The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-02-20
ADVERSE CRITICISM And ITS
BEARING ON THE STATE POLICE
From the Goldfeld News.

From the Goldfeld News.
1T would seem that it would only be
the part and fairness and decency on
the part of the state press, and es
pecially on the part of the newspapers
of the Goldield district, to give Cap
tain Cox superintendent of the state
police, a chance to organize the police
force before opening up a vollsg OF
adverse criticism. His is a position
difficult to fill, and the duties are most
exacting and delicate to administer,
especially to the satisfaction of the
professional scolds. Do as well as he
NAV. and he will not escape the gibes
of a partisan and preiudiced press. 1t
has already become appasent from tie
critical attitude of one of the Goldfield
papers that the path of the superintcn-
dent of the state police is to be made
as rocky as possible, and a steady at
tempt will be made to undermine the
respect of the people for this organiza-
tion.
Nearly every appointment that has
been made by Superintendent Cox has
been either criticised or ridiculed. The
inspector of police recently appointed
has been ridieuled as a university
drill MASTER whereas the appointee
has seen service in the United States
army and stood high in his command.
The fact that another man had c~ontenl-
ptiously refused a commission as ser
gent under Captain Cox in a letter to
the press sneered at the state police
force, was played up with disgusting
satisfaction, whereas the truth of tae
matter is that he was one of the most
eager applicants for the best job wnen
the rangers were first spoken of and
began his campaign on the day the
governor issued his call for the special
session. A report in a Reno paper
that some "plain clothes men, were
to be sent into the district, was also
the occasion for an inventive hara-
ngue. 1t matters not that uniforms
had been ordered for these men as
well as for the rest of the force and
that they would be outfitted as soon
as the uniforms came. This was of
no There was a chance
to make a slam at the state police
force and the batteries were opened
up.
The fact of the matter is that Gov
ernor Sparks made the best selection
for Superintendent of State Police
that could be found in the state of
Nevada. A regular army officer was
suggested but Governor Sparks held
that the appointee should be a resi-
lent of the state, as all the men of
the force. Captain Cox has seen ser
vice at the head of a body of troops
during the Spanish war. He has lived
all of his life in Nevada and has been
successful in all his undertakings. He
is known to everyone worth while in
the business and social life of Nevada.
He is clean, business-like, self respect
ing and well poised. There is no fire
alarm about him and he will make no
bad breaks. He is selecting his officers
from among the men in the state whom
he knows and can vouch for, and is
therefore better qualified to judge of
them than some newspaper editor who
never heard of them before. He pro-
badly knows his plans better han any
of his self-appointed advisors of the
press, and he will probably consider it
wise in the position he is in to keep
them to himself rather than commit
them to the safe keeping of some cap
tiouo dHu uliiitHuiN newspaper eulIOT
But for this he will not be very gene
rally censured.
We nave all confidence in Captain
Cox and believe that under his wise
and prudent command the state police
force will become the efficient instru-
ment for law and order that it was
designed to be by the legislature
which framed and enacted the law. If
it does not fulfill it's intended mis-
sion, it will be because the press of the
state, by unjust criticism has destroyed
ed the respect and confidence of the
people in the state uolice force and
undermined its efficiency. The papers
of Nevada, and especially of the Gold
field district should hold up the hands
of the men who have been chosen to
organize the state police and make.
it efficient, When thAey prove them.
selves incapable and unworthy after a
thorough trial, then it will be time
to c~ritieise and condemn.