The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1922-10-04

Of his country is no more Of a real
4 patriot. than an individual is good
SON who defes the orders of his par
! erts. Still it can not be refuted that
! there is not a citizen in this country
/ who does not at some time or other
| violate, perhaps unWittingly, the laws
Of the land. Yet there is world of
difference between such infractions OF
4 the law and the wilful, malicious viol-
| alton of law; for in the one instance,
/ the individual has laW-abiding at
| titude toward the laws; but in the
other, the spirit is Of a law-breaking
nature. And it is the individual with
such a spirit who really gnaws at the
vitals of free government. What
! bootlegger can make claim to being a
/ patriotlc citizen, wheh he by his acts
insidiously strikes at that document
/ upon which our nation is built, name
| ly, the Constitution of the United
States.
"The vast majority of our people
are law-abiding citizens. They want
to see the laws enforced; but for any
individual to strike at organized vice
single-handed is worse than folly.
For example, the business man., op-
posed to disregard for law, will very,
likely not swear out a warrant for
the arrest of some individual engaged
in the illicit liquor traffic. His rea-
son for not doing so is, of course,
business. Whether this reason is
right or wrong has no place for dis
cussion here; for here we are confront
ed with fact and condition, not with
a theory. The fact is that the aver
age business man feels it his para
mount duty to see to it that his fami-
ly is provided with the necessities of
life. Hence he may not be willing to
connect his name as complaining
logger, for example. ~
"Shall such law-breakers then be
permitted to go unmolested. The
self-same business man mentioned
above would say, "Emphatically MOI"
How then shall such cases be handled
Obviously, only thru organization; for
Gin union there is strength The
number of law abiding citizens is far
greater than the number giving them
selves over to license of various sorts. |
Why should the majority Of American
citizens, themselves law-abiding, be
terrorized by the small minority who
by their disregard for law exert a |
destructive, undermining influence up
on our country out of all proportion
to their numbers
"Now the purpose of this Law En-
forcement League is to unite as many
law abiding citizens as may wish to
join in> order that the serpent of dis
respect for law may be killed before
it poisons a greater number Of our
people, particularly of the rising gen.
Grafton. 1t is an indisputable fact
that the most effective means of social
control is public opinion, Get public
opinion behind the law, and such open
and wanton disregard for law as
has during recent years prevailed,
will certainly decrease very mater
tally. 1t is the purpose of the newly
organized league to marshal public
opinion against fragrant violation of
law and to assist the local and coun-
ty officers in bringing law-breakers to
justice. That this assistance will be !
very material goes without saying; for
whereas it is extremely difficult for
one or two executive officers to carry
Oh HUGH VI d cdHlpdlSu against crime,
yet the problem is greatly simplifed
when the constituents of those officers
actively aid in such a campaign
against disregard for law.
'It is expected that very large
percentage of the community will join
the league. Others who may not join
will be in sympathy with the league.
The fact that goodly number already
belong is going to make the law
breaker go slowly; for any individual
would with great difficulty be able to
obtain the names, even now, Of every
member of this constantly growing
league. The law-breaker, not know