The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-06
NEW PORTO RlCAM POLICE.
SAN JUAN TO HAVE Ten AMERICAN
"COPS" FROM THE ARMY.

1-tN 81 a q - II \ y - 7 ~ th ~
cops" FROM The ARMY.
Men 10 Bc Selected From Regiments
Now in Porto Rico-PIan Not sat
isfactory to HeEimentnI officers,
Who DO Not Like 10 Give III Their
hest Observation-Disclosures the Native
Policemen Have Had 10 Deal with.
Some of the Reforms.
Correspondence of the Associated Press)
San Juan, Porto Rico Dec. 23,-The idea
of having American policemen in Porto
Rico's principal towns. which was set
forth in Cen. Henry's outline of policy,
when ne took charge of this island. Is al
ready bearing fruit Upon the LIST OF Jan
uary 1899 this new arrangement will be
active in This city. Upon recommendations
of Gems Henry aud Grant the Mayor aud
municipal Council of san Juan have ap-
pointed an American as chief of the new
police force.
The municipal officials of San Juan have
decided to employ at the outset ten Amer
lean policemen including their chief and
IL is announced that these men viii be Sc
lected from the army. Their pay will be
$50 gold a month. and IF they prove them
selves efficient, they win eventually draw
$50 a month. The selections from the
army will be carefully made, and good
men can he secured. There IS no lack of
volunteers for the service, the pay alone
being enough to attract them, while many
men would gladly accept this more inter
estng career of a city policeman, when
compared 10 the mOnOtOnY of barrack life.
The selection OF men for this purpose
from the army has provoked considerable
dissatisfaction, and has been the subject
of much comment. An order was issued
to commanding officers TO ascertain which
of their men would volunteer for this
service. and also TO recommend those who
in their opinions, were the best men for
the work.
The salary Attraction.
This action will have the effect of TAX
ing away from regiments and batteries
their best non-Commissioued officers and
drin masters The salary of $50 or SIS as
compared to 500 is a potd@t factor Good
northumberland officers are hard to OBJ
tain, and only army officers know how i'm
portant such men are in the regimental
organizatio Regular army officers are
therefore inclined to be unfavorably dis
posed towards the action that takes from
them their best and most desirable men,
for Just these men win have to be recon-
mended, and will probably be selected to
join the police force.
1t is a fact that the native policemen
do not live up to the letter of their in
structions Physically, they are weak,
and some of them are puny citizens do not
realize that che majesty of the law is be-
hind them so men often resist arrest,
and the policemen are set upon and mall
treated and their daily life has its full
snare of trouble, Gen. Henry has official
~ said that he will invariably sustain any
and all representatives of the law and or
der who are compelled TO use force in
the proper discharge of their duties. When
this is generally known it will help, with
the examples Of moderation and fairness
to be given by the American men, to rem
der the native police much more efficient
than they are to-day.
In discussing the reforms the new Amer
lean chief said, among other things:
To stop Cruelty to Animals.
another matter that has caused unfav-
orable 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 a man is found using one it viii
be taken from him and destroyed 1t Is
strictly within the province of a police
man to stop this barbarity, and his rights
in the premises will not, 1 think. be chal-
lenged. 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 cit
liens, both American and Porto Rican, of
San Juan, l am confident that this new
police force viii be a distinct benefit to
the city at large, and / am sure l can
render San Juan pleasanter place for
an American to live in"
Lessons From the spaniards.
This establishing of American policemen
in San Juan and other cities, and the or
ganization Of the rural mounted police that
Gen. Grant is rapidly and efficiently han
ding shows us clearly that the Spaniards
experience in governing Porto Rico taught
them several things which we could well
accept as object lessons. One of these
things Is that the country needs a strong
well supported police force. such a force
as was the Spanish guardla civil We
are coming TO this same thing with our
American municipal police and our Amer
lean rural patro.. The Spaniards knew
the country needed such control, and we
are learning the same thing
The efforts Of the American military
authorities to make the local organizations
for the preservation Of law and order suf-
fee have failed signaly. The Spanish
guardia civil was a well supported. mill
tary organization; the American police
should be and undoubtedly viii be an
equal and better organization. The Span
ish guarda civil were tyrannical, brutal
and preserved order by an abuse Of power
and the fear that followed The new
American equivalent will never resemble
their predecessors in this respect, and the
people of the island already know this
but they see the similarity Of the two or
CARNATIONS and already they call the new
lila-r A