Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-19
TIE DAVENPORT SIDE.

lions recently passed by the Catholic
clergy OF Davenport as expressive of
the views of the great majority of the
people Of Davenport irrespective OF
class. vocation or religious affiliation,'
and deplores the highly incorporate,
| injudicious and slanderous reports cur
rent In the press Of the state which
have spread the impression that DAY.
export Is lawless and prone ia
| interfere with justice. 1t declares that
the recent exhibition Of resentment
in Davenport, made so much Of thru
out the state, was not protest against
the enforcement of the mulct law. or
an attempted enforcement of it, by
proper officers whose duty 1t is to
enforce law, but was protest
against the methods adopted in this
city"
The Messenger finds fault with the
muict law, not as wrong in principle
or too severe in Its provisions, but
complains that it offers q reward as
well as an opportunity, for blackmail-
ing methods and for graft; that 1t Of
fers bounty to the universally de-
tested private informer and his agents
and attorneys"
The Messenger states plainly that
trouble came into the Davenport situa-
ton not because the people OF that
city favor violation of law, but because
Of the motive and object OF the prose-
cutton It says:
1t will be remembered that preced-
ing the fight OF Captain Neal from the
city no attempt was made to enforce
the provisions Of the mulct law. Out Of
a dozen conditions found in the code
for the conduct Of mulct saloons, not
one in It's entirely was included in the
so-called decree entered by the court
against the saloons on petition Of Cap,
tain Neal. The protest OF our people
was not against the enforcement OF
the law, but against the subterfuges
under which six or seven thousand
dollars was taken out. Of the city by,
one who was looking for an excuse to
leave the city as soon as he could get
his booty out safely. - This talk
of sending the militia to Davenport is
sheer nonsense. What would they do,
did they come? Nowhere in the state
would they find as peaceable a COM.
munity, no place in which even Cap
tain Neal under similar conditions
would be safer, than in Davenport. He
had ample police protection and in the
whole contention as we know it, there
was but one attempt at personal vio-s
lence and that irresponsible
The Messengers statement has much
confederation. When he saw the gov
errfbr and the attorney general Cap
tain Neal was thru with Davenport.
When asked what he wanted done and
what protection he needed the captain
wanted nothing and had no intention
to go back to Davenport. He was thru
and going away. However, he was con-
sidered a good enough Morgan TO
serve the political purposes of men to
whom any opportunity to throw mud
at the governor is looked upon as
Godsend.
The Messengers story is one not I'M
common in Iowa. Saloons have been
grated and held up in other Iowa cit
les, and will be again However, it is
not primarily the fault of. the law but
Of the men who disobey and defy it
that makes this graft sure and profit
able. Blackmailing operations are not
confined to saloon operators, but ar
feet all who have crime or shame to
conceal. It is also true that saloons
and individuals which have been flag
rant and open laWbreakers are the
first to cry "blacknail." There Is no
excuse nor should be leniency for the
blackmailer or for the saloon that de-
fles the law. 1t may as well be under
stood first as last that Iowa law must
be supreme over the plans and the
necessities and desires of local sports"
and their followers. Davenport has ac-
quired a bad name, not SO much thru
the magnified reports Of her trouble
but thru the negligence of decent cit
liens to assume control Of city govern
ment. It has been a mecca for prize
fighters, gamblers and the classes that
consort in wide open towns.
The Messenger says: "Those who
are acquainted with conditions, and
public opinion and private sentiment in
Davenport, know that, If upon proper
Information the county attorney had
proceeded to enforce the law as it
stands on the books there would have
bene no ebullition of temper, no de-
nunciations and no public exhibitions
of animosity sufficient to have at
tracted even local attention" Perhaps
so. But Davenport has little call to
complain of news reports that put the
city in the light of lawlessness until
responsibility rouses itself sufficiently
to see that the county attorney pro-
ceeds to enforce the law at least to
some degree.