Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-01-07

ct ls hich time for thoughtful people In
this country to vale up to the fact
l. thct la,J.breakln: in GU: greater c:s:cs Is
10 Ar aDDallin: extent i safe and profitable
occupatoa. SprraCin,; rl'Lt!iEr an 1Fa"sn'
with menace. it operates primarily by lnhu
cncirg the members Of our police FORCES ana
to a greater AMI far uglier extent. by the
crpointment and consequent ownership OF
police MAGISTRATES, even OF higher tribunes
of law and order, who carefully see that
law breakers identified with the forces OF
plunder are immune from punishment.
New York City especially. with its vast
and heterogeneous population. Its compact,
tentaced political incubus, its unrivaled op-
portunitics for graft and facilities for get
tin; away with It," offers peculiar advan-
tagcs to organized crime.
Why Is New York growing more lawiess
all the time, and why t. lis police control
ineffective? That these questions arc asked
Is in itself admitting conditions that amount
to an Indictment. For New York, with its
colossal ricnes and opportunities for plum
der, is In many respects the most lawlcss
city in the world.
The active cause Is obviously money greed.
The race for dollars has become 80 strenu-
Gus and cxacting that the good. old-fash-
toned brand OF honesty has become almost
obsolete. Business is Enthusiastically It
IL not honesty In this age, city and country.
Men explain and elaborated, try to hood
wink themselves into thinking and having
others think they are honest and patriotic
- -
neither Else there would be no such whole
sale bribery, giving and taking Of graft, no
such apathy and actual sn'asonism toward
the forces Of law and order ~ combine to
disgrace every large city in the United
States. Get money, within the law II pos
sible, but get It, has become a code.
That is ono reason for modern law;ess-
ness, but there are at least two more. We
are lawlcss because We are greedy; bot We
are lawless also-paradoxical as 1t may
son,a-because Of our super1uous laws. Ny
experience has convinced me that, as .
people. we are burdened with legal regula-
lions which breed often indifference anc
sometimes contempt for the body OF the Jaw
es a whole Take. for instance. tho laws
against the Sunday sale Of liquor and those
nS'Li!St ! Ec pCSi III iihCie W hOl
see why they may not be served with their
favorlte beverage in public nall or garden
on the first day OF the week as we'll as on
any other. In like manner, the card-player
knows that, II the statutes against gambling
were enforced, he could be arrested for
playing penny cnte" poker In his own
home. Eoth these classes Of persons regard
such laws as restrictions to personal liberty.
But MT least among the causes Of our
lawlcsanrss Is the laxity Of Judges In the
lower courts-the police magistrates, as they
are called in New York. II the Judges would
enforce tae laws rigldly and not rattle
around splitting hairs and lodging every
time they themselves disapprove Of written
laws, either undue lawlessness would cease
or Esny laws would be changed.
What bearing has a crooked or sapine or
Incompetent judiciary upon the tncGctcncy
Of the rolicc' 1t is the very root Of the
police problem, especially fl Now York, with
its cnorc.ods alien population which rccog-
mixes cad Knows practically no court ether
than IA: o:e presided over by the police
magistrate.
The responsibility for enforcing law and
occurring; lawlcssrcss in New York deyolves
mainly Iran the tkirty-;wc police magls-
tratcA. al! Of whom ere appointed by the
mayor. Il the police magistrate is a known
politician, 4 crook or thus cases Of which
are cati::i" 100 frequent, naturally the alien
Judges the nn:ion by him. II the alien &C.
cepts fo. II a promptly ocereo nine times
out OF tea tie help Of a district political
leader. CT II he pays for Ienicncy-and inno-
tLo ,ho q, 10
oGcreG hiua---iov can our country, being
fairly indexei by the metropolis, grow any
thing bat lawless? Rigid enforcement Of
the law By the criminal courts and the i'm
parti:, infection Of penalties upon native
and alien born alike will do more to wipe
out cr:1e in our cities than can be accom-
plished b. my other single agency.
Eighty per cent. Of criminal cases in New
YORK. CITY are first heard in the lower courts,
and between 70 and so per cent Of the
arrests made for pocket-picking. prostitu-
tico. house breaking, blacku.ailing, and the
vile cadet system are drawn from the alien
classes. so-called.
One Of the best police magistrates In New
York City-and there are quite q number
OF good ones-has more than once said to
me that the greatest obstacle to honest I'd.
minlstration Of the Metropolitan Police De-
partment lies In the lower criminal courts.
Hs knew what he was talking about, and
the truth Of his remark IL evidenced daily
IN the police history Of the city. 1t 10 10
torious that some police magistrates can bs
bought By crooks and are bought and owned
at the disposition Of the local political ma
ehtns whsrsDosvee It may be.
Other police magistrates are financially
honest, but politically dishonest. Those
vhs draw iowa the heaviest condemnation
d..