Evening journal., 1911-11-04
WHAT DOES THE
POLICEMAN SAY?
BY John S. Hamilton.

/
the writer as the sight Of q police
man, and this feeling grows with the
years To him the bluecoated officer
is no mere minion Of the law, but
always the effective symbol Of that
principle which insists that man is
capable of governing himself. We
hear great deal Of complaint. much
of it deserved, that Americans are
Indifferent TO their governmental af-
fairs, and IL must be confessed that
this is true to a great extent. The
writer, however, believes that this is
not a natural condition and will
prove temporary The inherent sell
fishness Of human nature will COM
pei men more and more as time goes
by 70 take more snd more interest
IN their public affairs
The American people are not nat
urally an Indifferent people by any
means, but their education has been
criminally at fault concerning gov
! ernment The coming elector has
been taught plenty about "Old Glory
/ and a lot of other rubbish. and no
pains have been spared to cultivate in
him the idea that "we can lick the
world" and other buncombe, but
either by design or by neglect they
have never been taught the real dan
gers that menace and always will
menace free institutions as long as
men arc born selfish and derive more
satisfaction from getting the best Of
their fellows than by any other !
means Eternal vigilance is the price /
OF liberty" does not necessarily con- !
template sleeping on your arms or car
rying a gun. II really means that
men are born with an inherent love
of power and unrcstraincd they Will
usurp this power and use It TO op-l
press and rob their fellows
A policeman, therefore, 10 the writ
er, always symbolizes the thoughts
briefly stated above The writer can
remember some forty years ago or
less, when he regarded tho police Of
iicer as an Oppressor who existed
only to interfere with small boys, who
thought at the Halloween season at
least they should have the right to
upset outhouses, carry of door steps
and the like. There arc today those,
and they are not small boys, either,
who look very much on the law in
the same way as the writer did in
the time spoken about on a police
man. The law, these people think,
is something to be avoided. II is an
imposition that exists only TO inter
fere With their plans. And as the
boys in their limited sphere devised
means and ways TO circumvent and
outwit the officer, these people hire
experts to pervert the principles Of
the law and 70 destroy its effect even
when it is sound and we'll intended.
Nobody who had much sense ever ac-
cused a small boy of being civilized
and the bog would give him small
thanks II be did, but the man who
deliberately lays his plans 10 violate
a law or schemes to have laws pass
ed which are unjust because he ex-
poets to receive hencft for himself
and his employers is not a civilized
person and he is greater enemy to
mankind than the most blatant an
archist that ever stood for the red -
IL is amazing that men with fami-
lies could be guilty Of such things. DO
they think that they OF their Off
springs can escape the inevitable
penalty? II they do not believe In
the Christians God. Is it possible that
they cannot see the system Of re-
wards and punishments that Is be-
slowing its blessings and melting out
its sentences every day and every
hour in the year? man or a people
is civilized, as We understand It, just
so far as he or they submit to the
law and when the writer says the
law he means Just law He or they
should fight against injustice or un-
just laws, but should do IL, II possi-
bic, by peaceahle methods. This is
government founded on law and Il.
the government, depends for its per-
petuity on the respect Of the individual
citizen for the law To deliberately
violate the law or TO connive al a vio-
lation Of the principles of justice nat
urally creates disrespect for law in
its victims Law must contemplate
) justice under such institutions as
ours. To deliberately have placed on
the statute books laws that give ons
. man an advantage over another,
, therefore is not only unwise and I'M
civilized but it Is the work of a fool
What We have been taught 10 re-
gard as great crimes are mere tri-
hes compared with what is going on
every day. Good laws are deliber-
ately violated and the criminals are
S made immune by the means of their
great wealth, and the cunning and in
genuity Of their attorneys.
) Evil laws, known to be unjust, are
deliberately placed on the statute
! books and kept there by methods that
, are similar to those that are used to
defeat the operation Of the good laws
And the men who are responsible for
this sort Of thing actually appear "a
believe that they are the leaders OF
the advanced thought and civiliza.
: tion OF their times. Let II be repeat
Q ed, man who violates the law, and
by law the writer means the princi
pies OF Justice as far as man can IN,
= derstand il, is barbarian. He is IN
5 civilized and an enemy to human
r progress and therefore the wors
r. kind of a man, no matter how mucl
pew rent he pays. And on the oths
hand the man who bows 10 tn
y majesty Of the law and works 70
= justice. he is civilized man am