Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-12-04

upon the side walk drunk. Some
body had violated the law, when
that man was furnished the means
whereby he might become intox-
icated. A few days ago noticed
in the columns OF q newspaper,
that on Sunday q number of per-
sons engaged in drunken row on
one Of the streets in this city.
Somebody was then and there vi
olating the lSw, or that would not
have occurred. And the conrt
wants to say to you as grand ju-
rors that the saloon business in
the Territory is legitimate one;
that is, it is licensed and does
business under authority of the
laws of this Territory, but it must
be conducted in compliance with
the laws of this Territory in order
to be legitimate. And when a
violation occurs in reference to it,
then and there the right of the in
dividual to conduct it ceases, pro-
vided the officers of the law do
their duty and the person 80 vi
olating the statutes is brought
before the court of justice to an
swer for his crime. The statutes
of this Territory, in authorizing
the conduct of the liquor business
have provided that those who car
ry it on shall be men of good
character and without the proper
showing as to character no man
can obtain a license. 1t never
was intended that men who have
such disregard for the law as that
when they get their license they
conduct the business in violation
of the law, should have the priv
ilege under the law of conduct
ing that business, and the court
charges you as grand jurors to
investigate these violations of
that law. tits not only a disgrace
to community, but it fosters a
contempt for the law, as l spoke
of a few minutes ago, when a
community will sit by and wink
at violations of the law to the ex-
tent that the traffic, which has
been so carefully guarded by the
laws of the United States and the
Territory, shall be openly con-
Quoted in violation of the law, as
in the cases have called to your
attention.
The court charges you further
that officers of the Territory, the
county, the township, or the city
whose duty it is to guard the
rights Of the public against vio-
lations of this kind, butwho stand
by and see the violations carried
on and take no steps to prevent
it, that such officers have violated
their oaths of office, and from that
time forward they have no right
whatever to hold their positions,
and I charge you here as grand
jurors, whenever and wherever it
may be possible for you to find
that officials of this city, town
ship or county have violated their
oaths of offices in this respect,
that you bring information of
that fact before this court.
Contempt for the law, and the
glorification of evil, which is the
result of the contempt for the law
will not be tolerated in this Dis
trict if it is possible for the court
to prevent it, and more than that,
it cannot be and will not be tolo-
rated of officials, who take the
oath of office and enter upon the
discharge of their public duties
as officials, ignore their oaths of
office and allow crime in their
presence go unwhipped of justice.
l have tried to impress upon you
that homes cannot be built and
society cannot be protected where
crime is permitted to stalk
through the land unhindered by
the officers of the law. l have
tried to impress upon your minds
that an oath of official position