Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-06

either. If can prevent it-'crup,' poker,
or sure thing games in San Juan after
January list. Policemen will also keep
an eye out for nuisances Of all kinds.
and will report them when discovered
to General Grant and the mayor end
municipal authorities.
Another matter that has caused I'M
favorable comment from Americans in
San Juan. will be regulated. This Is
that no bull drivers will be permitted to
use their present long iron spikes for
driving goads. When q man is found
using one it will be taken from him
and destroyed. 1t Is strictly within the
province of a. policeman to stop this
barbarity. and his rights in the prem-
ses Will not. / think, be challenged.
Drays and carts drawn by horses and
oxen must not be overloaded nor al
lowed to block the streets. With the
moral support of the good citizens,
both American and Porto Rican, of San
Juan, am confident, that this new po-
lice force will be n distinct benefit to
the city at large, and am sure can
render San Juan o. pleasanter place for
an American to live in"
A GREAT ADVANTAGE.
One advantage of this American po-
lice force is that they will better be
able to handle boisterous soldiers and
sailors than are the Porto Ricans. The
fact that they are Americans will make
this true. When Jack is ashore for a
good time, or when the enlisted man
has been paid off and is merry in con-
sequence, nothing is more productive
or trouble than for the native police
man to approach the merry maker and
tell nun 20 do thus and so. no matter
how reasonable the policeman's instruc-
irons may be. To the soldier or the
sailor 1t Is a burning insult that a ma
i've policeman. a "dago.' a man whom
ne could toss over a telegraph wire,
should interfere with his imalenable
rights as an American citizen to make
things hum" And especially upon
American territory. When the same
noisy reveller is approached by n coun-
tryman he will be more amenable to
reason. The attempts of the native po-
liceman to control the American sail
ors and soldiers have provoked most OF
the local disorder and street brawling
that San Juan has seen during the last
two months, and 1T was because Of this
that many men declared a provost
guard was needed to control and keep
order among the Americans. IT was
admitted that In ordinary cases the ma
tive police could look out for his own
counirymen, but he clearly could not
do so for ours. General Henry has
given us a. night patrol. the soldiers are
kept IN barracks after 8 p. m. and
with pay dhy just gone by, we have
SSSir no DTdWllHS,
fighting or disorders such as we were
too familiar with In the near past.
THE COUNTRY'S NEED.-
This establishing OF American police
men in San Juan and other cities and
the organization of the rural mounted
police that General Grant is rapidly
and efficiently handling shows us clear
ly that the Spaniard's experience in
governing Porto Rico taught them sew
eral things which we could we'll accept
as object lessons. One of these things
Is that the country needs q strong,
we'll supported police force. such O. force
as was the Spanish Guardia Civil. We
are coming to this same thing with our
American military authorities to make
the local organizations for the preser-
walton OF law and order suffice have
Civil was we'll supported military or
ganization. The American police
should be, and doubtedly Will. be under
an equal and better organization. The
Spanish Guardia Civil were tyranni-
cad, brutal and preserved order by an
abuse OF power and the fear that fol-
lowed. The new American equivalent
Will never resemble their predecessors
in this respect and the people of the Is
land already know this, but they see
the similarity az the two organizations
and already they call the new police
men the American Guardia Civil.
TAKING A CENSUS.
a Porto Rican census is being taken.
II has begun in San Juan, and 1t will
be made to cover the whole island. AS
soon as the returns for San Juan come
In General Grant Will take measures
to thin out the overcrowded tenements
in the upper part of the city. This
great ovcrcrowding among the negroes
IS a serious menace to the city's health.
and is a. serious problem in the under
taking of keeping San Juan clean. II
it is at once radically solved and en-
ergcticaEy handled much will be gain
ed. Few men who have not visited
them. have any idea of the filth. over
crowding and utter lack of sanitation
that prevail inside the big courts that
are the tenements of the city. The cor
rection of this evil will be the best
thing in the world FOR the-citys health.