The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-25
AT OUR Moons

The thought and energies of the Ameri-
can people have been aroused for many
months in connection with the vast prop
lens which were under consideration in
the recent presidential election. These
problems have been, if not settled at
least so far advanced toward settlement,
that, for better or worse, the policies of
this nation will during the next four
years be directed toward the fuIfllment
of the public will, as indicated by the
results of that election.
But while we as a people are absorb
ed in the great questions which relate
to our conduct in foreign places each
days published accounts Of our domestic
affairs show us that right at our doors
there are terrible problems forcing them
selves upon us which we pass over. 1e
CARELESS of the unerring truth that thev
affect our future as people far more
intimately and momentousIy than those
relating to our interests abroad. or
these great questions there is not one
which presents a more menacing front
than the one of municipal life MANY
of the leading cities of the country are
at the present moment in their local ad-
ministration in the hold of the criminal
elements Of society. Crime, open and
concealed, stalks through their highways
and byways, and there is at best but the
most superficial efforts made to find the
remedy.
For a long time past the world has
been assured that the highwayman and
thug has been prosecuting his calling
at will upon the Iaw-abiding people of
Chicago. Every day that a citizen Of
st. Paul picks up his paper he needs only
to look at the Minneapolis news depart
ment to see a record of some brutal and
bloody outrage perperated upon the
rights of the individual Since the elec-
ton, whatever may be the immediate
operating cause, crimes of violence have
been unceasing in that city, and the po-
lice seem helpless to prevent their per-
petration or punish their perpetrators
The city of New York presents at this
moment a really wonderful picture in
this connection. The mayor of that city
has been under charges of official mis-
conduct for months. One of the
leading prelates of the city has
given expression to most touch
ing protest against the preva-
lence of all forms of crime and i'm
morality. The existence of the conditions
which he points out are virtually adj
mitted on all sides, and a crusade is in
progress, just as the same spirit has pre-
vailed at intervals for near fifty years, 10
put crime under foot. At the same time,
while holding the adherents of one po-
litical party responsible for the exist
ing conditions, the leaders of the other
present as their only remedy the Que
of taking the control of the police away
from the people of the city and vesting
it in a state body, the object being. con-
cededly, not the publication of the city.
but the control of the official patronage
that is involved in the administration
of the police. Another of our great
cities, Philadelphia, seems to be beyond
all moral aid, and to be permanently in
the grasp of its dangerous classes both
in office and out. It is but a brief while
ago since this very city of our own was
the scene of criminal activity and police
corruption and incompetency. which, fol
the time, .paralyzed the energies of our
people.
We have not yet got beyond