New-York tribune., 1902-01-20
ATTACKS LOW ON EXCISE.
SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION OF CRIME
DEMANDS THAT THE LAW BE
VIGOROUSLY ENFORCED.

The following letter, adoptea at a meeting Of
the executive committee of the Society for the
Prevention of Crime Friday. has been sent to
Mayor Low:
While the Society for the Prevention of Crime
counts itself distinctly an ally of the present
municipal administration, there are certain
principles of action TO which we have uniformly
adhered, and which deem il incumbent upon
ourselves TO pursue and to urge even at the
RISK OF excepting to the policy of those whom
port.
In all our past activity as a society we have
proceeded upon the distinct understanding that
law exists for the purpose of being obeyed-
This has afforded simple and solid basis OF ac-
tion whether in dealing with individual crim-
lnalS or with criminals organized into
poration or into a municipal administration
And those In executive position who instead OF
enforcing the laws as they stand have adapted
lhen 10 the convenience the perQuisites OF
administration. shaped them into accord
with personal opinion, we have heretofore been
accustomed TO regard being in a larger and
more danSerous way criminal than those who
have made light of law privately and unofff-
clally. Such. then. is the ground upon which, as
chartered society. we have hitherto stood.
with no question to the security of that
ground or it's suficiency
The above statement foreshadovys the sftr1a-
tion of embarrassment in which we now find
ourselves The foundations of our action are
shaken by the very administration in whose be-
half we would like to make all our action tell
The first two weeks of the present regime have
practically put the mayoralty in revolt against
the legislature, have obscUred the entire situa-
tion so far as relates to large and elaborated
class of statutes-statutes. by the way. to which
the legislature is so committed to seem reso-
lutely opposed to their mOdfcation-have made
IL entirely indefinite as to what civic righteous
ness In this city is and what it is not. and to
that extent have operated to put the reform ad-
min1stration in the same criminal attitude
toward the law as was that occupied by the ad-
mintstratiOn of 1S92-'94 and that of 1S91-19O1.
OF course, We are not looking for municipal
administration that is absolutely ideal but we
as society are chartered by the State to labor
n NrTr and
quite certain any longer what is crime; the at
mosphere in which we live. in which the citizen
acts and in which the policeman does or
neglects his duty is clouded by the ambiguity
emanating from administrative incertitude
Now this is situation that is morally In
toleraDle. We are not arguing that the law as
1t now stands is the best possible, but it is law
so long as 1t does stand. and you will not vent
ure TO say. with the law before you and the
responsibility of your official oath upon you
that You have more constitutional authority
than any private citizen TO treat law as any
thing other than law To n ts cIoir1a5 49, -
forcing the law will carry the city back under
the control that it has been recently rescued
from, IL is not very high commanding or
der of logic to argue against the Mayor respect
ing reform oath the ground that II will
give Opportunity for the return 10 power Of off,
cials who will not respect their Tammany oath
There is not very much TO choose between a
Tammany administration that has bad prin-
cfples and a reform administration that has
good principles but is afraid them
All of this we state with distinct apprecia-
ton of the awkwardness of the situation in
which your administration is at present placed
with the sworn obligation upon you OF doing
Your best to enforce a law that is quite likely
unenforceable. with political influences operating
that refuse to come 10 your relief. and with up
country inappreciaton trailing along in the foot
tracks of partisan politics. With all the embar-
easements, however. with which your position is
complicated and with an appreciation of the
situation gained by rather protracted intimacy
with II, we are emphatic in our insistence that
you brace your administration into accord with
your oath. that you summon the exceptional re-
sources that are at your command to the work
or frankly and reSOlutely SuDDreSSing
clandestine violation of recognized statutes and
thus either dignity law by the success with
which you enforce it or by the demonstrated i'm
possibility Of enforcing it convict the legislature
of its moral obligation to come to your relief.
G. III. PARKHURST. President
T. D. KENNESON, Secretary.
Rooms of the Society for the Prevention OF
1902.
Although Frank Moss. as counsel for the So
ciety. occupies more less of an official position
with the organization. and was one of the most
prominent in the society's fight against Tam
many, he said last evening regarding the letter
sent to Mayor Low that he had not seen it. He
had heard about IT indirectly but had not been
present at the meeting of the society when the
letter was drafted and settled upon.
Portions of the letter were read to Mr. Moss
and particularly that part where it is said that
there is little to choose between an administra-
tion with bad principles and one with good prin-
ciples, but afraid to use them.
Mr.. Mess smiled. and broke in, saying:
IT guess 1 get the drift of the communication
all right"
Mr.. Moss was asked for a statement on thas
letter.
I'D prefer not to discuss II at ALL" said he
IT not at the meeting when the communica-
tion drafted, and when IT decided to
send 1t TO the Mayor I knew nothing OF It's
contents until just now, and not in a posi-
tion TO say anything. OF course. will not
criticise any actions of the society. so I can't
talk about it,"
Mr.. Moss wouldn't say whether OF not the
society was in the habit OF holding meetings Of
the executive committee without his being
present as counsel.
Mayor Low. when at his home at No. 30
East Sixty-fourth-st-, declined absolutely to
make any statement in regard to the letter.
saying that any comment he might have to
make on the letter would be given out to-day.