Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-12

Il 80 much a whltewash as It is cry
Of helplessness.
Examine some Of its statements:
we could nnd no expedlent TO ex-
tract the truth from men who, In our
Judgment, deliberately perjured tham-
selves to shield Jne another
whilo little has been adduced -
prove that the police have any connec-
tion with politics the testimony IS such
as justifes the Grand Jury In believing
such TO be the case,
In many cases 4 was shavn that the
officers supposed tc he doing quaren-
tine duty were on the most friendly
and intimate terms with the inmates
and proprietors Of 'he houses they ver'
supposed to guard.
In other words, the liars had their
inning and the Grand Jury heard enough
to know that grafters and panders and
capitalizers Of vice are not so thin
skinned that they hesitate to swear to
lies when necessary. Possibly one or two
of the perjurers could have been trapped,
but they were not.
The Grand Jury explains the immunity
Of all sorts Of disorderly places as due to
the extravagant rentals obtained by the
owners, dereliction on the part of indi-
vidual members OF the police force. an
inadequacy in the number of police and
the interference of politicians. Were It
not for the last reason there would bo
none OF the others. Vice and politics
are linked together. They march hand
in hand, each dependent on the other
and each the protector of the other.
The Grand Jury is evidently fully
aware of the iniquIty of the magistrates.
whose courts have become the breeding
ground for rascality of all kinds and the
treasury of legal backmailers and dis
reputable exploiters of vice. 1t is the
ultimate absurdity to expect the dispens-
ing OF justice from tribunals that are
themselves the most vicious examples
of venalIty and crookedness existing in
the city.
Two things. then, are of some i'm
portance. so far as the vice situation is
The first is the enforcement
of the Swift act, which strikes at the
owners who rent premises for disreputa-
BILE purposes. The second is the aboli.
ton of the entire magistrate system.
But the big thing to be accomplished,
as the Grand Jury discovered, although
It was very mild in stating 1t. is to take
the police out of politics. There should
be legislation enacted which would pre-
clude the possibility of police in politics"
Very good, but what kind of legislation?
We do not want police force controlled
from Harrisburg. Yet it must be con.
trolled somehow. and that means local |
control. This brings the situation back |
TO control as the result OF a
local election. and it is In the local elec-
ton that the vice district strikes the |
great blow for its self-protection. 1t is
this circle of interests. this close associa- |
ton between the political organization |
and vice. that seems almost to preclude |
the possibility of divorcing the police from |
politics or vice from politics.
There is but one solution. despite any
palliative legislation which skill can de- |
wise. and that solution is the banding to-
gether of good citizens to elect to office |
men of conscience who are not the
Of the Organization. The whole |
question goes back to the election boxes.
Unless cure is found there 1t cannot be
found at all. This is so obvious that 1t
needs no elucidation. Never will men
elected by the underworld stamp out the
II is not human nature that
they should.
The Mayor, however, declares that he is
going TO make Philadelphia the cleanest
,ity in America" The test OF his ability
10 do so is the fate OF Director Wilson
We suspect that the public will have
little faith in future law enforcement If
he man who sanctioned the return Of
gambling machinery 10 their owners is re-
aimed in office. What is needed more
han anything else Immediately is a new
Director of Public Safety.
"
NEW FACILITIES MAKE NEW