The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-07

will consider it my duty, and I will is
sue orders to this effect, to suppress
gambling wherever found. There will
be no more publicly run-or privately
run, either, if I can prevent it-crap,'
poker, or sure thing games in San
Juan after January 1st Policemen will
also keep an eye out for nuisances Of
all kinds and will report them when
| discovered to General Grant and the
Mayor and 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 a man is found
using one it will be taken from him
and destroyed. 1t is strictly within the
province OF policeman to stop this
barbarity and his rights in the prem
ises will not, I 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 20
lice force will be a distinct benefit to
the city at large, and / am sure / can
render San Juan a pleasanter place tor
an American to live in"
| one advantage of this American DO
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
mas been paid off and is merry in conse-
! quence nothing is more productive of
trouble than for the native policeman
10 approach the merry maker an tell
MIN TO 90 thus and so, no matter how
reasonable the policemans instructions
may be. 10 the soldier or the sailor it
IS burning insult that a native po-
ilceman, a man whom he could toss over
telegraph wire, should interfere with
his 1nallenable rights as an American
citizen to make things hum" And
| especially upon American territory.
When the same noisy reveler is APP
| pfcacned by countryman he will be
more amenable to reason.
| Inc attempts of the native policemen
to control the American sailors and SOL
dlers have provoked most of the local
disorder and street brawling that San
Juan has seen during the last two
months, and it was because of this
| that many men declared a provost
guard was needed to control and keep
| order among the Americans. 1t was
admitted that in ordinary cases the ma
t1vbe policeman could look out for his
own countrymen, but he clearly could
not do so for ours
General Henry has given us a night
patrol, the soldiers are kept in barracks
| after p. m. and with pay day just
gone by, We have seen comparatively
no Drawing, street fighting or disorders
such as we We're too familiar with in
the near past.
| Th1S 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
eitciently handling, shows US clearly
that the Spaniard's experience in gov
e1nlng Porto Rico taught them several
| things which we could we'll 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 Guardia Civil We
are coming to this same thing with our
American municipal police and our
American rural patrol 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 organiza-
tons for the preservation of law and
order suffice have failed signally. The
Spanish Guardia Civil was a we'll sup
ported military organization; the Amer
lean police should be and undoubtedly
will be an equal and better organiza-
ton. The Spanish Guardia 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 organizations,
and already they call the new police
men the American Guardia Civil
Porto Rican census is being taken.
1t has begun in San Juan, and it 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
overcrowding among the negroes is
serious menace to the city'S health, and
is a serious problem in the undertaking
of keeping San Juan clean. If it is at
once radically solved and energetically
handled much will be gained. Few
men who have not visited them have
any idea of the filth, overcrowding and
utter lack of sanitation that prevail in
side the big courts that are the tene-
ments of the city The correction of this
evil will be the best thing in the world
for the city'S future health.