Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-17

disorder was a thing which M. Lepine
would not stand. So after one or two
stringent reforms the government re-
called him to his old position as the un-
crowned king of the Parisians, and he
has reigned at the police prefecture
ever since.
His first few months there when he
succeeded M Loze in 1893, were any
thing but pleasant. M. Loze had been
an unpopular prefect and had incurred
a. great deal of unfriendly derision by
his wholesale destruction of lost dogs.
M. Lepine went, as his way is, straight
to the root of the evil. He did not send
policemen out as M. Loze had done to
catch stray dogs wherever they could
De round, nor did he give rewards to
shady characters who brought dogs,
stray or stolen, into the pound.
Every person seen with a dog which
mad no name and address on his collar.
or which was collarless, was fined, and
every dog found straying was taken
pack to his owner, who had to paw a
nne for allowing him to stray. And
now dogs stray a good deal less in
world.
M. Lepine is an Unsuitable worker.
He is invariably up at a. M, and even
before that If there be any need for
him. 1t is mystery when he finds
Time Tor sleep, for his appetite for
NAAC hCldio VI the WOTk OF mis- 0lffiCIIf
charge is terrific, and he rarely, if ever.
goes early to bed.
The bad characters are most wake
tut at hours when we respectable citi
zens ought to be asleep is one of his
favorite sayings. Therefore, we who
nave to make sleep possible for re-
spectacle citizens may never sleep with
more than one eye at time" and he
certainly acts up to his axiom.
M Lepine's principal hobbies are
traffic and the fire brigade. The Paris
fire brigade has been brought to a high
pitch OF perfection. and if the Paris
traffic be less of lesson to the police
OF other cities. that Is the fault not of
organization, but of the French char
acter An English coachman, when he
sees the policeman's white-gloved hand
held up, stops without question. A
Frenchman. whether he be driving a
carriage, motor car, cab or donkey
cart, tries to drive the policeman down
first, and draws him into a heated
argument Immediately afterwards.
And half the street accidents in Paris
are due to this peculiarity
Some Side Issues
For so busy a man, M. Lepine has
found great deal of time to spend on
side issues of police organization. His
corps OF bicycle police was much
laughed at in Paris when he first or
ganized 1t, but IT has since become one
of the best safeguards of the Paris
suburbs at night. and since It has been
brought to perfection the "Apaches
exploits In the suburbs have diminished
at least 80 per cent.
M. Lepine had to contend with strong
opposition from the bourgeois Them
selves when he first organized the BIZ
cycle police, and 1t was not until he
showed that police with bells and lamps
on their bicycles were useless at night
that he carried his point and ena bled
his men to slip up queitly and quickly
into the middle of rnob Of "Apaches."
The river police. too, have signalized
their existence by many useful acts of
daring, and the police river dogs. which
created such a shout of laughter when
they first received official recognition,
have quite justified their free keep from
the city's Golfers now.
Altogether M. Lepine has proved HIM
self to be the right man In the right
place His claim. I'M all circumstances
and the rapidity with which he follows
up quick thought with quicker action
have. as well as his unfailing clear
and Just Judgment. epdeared him to the
Parislans, and Paris without Papa Lee
pine" as the Parisians call him, would
cease almost TO be the Paris which we
know.--London Express.