Omaha daily bee., 1906-10-15
CITY'S IMMORAL CONDITION
Causes for Crime and Disorder Discussed
from the Pulpit
MAYOR OAHLMAS SEVERELY CRITICIZED
Rev. Lucius q. baird Charges CIty's
Executive with TranscendinE HIS
authority IN PHrdoninE Pris-
oncrs AFTER Conviction.


Mayor Dahlman's wholesale pardon Of
% criminals who have been regularly con-
victed in the courts was vigorously con-
demned By Rev. Lucius O. Baird in his
sermon on "Omahas Humiliations' deliv-
cred at St. Marys Avenue Congregational
church yesterday morning. Rev. MT
Baird declared the acts Of the chief ex-
ecutive constituted an usurpation OF the
functions Of the judiciary, were 'lawless"
and contributed 10 the humiliation Of the
city. He referred in the sermon to the re-
cent murders and holdups. lie took a. his
text a portion of the fourth chapter OF
Genesis: "If thou doest well, shalt thou
not ne accepted. and if thou doest not well.
sin liest at thy door. And unto thee shall
he his desire and thou shall rule over him.
In part he said:
,rheso words were spoken to Cain, but
perhaps they could be spoken to US as
well for we have been raising Cain long
enough. We are flooded with books in
dc luxe editions which appeal to the baser
passions. our stage IS given over largely
to plays with double meaning and we
have stories in which coniugal inhdelity
is the basis The spirit Of Cain is indicated
in the lynchings of the south. in the stock
market johbery in the east and In the
murders and holdups in our own city.
"rhe Cain that is in us is the anarchy
that is in our hearts and abroad in the
country. The most alarming thing is our
tioughtlessness as TO those around us. The
time has come when the Abel i'm us must
Cooperate with the authorities and in APP
peals to a higher power to bring back
conditions OF safety.
Easy to CriticIsc OmcIaIs.
ut is easy to lay the blame on this or
that officer. 1t is easy to sit in our studies
and rail at this or that weakness. Public
officers get more knocks and less apprecia-
ton than any other class of people. Let
us appreciate the 3difficuities that beset
chief Donahuc I'm trying to police the city
with ffty-four officers and five of these on
sick leave. When I arrived In the city L
was old that certain classes of criminals
were allowed to remain in the city on con-
dition that they would not prey on our own
citizens could not believe it. But 1t was
noticeable that the criminals who were
here during the carnival did not operate
I'M the residence districts, but remained
down town with the crowd. l just read in
a newspaper that there is definite policy
to allow criminals TO remain here on condi-
ton that they behave themselves here,
the theory being that they commit their
crimes elsewhere. If this be true, there
ought to be change. II is the system that
ought to be probed
Il am Inundated at the lawlessness Of
the chief executive OF our city. who has
taken to himself legislative and judicial
functions. He has no right to reverse
the decision of the court and pardon 100
criminals who have been convicted in court.
Have these men who have been pardoned
reformed How can the policeman keep
his respect when the man he arrests for
cause today, tomorrow can laugh at him
and poke a pardon under his nose? 1t is
the business of the prosecuting attorneys to
enforce the law In case they will not do
" the citizens must help.
Proposes to Clean the city.
"We are educating criminals. OF course.
foul murders are committed elsewhere, but