Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-22
NO ExpERIuhNTlNG WITH THE pOl

NO ENPEhIIbN THU Ol1H fHE PDbltE.
The spirit and letter of the new city
charter contemrlates the eXaction of spC-
cial qualifications from every city officer
whose duties require professional knowl-
edge or expert skill in their performance.
The city attorney must be Il lawyer
familiar with corporation law. The city
engineer must be an expert in engineer
ing. The building inspector must be II
builder who has built something. The
city electrician must be II practical cleo
trical engineer. The health officer must
be Il physician of tried ability. While
the charter does rot in so many words
prescribe the qualifications of the fire
chief, no Board of Fire and Police Com
missioners would think of replacing
Chief Redell with Il mar who had never
served in Il fire department or Il man
who had been simply Il stoker or driver
of Il fire engine.
How, then. can our police commission
ers, who are sworn to give the city
effective police protection, consider any
man fit for the position of chief of police
L les IitNtI tVt VII IL lVolltS iolNN
or has at best filled only a position as
sheriff. deputy United States marshal or
spurious coin detective? What right has
the board to jeOpardiZe the lives and
properties of our citizens by experiment
with politicians who want to play chief
of police ut the public expense? What
good would Il chief of police be who
has never had the direction of II dozen
men and who knows absolutely nothing
about the organization and discipline of
a metropolitan police force?
1t is simply amazing that my
member of the police commission should
declare himself in favor of anybody but
an experienced officer. 1t is still more
amazing that a man like Judge Gregory.
who has a life experience behind him,
should be quoted as j~ustifying his
support of the chairman of the demo
cratic state committee for chief of police
with the assertion that the best COM
manders in the late war of the rebellion
were generals who enlisted from civil
life without any military education or
experience. Who We're those great COM
manders? On the confederate side every
commander who attained distinction
during the war was Il graduate of West
Point or a military college. General
Robert II. Lee was n West Pointer and
colonel in the regular army nj its out
break. General Albert Sidney Johnston
was Il brigadier in the regular army.
Beauregard, Bragg, ~Longstreet, Joseph
t.. Johnston, Stonewall Jackson and the
two Hills were all West Pointers, and
so were all the other famous confederate
commanders. On the union side. Scott,
Halleck, Mcclellan, Hancock, Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan, Hooker, Burnside,
Thomas. Meade, Ord, Augur, Howard,
were graduates of West Point. On the
other hand, the commanders from civil
life, with the exception of Logan and
perhaps one or two more, were failures
from the military standpoint.
The proposition to place the Omaha po-
lice in the hands of any man who lacks
experience ms n police officer and ap-
proved executive ability is not merely
preposterous, but it is an outrage mon
the community, especially in view of the
present demoraliZed condition of the pO-
lice and the demand for superior police
protection during the fast approaching
pXDOsition.