The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-11-17
THEY lNSULTED A RECTOR
Disregarded His Appeal For Protec
tion of the Innocent.
THE POLICE SUPPORT DENs OF lNFAMY
So the Bishop Declares in His Letter to Van
Wyck, Who Replies That He is With
Him in The Crusade Against
Vice.
(By the Associated Press.)


New York, Nov. 16-Bishop c. Potter,
Bishop of the Episcopalian Diocese of New
York, today sent letter to Mayor Van
Wyck in reference to vice in this city
ter is the one promised some weeks ago
when the Bishop publicly announced that
one of his rectors had been grossly in
suited by the commanding officials of a
certain police station and that he pro-
posed to take up the matter in a manner
which the heads of the police force should
feel, At the present writing there are
three movements directed against vice as
it is displayed on the great East Side.
These are a quietly conducted investigation
by District Attorney Gardiner in connec-
ton with Anthony Comstock's Society for
the Suppression of Vice; Tammanys ap-
pointment of a committee to investigate
present conditions and Bishop Potters
crusade.
Bishop Potter in his letter to Mayor
Van Wyck first called attention to the
work that is being done at the pro-
cathedral 1870 Station street in endeavor-
ing to improve the condition of the poor
it is located and says it has been recog-
nized as an important factor in promot.
ing the virtue and good order of the
community in which it ministers. He con-
tinues:
"In view of these facts it would seem
that it has a valid claim upon the SYM
pathy, cooperation and at least courteous
consideration of those who officially rep
o;4 fl,a
dianship of dccency and good morals. 1
urge here no other claim for it.
But the thing that is of conse-
quence, sir is that when a minister of
religion and PRESIDENT in a particular
neighborhood whose calling and charac-
ter, experience and truthfulness are all
alike widely and abundantly recognized,
goes to the headquarters of the police in
his district to appeal to them for the
protection of the young the innocent and
the defenceless against the leprous har-
pics who are hired as runners and touterS
for the worst and most Infamous dens OF
vice, he is met not only with contempt
and derision but with the coarsest con-
tumely and obloquy."
The bishop goes on to say:
Il am not, l beg to say, unmindful
of the fact that the existence of vice
in a great city is, practically, an inevita-
BILE condition of the life of such COM
munity / am not demanding that vice
shall be stamped out by the police or
any civil authority. This is a task which
would demand for its achievement a race
of angels and not of men. But / ap-
proach you, sir, to protest with all my
power against a condition of things in
which vice is not only tolerated but
shielded and encouraged by those whose
sworn duty it is to reprcss and discour-
age it, and, in the name of unSullied youth
and innocence, | protest as my people
have charged me to do against the habit
ual insult. the persistent menace, the
unutterably defiling contacts, to which
day by day because of the base COM
plcty OF the police of New York with
the lowest forms of vice and crime, they
are subject.
"And, in the name of these little ones.
these weak and defenceless ones, Chris
tian and Hebrew alike, of many races
and tongues, but of homes in which God
is feared and his law reverenced, and vir-
tue and dccency honored and eXemDlifed,
! call upon you sir, to save these people
who are in a very real way committed to
your charge, from a lower hell, defiling,
deadly damning, to which the criminal
supineness of the constituted authorities
set for the defence of decency and good
order threatens to doom them"
Biehoo Potter in conclusion, says he has
no methods to suggest for the bettering
of the conditions; these are in the hands
of the mayor
Mayor Van Wyck at once replied to
the Bishop by letter in which he said
he had passed the Bishops communica-
tion to the district attorney and then
says:
Il wish here to assure you that | will
exert every power which the law has
given to right the wrongs and to do away
with the conditions of which you complain,
and to secure a hearty and efficient CO.
operation by the police department with
all who are working to do away with
public violations of law and decency.
Il stand ready at all times to assist
and cooperate with you in this mat
ter
Mayor Van Wycl1's letter to the district
attorney requests him to cooperate with
Bishop Potter and the police depart
ment in the movement. In letter tn
the board Of police commissioners the
mayor cncloses a copy of the bishops let
ter and directs the commissioners to at
once conduct searching investigation
into the conduct of the two police officials