Semi-weekly herald., 1910-01-31

| snip IL Will NtiIlklhB hi9Npi
sensational even; perhaps. almost I'M
believdble at times. But 1t viii Je an
unprecedented, unbiased history. And,
III 1t rises to the proportions of an
arraignment. 1t should be borne in
mind that 1t contains nothing of inaI
| Ice. Also, the police as q national
body should not be condemned for
the faults, however persistent. that
we may find in the police OF individual
cities. Perhaps II would be better
to reverse this statement and say
that we should not condemn individual
cities for the faults that we may find
| In the police as national body, While
the American police are failing, open.
| ly. flagrantly. In the protection OF the
citizen and the country, we can not
| ignore the signs of a better era that
we catch here and there. In Toledo
Cleveland. Washington. Boston, we can
see these fugitive evidences of an
awakening. and. II they are scattered
and far between and smphasize more
deeply the remaining depression, In
the interests of truth and optimism We
can not pass them by.
| Our kid-gloved penologists have
afraid to tell us the truth about the
menace of our unpunished crime. Our
machine politicians, who buy and sell
the positions on our police forces as
n butcher deals In steaks or grocer
in potatoes, have howled down those
reform officials who have tried to
turn n search light into the darkness.
Those few police heads who have
chafed under the sway of things that
they knew ought not to be, have dash
ed out their political careers against
a stone wall The average citizen
knows that there is something wrong
with our police system, that 1t is not
what 1t should be, that he must hire
private watchmen ind detectives and
buy expensive burglar alarms and elec
trical safe-deyices II he would pro
tect his property. He has come to
take these things a good deal for
granted and to view the police de.
partment with contempt more or less
good natured - depending ON the
any one definite impression of the
public guardian in the blue uniform
II Is that OF a bully with a club, who
has made himself useful to the po-
Itli,n1 thn
his campaign services, takes things
easy the rest of the year, chatting the
bartender on the corner. joking with
the gamblers and the women CT the
town, and, perhaps, for the purpose
os emphasizing his authority. dashinp
through the city In the patrol wagon
with his hand on a drunken mans col
lar.
A drunk" was sent TO the Philadel
phia city prison the other day for in
toxication He had been there two
Tense! Last year, there were in tn,
neighborhood of 7S6, 900 arrests In thii
country. Over 100000 OF these wer,
drunken men. Probably half of the
services of the American police dur
ing the twelve months consisted in es
corting intoxicated individuals to the
"lock-up!" San FRANCISCO recorded
30,s5I arrests-15,704 for drunken
ness; Jersey city, 6.625 arrests-3.45
for drunkenness Providence. II. l.
1,527 arrests--6,36l for drunkenness
Hartford, Conn. 1892 arrests-3,06
for drunkenness; New York city, 1873,
749 arrests---7l.573 for drunkenness
Chicago, 7T763 arrests-4O79G fol
drunkenness; Philadelphia, 1889 ar
rests-37.82l for drunkenness; Pitts
burg, 81 ,251 arrests-l7 ,290 for drunk
enness.
Do these figures give us another
reason why we convict only one Or two
murderers in every hundred? Gentle
men of the American police, wha
have you to say for yourselves? WI
} What defense do you make-can yol
make?
In a general way, we all know
or think we know-the problems of tn,
policeman. He is hired to protect tn,
community, our homes, our families
From what? When we say "the cr!mi
nal" we think we have given an II
Eliminating answer. AS a matter o
fact, there Is not one man In a thou
sand--yes, we can apply this to th'
police-who could spot the averag,
burglar II he met him on the stree
without his Jimmy | was discuss
ing 'yegg" case with policeman
not long ago-a 'yegg" is tram
burglar, If you don't know. saft
had been rified, and the evidences o
the crime we're scattered about tn.
stuffy, eightby-ten office.
He must have used tremendou,
quantity OF soup for such shor
'squibs,'" ! commented, rummagInl
about the safe.
The policeman man of twelv,
years experience-suryeye me In be
wilderment. Cant you speak Eng
I