The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-30
WORSE AND WORSE.

| entire so that it's fun import will be plain:
 missp,on Sp m form 1 of % %sovsrnment was sup. posed to have corrected all the evils ot municipal regulation, curious re- quest has been made upon the mayor. that city the Des Moines Federation Of womens' Clubs has asked for blan- ket permit which will allow every woman in that city to carry q revolver Mr. sn mean N sss ssas federation, said: Every woman in this city who has to be out alone after sa1k sHSSd %Ss .s ss sowsS s to to esFry ccost tFs woman after night if he he a stranger, should be treated to a dose of lead. As it is now, the law offers absolute Is so terrible that somsthing should be done immediately"
 In addition to the plea of Mrs. Nit chell a score or more of club. women addressed the mayor. setting forth the fearful condition of things in Des Moines. A vigilance committee. conn posed of the most prominent business organized . secret patrol in the effort to guard the safety of girls and women. Bloodhounds have been bought, ana these savage animals will be In charse a of the city. ready at moments notice to respond to call.
 It Is something new for Des Moines to be overrun with thugs. Ordinarily the life and persons of its residents | secure. But an era of crime has de- | veloped which already has terrible ssoSI. of to hs s STanee committee. have taken matters into their own hands. The much vaunted commission" plan is utterly incom- and the law seems powerless to afford protection to citizens. Just where the weakness lies Is not clear, but that there is a serious and fatal weakness able spectacle of the representative women's organization of the city mak- | ing a formal petition to the mayor smsEing md,nsgs that s,0.a aIl the women of Dss ss protect. themselves against rufftanism and outrage.
 It will be noted that The Journal carefully avoids one feature of this discreditable condition of affairs in Des Moines. but that feature is really the most suggestive and significant of all. Readers of The Advertiser will call to mind that on May 20 we copied and commented on a statement sent out from Des Moines which announced that ex-Governor Johnson of that city was organizing a vigilance committee for the purpose of protecting white women against negroes. It was stated that the criminal class of negroes in the city and vicinity had become so bold in their acts of brutal lawless- ness and outrageous crimes that women hardly dared go out of their homes at night without ample protection, and as the officials were either impotent or indifferent 1t had become necessary or was considered so, for the law abiding white citizens to organize for the protection of their women.
 The Journal being a Republican newspaper with northern proclivities does not say or intimate that the dam gerous and discreditabe state of af- fairs referred to in it's editorial Is due to the colored brutes from whom no woman is safe without a protector but there is little room to doubt that such is the case. for it Is not likely that the first statement was untrue or that there has been any change in criminals. There are doubtless white thugs in Des Moines. as there are in other large cities. but it is plain that the women are seeking protection from the vicious colored element.
 Now, we are not sufficiently inform ed as to the merits or demerits of what is called "the commission form of government" to express an opinion about it, but if the really horrible con ditions reported from Des Moines are | the result of that form of government then the sooner something better is substituted the better 1t will be for the city, the people and the reputa' ton of American municipal manage ment. In the early days of the West when law was powerless and life un' safe the better class of citizens ire quently found 1t necessary to organize vigilance committees for tho protec- ton of life and property. As civiliza' tion advanced the spirit of law and order advanced with 1t and the law less. turbulent and dangerous charae' ters were driven out or externinated and law and order prevailed. The remedy was a drastic one but perhaps there was no other that could be ap' pied. But Des Moines is not a new city, nor Is 1t or the State of Iowa in the pioneer stage. It is one oi the large cities of the Union and should be we'll governed. but plainly it is not. In fact. if the reports are true 1t comes perilously near to being dis credit to the American people.
 We notice that some Of our contern- poraris are disposed to ridicule the re- quest of Des Moines women to be per
 nitted to carry revolvers. but we dc not look on their position as either ridiculous or improper in view of tho circumstances. A woman and a pistol do not usually make a safe combina- ton, and most good people will look on it as unfortunate, to say the least of 1t, that there should be any neces
 sity for women to go armed, but most