Semi-weekly herald., 1911-06-12
OFFICIAL INCOMPETENCE.

1t would seem to us that the great
est dangers which threaten the indi-
vidual, as well as the nation, today
is to be found in the incompetence
of our various officials. The question
OF betrayal of trust is not nearly
so serious, for we can protect our
selves against dishonest officials, but
are at the mercy Of incompetent ones.
We send men to congress to make
laws, which will materially influence
cur prosperity, who are clearly in
competent, the fact that they may be
honest does not protect us in the
least. In the halls of the national leg
islature committees have the DISPOSE
ton of matters of vital Importance
placed in their hands and upon their
degree of competence the welfare of
the nation depends, their honesty is
not questioned for, as a rule, they are
all honest, but the question of being
competent to know what really is best
for their constituents is of great i'm
portance.
We chose state, county and city,
officials and place in their hands the
safety of the funds, and even the
lives, of the people they serve and
the question of competency comes even
closer home than in the matter of
choosing our national officials. The
town marshal, the city policemen and
the county sheriff, have the lives of
the people whom they serve almost
directly in their charge, the protec-
tion of property, and the safety of the
public, are, practically their sole du-
ties although, of course, there are
many branches of these duties.
The failure to accomplish these OBJ
jects may arise from many causes,
but few of them can be cited with
out bringing more or less discredit
upon the deficient official for, just as
there is never an excuse for gen
eral losing battle, so there can be
no really sufficient excuse for an off
cial's failure to perform his duty,
much less for his failure to have been
at his post in the time of need.
The acceptance of one of these po-
sitions of public trust and confidence
calls for a certain specific perform
ance, the public have the right to
expect that, during the hours when the
official is on duty, he will be found
at his post under any and all cir
oumstances and that he will not fail
to be ready and prompt to do his duty,
these things are expected and no pos
sible excuse will be accepted in lieu
Of such performance.
1t is not TO be expected that an
officer will succeed in all cases, for
Conditions often arise which make sue
cess impossible, but the strongest at
tempt of which the officer is capable
is, and should be, expected. The Tex
as sheriff who died at his post de-
Tending the Jail against party of
lynchers failed to save his prisoner
but he did not fail to do his duty while
the Alabama official who allowed him
self, however much against his will
To be caught and held while mob
took his prisoner and hanged him will
be forever discredited on account of
his failure to accomplish something in
the way of an attempt TO save the
life entrusted to his care.
II is greatly to be hoped that the
unfortunate occurrence here, we will
say no more than that, will awaken
our officials to the necessity of more
strict performance of their duties and
that if it can be shown that the in
competence, or negligence, of any off
cipl was, TO the slightest degree, con-
tlibrtory that that official shall be
promptly removed from office. We do
not charge that such is the case but
we do say that a most remarkable
state of affairs, and very peculiar con-
diiions, are shown to have been in
existence at the very moment that Ike
Cox was shot down, on main street
Of the city, while he was walking
side by side with the second highest
peace official in La Plata county.