The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-14

memberof the force from the superin-
tendent down, and if he fails to secure
proper discipline and efficiency in the
department it is chiefly his own fault.
The object of the police force is
to protect our citizens against vice and
dignity of the state.
The first great duty Of the police
force is to detect and apprehend Grim
inals and to obtain evidence for their
conviction. Secondary to this is the
duty to .apprehend petty offenders, such
as DRINKS and Migrants, and to main
tain the peace in public places. But
when our city press fairly teens with
accounts of assaults, hold-ups and bur-
glaries, and when the record shows an
average of over one murder per month
ing the present administration, many of
our citizens are beginning to feel that
there must be something radically wrong
in the administration of our police af-
fairs and that possibly the energy and
attention Of the department. is so in
tently fixed upon the petty offenders
that the criminal classes are going scot
free and that Minneapolis is becoming
veritable magnet to attract the law
less element from all over the country.
Can this be the beginning of the 'city
beautiful which our mayor has so
proudly promised us9
My friends and neighbors, there is
an infinitely larger question at issue in
this city today than the Sunday closing
of saloons or even the suppressions of
gambling. To most minds the enforce
ment Of the law for the protection Of
our precious lives and our hard earned
substance is of more Importance than
the literal enforcement of. any more
police regulations. Human life and that
which sustains life is Of the first impor-
lance. It is the highest right known
to the law. . r %s Z: 81. s
AS to Sunday Closing.
CHOW in regard to the Sunday clos
ing Of the saloons The mayor g friends
seem to have accorded him great credit
for having made this order, but why
should they7 Did he do anything more
than his simple duty, and does not every
well-advised person know that he did
that under compulsionF If he acted
upon the doctrine that all laws must be
strictly enforced, why did he wait ten
months before making his Sunday clos
advocate strict law enforcement in one
breath and in the next inform us that
he has segregated tho houses of ill-fame
when he knows that it is felony to
keep such a place9
"Then what about the Sunday thea
ter, permitting the saloons to run after
II O'Clock at night, allowing the sale
Of beer and wine in houses Of ill-repute,
all of which is clearly contrary to the
laws
"Any law which has little or no pub
lie sentiment behind it is a dead let
ter. Any law regarding the wisdom or
necessity of which the community is
honestly divided, is only partly alive.
This is true of the law requiring the sa-
looms to be kept closed on Sunday.
Hence in times past we have at one
election voted for the 'wide-open' pol
icy and at the next for the conservative
middle course.',
Mr.. Haynes then took ND the Anti
Saloon league, characterizine it as an
organization of determined people who
were well financed and had the law and
the attorney general on their side. It's
representatives had asked him carly in
his administration to close the saloons
on Sunday to which he had replied
that the time did not seem ripe for such
radical move. After Mayor Jones
had taken his seat, the speaker said, he
In turn was inlportuned to close the
Sunday saloon, and his refusal at that
time was followed by crusades in which
vlolators of the Sunday law were hailed
into court and fined. The mayor had
d1sowned any connection with these
prosecutions. z..