The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-13
NEW YORK TOPICS.
s AND UNDERGRADUATES OF
DRif THE METROPOLIS.

en.A Member OF the
saws It's simply Desire to
E,ir .GDivvy''-"New York
',, Re Dry as sarah's Desert TIL
coptains Come Down"-The
department Is Rotten to
lo--The Curious Dinner OF
u" amen COrner"-The situation
On wall street
w., YORK. April 11.-Look out for
,,aden motive when you see the
u' ..onolitan police force acting APP
p's ,ntlv in the interest of better NOR
THE present enforcement of the
40 law is highly satisfactory as a
eA'i'. fact II has shown that the
Gun .an he made dry" that if the
Gu" ~. fat goes forth and the saloon
pors understand that it means
49, ,ss omen side doors will be as
gus 20 find as hummingbirds' nests.
aa. sunday the city was tight closed.
-, the delicatessen shops had to
IN You couldn't buy the neces-
'.,ns Of life outside hotel or a drug
49,. In ten years there hasn't been
arid a Sunday. The common pa
,,onan did it.
xou why did he do it? 1t is hardly
no supposed that the patrolmen of
~. force have had a sudden access
US u morality. They have been regard
" rith Derfect equanimity for many
ms If Sundays the hospitalitable'
,.or of the saloon swinging wide with
Sordlv a pretense of concealment
Tsnre has been no religious revival in
Iaiics circles, so far as any one has
pp.ard Therefore, we must put aside
!sS FINER feelings" theory and look
-ssuhere for the solution. Some say
apscause the man on post was afraid
.Lot District Attorney jerome would
I,t after him if the saloons weren't
ssosed" But it isn't the patrolmen
tSgf Jerome would hunt; it is the
santsin. and the captains aren't in this
cosing game In fact, it is supposed
~ he a revolt against them. And that
What II is: but the underlying cause
n the revolt has not yet been touched
Unon in the exultant local press which
e hent upon clarifying the honest
man on the beat" at the expense of
'bis corrupt Supporters"
Now list to the case of the ''honest
MAN on the post" as outlined by him
soE-not necessarily for publication,
but as an evidence of bad faith:
This is a strike for a fair divvy.
That's all there is to it. Since the
Iquor Dealers Association got into
the game the patrolman hasn't had
fair shake. In the old system the
saloon man went to the sergeant and
saws he Sarge, what's the tax" And
tbe sarge says so much, and my
manIl be in to see you Saturday even
ings. That was all right. The man
on post got his little bit, and he passed
on the bunch to the sarge who got mis-
little bit, and the rest went to the cap
tain. and he generally needed it. The
roundsman kept in the game by maxi
ing little extra touch here and there.
The Liquor Dealers Association has
spoiled that game. They put up a GER
tain amount of money in each pre-
cinct That goes direct to the captain,
and maybe the sarge gets a look-in,
and the rest goes up higher where it'll
do the most good But where does the
lHdu vi BOSl COllAC III A1C eSCNo ms u
dArs not to touch any association joint.
So he has to make living out of the
little fellows that amt in the associa-
ton. That's how there are so many
raids on the non-association saloons.
Some of them got sore and closed up
and now there's nothing doing for the
natrOman. 1t got to a point where we
had to do something or live on our sal
aries
Now, do you see the point? A bunch |
Of US got together and put out feeler
towards Jerome to see if he'd back us.
Naturally we didn't tell him what the
reason was. He was supposed to think |
that we'd got religion or something and
wanted to be on the level once more.
Did he think so? Well / would not
want to play it that way. Jerome's
a pretty fly one himself. Anyway, we |
found he'd back us, and he's strong |
IN enforcing the laws. So we put it |
Up to the captains like this. so long
Is We don't get any of the stuff, the |
oints don't open: see?' Looks as If
Fe'd got EN-, don't it? They can't |
make a holler without giving their |
,wn graft away. Now the associa-
lon is sore and won't try to open up |
Ill we let 'em. They know their bust |
ess. Take my tip for it, New York |
vii be as dry as Sarah's desert until |
ne captains come down and give us |
len fair divvy on the saloon graft"
II isn't encouraging to public moral |
w. but this is the true state of the |
ase. The fault of dealing with police |
roblems lies in the silly sentimental |
y that insists on a belief in the hon |
sly of the rank and file of the force. |
roosevelt started it when he was po- |
&c commissioner and thereby origi- |
afAd a fraud on the public that has |
NICE been pompously perpetuated by |
lch men as Bishop Potter, Seth Low |
I'D others of that ilk. The newspa-
ers' too. have done much to deceive |
he public in this respect, reiterating,
d nauseam, the dwelling axiom that |
Inc man on post is honest in nine
asses out of ten"
AS all these persons and papers ad-
~ That the upper part of the depart
eht is rotten to the core it is difficult |
understand their theory of the low
ranks, since the upper are recruited |
YIN the lower. The plain fact is that |
: whole inner system of the police
.pdrtment is founded on blackmail
~ eXtortion. AS for the proportional |
lhesty of the men I should prefer to
ne the estimate of the policemen |
and those who have bus
ess dealings with the department,
ther than that of polite pleasant
eorled clergymen or mealy mouthed |
'luclans. 1 have talked with many
eI VINO know the department thor
'snly both from the inside and the
''9iue. The most charitable estimate
sol was from an outsider who
ougnt that one policeman out of four
~ honest. The average opinion
ine 10 about one out of ten. The
IIce themselves figure it this way: |
ne out of thousand and he'll bear
atchlng.' l knew some years a