Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-26
Richmond and tho Grand Jury,s Report

lflchmonu and tho Grand Jury'S Report
D edmond has received at the hands of
~ the grand jury diagnosis Of its
troubles. In this report there are no weasel
words. From the Mayor down to members
of the Police Department the jury has probed
long and deeply, and its findings constitute
n scathing arraignment for duty not we'll
done. Richmond has learned officially, what
1T has known unofflcially, that it has q real
vice problem that it has an illegal traffic in
liquor, and that there has been inefliciency
and coilusion in the Police Department which
has permitted these noxious municipal weeds
to grow and flourish and bring reproach
abroad to n city whose name hitherto has
been untarnished. Official confirmation OF
these disasreeable facts carries with it no
clement OF surprise. Many times their
existence has been cited in these columns
Now that the ills have been diagnosed the
remedy must be applied, and that quickly
ana without regard for individuals or per-
sonal feelings The scalpel must cut deeply
and surely, that the diseased portions of the
municipal body may be forever cleared away.
lhiS much the people must and will demand
TO the jury's finding that the morality OF
the city is at low cbb' exceptions must be
taken. Never before have the city's moral
tone and its devotion to those things that
are right and clean been more pronounced
NO other conclusion could be drawn from
the almost universal demand of the citizenry
that vice be removed and other social evils
DC cleared away once these commercalized
infractions Of the civil and moral codes be-
came known. There has been laxitv there
has been neffcency and there has been
wrongdoing on the part of officials and the
resultant conditions have been aggravated
by the presence of thousands OF soldiers but
the general indictment of Richmonds
morality will not stand Were it a true bill |
there would be small hope On the con-
trary the cleaning-up process already is un-
ger way. forced by that very moral tone that
the jury professed TO find impaired
Neither is il altogether surprising that the
Police Department is undergoing this up-
heaval 1t has been the experience OF prac- |
tcaliy every large city in the States that
nave gone dry. Just now Norfolk is having
Il similar trying ordeal. Men trained in
other conditions and unable or unwilling TO
adjust themselves TO new situations have to
be woeded out. The adjustment is one with
which prohibition workers have been familiar
to the point that they have been able to fore
cas- IL 10 certainty and 10 predict its out
come.
The difference in Richmond upheaval from
tAal experienced in former years by Atlanta
Nashville, Memphis aud other cities is that
the nation now is at war. Men accustomed
TO the social habits OF other days saw little
Aa:M IN the importation OF liquor, in small
games O. chance, and were disposed to leave
70 ponce discretion the word-old problem
OF wee. But in war time the liberty of the
iEalv!dual is submerged in the duty 10 the
nation When the commander OF Camp Lee
reported 1900 men quarantined, So Der cent
OF them tracing their infection TO visits to
i.lcnmond, the city woke up and began "a
SCI its house in order
Il is not necessary to discuss The report
o; the grand jury in detail. 1t speaks for
Itself 1t is open before the people for ac-
ton They may be depended on to see that
oincials who have erred grevously are
punished, and that those who have neglected
lneiT sworn duties now perform them or
give way TO others with better sense OF
their obligations to the city.
While with it the grand jury had no CON
Germ, It's report points unerringly to the WAY
IN which Richmond must go il il homes IN
attain municipal government in which n re-
Pt''uoh OF tie present lamcntable conditions
Wi!l be AZ least improbable if not iropossihIo
nat way lies in the charter changes upon
"-!!ch the people have been called to vote on
august b. Under the readjustmcnt Of city
1elaFl"cnls proposed therein the city viii
Oe assured OF an administration OF their af
!"!E9 INTO which the present laxitv and in
competence vii! not be permitted 10 entar
~ inc race OF the jury's report it NAV not
De doubted what course the voters will choose