the growth of many years of black
some head may be, it cannot declare itself,
by mere words, absolutely free from the
corrupt body into which it has become or
ganically knit by years of association.
Too Hard . Task to Tackle.
The police department has been up to
three days ago essentially corrupt, unless 1
and the March grand jury are utterly at
fault, and 1 don't think we were-[with d
smile]-and it is certainly gigantic task
for for ptasa,.sa spperintsndent -, Byrnes to under.
and above all that, and granting that
he has the executive power to remold the
police department. to do his bidding, lie is
<1~fx, Tn,v
Tamany Police Commissioners, so long as
sovereignty Of the city. Let Mr.. Byrnes'
desires be as pure and rs sincere as may be,
the only hope that I and many have
that he will be able to carry these desires
into effect will be the bringing to bear upon
Tammany an outside. force which will be
able to crush the organization. rBy "an
outside power" DR.. Parkhurst referred to q
citizens organization which may be formed
TO slay the tiger.l
In other words. there is no hope for New
York City. in its police department. or any
other department.. in fact, except in the COM
plete overthrow Of the organized municipal
originality under which we are at present
doubtediy tend to interfere with the carrying
OH the same system Of plunder which has
been In progress for years past. Yet these
OF Single eaptan has ROOTS
pulled out of one vile soil it will not take
him long to srowthem down into another sort
OF q similar character. The same can be
said of the ward detectives, and If
the superintendent intends to stop at this
point. in three months things will be in the
same state as they wore under ex-Superin-
tendent Murray and the others.
Tho War to Be Continually waged.
"Will you or your society take any &C.
tion to prevent matters from falling back
into their old state?" -
eve will" replied DR.. Parkhurst. 1--WE
will watch Mr.. Byrnes, and continue to
watch-not Indignantly, but anxiously
and jealously. Now, in conclusion"
said he, 'I cannot but : say that,
with all my doubt as to the result of Mr.
Byrnes' administration, nothing would
make me happier than to find that this sud-
den activity is not merely an ostentatious
blind. If such is the case, and he is really
willing to take the chances of closing Tam
many saloons during unlawful hours, no
man will fight for him more obstinately
than L We do not expect that every phase
of vice is going to be stamped out within
week or two, but we do expect, and we do
demand, that the paid police patronage of
crime and criminals should come to a full
stop, and a stop Immediately"
DR.. Parkhurst and the agents of his So
ciety are actively engaged in securing evil
dence against a number of places similar to
those he has already exposed. DR.. Park
hurst said he would be in aposition to make
the results of his efforts public in a short
time