The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-07-12
No uInIENcE

outside of sacred family ties, there
is no love that 1 feel with a stronger
impulse than the love of my own
home city, Pensacola. love it's
gentle, manly men and it's beautiful
matronly, motherly women. / love
our good boys and our splendid de-
vout and pious girls. In a sense,
they are all my dear neighbors and
l would not for all the world, do any
thing that might harm them in their
material or moral welfare.
You, with me, are in the same sit
uation. You love Pensacola, your
our home town. We admire it's beau
tifuI streets, it's shady walks, its
beautiful homes and it's Palafox street
and all it's Public and private schools
aid its teachers, our city gov eminent
and it's officers, through whom it is
being administered. We love our
churches and pastors and our Kiwanis
and Rotary cubs and our Chamber
of Commerce. We are, like truly
faults, and letting our light same to
the world IN good deeds, begottea by
and born of preceding kindly thoughts.
l. is indeed {. privilege to be a c;ti-
zen Of Pensacola, for it is us. new
beginning to develop. 1t will only he
three or four years from now wilep it
will have at least 4 railroads. And it
will then forge forward with gigantic
STRIDES in progress of every kind.
No man Was, or ever can be, really
prosperous unless his conduct is b.s,d
Iron absolutely just dealings with oil
his fellow n.en. So, too, a city can
net be truly prosperous unlsss II OBJ
serves rightaoIsne in all its govern
mental functions. True it is, admit
it, that sometimes a city fails to
properly perform its governmental
functions. Sometimes the officers are
derelict in the performance of their
duty to enforce the law and punish
the offenders because they do not get
the sympathetic, active help of good
citizens. Surprising such might now
be the case in Pensacola. What is
the proper remedy?
1t occurs to me that if those citizens
who bemoan the non observance Of
the law-if these same citizens would
go to the public prosecuting officers,
and instead of criticizing them, would
offer their active help to assist the
officers in getting the evidence, nee
essary to secure convictions: that, it
seems to me, would be the highest
type of civic duty. Then, too, our best
citizens will cease to be so, unless
they are willing to absolve their civic
duty by willingly serving on juries,
-, 1zF. 4.
being tried an impartial, fair, trial,
with the benefit of all reasonable
doubt as to their guilt or innocence;
but who will nevertheless convict men
who are really guilty. Let US stand
by the courts and by the state Of
Florida and by our own country, the
United States of North America, by
being ourselves, good citizens.
would feel very sorry to hear that the
punishment of any law-breaker, were
being undertaken by a set of men, who
banding themselves together, want 20
do good. which is laudfble; but which
does great harm, because it is not the
way, pointed out by our laws, by
which wrongs should be righted or
crimes suppressed.
The man who is so punished, prob
ably in most instances, gets what he
deserves. But our beloved home city,
famed for its law abiding citizenship,
would by any act of violence be great
~ damaged. Nothing could ever ef-
face the indelible scar which an act
of violence would leave on our memo
ries. Let us not, do anything that
will leave blot on the fairest city
of the state Of Florida.
1 now hereby dedicate myself TO
the active task of serving Pensacola
more than ever before and refraining
myself from any act Of violence of
| taking the law into my own hands.
1 pray that the Kiwanians, the Ro-
| tarians, our Chamber of Commerce,
our churches and all our civic and all
our religious societies. viii bend their
strongest efforts 10 help our lawfully
constituted authorities 10 get the evil
dence necessary TO convict and other
wise aid our governmental officers TO
carry out the law and prevent all vio-
lations of the law and also that there