New-York tribune., 1909-07-02
NOT EYoUGH LIKE DEVERY.

Nothing else in Mayor McClellan's administra-
ton is so discreditabe TO him as his removal
Of Police Commissioner Bingham. The CON
missioner was one of his best appointeeS, ana
the public was ready to forgive the Mayor
much for his manly support of the head or the
Police Department in the face Of tremendous
political pressure. With the Mayors support
General Bingham had accomplished more gOou
in the administration of the force than any
other Commissioner in many years, adnerlnS
infexibly and. In part, successfully TO his pur-
pose of removing the police from politics ana
of establishing within the department the dis
cipline of constituted authority In place of that
of 1.-The system" Yet the Mayor, through his
orders virtually demanded that the Commls-
sioner should undo at one stroke aIl the WORK
that he had accomplished in nearly four years
The Mayor was willing TO shatter dlsclpnne Dy
reducing the Commissioner himself TO mere
figurehead and by introducing IA man hlSher
rp" into the department. a political inspector
general the protege Of Murphy, with an ONCE
at the political not at the police. centre-name
II. at the CITY Hall. To the minds of the police
those orders could have only one meaning-that
the Bingham regime was at an end, that there
was another man in the department to be
seen" and that behind that man stood Muir
phv Sullivan McCarren and all the array or
politicians who have usually exercised sinister
influence within the department
Such must have been the conclusion Of the
police force and the public will hardly judge
the situation differently. The ostensible reason
for the Mayors action was much too slight Tor
the public TO be satisfied with It as the real
reason The Mayor s1lstains the police practice
of photographing unconvicted persons under
arrest recognizes that injustice will sometimes
be done and yet, because be concludes that In
Justice has been done in one specific instance
overturns the whole system of police admins
tration and humiliates the head Of the depart
ment II the most elaborate and ostentauous
manner AT most the proper action in the
Duffy case would have been the removal of the
photograph from the police gallery and the dis
ciplining Of certain subordinate officers who
might be regarded as responsible And, IN fact
the evidence brought out did not seem TO be so
overwhelming that an unprejudiced authority
would care TO resort even to that degree of dis
cipline When slight cause produces such
startling results the public will look for other
explanations It will in this case, take into
consideration the hostility Of the politicians
toward General Bingham. the pressure brought
upon the Mayor by Tammany and NcCaTen
with a difficult Mayoralty campaign on their
hands. and it will conclude that the Mayor was
sinpIy waiting for an excuse to get rid Of his
Police Commissioner to please the politicians
and that he seized upon the Duffy case as that
excuse.
We cannot but feel that the cause Of police
reform has been dealt ruinous blow by the
man who had deserved credit for doing much
for that cause. Notice IS served upon the police
that the things for which Bingham stood do not
go in this town. that efforts TO break the con
nections between the force and the politicians
are bound to fail, that in the long run the only
thing which counts is pull" This is one Of
the lngrained beliefs of the force, and the Mayor
in a single moment has undOne all that General
Bingham had accomplished to dispel it We
shall be surprised and disappointed If this back
ward step which the Mayor has taken does not
arouse an intense feeling Of indignation among
the people Of New York. 1t will be useless 10
urge the innocence of the Mayors intentions
Whatever his intentions. the damage has been
done Police Commissioner who stood for
better things has been Inundated and then
removed without adequate cause. And To the
police. TO protected vice and crime. 10 the poll
ticians that removal signifies a return to the
spirit of Deveryism In its moral effect the
removal Of Bingham takes us back 10 van
wyck with his Endorsement of Devery as the
best Chief of Police New York ever had"
Whatever the truth is. every one will believe
that Bingham was removed for not having real
lied that ideal