The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1906-02-14


ing at it seriously and willing to incur
the enmities such an investigation
would bring about can usually lay bare
venality OF that kind fit exists. But
there are other laws plainly made to
please the moral element, and then not
enforced to please the immoral element.
The difference between wide open"
town and CLOSED" town is that in the |
former the laws are not enforced, while |
in the latter the laws are observed. The |
gambling laws in many places are per /
mitted to be disre garded and the laws
regulating dramshops nullified. 1t has
been claimed that these laws could not
be enforced in large cities. but they are
enforced and faithfully observed in the
large cities of Missouri. In fact, Mis-
souri, is the most law-abiding State of
the Union and, in yielding obedience
to law, has set an example for other
States to follow.
There is in practically all the States
a statute requiring dranshops to close
on Sunday and election days. Yet in
some States it is openly and flagrantly
violated. When one enforces this law
because it is the law, the same cry is
made about blue laws" and dead
laws" 1t is a law in the interest of
good government to stop the enormous
amount OF crime that comes out OF the
drsmshop on Sunday and election days.
Those interested in having the law vio-
lated set up the specious plea that it is
an interference with personal liberty
1t is no more an interference with lib
erty than the law agai..st gambling or
other laws in the nature of police regu-
lations which restrict the rights Of one
man when they interfere with the
rights of another. Absolute liberty to
do as one pleases would mean barbar-
ism, for there would be no limit to the
conduct of an individual except his
whims. The liberty of one world be
the unrestricted liberty OF every other,
and perpetual warfare would result as
the wants and desires of men come In
conflict, and every man would have
equal right to lake or ho.d what his
strength or cunning could secure to
him. Security can only come from
fixed rules, which the people as they
become familiar with them will habit
ually respect. Restrictions which
seem to the individual to be hsrdshIps
are but the will of the majority of the
people operating through legislative
acts. Where rights are defined and
regulated by laws to which resi- ect and
obedience are given, any particular law
is deprived of all seeming hardship If
each man were allowed to say what
laws are good and what laws are bad
and to ignore laws he considered bad,
there wOulo be no laws at all. The
dramshop keeper who violates the
dramshop law calls loudly for the en-
forcement of the law against She man
who breaks the larceny statute by rob
bling his cash drawer The trust mag
nate looks with adherence upon the
burglar, yet thinks he has a right to
break the statute against combinations
and monOpolies The burglar detests
the law breaking of the trusts and
thinks they should observe the law, but
considers the law against hOuspbredk
ing as an interference with his per
sonal liberty. SO it goes; men observe
the laws they like and think they have
a right to ignore those they do not like
The only safe rule is that If law is on
the statute books, it must he observed.
If law is Objectionable, it should be
repealed, not ignored. We need reform
IN the administration of the law more
than anything else, though. perhaps,
the old Athenian law might be found
beneficial, which subjected to fine and
Imprisonment the person who proposed
a law that turned out to he bad or in
furious to the public interests We dc
not need new laws so much as the en-.
tOrcement of the laws We have. There
has been too much tamperiuy with the
laws in an effort to correct wrongs thai
do not arise from the infirluity of the
laws, but rather from the fe,-0leness OF
their execution. An imperfect law well
administered is tar preferable to a per-
feet law badly carried ont. The law i,
merely weapon in the hi nds OF Off
ciais, for, without officials, laws would
be as useless as -csanon in Maf, without
I m5lc Good government de pen6s more
upon the men behind the law than OF
the law itself. N official l. Is the righ
to violate the oath that he t4kes to en-
force the laws simply bee use some
people do not want the law enforced
He can not excuse nOn-enfu cement or
the ground that public ? ntiment i,
against the law. He does t swear t.
support public sentiment; h does take
an oath to support the v. Public
sentiment is a difficult thi = to get at
Law-abiding people are net, while
the lawless are so vocifero as to de
ceive some as to their NJ lber. The
only correct way to dete nine public
sentiment is by the EXPIRE sion of the
peoples will through the iaw-making
body. If an offici"l can rot obey the
mandate of the law, he t,ould resign