The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-14
States to Have
Uniformed Police

UMgG0TEnG6I P041Ce
 MI ANY states are about to follow AVU Pennsylvania example and maintain a uniformed and thorough ly organized suburban and rural police force. New Jersey has decided to get in line without delay, and other states that are considering the need of police department with statewide powers are New York, Massachu- sets, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ari- zona, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas
 Rural crime in New York and popu- lous New England states is on the in- crease, and among the chief causes of this changed condition are. the auto mobile and good roads-new means of rapid transit-and the ease with
 ea the malefactor can now com a1 rime and get miles away before fhn neriff or the constable can be- Eia chase.
 en automobiles first came into uss ieir cost was too high for the ary criminal, but now even the ' poorest of these manage to possess a car-usually stolen. The more ann bilious burglars and highwaymen buy fine models warranted to keep up high speed.
 The New York Sun in discussing the variety of-crimes committed in the Empire state and the reasons why state police force is demanded relates this incident:
 Not long ago farmer was dis mayed when reaching one of his pastures to find that a number of his sheep had been killed, appar- entity by a vicious dog. The ani- mals were still warm. The place where they were killed was well beyond the country road.
 On his way back to the house he was overtaken by a large touring car containing a couple of strang- CTS. The men promptly volunteered the information that they under- stood some of his sheep had been killed and offered him a price for them. not the market price by any means, but one that was attractive in view of the fact that the law prohibits the sale of dead animals for food.
 The farmer accepted the offer, the bargain was immediately con- cluded and the strangers lost no time in hustling off with the dead sheep. Then the countryman awak- ened He had not mentioned that flock had suffered How did sk5&s strangers know of it? Plain s M te automobile and a sheep fg dog hidden away some
 ; back upon the road were
 ies deliberately employed to # ngasid him.
 he foregoing instance is only ns& &knong thousands of criminal Kess that are annually made easy K within the boundaries of the state s of New York. The sped of the mo- z tor car adds enormously to the diff :, faculties of apprehension. If the 4 loot is worth while the offenders do not hesitate to abandon their machines at points where they can quickly be reabsorbed by large town or reach an express station where only the fast through trains stop
 Pennsylvania's rural police force m mounted of course, has been 1T \ operation for several years. At frs rome persons were disposed to criti g eixe it on the ground that it might b' used by politicians to further theil fortunes. Organized labor looked nskance. Labor leaders feared thu Y uo]ice would lean to the side of in z 3ividual corporations in case of { 6frike. But there is no criticism iron Y nny quarter today. The police hav' khoon called upon to preserve order ir number of strikes and they have en invariably impartial and have