The Washington herald., 1917-04-08

Two years ago., and CLIMBED into tne
uniform of the chief of Washington s
police force he knew he was up against
a big job-a job that had been passed to
him by the biggest boss in the country.
the President of the United States.
The strange part of 1t was. however.
that Pullman-now Maj. Pullman-had to
wait two whole years before he got
his baptism of fire. but when he did
get it. he got it In three allopathic doses,
| and all within sixty days time. Today,
the major Is on top. the congratulations
are pouring in and he can afford to sit
back and breathe easily. His record
| stands like this:
Two years devoted to whipping the
police department into his own kind OF
| shape. :.
Next. the Inauguration Of a President
| with The country on the verge Of war
| ono Of the nastiest, most perilous Jobs
in the business. Then washington's worst
street car strike.
Finally, the quelHng of a group of
| pacifists who fiocked into Washington
overnight to catole or bully Congress into
keeping the nation out of war.
Maj. Pullman got away with all three
big jobs and If picked up a gray hair
or SO In the getting, it's all in days
work and no hard feelings.
Rated as a "kid."
Pullman is about the strangest police
| chief Washington ever had. In the first
place. he was rated as kid" when he
took the Job. He was Just past 30 Fur
thermore. he had been superintendent of
a Sunday school. Can you beat It? Some
of them howled. in the department.
But Pullman went to work along his
own lines. He claimed to have theories"
about police work and, of course, that
made some of the old boys in the business
smile. With all due respect to the ex-
| chief. Maj. Sylvester, the police depart
ment in his day was ruled by one mans
imperious will and not by the adoption
of broad. practical lines of scientific
work. Pullman, you see, had his work
cut out for him at the beginning.
So perhaps. it is fortunate for the
former reporter that he had two years
| to get ready for his big drive before 1t
came. He might have weathered it in
the first year of his administration
there's nothing like giving a man the
beneft of the doubt-but the law of prob
abilities was not on Pullman's side.
Faced Gigantic Task.
With two years experience, or there
about. behind him. Maj. Pullman woke
and found himself up against a task
of protecting a President during a time
when the country was watching its next
door neighbor for signs of dIsloyalty.
II was bad time for an Inauguration
which is ticklish task at best. SO Mai.
Pullman went 10 work to dope out some
plan.
Do you remember that double Gordon
OF Secret Service guards that marched
around the Presidents carriage on in
auguration day? Pullman had a hand in
planning that detail. Rnt his biggest job
had to be done days beforehand He had
to see that the city was apparently free
from dangerous characters, known an
archists or other gentry Of bomb hurting
proclivities. Then he doped out the plan
of putting detectives on housetops. That
was Pullman's idea. 1t hadn't been done
before, so far as one could learn.
But under it all. the 7oo-odd policemen
OF the Capital knew exactly what they
had to do if any attempt was made on
the President that day. Pullman believed
In the old motto about an ounce of pre-
Vention being worth a pound of cure SO
he put himself in the place of a man who
was planning to attack the President and
then he made plans to circumvent any
possible effort that would be made.
Trained in Details.
Additionally, the police were trained in
just how to cooperate with the soldiers
and the Secret Service men who were
guarding the route of march There
wasn't any clash of authority; everybody
knew who was bossing him and one cap
tain didn't countermand the orders of
another captain and so on down through
the ranks. Pullman had seen to all that
days before. and on the day Of the pa
rade. he rode up the Avenue on horse
back ahead of the President, got the
Chief Executive to the White House and
then the parade was all over but the
shouting. SO far as the big police job
was concerned.
Another thing about the inauguration
was the fact that weeks before the event,
the men and their captains got toseher
and went over the detailed instructions
that had been issued. so there wasn't any
excusable chance of having things go
wrong.
Then came the street car strike, a week
or so after Inauguration. Pullman doped
out his plans for handling this Job with
MS characteristic regard for civic science
He was held within the narrow lines OF
strict impartiality toward either side and
! he has held his men within those lines SO
tar as 1t has been humanely possible.
Inc policemen on the street weren't
looking for anybody but lawbreakers. II
crowd had attacked car. somebody
IN the crowd would have been arrested
but the police would have gone after a
rough-necked motorman or conductor
who overlooked the law with Just The
same vigor.
No Prejudice In strike.
1t may be rough shedding from the
standpoint of the union men. but Pull
man, ability to keep order in Washing
ton has practically lost the strike for the
men. AS long as there WAS no disorder. II
war hard to bring outside agencies into
the struggle to force a solution. Further.
more, as long as there was no violence
the company could operate its cars, and
SO long as the company could operate
cars. the men were losing the strike
1t Is dinicult to win car strikes without
disorder, and this Is true. regardless OF
the golden rule theories that may be en-
tertained to the contrary. If you can't
block car lines with mobs of brick-hurl.
ers It's poor old strike, which the
strikers might we'll have considered be-
fore they walked out. But regardless OF
what may be the outcome. the police de-
partment has been charged with partial.
ity from only one source-the winning
side. And, Of course, that was not an
official complaint. but rather ,grumblings
OF inspectors who said the roIica 1,.r,