Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-03-02
THE WIDE OPEN TOWN MUST 60

Inc recent crimes in OttumWa have
aroused the demand in other cities of
Iowa for the driving out of the wide
open town policy To many of the
other cities is coming the realization
that, though they have not been visit
ed with the scourge of crime that
swept over OtIumwa, they have never.
theless been sowing the seed and must
reap the harvest unless an end is
brought to law violations The Nus
cat1ne Journal in an editorial says:
Ottumwa is aroused, and well may
it be.
But the pity CT it all is that Ottum-
wa has but itself to blame.
This carnival of crime, this orgy of
criminal lust, which has made pura,
good women its victims, is no product
Of day or a month.
Where there is fire, there is smoke.
He who lights a blaze must some
time expect to see the sky lurid with
the awesome painting of the fire fiend.
For every result there Is cause. Two
and two are always four
-Four years ago, following a sensa.
tional expose in press and pulpit Of
the intolerable conditions existing in
our neighboring city, the city cam
paign there, made on the direct issue
of law enforcement or a wide open
town. resulted in the victory of the
ticket pledged to the enforcement Of
the law against ALL evils.
This campaign was no wave Of &c
ligious hysteria, no effort to foist a set
OF views held by minority upon 4
majority to whom they were uncon
genial and hateful, but a righteous up.
rising on an outraged people
Two years passed. Perhaps the
new administration made some mis-
takes. But at any rate, it kept it.
campaign pledges. 1t closed the open
gambling houses. 1t took from the
houses of i'll fame their dance halls
their music, and their liquor, leaving
them with no appeal save the unut
terably base one to illicit passion. ii
drove from the city all of the vicious
idlers, whose presence in a municipal
ity bodies i'll for it's peace Smoky
Row. the notorious Smoky, if it did
not become moral community, at
least SO far fell from its former estate
that its old habitues would not have
recognized it. The doors of the city
Jail for days at time swung open aud
the desk sergeant dozed in his chair
like an old pensioner behind the stove
on wintry day.
But business was hurt.
You have heard that cry before
The great majority of the merchants
said that their sales compared favor
ably with former years in their gross
amounts, and that there were less
, charge accounts on the books thar
eyer before.
But there was a public feeling tina,
there was less life In the town than
in former years. Then, too, some VI
the restrictions made by the city al
ministration had grown irksome
Other causes entered into the equa
ton, also, as they always do.
The next city campaign, two years
ago, came along, and this time, OF
tumwans firing Of the law enforce
nent program, voted for wide-opel
town
They got it,
Every incoming train brought in
the members of the old gangs. The
red lights burned as of old. In thi
summer evenings the rattle of dice
the hum of the busy knights of thu
cards and the droning voice of the
man at the roulette wheel could bt
heard drifting from upstairs windows
The wild songs of the dope fient
again resounded in Smoky Row.
1t was Gree town once more.
This was not a matter of city of
fcials but of public policy. Ottum
wa voted for law enforcement ant
got what it voted for 1t voted fol
the wide-open town and 1t got wha
it voted for.
The new administration undoubt ed
ly tried, and tried hard, to proven
and punish crimes of the charactel
which are not winked at by a wide
open philosophy, but the seeds of sir
were being sown in fertile soil. TIL.
gambling houses; the bawdy houses
with their liquor, their maddenin.
dances and their sensuous music; thu
dope sellers; and the congregatin;
of vicious, idle men were making
criminals at rate which the effort.
of the police to suppress concrete
crime, could not hope to equal
Well may Ottumwa arouse itsel
/ to the horror of the deeds agains
women that have blackened It's name
Let recurrence of such crime b.
prevented at all costs. Let thos,
,;rl1o r..f