The Bad River news. [volume] (Philip, Stanley County, S.D.) 19??-1912, 1910-10-13
About Law Enforcement

pit editorial on Sunday, DR.. Franz
Fox of the First Congregations
church, exploited the alleged laxit,
of law enforcement in Sioux Falls
and as remedy he favored thu
proposed ''czar-governor" law un
der which the governor would have
the power to remove local officials
and to install appointees of his
own. DIR. Fox's editorial brings
up once more, the whole question
of law enforcement, and of wheth.
er or not law enforcement in any
community can rise higher than
the public sentiment of that com.
munity.
The Sunday is a case in point.
The average man in this community
thinks that it is no worse to attend
a ball game or Il theatre on Sun
day than it is to join III auto party
on the Sabbath, and go speeding
through the town and country at
twenty five miles an hour. Three
times, cases have been brought be-
fore juries, and in each case the
jury has acquitted, the last case
going on the ground that in the
minds of the jury the law was un
constitutional. It was possible to
generally enforce the law against
selling cigarettes to children be-
cause most people believe that such
sale should not be permitted; it is
not possible to stop the sale to
adults, because most men believe
that if a full grown man wants to
buy and smoke a cigarette he ought
to be allowed to do so. Under
county option, the same thing
would be tried-an effort would be
made to force upon community
something of which it does not ap--
prove, and we have no doubt that
under it, this city would be thrown
against the same conditions which
are so wcff rCu1curfJcrv<l-ff l-ffvns-ps~--
hibition days.
The proposed czar law is full of
certain expense and trouble. The
appointment of special deputy At
torneys, general to enforce the
prohibition law there is almost
certain to be repealed, in Oklaho-
ma has become such q scandal and
graft that the prohibition law, it
is case in point. The Sturgis
law in Maine is another case in
point. There the governor is en-
powered to appoint special COM
missioners to swoop down on the
various communities and enforce a
law which the majority of the COM
munity do not approve. 1t has
been SO great failure that though
five thousand cases were brought
under that law the past year, the
prevailing testimony is that tenn
perance conditions have not been
improved, and the people of the
state, by a heavy majority, have
just declared for its repeal. The
same failure is recorded in Ohio
and in Michigan. The tragedy in
Newark is not forgotten nor do
people fail to take note of the evil
conditions which prevail in Battle /
Creek, Mich, located in q dry"
county.
The Argus Leader has IN old
fashioned idea that the sanest way
to secure law enforcement is to|
stop enacting laws that cannot be
enforced. In this position we have
back of US such men as President
Taft, Col. Roosevelt and DR.. Ly-
man ]. Abbott. We have A law
in South Dakota against selling
milk on Sunday morning after
nine o'clock. OF course it is vio-
lated every Sunday in every town
and city in the state. IF the Sum-
day law was rightly enforced, not
. railway train could run q mile in
the state and not q commercial
transaction could be made. You
could not buy q newspaper or q
cigar or q loaf of bread. Such
laws were never intended to be(en-
forced, they can not be enforced,
and it is not fair to call q commu-