New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-06

ton. Ii has demonstrated TO the pub
lie a fact of which | was fully cogniz-
ant. and which ! never for moment
doubted namely, the answering 10y
atty of the rank and !ile of the police
in all grades of the service
Indorse Square Deal
The Commissioner stated that since
the first publication Of Mr.. Ellison's
attack upon his administration he has
received individual letters and rounG
robins from more than 1000 members
of the department expressing their ut
ter satisfaction with his policy OF the
Square deal
81 have always said" added the Com
missioner. that nine out OF every ter
men in the department want 70 do the
right thing, and viii measure up TO
anv class of citizens in morality and
in their high id-als of public servi C."
Commissioner Woods made public
the contents OF two commendatory let
ters which he had received. The first
was from Chief City Magistrate Will
lam McAdoo. former Police Commits
sioner. and the second from william
Jaw Schieffelin, chairman OF the Cltl-
2ens Union. Magistrate McAdoo saii
in part; 49, .or,. s,,a,,
handful Of men. maybe not dozen OUT
Of 600, the residuum of the leaves o.
unrighteousness which formerly cursed
the department, would like to go back
to old conditions. The old proposition
acted upon. if not openly EXPRESSED,
was this: ALLOW us to blackmail and
graft on gamblers, disorderly house
keepers and licensed saloons, and we
will promise to club the thugs out OF
the city; otherwise we will give YOU
mutiny and anarchy. We will run tn
gunman out as CRATER and monopo-
lie the business ourselves
These men are constantly talking
about the use of the police club as
some sort of magic wand that can
restore order, suppress crime and do
far more than the orderly processes OF
the law As matter OF TACT, under
the old grating system there were
nifty gangs where there IS to-day one
and conditions were so bad that IL was
almost impossible to believe that ref
ormation could be gotten in such
short period" o.,
Mayor Mitchell at City Hall said
late Yesterday afternoon: $50 far as
Commissioner Woods and ! are con-
cerned. the incident is closed. The
police have voluntarily repudiated Mr.
Ellison. 1t imply remains to be seen
whether in all instances these repudi
atoms are sincere"
Men Muzzled, Says Ellison.
When Mr.. Ellison was interviewed
by telephone at his home last night
he insisted that the reputation of his
utterances by the various police or
carnations was to have been expected
and that he was not in the least sur
prised.
"Thc trouble is that the police are
not free TO express their honest opin-
ions" he said. while | am not denied
the right of free speech. | reiterate
that the Police Department IN this
city was never in worse shape, and !
think that eventually my opinion Will
be indicated"
When asked whether or not he
would hold the various police organi-
cations to their contracts retaining
him as their counsel, Mr.. Ellison said
$50 far as a~fetalner Is concerned
the representatives OF the police or
carnations came to my Office a year
ago last September and asked me #
would accept it. After we had dis
cussed. the matter and IT was agreed
that | was not TO appear for delin-
auents, accepted the offer. The ar
rangement was renewed last Septem-
Der for another year.
"The matter of compensation is OF
the least Importance TO me. | am the
friend of the police, and intend TO
work and fight for them with or with
go.