New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-20
U1TCH ALBANY.

U4TCH ALBANY
The Indictment yesterday of one Inspector
four captains. three ex-capialns ana se'ci'i
subordnates in the Department OF Ioice vi
this city is startling commentary Oh 'he S!S
tenn upon which the citizens ana taxpayers VI
this town depend for the protection OF the lives,
repAtatons and property OF themselves anu
their families for the Apprehension Oh criminals
and the punishment Of crime. lhese are hiSh
officials They have been employed ana palo
TO protect the community against crilhc' Iho'
are indicted as criminals themselves. we say
it is startling Perhaps that Is 100 s'rons' ~
ought 10 starlc all citizens VINO STOP lor Il mo
ment TO consider how much it means rs as
closure of insecure and pcrlous CIVIC cohdi-
tions BIT we have grown so gradually INTO Il
knowledge of them. and perhaps become 50
hardened to Them that nothing now startlcS
ANYBODY. And yet we cannot doubt uia' 'nc
nublic mind. bcnumbcd somewhat thoush II
may be by the succession of shocks IL mas re-
coivcd during the last year. will be profoundly
affected bv this action Even though ihcapaDie
of tho sensation of SURPRISE il is still susceptible
of tho emotion of anger and the impulse OF in
dic,otion Roth are awakened by this official
action. taken with the greatest deilpera'oli anu
aor tbo most solemn sanction. For, though
- makes no new disclosure. it corroboratcs and
confirms what before was only in the ar
In charging this Grand Jury Judge lngra-
ham. sneaking of charges which had been made
nv the press and before a committee OF eminent
oitiyops said 'Thcse charges have touched
1.-THE whole department generally, ana Ill hiaiy
"cosos snocifc persons. until the very name Of
policeman has become a synonyme lor coIrup-
"tion. The evidence has tended TO snow lhat
San organized system has been existing 1or
"years. by which the police instead OF suppress
ling vice foster it for other purposes lhis
WAS n terrible arragnmcnt An arrangement
not of individual offenders, it Will be notced'
but of systcm-an organized system "heh
one considers that this organized system which
fosters vice Is the sole dependence OF the men,
women and children Of this great city Tor pro
lection against violence, vice ana crime the
seriousness of it will perhaps be apprehended
II means that the police machinery when soci-
etv has organized and kept under pay Tor us
own defence has been not merely corrupted ana
domoralized. but actually enlisted against 1t. 1t
betokens n condition in which nothing Is sale,
and against which all men and women VINO are
no, protected criminals from the mere instinct
of self preservation rise up in indignant cutlery.
They have risen up. They have lifted up their
cry: their appeal for help. for rescue.
That appeal has gone To Albany. The action
of this Grand Jury. admirable as II Is. falis
short 1t Is the first step toward the PUNISH
ment of individual criminals. but 1t does not
reach the system. These men may he brought
10 Justice but that will be Of little avail If the
system continues. And upon what does the APP
peal wait at Albany? There is no secret about
II. Everything waits at Albany upon the will OF
one man. who has for many years been secret
mariner of the organizers Of the system, an ac-
comblice in their practices, and Il beneficiary
of their schemes His appointecs are part "f
the organized system upon the continuance OF
which his political future depends. The citizens
OF this town beg. pray. demand That they De
relieved OF the incubus. He and the men whom
he controls or says he controls. are clubbing
and pettifocgng over tcchnicalitics and details.
are interposng postponemcnts and delays. and
for that purpos. meddling with and muddlins
bills in the separate stages Of their progress Tor
the sole purpose of defeating the popular Will
and saving something out Of the dscredited ma
chinery which may be useful 10 him hereafter.
That is why Reform haltS N Albany. And
that is why It is necessary To keep public at
tenton fixed on the proceedings there and not
permit It 10 be diverted by the indictment OF a
few individual criminals here.
The action Of the Grand Jury Is an excellent
thing in its way But remember good citizens.
that It does not reach the system. Watch Al
bany.