Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-05
Their FAULT
BISHOP POTTER LAYS BLAME
FOR CORRUPT GOVERNMENT
ON THE PEOPLE.

ANCW VI n, Jan. o.~-IDiSllop IOttSA
spoke on THE Causes of Our Present
Municipal Degeneration, at a meeting
of the City club last night. The bishop
began his address by making a plea for
tolerance. He said that conditions as
they existed We're largely the result Of
the complexities of human nature. He
was not prepared to maintain, he said,
that the police as body were corrupt,
and said he believed that there We're
among them as many men who had as
piratiOns toward good and aims that
We're cOmmendable as among any other
body of men of the same size.
But they are creatures of a SYSTEM,
said the bishop. II did not come here to
say pleasant things, and the system
exists largely because of your indiffer-
ence and mine. The solution of the
problem lies in individual activity and
vigilance. i am sorry for one thing,
my friends, and that is that in spite
of the approval which my remarks
made in st. Pauls chapel seemed to
have met with at the time, they really
fell absolutely dead. What have any or
you done along the line of personal vigi-
lance in spite of your evident desire to
bring about changed conditions? You
will never get results until you get up
the proper spirit Of personal sacrifice
and vigilance.
Nothing better was ever done by Mr..
Roosevelt when he was police commits
sioner than the nightly tours he made
through the city watching the police
and seeing that they performed their
duty.
"A we'll known judge said to me sew
eral years ago that the men of the
police force are bound together by a
kind of loyalty that makes it incum-
bent on each one to see that his brother
gets out of trouble, no matter what
kind.
II tell you, my brothers, that it does
not make a copper's difference whom
you put in or whom you put out. No
one man can create force loyal to
duty unless behind that man or colr>
missioner there is a pressing force of
public opinion which makes him feel
that his position would be intolerable
unless he does what is right Organize
accordingly, as these are the things we
most need, and along these fines we will
gain the victory.
II suppose that it will be no surprise
to you to learn that before the letter
in regard to regard to Herlihy and
Cross, which / wrote, was sent to the
mayor I was approached by grea,
many persons, emissaries representing
all sorts of interests, to know what sac
rifice it would be necessary for them
to make to satiate my desire for re.
venge. ! desire to disclaim here any
| feeling of that kind, or, IN fact, an,
| feeling arising out of the personal dis
! courtesy shown to one of my clergy
| men. That was in itself a small matter
'The point lay in the spectacle of 6
| person going to the men for protection
| who We're supposed to be conservers OF
| the laws and the peace of the com
| munity and being deliberately insulted
| 1t was the spectacle of the police rang
| ing themselves on the side OF crime anl
| degradation against the decent element
| of the community that was intolerable
| Among those VINO came to me wa:
| a man who said that he represented Mr.
| Croker. He asked me if I would be sat
isfed to drop the matter if Captain
| Herlihy and Inspector Cross We're be
headed. l told him that this was no
| a question of men. These men did bu
the bidding of those above them, ant
those above them in their turn wer,
the creatures of those still higher.
Il told him that it was a system W,
| We're opposing, not man or men, 70
| he knew as well as you and | that TIL
| policeman does not hold his plac
| through devotion to duty or honesty
but wholly and solely by the favor o
those above him, who are responsible
| for the system.
Some time ago I stated-and Their
We're many criticisms on my statement
that money was the root of all evil
condition of society where gain eX
1n; rct af,,ro 1lHy off 700
the mechanism which runs a city sucl
| as this. There must be some highe
| aim.
"rhere must be some loftier motives
We must recognize that all who ar
worthy are striving for the right. Th
feeling must be fostered and matured
There must be personal sacrifice ans
| vigilance, and when you can achiev
| that there comes the awakening of
great enthusiasm. The rest will be al
| easy matter"