New-York tribune., 1899-02-09
DEMOCRATS DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY
ABOUT THEM-THE GOVERNOR
EXPLAINS THEM.
fBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.


benjamin p Odell. jr.. chairman Of the Repub-
lican State Committee, expressed his earnest ap-
proval OF them.
one interesting circumstance accompanying
the Introduction Of the measures the strict
silence about them manifested by the Tammany
Hall Senators and Assemblymen Senator Grady.
the Democratic leader in the Senate. said he did
not care to comment on them until he had had
time to aneyze them It is possible the Senator
desires to hear first the opinion Of Richard Cro-
ker. The other Tammany Hall Senator'S and
Assemblymen seem to be in the same fix Some
OF them did declare however with some ferocity
Of demeanor that II they cared TO exert them
selves to defeat the severe sections Of the biils
intended to check repeating and police intimida-
ton they could obtain the votes Of two or three
Republican Senators for that purpose The
names OF the Republican Senators were not
given
STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNOR.
Governor Roosevelt, on learning that the gen
eral features Of the bills had been stated in the
newspapers of the day, expressed his approval Of
the measures. and told why, in his opinion, they
ought 20 be passed He said:
found no situation so puzzling to meet as the
police situation. am desirous that the purpose
Of which the charter was an embodiment-that
there should he fair trial Of home rule In Man
hattan-shOuld be fulfilled. II may be necessary
10 reverse that policy. and Of course. whether
the policy should he sustained or reversed IS d
question which is 10 be decided ultimately not
by treating the principle Of home rule as feticn,
but by finding out how it works and what are
its practical effects. But II II becomes necessary
10 alter that policy ! want II done as Wei
settled and well thought out general policy, ana
not by means OF special bills designed 70 meet
special and temporary conditions. and least Of
all DO T want il altered FOR any merely partisan
rod
10 60 as far as some Of the local Republican
leaders wished in a Metropolitan Police bill or
even as far Frank Moss's State Police Board
10 have control over the local Police Board
1 want il understood particularly that this
means | am not prepared 10 far as this yet
Future years shall determine whether or not the
police Of New-YOrk can or cannot be trusted.
but at present l deem it inadvisable for the
state 10 administer the New-York police. l
want 10 give the home rule principle its fullest
opportunity for trial.
At the same time I FELT that there a stu
alton which had 10 be met in the use Of the
police force for political ends by Tammany Hall
their use at elections and their use before cleo
uons H. handling the poorer and smaller
shopkeepers and pedlers. and of the men who
drive trades more or less exposed 70 police In
reference so 10 interfere with the freedom
of political conviction and expression by men
who are not affiliated with Tammany Hall
that having been notably so IN that section of
the East Side from part of which Assembly
man Adler comes
STATES RIGHT TO PROTECT ELECTIONS.
7, is mainly the affair Of New-York City
whether the ordinary laws are are not prop
erlv observed even whether or not there Is black
rnpii but It is not in the least New-York Citys
affair alone Z the police interfere. directly
Indirectly with elections; II the police directly
| or Indirectly procure the suppression of por
tion OF the vote, connive At fraud and vio-
lence al the polls. II is the States affair every
year. and II Is the Nations affair every other
year In the average Presidential election. un-
checked corruption and fraud In New-York city
may nullify the will Of the people OF the United
States In my own opinion II has on at least
one occasion so nullihed H. ana where the police
force touches tho state the State must see that
the police force does its duty.
felt all this very keenly. but did not see
how to remedy the evil until Mr. Root laid be
fore me this draft ~ a bill. which seems to me
admirable. II divorces the Bureau Of Elections
from the police force; II strengthens and renders
effective the state Elections Bureau established
10y law last year. than which never I'm my
memory has any law more completely justified
it's enactment; Il makes a single headed and,
therefore, responsible Police Commissioner;
IL gives the State no power 10 interfere with the
rnanagement of the police so far as that man
agement affects merely New-YOrk. so that IT in
no respect whatever conflicts with the principle of
home rule. but 1t gives the State power 10 pre-
vent the police force being used against the In
terests Of State and Nation by preventing It's
being used either to interfere with elections. d.
rectIy or indirectly. or to interfere with them
through the employment of its enormous power
for political purposes.
II recognizes la law for the first time that the
hA
hut on a non partisan basis, and that the police
officer from the highest 10 the lowest, VINO Is IN
a special and peculiar sense the guardian of the
politcal and personal liberties Of the citizen.
must not himself be either prey or instrument
of political parties, and that his tenure of and
advancement in office. on the one hand, should
denard solely upon the way ne performs his
amy and that on the other hand. he should not
use the great power with which the law clothes
him to Interfere with the political beliefs ana
political relations OF the citlzen In private ne
very earnestly hope that the recognition Tor the
first time OF this principle in law Will mean the
beginning ~ It's recognition In practice. until IL
ehou become as thoroughly an accepted fact
with police officials as 1t now is with judges
that their official functions should not be eNer-
clsed with regard TO politics
PURPOSES OF THE BILL
The appointment Of the Commissioner resting
nurelv with the Mayor. IT is not in the power or
any Governor 10 use the force for the political
interests Of his own party. The power OF re-
,,oval being with the Governor II is possible for
him 10 at least exercise partial check upon the
police being used FOR political purposes on
behalf ~ the dominant local party of New-fork
Citv In other words the fundamental pro
visions OF the bill are: That the Bureau of Elec
tions shall be divorced from the police power.
and that the elections. which are emphatcally
the concern Of the state shall be safeguarded
nv the state and that in the police organization
itself there shall be the responsibility that comes
Win q single responsible head. and Mat the po
lice shall be prohibited from meddling In politics
I'm any shape form, from using their vast
movers 10 interfere In political matters. And
also as they are thus prohibited from interfering
I'm those matters. 90 political organizations shall
be prohibited from interfering either 10 further
or rctard the fortunes ~ police officer