The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-16
THE GRAND JURY CAN DO 1T.

The grand jury. will render material
service to the city should it make thor
ough investigation into the methods Of
the police with reference to disorderly
houses In this city. On the statements
of officers, as well as according to the
records Of the local police court, there
is system in operation which sets an
official premium on crime. This system
cd which was known to conceal police
favoritism extended toward those who did
not formally pay the money which for
many years past has been levied in the
form Of fines.
It does not matter materially in con-
sidering the present plan whether it op-
crates to throw the contributions of all
the abandoned women into the city treas
ury, or retains part in the pockets Of
the police. In any event, it operates to
flood the community with vice, and to
confront our decent citizens In the vi
cinity of their homes with the most pitt
full form of human debasement:
If the grand jury does its work thor
oughly it will reveal a condition Of things
which will startle the community, and will
make reform in the present method OF
police administration unavoidable. Our
entire local criminal administration, out
side the courts, is an infamy and a wrong
to the community Every form of vice
which police exist for the suppression
and punishment Of, highway robbery,
burglary, sneak thieving, gambling, con-
fidence games, and licensed and unlicens-
ed immortality, prevails here as never be-
fore.
The mission of our spurious reformers
was, we were told, to put an end to all
forms Of vice. The outcry raised some
years ago against gambling furnished the
principal political stock in trade through
which these Uriah Keeps Of politics got
control of our local affairs. They have
been able to maintain that control by
pretending to enforce the existing laws.
from time to time, that vice of a certain
kind faunts itself openly on the pub
lie highways; that certain saloons are
little less than masked brothels; that
gambling Of every description prevails
under the very eyes of the police; that
burglary and highway robbery are not
only frequent, but that their perpetrators
are rarely captured, and still more rare
ly convicted, owing to an incompetent
criminal administration, and that our To-
cal officeholders are massed as a sort Of
Pretorian guard against the application
of any remedy, either through legisla-
ton or otherwise. Local administration
is a laundering, expensive thing, against
which all ideas of decent and response
BILE government are in revolt, apparently
in vain.
The grand jury is the only official body
upon which any reliance whatever can
be placed 1t is the only body which,
having the power, can be relied on to
exercise that power. The moral and ma
terial interests of the community cry out
for effective interference. Plainly no mere
influence Of politics can put a stop to
the existing shameful conditions Polit-
ical considerations cannot be invoked for
many months to c9me. The present grand
jury ought to deem it an imperative OBJ
legation to rid the community Of the pail
Of official responsibility and fragrant
crime which with us are the chief char
acteristics of local administration today.
OF COURSE 1T WAS REPUBLICAN.
The st. Paul Dispatch takes exception
to a statement made by the Gil b In
which it was charged that the last legis-
lature was Republican and was controlled
by Republicans in both its branches.
Why, even if Representatives J. F. Jacob
son and C. F. Staples are not to be