Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-14
REPLY OF CITY OFFICIALS.
j. L. Sooy. City:

Rev. j. l.. Sooy. City:
I Dear Sir:-In pursuance of our prom
Use tosyour committee to submit, at an
early date, a written reply to your
committees request for the suppress
sion Of certain evils, we are pleased to
not only comply with our premise, but
take this means of expressing to your
federation our appreciation of your
kind expressions OF confidence and es-
| TEEN, and our belief that your present
efforts are directed, or have for their
object, only the publication and better
ment of civic conditions, and a conse-
| quent and lasting benefit to the COM
munity.
We appreciate that in the solution Of
n economic question, the primary
and vital point to be considered is the
fundamental or practical side. In other
words, if there is a condition. why
does it exist? We are equally cogni-
zant that there is always a theoretical
view which does not stop to consider
static elements or causes. but taking
the high ground POSSIBLY without well
verified or i%ntrenched e~vidence) that no
violation or evasion of existing laws,
natural or civil, can or should be toll
Grated, entirely disregarding the prin-
ciple which makes the formulation and
| enforcement of laws possible and pos
tive
As before expressed, we accord to
| your association the full evidence OF
Your Convictions,
and while not desiring to indulge in
any criticism or to attribute to your
| association Interior motives, we have,
from your expressions, been forced to
the conclusion that Notwithstanding
your desire to be fair, your inexperi-
fence in the matter of enforcement OF
the laws against offenders, has misled
you to the very plausible conclusion
that the written law is absolute, pos
tive and incontrovertable. 1t seems
to US but a fair and equitable PROPOSE
ton, both in justice to your association
and ourselves, that we should state to
you in entire f%rankness that We, upon
our induction into office, being imbued
with the same theoretical view of the
proper enforcement of the law as out
lined above, proceeded to enforce the
ordinances as laid down. But we soon
| learned that no law, however wise and
| Just, can be enforced unless it has the
support of a healthy public sentiment
in favor OF its enforcement, because
ultimately it rests upon the verdict OF
a Jury. To make such sentiment is
your province, not ours.
A careful study of the conditions ex-
listing at that time led us to the con-
clusion that there was in our midst an
evil eminently more perniciouS than
all others, a condition which traded
upon virtue, and by the alluring of
young and inexperienced girls into
places licensed by the city, accom-
plished their downfall and started them
upon a path with but one terminus.
Proceeding upon
Our Earnest Intent
to eradicate this evil, We proceeded to
obtain evidence with which to C
conviction, selecting the places best
known to be in violation. Upon trial
it was proved to the mind of your
Police Court judge that the ordinance
had been clearly violated. and in each
instance the court imposed the ex-
IRENE penalty. Several of these cases
were appealed to the Criminal Court
Ga right absolutely granted by the
statute), and upon trial before a jury,
the first case, and the one deemed the
strongest, was declared by the jury to
be mot guilty"
In many other instances the cases
appealed from the decision of Police
l'Court, where the evidence seemed to be
conclusive, the jury in the upper court
did not sustain the city's case. In
4 fact we know of no case appealed
| from Police Court since we assumed
| charge which has been upheld by the
| jury in the upper court. All of which
| c%onvinces us hat in this city, public
| sentiment is not in favor of extreme or
| radical reforms, but rather content
with a judicious regulation of evils
complained of.
The existing conditions are not of
our making. They are rather the re-
| mains of a form of civic government
| which has been fostered and built up
because the very persons who should
have taken an interest in municipal af-
fairs
Neglected Their Duty.
and made possible the practices and
customs of which your association now
complains. A condition once permitted.
becomes to a very great extent a fix
ture and permanency, and might be
likened to the growth of a tree, which
IN its first stage can be easily uprooted,
but as 1t gains in years, SO its strength
increases. until it Is deep-rooted and