Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-24
RESPECT FOR THE Law .

A great deal is being said these days about prohibition en-
torcement. The governors of the various states have met and de-
sslared IN favor of doing everything within the E power to uphold
The law. These 81 re governors have been in conference with the
President of the United States and they have all agreed that con-
aitions are bad and that as long as the laws are on the statute
books they must be enforced.
A Why, then, do conditions continue to be as bad as ever?
One answer is to be found in the recent police trial held in
ills city. An officer was accused of being drunk while on duty.
His condition was such that the sergeant who found him deemed
it advisable to take him to headquarters. The lieutenant in charge
of headquarters testified that the accused policeman was stagger-
ing and talkative when brought in. He was taken to a doctors
office and the physician declared the policeman had been drinking,
but, in the doctors opinion, he was eft for duty"
Realizing that the law strictly prohibits the manufacture or
sale of intoxicating liquors in any form; that police officers are
sworn to uphold the law, how can there be any excnse whatever
Tor a policeman who is found on duty with liquor on his breathe
How can an officer of the law who is more or less under the influ-
once of liquor himself consistently arrest others for violating the
prohibition lawsq
The physician who examined the policemen against whom
charges were brought, declared that although the policeman had
been drinking he was fit for duty. With all respect to the medical
profession, there are those who maintain that any policeman who
has been drinking while on duty in these prohibition times, is not
At fox duty. He is not fit to be a member of the police force.
1t is claimed that the prohibition laws cannot be enforced.
But how are we to know that they cannot be enforced as long as
those whose duty it is to enforce them do not make an honest effort
to enforce them?
Here we have a case in this city where a policeman who adj
nittedly had been drinking and was more or less under the in
fluence of Intoxicating liquors, is exonerated by those in authori-
t. Yet we wonder why there is not more respect for the law!
Governor Pinchot has been commended for his letter to Pres
.ident Coolidge calling upon the federal authorities to take the
lead in seeing that the prohibition laws are enforced. The Presi-
dent comes back in his address to the governors and shows that
it is just as much the duty of the state and local authorities to do
their part in enforcing the prohibition laws as til the duty of the
federal authorities. He asks for cooperation.
The governors were impressed with the force of the Presi-
dents remarks. The moral effect of what the President had to say
has been far-reaching. 1t is just such lack of cooperation as we
find here in this city in this poiceman's trial that breeds disre-
spect for the law and makes enforcement impossible. As long as
policemen whose duty ii to enforce the law have no more respect
for the law themselves than to drink while on duty, and as long
as municipal authorities see nothing wrong in a policeman being
more or less under the influence of liquor while on duty, there
ism much chance Of the law being upheld.