Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-16

frequent disavowal of responsibility for The
lawlessness which afflicts Alexandria
county comes the question: "Who is re-
sponsible?" 1t was not strange that the
people of the District of Columbia should
be inclined to the belief that the governor
should bear a share of the burden. for,
aside from all other bases upon which TO
found opinion. Judge Chichester, at the
opening of the January term of the Alex
andria county court. was, in his charge to
the grand jury. very direct in his state
ments. AS The Stars report of Judge
Chichesters remarks on that occasion
shows:
HE said that the governor had promised
his assistance in discriminating this
pest. and said that the first thing the gov
ernor had done in this line to sign
bill taking the granting of liquor licenses
out of the power of the court, and now
there were many more bar rooms than
ever before. Secondly, that the governor
had signed a bill legal:zing horse racing
and bookmaking, which had scattered this
form of gambling throughout the country
instead of combining 1t TO Jackson City:
where 1t was at least all together and could
. be watched over when the proper officers
were elected. and lastly. he had caused
the state to compromise with these men.
whereby they agreed to stop racing dur
ing the shortest month in the year
Stree those utterances by Judge Chiches-
ter the governor has, through The Star.
made plain his views and desires. That the
governor is willing to have the goodly re-
pute of the state besmirched by the law
lessness in Alexandria county Is not i'm
agined for a moment by any one who has
any knowledge whatever of the governors
high character, but there does seem to be
some difficulty in understanding, for in
stance. how the power of the state is to be
used to prevent the Corbett-Fitzsimmons
fight in Alexandria county when it is
urged that the same power cannot properly
be invoked to better the present disgrace
fui conditions at Jackson City and there
abouts. The governor says very emphat-
ically that as soon as the county authori-
ties notify him of their inability to uphold
the law and maintain order he will then
act. but until he is so notified he alleges
gubernatorial helplessness.
The county officials, when an endeavor is
made to arouse them to a sense of duty,
say they are crippled by lack of funds and
lack of evidence and cannot therefore
reasonably be expected to do the duty they
solemnly swore they would perform. The
people of Alexandria county shrug their
shoulders and say that between the gov
ernor and the county authorities the gam
blers escape without any trouble while the
reputation of Alexandria county is being
SrOunu into very line
In the endeavor to lift as much of the
responsibility as possible from himself and
Virginia. the governor argues that as
Washington supplies the lawbreakers it
ought to aid him in breaking up the in
iquitous dens at Jackson City and Rosslyn
and he offers to enter into contract with
the District authorities by the terms of
which he will cause the arrest, extradition,
trial and punishmen of the lawbreakers
provided that the District will secure the
necessary evidence.
Gov. O'Ferrall seems to imagine that his
proposition is a fair one, and it perhaps
would be if it We're true that these violat-
CTS of Virginia law are Washingtonians.
The truth is that the Washing tonianS
found at Jackson City and Rossiyn are the
victims of men VINO. because they operate
lawlessly on Virginia territory, are resi-
dents of and are amenable to the laws of
Vii GINA. AS a matter of fact, the most
cCrspcuous among the professionally-law
less in Coz. OFerrall's dominion are men
who are proud of their Virginia birth, and
with them are importatons from Glou-
ctster and Guttenburg and Monmouth Park
and other like disreputable resorts, whence
they were driven by the force of public
sentiment. 1t is true that in a subsidiary
fashion Washington contributes to the dis
creditable assemblages just across the river
So long temptations exist men and
women VIII be attracted by them and will
risk their all on the hope of receiving more
than they give.
That the local authorities will decline to
act in accord with the governor is not at
all likely; they will go to the laws limit
if by so doing they can aid in the destruc-
ton of the demoralizing establishments
which now being run with the consent
and apparently under the protectio of the
law officers of Alexandria county. But
Gov. O'Ferrall should not demand this as
sistance on any such ground as that urged
by him. The District might reply, that the
Governor could surely use the power vested
in him to the extent of employing de-
tectyes to secure all the evidence he needs
and that by doing the governor would
make plain to the country the fact that
Virginia is fully capable of enforcing its
laws without calling upon the District of
Columbia or any other outside power for
assistance. But it is not believed that any
such attitude will be assumed by the Dis
trict.
The primary responsibility in all this
matter is not upon the governor. If the
complaining citizens of Alexandria county
would come out openly and prefer charges
against the county officials in one of the
courts thefe would be no trouble in remOV-
ing from office the men who have winked
at lawlessness. But is there nothing that
the governor can do to meet the measure
of incidental responsibility which falls
upon him? OF course recreant county Off
Gals will not call upon him to perform the
duties which they have neglected. He
cannot, therefore, receive from them for
NAL, technical notification of conditions
which he knows to exist, and he cannot
probably direct soldiers to clean out jack
son City. But is there nothing short of
sending troops to the scene which the gov
ernor can do ito wipe cut the curse-spot
on Nirginas fair name?''
1t is time. however, for everybody inter-
ested. for the District of Columbia for
Governor OFerrall and for the people of
Alexandria county, to cease contention over
the matter of relative responsibility to quit
interposing obstacles to practical and ef-
fective co-opera ton, and to refrain from
exaGgeratng helplessness to act by abjcct
IN triy