The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-11

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 Every one of them is a native. few foreigners are employed in the detective department but the consta- ble. the man that the public comes in contact with. is a thoroughbred Briton, sometimes born on the very beat ne treads. Most of them are honor men and wear medals for distinguished gallantry and good conduct in wars They are as far removed from politics and political Influence as they can possibly be- Their appointments are made primarily to reward them for good service in the army and they are retained and promoted because of their efFiciency, and for no other reason. They are subject to severe training and severe examinations and are con stantiy reminded of the dignity and importance of their office.
 One cannot appreciate the personal ity of a London policeman until he is seen In a crowd or a mob. when his forefinger is as potent as the scepter of a king The boat race between Cambridge and Harvard afforded 8 splendid test. There were more than million people--some of the papers estimated the number at 100000 pushing and struggling to get places on the banks of the Thames to see the boats go by. and every street leading to the river was packed with mass of human beings. London po- licemen always stand in the middle of the street They never step on the sidewalk unless required to do so, and at intervals of a few hundred feet in i, the center of every street that leads to the river stood the majesty of the law in his modest helmet and belted Jacket. Whenever 8 nervous or excft- ed citizen would try to push through or would annoy his neighbor; when ever there was a disturbance in the restless crowd, the policeman would raise his arm and finger in the air, and 1t was all that was necessary. The forefinger of London patrolman has more influence over an excited mob than an army with banners.
 He never speaks above an ordinary tone of voice; he never shouts; he never threatens His composure is his strongest point, and he preserves 1t under all circumstances. His calm. indifferent, impersonal order to Pass along please" or Move on, please" or "Be quiet. there, please" seldom falls to oyerawe an unrulv crowd, and when some drunken or boisterous ruffian replies in an impertinent manner the officer glances at him cooly, but never says 6 word.
 The London police never use their clubs except in the greatest emergen- cies. and their patience seems to be in- exhaustible.
 When an accident occurs they whis- tie to their next neighbor, who pro- duces a stretcher or canvas on two poles, and the wounded or fainting person is carried to the nearest drug store or doctors office. There are no emergency ambulances in London. Elongated baby carriages are used in- stead, with black hoods over them, so that the patient can be concealed. These are pushed along the street to the nearest hospital or police station by single patrolmen in a very quiet manner. without any changing bells or excitement
 There are 16.s4e policemen in Lon- don, of whom thirty are superinten- dents of the divisions into which the city is divided; 539 are inspectors, D. I4s are sergeants' and 14,129 are pa- trolmen; 300 are mounted for duty in the parks and sparsely settled out skirts of the metropolitan police dis trict; 150 are on the river. in tugs and launches. It cost $7,251,os0 to support the police of London last year.
 The city of London, that is, the orig inal city, an area of about one square mile, which used to be surrounded by wall and is still distinct and sep | arate corporation, has its own police force, consisting of LOOP men and for l ty-eight officers, which cost $650.000 last year.
 Of the city force proper twelve men were court martialed in 1905, mostly missed from the service. The remain der were required to pay light penal 1 ties in the way of fines and suspen- sions. There were 17.126 arrests In the city proper in 1905, and there was not one case of resisting an officer, so great is the respect of the people of the law.
 The ancient custom before William the Conqueror gave charter to the City of London was to require the off, fciaIs of the municipality-the sheriff, i the constables, the bailiffs, the alder men and the members of the clerical force, including everybody who drew ! salary from the taxpayers-to, serve in rotation as watchmen and guards at night. Next citizen householders were required to perform that duty | in rotation, every adult taxpayer talk ing his turn with lantern and pike for three or four hours during the night several times a year. Next householders who were too old or too lazy or too timid to perforh this duty were allowed to hire substitutes. and in that way professional watchmen came into service. The next step was to organize these professional watch
 men by wards and then by parishes, and outside the city proper they were governed and controlled by the ves-
 trymen of the churches. Tn 1707 Vim cent George Bowling, editor of Bells l Life" perhaps the most famous of all sporting papers, devised a plan for ] the consolidation of all the parish po-