Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-06-14
. ENFORCE LAWS
SAYS WOOLWINE
CITY PROSECUTOR CHARGES
POLICE ARE NOT FREE
BEGIN REFORM AT TOP, NOT AT
BOTTOM
City Club Hears Him Defend Prosecu-
tion of Liquor Selling and
AppIauds His Strong
Sentences

Indiscriminate. real and continuous
enforcement of the laws against vice
was advocated by City Prosecutor
Woolwine yesterday in an address be-
fore the City club. The luncheon at
the Westminster was attended by
about 15O members and the address of
Mr.. Woolwine was frequently ap-
plauded for its direct attacks.
His subject was Equal Enforce
ment of the Law" The discussion was
based on conditions which Mr.. Wool
wine said existed in Los Angeles ana
his speech was a plea for beginning
at the top with law enforcement ana
not at the bottom. He did not believe,
he said, in attacking the poor mems
clubs while there were those OF mem
bership representative of the higher
life violating the law. He CITED the
fact that no club, high or low, dared
defy the United States government,
and that each one took out and kept
posted in conspicuous place its gov
eminent license to sell liquors.
In discussing the enforcement of the
law he said:
Equal law enforcement Is thing
that never has existed and never can
exist except in theory, even where the
conditions are most favorable, and, IN
cases where juries and public officials
mean to administer the law impartially,
there are certain conditions that al
ways conspire to defeat exact impair
TALLY in the administration of the
laws. 1t is sad to relate that 1t is
manifest impossibility for man who
Is without means with which to pro-
cure trained legal talent to intercede
| for him and take advantage of any
weakness that may appear in the pros
ecution to have melted out to him at
all times and on all occasions the same
punishment for wrongdoing as the more
| fortunate malefactor who is financially
able to employ men learned and skilled
| in the strong and weak points that
constantly arise in the effort to con-
Wet anyone, whether taken advantage
of or not. I cannot think of anything
more pitiful than the awkward efforts
of some of the poor unfortunates ac-
cused of crime to defend their own
| cases; as general thing their fate is
sealed from the beginning.
Power Of Money
Money and it's handmaiden, prom
| inence, go hand in hand ever to de-
| feat the ends of justice. Not only is
| the power of prominence and affiuence
demonstrated in interfering with eff
| forts to convict offenders after the vio-
| lations of law have reached the courts,
but 1t is ever present and potent in
hindering detection of the offender and
in his arrest after detection. There are
men by the score In this city today
who are violating the laws with I'M
punity. Justice has her eyes wide open
and focused upon many notorious vio-
latorS of the laws, and yet she Will
| not see. Houses of prostitution with
/ out number, houses Of designation by
the score that mean wreck and ruin
to many home; gambling dens that
Il are the hotbeds of vice, are allowed to
i run in this city day by day without
anything but superficial, spasmodic
| and discriminatory effort to suppress
| them.
"These vices attract to this city a
| class of men who feed upon the pol
sonous sweets of crime. What is known
as the social evil, If allowed to exist
unhampered, carries with 1t a horde Of
vicious men who subsist upon the ILL
gotten gains of those miserable women.
| Gambling is a means by which num-
berless thieves rob the weak and the
credulous Houses of designation are
the source from which vice in its more
hideous form Is constantly fed.
Police Commissions Fault
"To arrive at means for the correc-
| ton of such conditions we must go to
| the source of power for its suppression
| Our city government is so constituted
| that the police department is under the
absolute dominion of the board OF po-
| lice commissioners, who have the pow
| err only not to appoint. but to remove.
police officers. Further. such board
| has the right to prescribe the rules
and the regulations for the govern
ment of the police force. So, II the
| laws are not being enforced, or en-
forced with laxity and discrimination,
| the blame should be fixed where 1t be-
longs. and that is upon the police COM
| mission.
1T know it to be a fact that there are
able, conscientious and experienced Of
| ficers in the police department who
would. without any hesitation. strike
| at vice whenever 1t might be found,
and in whatever form, If they only
| had a free hand, and even a corrupt
police official could not evade the per-
| Torrance Of his full duty in the face
| OF the commands Of the board. No
police officer who is dependent upon
| his office for support could dare to en-
force the law without the sanction of
the police commission.
The Club Evil
"History teaches that 1t is unwise
| and dangerous to allow traffic in spir-
| ituous liquors without some means of
1
suppressing it's abuse. So the GUS
tom has grown throughout the United
| States of controlling liquor selling by
means of requiring some form of per-
| nit or license, SO that In case of the
privilege it may be, by revocation Of
| the license or permit taken away. Such
| Is no doubt the intent of the charter
and ordinances of the city of Los An
geles requiring all persons who deal
| in liquor to first procure a permit and
| a license so to do. BY reason of the
non-enforcement of these laws in cer-
l tain quarters, towit social clubs,
there has grown up practice that
bids we'll, in time, If not suppressed, to
| swamp the city In crime. 1t seems that
a man or set of men who desire to
| start either a gambling den or a sa-
| loon or both proceed to secure a. char
| ter from the state permitting him or
them and their friends to exist as a
social club.
This serves as a barrier to the law
behind which liquor selling, gambling,
and other vices may flourish and flower
without fear of molestation from the
forces of law and order.
No Distinction In Effect
ut is said that there is distinction
between bont fide clubs and the clubs
| that I have just described, and that
! bona fide clubs are clubs formed for
| social intercourse where the dispensing
of liquor is only an incident to such
purpose Many of these dives that
describe might and do come within this
definition of a bona fide social club.
| ST have in my possession q list of the
/ % irfU r1s bo In