The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-11-22

Washington, Nov. 21.-John W. Goff,
the prosecuting attorney for the Lex
ow investigating committee, who is
stopping in washington for a few
days, has given the Evening Star an
interesting interview on the work Of
the committee. 1--WE know positively
said he, "the police department Of New
York was Systematically Matchmaking
all classes of citizens.
81 speak within the bounds Of my
knowledge when 1 say there was not a
business man in New York city who
had not felt the power Of police black
mail. There were, perhaps, very
few instances where honorable men
had refused to give their tithes of IL
legal tax to the police; but almost
without exception these men were
forced out of business.
zone peculiar feature of the black
mail was that it spared no one class.
however secure It's calling. You may
be surprised when L say New York,
under the rule of the police depart
ment, as it was controlled by Tam
many Hail. was far worse as regards
the individual committee of the citi-
zens. than st. Petersburg under its
most violent police regime.
'sAS an illustration of the tremen-
dous power welded by this organiza-
ton, I will refer TO the difficulty we
had in obtaining witnesses to go upon
the stand and swear to facts they had
brought to us in private. At first, this
applied to all classes, both reputable
and disreputable. When appealed to.
r,To .,1N 4
testify the police would hound them
out of the city. When asked if they
could not go elsewhere and establish
themselves in business, they would re-
ply the persecution of the police OF
New York would follow them to every
city in the country and we gradually
revealed the astounding fact that the
police OF New York not only dominated
every city but every large community
In the country. The lower classes of
citizens were made to believe black
mail was lawful and regular. They
came to consider the captain of their
precinct as the source OF all municipal
authority. In effect ne was such to
them.
You ask me if I think this power is
now crushed. / do, most emphatically.
think that the public conscience. hay-
ing once been aroused, the machinery
of this nauseous system exposed, will
be a perpetual bar against the develop
ment of such an organization in the
future. l consider the great danger to
our form of government lies in the pos
sibility of municipal misrule. The ten
dency is too strongly toward the growth
of the urb n community at the expense
of the rural. This feeds the machine,
that if not watched and checked will
grow to such influence as that which
we have just destroyed in New York.
Centralizati n, believe, as the inves-
tigating has proved, is the danger of the
day. I cannot speak too highly of the
composition of the committee which
employed me as its counsel. Though
appointed by a Republican Senate and
con taining a majority Of the members
of that body, these men have acted
throughout the investigation like non
partisans. and they have upheld the
counsel in every move that has pro-
missed to demonstrate the problem that
confronted Us.
Il cannot answer the question as 10
where the blackmaN money went, or in
what proportions il was distributed, for
that is q personal matter which would
force me to mention names. There are
still many points 70 investigate, a great
deal of rounding up-fnisning up as it
were. We will try TO finish the work
by the first Of January"