The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-25

he pleads mot guilty" tho saloonkeep
er who robbed the offender OF his
faculties and his roll is called in. He
testifes to his part of the transaction
Liquor bought over his bar made tho
1 defendant beastly and soddenly and
offensivclyl drunk He had TO call III
| officer The officer is summoned. Tho
| defendant. your Honor. was drunk. as
! Bro. Jones states" The testimony is
complete. Justice Is meted out. JUS
tice. A damnable justice The man
who deliberately and with malice
aforethought made a beast OF his
I brother, walks away complacently, be-
hind his cigar while the city employees
| greet him cordially and obsequiously.
Some day, when the larger
brotherhood has come to It's own. the
! debaucher will be punished instead of
his victim
The other great crime IS the VIOLA
ton of the bicycle ordinance. do not
say that this is useless law. 1t
isn't, But ! do say that II ought not
TO be exacted above other important
laws. Every bicyclist in Ogden could
! MAIN and injurc one person n week
the year round, and be doing nothing
more than what every protected spot
of vice is doing every night of the
week The bicycllst who harms an
other is, and should be, severely pun
lshed for his defiance of law. And
the monger of vice who harms his
brother infinitely more and whose
blow is struck with deeper malice,
ought to be punished for every offense
of his Instead his Victims cry piteous-
Iy day and night to the guardians of
justice and the cry is never heard.
Rather do the guardians" of justice
zealously protect the privileged mong-
er of vice.
The third offense Is the unpardon-
able sin Of asking a plain clothes Of
ficer for the price of bed, pard-
ner." Than this there Is no greater
crime. 1t calls for 20 days in the
municipal quarries or suspended
sentence of 80 days. always con-
clude when plain clothes officer Is
thus approached that the hobo" who
does the touching doesn't know the
one he approaches is an officer. This.
OF course, is a serious reflection upon
the undressed portion Of our police
force They don't look like officers.
That isn't their worst fault They don't
act like real live officers Real officers,
who take oaths to perform their duties
with fidelity, would not protect open
and insolent defiers of the law.
We were speaking of the side-step.
ping of the officers and of the serious
affection of the official thumb This
leads us to another strange situation.
Every officer will tell you that public
opinion does not demand the enforce
ment of these laws. That may be 30
in Ogden. Our portentous silence is
the lullaby of the law-breaker. He
will awake up tomorrow morning
knowing full we'll that because we do
not protect we do not care. But here a
question that quite naturally obtrudes
Its ugly self: Does an officer take an
oath to enforce public opinion. was
driven TO the laws themselves.
searched them carefully through.
thought l should find some such en-
actment as this: Every officer before |
entering upon the duties OF his of1ce |
shall solemnly swear to enforce public |
opinion, whatever that may be, at any
given time.
Instead l found that the trainers OF |
the state constitution had perpetrated |
a glaring blunder. They had put this |
kind of stuff into the constitution:
Article 4, Section 10.-All officers |
made elective or appointive by this
or by laws made In pur-
suance thereof before entering upon |
The duties of their respective Offices,
shall take and subscribe the following
bath or affirmation: II do solemnly |
swear Cor aff1rm) that | will support,
'bey and defend the constitution OF !
he United States and the constitution
'l this state, and that will discharge
he duties of my Office with fidelity"
The thing we wish to ascertain is
he hardest of all things to ascertain.
lust who Is responsible for the en-
orcement OF law? Nc one knows up
lere in Ogden. There may be too
many bosses or there may be only one
md she may be of the wrong stripe.
One faction insists that the mayor
S at the head of the city government
md by virtue OF his position can stop
his or tolerate that Are we to un.
lerstand. then. that the mayor could
ssue an order tomorrow instructing
he police to desist from arresting all
burglars and murderers, and that the
'bedient and docile policy would i'm
nodiately heed his behest? If that is
so, we are at critical stage of our
civic life 1t Is idle to qualify the
analogy by saying: THE mayor may
10 so In matters of administration