River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-07-11
NOT A VICIOUS CITY.
Washington Compares Favorably
with Other American Towns.
sunday-ClosinS Laws Are Observed
by All Classes of Society-A Hint
for Citizens Who Love to
Sign Petitions.
Especial Washington letter.

l. 10 the uuaANluSN oplHlol "a "a
perienced army officers that the
canteen should never have been
taken away from army posts. Their
opinion was not listened to before the
law was passed aboishing the can
teen; and now their views are even
more pronounced, because of existing
conditions in the army.
An officer on the staff of the adjutant
general recently said: Gen. Corbin
would never dream of telling any
school-teacher how to manage public
school He would never think of tell
ing a preacher how to manage his
church, or how to preach. He would
never offer to instruct superior or
ganist how 10 drill choir He would
not be so absurd as to offer to act as
surgeon in place of the surgeon gem
eral. But he knows how to manage
the army, because that has been his
life business But the good preachers
and well-meaning temperance work
ers, who know absolutely nothing
about army life and its environments,
boldly undertook to abolish the army
canteen, and they succeeded"
1t is singular and gratifying to no.
tice what interest the people of the
country take, not only in the army,
but in the citizens of their national
capital. The petitions which they have
sent here to be used before congress
for the total prohibition of the sale of
liquor in the District of Columbia
would probably measure cord, or
cord and half, if stacked up appro-
priately.
There is one fact about Washington
that should be oted-there is no 9TH
err city in the country which is so wide
~, so thoroughly advertised and COM
mented upon. Here are 200 newspaper
correspondents watching everything,
commenting upon everything; and
Washington is more closely watched in
newspaper way than any other city
of the country. There is no city in
which the laws are more strictly OBJ
served; and the police court reports
will bear out the statement that there
is no better regulated city than this.
On account of the general publicity
given to every little occurrence out of
the ordinary line, and the eXaggera-
tion of events through partisan corre-
spondents, an idea obtains in some
quarters that this is a very bad city,
and that there is great deal of wrong
doing. At the same time it is true
that our local government is as good
as that of any other city, and in no
other city are the laws better enforced
or better observed. The only people
who break the laws are people who are
sent here by constituencies in districts
remote from the capital of the ma
tion.
Recently a long petition came in from
citizens of Cincinnati praying for total
prohibition in the District of Column
bia. This petition came from town
in which Sunday is celebrated as holt
day, with all the theaters open, mat
inee performance given in the after
noon, evening performances. baseball
games, and so on. This seems to come
with poor grace to city in which
Sunday is observed more religiously
than it is anywhere else. Sunday here
is a day of absolute quiet and rest. Not
a public resort of any description is
open to the people on a Sunday, ex-
ceut the churches and the hotels.
Another peculiar phase of the in
terest felt by the nation at large in
the welfare of the District of Column
bia is shown in the piles of petitions
that come in from various parts of the
country, especially New York and New
Jersey, praying for the enactment of
some laws ''to protect young women
in the District of Columbia" Now, if