The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-06-07

| Wy 4OA Cl6llGlS DIS OilS VI lllo 4lu6SL anu
most imposing institutions of the
British empires metropolis. But what
is it that has given our constables their
celebrity? The picture that rises in the
average mans mind, if he is asked for
an explanation of the universal re-
spect and appreciation accorded the
London policeman, is Henley's aptly
indicated scene in which one describes
the rather sobnlre, burly figure of the
police officer, mud-splashed but imper-
turbable, in the noisy centre of a maze
Of traffic;
with uplifted hand
Conducting the orchestral Strand.
Yes, it is largely upon his magnifi-
cent and never-questioned control of
cabs and onnibuses, and also, of
course upon his grave judicial court
esy to Hurried questioners, that the
fame of the London policeman Is
founded. If the London constable has
earned a just fran upon the strength
of his courtesy to pedestrians and his
| fine control of street traffic, how much
more credit would be if the public did
| b1L lEctllHC .lllclL llltaS LNU Vial dCtEl-
istics of the force are no more than
single facets of a many-sided USEFUL
ness, of an efficiency and thorough
ness in vital matters, in view of which
/ such dWetails pale into complete in
! Significance
The police control at London's enor-
nous street traffic is fine and
thnrAi1erl, 1N,,+ b1 ~
these forces in the world of London
which make for anarchy and dissolu-
ton is not less than marvellous; the
police guardianship of London's colos-
sal wealth; its maintenance of Lon
don's peace-thesa things, if you like,
are worthy of the worlds admiration
and esteem. And these are matters
with regard to the aetualities of which
the average man knows nothing, The
ordinary citizen admits the general
upshot of it all-not any too gratefully
when he is a ratepayer-but appreciate
the true wonder Of it he cannot, be-
cause the process and the forces it con
tends with are almost entirely beyond
his ken.
Consider for moment little simple
comparison. The continent Of Australia,
with its half-dozen States, governors,
legislatures, railway systems, and the
like, has an area Of about three million
square miles. The metropolitan area
is well under seven hundred square
miles Australias population is some
what under four millions, and that of
the metropolitan district nearly seven
millions In other words, Australia
carries about one person to the square
mile, and London carries about one
hundred thousand to the same space.
Thus it will be seen that there are a
good many people to be looked after in
London.
AS for the wealth of London, that is
not so easy of computation; it Is fabu-
lousy great-greater than the wealth
of many large countries, Its mere
rateable value for police purposes, and
without including it's golden heart-the
City-is about fifty millions sterling;
but that is no more than a drop in the
basin of London's prodigious wealth.
Its administrative expenses are far
greater than those. of the whole of
Denmark, We have fully one hundred
thousand criminals in this London of
ours, nd police force OF some sixteen
thousand men of all arnks stands be-
tween the hundred thousand predatory
creatures and the six and half mill
lion of unarmed working bees and
gaudy drones, the nisers, spend
thrifts, idlers, women, children, inva-
lids, crossing miUionaires,
and the rest of the large preoccupied
army of makers dispensers, and ac-
cumulators of UNREASONABLE wealth
dams of the peace in the metropolitan
area. Sick leave, ordiany leave, special
duty, and other matters account for a
couple of thousand, leaving about four
teen thousands for actual duty. These
are employed in eight-hour shifts, since
even the London policeman must
sleep and eat This the maximum num-
Der of our guardians on Gaty at any
given moment is about four thousand
seven hundred.
There are fully hundred thousand
Of the recognizably predatory humans
to engage the attention of the four and
a half thousand of metropolitan police.
There are, unfortunately, many hun
dreds Of the permanently idle and gen.
orally hungry, The relation between
hunger and natures first and most UNI
deniable law is terribly intimate.
The handful of men in blue whose
duty is our protection patrol the huge
and densely peopled jungle we call
London, unarmed and unfrald. The hun
bred thousand human animals of prey
prowl in and out beside the guardians,
like wolves about a sheepfold, out
numbering the shepherds by twenty
five to one The monstrous, pitiful
battlaion of the unemployed and UNI
employable stand about us in a circle
wan, dull, and motionless, yet forced al
ways to consciousness by the war wag-
ed within them between the narcotic of
despair and irritant of hunger.
That Is London. 1t is one Of the most
terrible, the most awe-inspiring, the
most splendid, and the most tragic
pictures that the wolrd has to show.
Literature and art have nothing to
compare with it for poignancy Of trag-
edy and romance, dignity and misery,
splendor and pitifulness. 1t is London
the most amazing mass Of contrasts
in all Christendom, the most wonder
full example in the world of the pow
ers and the weaknesses, and blessings,