New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-29
SUtLL L1T BE ENFORCED ?

i
Whatever nav be said about the men en-
gagged in it, the motives actuating them. or the
methods employed. the movement for the en-
forcement of law and the suppression OF wee
has caught too strong a hold upon the public
! sense. if not upon the popular conscience. to
| be entirely baked Of its purpose. That some
| good will come of it is absolutely certain. In
| deed the determination which has come to
| MS rs a community in the last two or three
| months as a result of the agitation now going
on has already been Of great benefit We know
ourselves somewhat better. II is a great gain
to have found ont the truth about some things
even though it disturbs our Sef-complacency.
The New York that rides luxuriously. or walks
well clad and clearly up and down the central
avenues Of Manhattan Island takes little heed
of the greater NewYolk that prowlS in the
purieus or goes slOuchng through the slums ;
or of the more potential Ncw-York that on
the fringe of the main artery makes all the
side streets from Battery Park to Spuytcn
Duyvil Creek a blaze of flaring lights that
every night, and all night long, lure young
and old to the first steps in the dance of death.
Church going, respectable Newly ork, proceeding
up and down the top ridge of this blessed
island, prefers not to know anything of the
Swirs and currents on either side which day
after day and night after night swallow up
the wasted life Of the spent swimmer and the
fair promise Of unwary youth.
But knowledge has been forced upon it.
Forced upon it, not merely as individuals cas-
ually informed, but as n community having
a public responsibility and a public care, sud
denly made acquainted with social conditions
which it would be criminal negligence and
fatal sloth to pass unheeded or dismiss to the
care and correction of the constituted authori-
ties by the slow processes of unenforccd In
operative laws This knowledge has been pub
licly bruitcd: is wide and universal. 1t is
in the nature of a great, a startling disclosure.
But to how many? 1t seems an unrootng of
the town. But to how many of the men who
mingle together in the daily currents of the
city's busy life, to how many habitua or even
occasional visitors has there been anything in
the nature of revelation in this unroofing and
upturning? What has happened is simply
this that what men know before and some
times talked about among themselves, perhaps
deprecatingy or Indignantly, perhaps shame
facedly or with curious wonder has all at once
been blown abroad and become common talk.
And that not loosely and abstractly, but in
concrete FORM definite, specific, lOathSomc.
is not a story told TO an individual, but a trum
pet blown in the ears of the whole community.
And the question is the old one What arc
we going TO do about il? 1t is not question
of who found it ont or how. All that is irrele
want and impertnent. Here is the fact of
certain social conditions. Are we satisfied
hon mot hot Nnr Mt
to the purpose to say that they are conditions
which exist in all great cities and are in
separable from large aggrcgations of popula-
ton that the law cannot cope with them, nor
any constabulary or police change or make an
end of them. 1t all resolves itself into Mis-
Shall the laws be enforced? 1t is not imRedi
ately question of making new laws but sim
ply whether what we have shall be enforced.
Let US do one thing or the other, either enforce
or repeal them. There is vastly less danger to
the health. the morals, the well being Of So
ciety in open, unrestricted license than in the
spectacle of laws violated and spurned with tho
knowledge and under the protection of officers
sworn to enforce them and paid for it out Of
the public purse. If we have found it i'm
possible 10 be cleanl.' and wholesome, let us
at once say So and uncover. and At least go
out of the whitcd scpuchrc business.
But is it so? Must we fold our hands and
say these things have always been, will always
be, and cannot be helped? Must our boys, at
school or college, in the workshop or the store
or at the desk. run such gauntlet rs this city
offers with its miles of lures and pitfalls? Must
they "see life in this way? Must they be
taught 10 swim by being thrown into u cess
pool? Business men of New York This is
no longer a question "for men only" Wives
and mothers. to whom it has all been really
revelation and shock. though they may not
say much. are thinking seriously about it, and
how close it comes to them Must they let their
boys 20 from them with shudder at the
gauntlet they must run, and no hope for il?
Which needs protection most, our boys or the
keepers of the traps set for them? What do
you want the police in your pay to do in tho
matter?