The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-16
NEW YORK TOPICS.
DRIFTS AND UNDERCURRENTs OF
THE METROPOLIS.

Excise Legislation Like a Game OF
Chess-What District Attorney Je-
rome Will DO i'm the Premises still
an UnsoIved ProbIem-NixOn-"Li
tie LOoee" Is Getting on Pretty
Well, Thank YOu, as Tammany's
Lender-Notes From the street.
New York, March 14.-The excise sit
uat!on is like a chess game just be-
fore the coup. There is a highly COM
plicated situation: all the pieces are
involved. Then one bold move is made
and the situation suddenly clarifies
into victory or defeat. District At
torney Jerome is the man to whom all
are looking for the move that will
mean so much. Exactly what he will
do is a question admitting of a wide
range of hypothesis. His general pur-
pose he has frankly stated: to stop
police blackmail. Many men of many
grades of official power have tried to
do this. All have failed. But before
anyone makes up his mind that the
present attempt is foredoomed to fail
ure. he should take into account the
qualities of the man who is making
it. Mr.. Jerome has courage: he has
untiring energy: he is resolute in the
pursuit of a purpose, and, finally, he
has no illusions. He knows the meth
DDS of the police department, better
probably than any man outside of it.
IL he gets the backing that he de-
serves, blackmail will cease to be a
general and accepted police policy, as it
now is. That is the best that can be
hoped for. Individual cases will always
exist. but there ought to be and is a
method of stopping the present almost
universal system.
Excise is the simplest, safest, and
most satisfactory basis for blackmail.
The liquor dealer figures that by keep
ing closed on Sunday he will lose, let
us say, $50 in profits. For SIS he can
buy, from the police authorities, inn
munity from interference. Net profits
to the saloonkeeper, $35. Everybody
happy. Or, the liquor man may be
member of an association which makes
his payments for him, thereby reliev-
ing him of the trouble of dealing di
rect with the blackmailers. It's all the
same; the money comes out of his till
and goes into the pocket of the man
with brass buttons. That was an il
luminative point, brought out in a re-
cent trial for excise violation of
member of the Liquor Dealers Asso-
citation. He testified that the local as
sociations of the general body were
divided into precincts. This means, of
course, that each local pays it's
dues" direct to the precinct police.
In the trial it came out that the man
had advocated the stoppage of pay
ments to the police Within three
weeks his place was raided for keep
ing open on Sunday. 1t was the first
time he ever had any trouble with the
police. Other saloons in the immediate
vicinity were open on Sunday. They
were not molested. This combination
of circumstances may have been a CO.
Incidence. 1t probably wasn't.
What District Attorney Jerome con-
siders the most important decision
handed down in many years. in its eff
feet upon police corruption, has re-
Gently been handed down by the Court
of Appeals, in the case of Police Cap
tain Herlihy indicted for failure to
suppress disorderly houses in his pre-
cinct. The Court of Appeals overrules
a demurrer to the indictment, and de-
cides that Herlihy must stand trial
In effect the decision means that the
general fact of disorderly or illegal
resorts being permitted to exist, is
sufficient basis for indicting the police
authorities who are responsible for
the district in which the resorts are
situated. Sage the district attorney:
THE decision delivers into my hands
every police captain in town who is
letting his precinct run wide open. 1t
is along the line of common sense, and
because of it a picture of the true con-
dition of precinct, and inspection dis
trict or of the city can be put before
jury. Unless the text of the Court
of Appeals decision contains some
thing restricting the application of the
Cans style of Indictment not only can
captains be held responsible for the
conditions of their precincts, but the
same is true as to inspectors of their
districts and the superintendent of
police of the whole city"
1t is an undisputed fact that this de-
cision has caused something like
panic among the higher officials of
the department. 1t threatens to knock
the foundations out from under the
long es tablished maxim that you can't
remove a police official for anything
less than murder, and probably not
for that.
Just as an illustration of how little
many ordinances amount to, take this
n