Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-19
NO NEED OF SELF-APPOINTED
WATCHDOCS OF THE LAWS
Regularly Elected Authorities Must En-.
force Statutes, Not Officious Bodies
Of Voluntary Origin

force Statutes, Not officious Bodies
Of Voluntary Origin
THAT Topeka clergyman who wrcte r.
1 book a few years ago about what he
would do if he were God was uufor.
tuDately not unique The world is full
of volunteer pilots Of the universe who
are convinced that thev could steer il het-
ter than its Creator.
And it is fuller of self-appointed guard
lans of society, who know that everything
is going to the demniticn bowwows be-
cause their advice is not acted upon
These people occasionally go into court
and ask for charter for some sort of
society to enforce some sort Of laws, the
enforcement of which they cannot trust
to the regularly elected officials They
do not seem to realize that such a petit
tion for a charter is an insult to the
court from which it is asked. They seem
to forget that the courts are themselves
part of the machinery for enforcing all
| the laws.
II government had broken down some
extra governmental machinery might be
| needed to perform its functions. But
there is no evidence that government in
this state has collapsed.
We have judges and district attorneys
and detectives and Other police officers
chosen from among the citizcnry and es-
pecially commissioned to enforce all the
statutes and to bring to justice all law
breakers. If they are dereict, it would
be much better to bring about their re-
moval from office and replace them with
men who can be trusted than to attempt
to turn their functions over to a volun-
tary organization made up of citizens
who cannot be held to any accountability.
Vigilance committees have done good
work in communities where orderly legal
processes had not yet been established.
But there is no need for vigilance com
mittee in Philadelphia, by whatever
euphemstic title it may be called. And
there is particularly no need here for an
organization composed of men who give
the impression of thinking they are so
much holicr than any one else that to
them alone can be intrusted the protec-
tion Of the morals of the community
through the enforcement of the criminal
laws.
We have had high license law here
for years with provisions against the sale
Of liquor on Sundays. When it was
passed it was said that it would be i'm
possible to enforce it, but it has been
obeyed much better than its ardent advo-
Gates hoped for, because the regularly
constituted authorities responsible to the
people have recognized their obligations
and have fulfilled them
The new prohibition laws to follow the
coming into effect of the amendment to
the federal constitution viii also be en-
forced to the fullest extent public senti-
ment will support 1t matters not
whether the politicians ike prohibition;
they like power and Office more than they
like the favor Of the saloonkecpers and
the brewers. Their course will be that
dictated by the prevailing sentiment of
the community because they know that
if they do not respect that sentiment they
might as well commit political suicide
An extra governmental society char
| tered to do their work for them is as
| unnecessary as a fifth wheel on a stage
! coach And it is more pernicious
We have had conspicuous examples of
such societies right here in Philadelphia
Organized originally by well-meaning
citizens, some of them very soon came
mt the control Of men who used them
for their personal and political advan-
tage They failed miserably and no one
had any respect for them. They would
have tailed even if they had not degen.
Grated from their original high purposes,
| for the community will not be dictated to
| by any group of men who announce that
| there is no hope for the redemption of
| those who disagree with them
High purposes without liberation are
futile The assumption that all virtue
resides in a small group arrays the vast
mass of society against such group. for
| the reason that the average man knows
that he intends to do right and grows
righteously indignant when some one
with a self-adjusted halo begins to
| patronize him as miserable sinner who
must be coerced into obedience to the
| laws which the men elected by his vote
have made.
So far has our machinery for law en-.
forcement come from collapsing that
within few days arrangements have
been made for increasing its effective
ness. The district attorney has been au-
thorized to create detective bureau in
his Office and to appoint men to work
under his direction in securing evidence
of the violation of law-not the liquor
law alone, but all laws the enforcement
of which is intrusted to the public prose
cutting officer. He has employed skilled
and trustworthy detective to organize
the bureau. Why should any private
citizens, responsible only TO their own