The Alaska citizen., 1911-05-15
CROSSlEY INCON PETENT.

cRossLEY INCOMPETENT.
 An ufolerahe state of affairs has been brought about in this cemmun- " hy reason of the interpretation of The statutes ny District Attorney Crossley. and the spectacle is pre- seuted of Iaw-abiding people be ing haraSsod and restricted in their liberties to an extent that would al. most warrant defiance of authority. With an idea of his importance in Hated io an insane degree he has carried his slogan f II am here to enforce the laws as I find them on the s'aturc books. and am going 'o Keep my oath" beyond all bounds of reason. and the opinion k justified that he iS either afraid to Use, or en- ,ircly lacks. he discretion so noces- sary in he equipment of anyone 10 whom authority is delegated
 He has escaped in many instances the criticism to which his actions entitle him because the hope was entertained that when he became better acquainted with conditions he would adapt himself to the coun'rys ways. and come to realization If the fact that he blue laws which may be necessary "a enforce curfew restrictions in an Iowa village are ou, of place where men with red corpuscles are retaining a frozen wilderness BHt inst 'ead of develop Ing more liberal ideas with time the reverse has been the case and his pernicious aoiti'y along lines which cannot but rebound to 'hc discredit of the government is annoy ing To q degree
 No better examples of this could be quoted than the ac'ion he has taken in the game and liquor case, Even though il was apparent to inc dulltst intellect that palpablc mis- takes had been made in the statutes applying he insisted on the enforce menr of the law. as he chose 10 read it. and. in spite of the fact that he has naturally been unable to secure convictions. il is his boast that he will go on trying and put ting the government To still further expense Could any sane person sup pose that the congress intended, while the privilege was being en- joyed in ether parts of Alaska. that the killing of grouse and similar living in the Northern part of the country where they were needed most for food? But vet District Attorney Crossley did hold this to be the law. and il was only after the Citi- zen called the attention of Congress- man Humphrey, the man who draft ed the bill, to the bull he had made and got him To correct il with a new bill. that this great Iowa legal light conceded that a man had the right to kill ptarmigan for his table. Will any man assert in his sober senses that congress meant. when it permitted a retailer to sell any quantity less than five gallons of liquor. that the entire amount should be consumed by the purchaser on the premises in which il was bought? If he did so state he would be con sidered fit subject for an insanity commission. But even now the dis trict attorney is spending lots of good government money trying to force this. his own. interpretation of the law onto the liquor dealers of the country
 Why MT. Crossley is persisting in this course the Citizen cannot say, further than that it is it's firm belief that his motive is an honest one In the course of his administration of the office there has not been a breath of scandal connected with it. The Citizen therefore is prepared to affirm that. to the best of it's belief MI. IlOSSltS IS all ulllSHt lO less SC nor more so, than the ave rage Alaskan. His persistency in the cratic course he has undertaken must therefore be ascribed 10 some other cause, and the Citizen does not hesitate to state that that cause is the fact that MT Crossley is incompe- tent to fill the office of district at torney of the Fourth Judicial Divi- sion.
 In arriving at this conclusion the records of his office for the past five months have been studied and they show lamentable weakness Either many of the cases should never have been prosecuted or they were presented poorly by the district attorney, for otherwise there would have been a greater number of con- victions secured in proportion to the cases tried
 In the commissioner court the