Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-12-07
Absence of Chief of Police Cause
of Present Local Con.
ditions
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Let's Town Be Overrun With Bad
Elements and Then Jumps to
Extremes.

4
ent in Rock Island may be traced. To
be brief, the absence of a chief of pc
lice is the logical cause of it all. FOl
many years Rock Island has moved
along without serious disturbance OF
| evidence of fragrant violations o. law
In matters of crime and brawls Rock Is
land has kept close to the minimum, as
compared with the record of other cit
/ les, greater and smaller. and in reali
cation of this situation reference TO the
files of this paper will show the resent
ment that The Argus has always taken
TO charges designed for purely politi
cal effect that this city was at low
ebb, morally. That the contrary was
| true, that Rock Island was above the
average in moral tone. was due all
these years to the proper regulation
and control of the saloon traffic. Where
vices, such as the law absolutely pro-
hibits. crept in they were for the most
part checked, and eradicated. There
was no great public cry for reform be-
cause there was no occasion for it.
Put Lo. the Charge.
But in the past six months, taking ad-
vantage of the absence of a head of the
police department, capable, through
experience or intelligence to regulate
public affairs. vicious element, prey
ing and subsisting from the worst and
most depraved conditions of vice, has
come boldly from cover, gamesters and
confidence men of all types have in
vaded the city TO work hand in hand
with this element for the purpose of
controlling the town and fleeing the
whole community. The exposure of
the attempt to bunco j. w. Roche out
of comfortable sum of money. a crime
that was not prevented by the chief
of police, but by a deputy sheriff, was
but one evidence of this. There were
other similar undertakings that like
wise failed. 1t was the falling out of
certain individuals in this element,
the scramble over $1,000 in the posses
sion of the gambler victim of the dou-
bic cross, that led to the revelations
concerning Mayor McCaskrin's awk-
ward predicament as the imagined
head of police affairs, and prompted
the mayors reform crusade - for re-
yenge. Growing out of this develop
ment has come to the front as usual
the vicious and debauching element
always ready an deager to embroil in
bitter animoSity the extremes in any
popular movement Made ravenous
by having fed upon the flesh of public
virtue. it howls while the man who has
conducted his saloon orderly and with
in reasonable restrictions. must be
H. h. L. Il:
that should have been visited upon a
class that would in time have made
the town notorious. All all because of
a mayor who, having failed to con
duct things orderly has become rattle
headed in the glare of his own folly
and is running from one extreme TO
another
Had he exercised the judgment to
provide for the essential adjunct to
a successful administration; had he
listened to the demands of public sen
timent repeatedly voiced by The Argus
as conditions went from bad to worse,
he would not today have been in the
light that he is.
Wake Up, There. Moline.
The Argus yesterday referred to the
comments of newspapers throughout
the state on the McCaskrin episode
and their criticism of the boy mayor
for the foolish things he has said in
connection with his Sunday closing
movement. Most of them have sized
up the local situation correctly, but ii
remains for a Moline paper which
might be expected to be in touch with
affairs in Rock Island. to attempt to
put the shoe on the wrong foot The
paper referred to rises to criticize
Rock Island papers for taking the posi-
tion. as il alleges. of assuming that
McCSskrin must, to be consistent. go
to the length of stopping delivery wa
CONS and all other forms of business on
Sunday.
The Moline paper ought TO know
better. AT least it should seek wider
knowledge before attempting to com
ment and draw conclusions. Every
one in Rock Island and nearly every
body in the three cities knows that the
threat TO stop the milk wagons. etc.
on Sunday. was one of McCaskrins
own fool utterances. like that other one
about letting grass grow in the streets.
Put the discredit where it belongs.
Affects Our Neiehbors.
Characteristic of the two towns is
the action taken respectively in Moline
and Davenport as a result of the Sun
lay closing crusade of Mayor McCask- |
rim. In Moline the w c. T. L. has de |
cided to inaugurate a move TO cause |
he officials of that city TO take similar |
action and shut the saloons up tight |
Sunday and eliminate all forms OF |
gambling. The Moline ladies also pass
I'd a resolution of thanks. 10 be sent |
o States Attorney J. K. Scott, for the
aiding of gambling joints at East Mo
inc.
In Davenport. PretZel alley officials
held a special meeting. presided over
~ Alex Anderson. mayor of Pretzei
lIley and the tri-cities,' and adopted
, resolution extending deep sympathy