The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-11

did not approve the appointment of his Com
mission and that then for the first time" we
called for the closing Of the district?
Finally, we stated that we would show that
the Mayor himself has, by his actions, vind
Gated The VirOiniamS position in almost every
detail We had always held that the matter
Of greatest importance Is that the law shall be
enforced. We called on the Mayor to enforce it.
The Mayor now. in language almost identical
with that In which The vb0inian called on him
10 divorce the partnership between the city and
vice, declares:
am assured by the Chief of Police that
the order OF the Mayor is being carried ouv
by special details of police, and that the po-
lice force understands that the former policy
Of liberation has ended
Richmond has been divorced from its
former attitude with regard to vice, and the
law is being enforced over the whole city
for the first time in the memory of man.
We do not think there could have been a
more complete vindication than that which the
Mayor himself gives our position in this state
ment. It is a cleancut victory for The Virginidn
in conflict in which It has fought unaided and
alone, in which conflict there has come to the
support of position the Vice Commission
and now the Mayor Of this and other cities, the
three papers of this city which have fought
The Tirgiaian and it's policies with all the
vgor and often venom at their command and
now the people of Richmond, uniting with the
people Of the State rallying to the standard
raised by this paper at its birth five years ago
We declared that the law must be enforced; that
declaration combatted and denied, even de
rided. 1t is now, by the words of the Mayor of
Richmond himself the law of Richmond and
other cities of Virginia have followed suit We
warned the Mayor and the city that there would
be new information brought out by the Com.
missions work that could compare with the
great outstanding fact that the law was being
violated by the connivance of officials Of the city
We stated that there would be created "a hun
ger for Investigations and salacious details" and
now the Mayor himself urges upon the pubic
Let quit this clamor. which is not help
ing the situation. is not improving moral
conditions. and is giving the city an unde-
served bad advertisement.
We do not believe that in the history OF Vir-
ginia any newspaper has been accorded more
complete victory and vindication for its princi-
its friends alone but by the men, the papers
the interests that opposed and denounced us
II there is any detail In which the vice investi
cation has not borne out The Virgtnidn's con-
tentions before the investigation was started we
cannot believe it. We believe that Mayor Aims
lie himself must agree that by doing himself
the injustice of not reading The Vtrgintan on
matters vitallv concerning his own wsrk he has
done The Firqinian the injustice Of mistating It's
record. That record speaks for itself and dehes
contradiction. Had the Mayor taken our sugges.
lions in the beginning he would have spared
himself, the city, and the State, much that is
undesirable. He would. perhaps, have been the
means OF saving from life that Is worse than
Goath many men and women of Richmond and
Virginia And in the end the Mayor the Vice
Commission. the city, and the State must give to
The Iirginian the recognition that its record de-
mands Let us press forward for still better
things in Richmond and Virginia