Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-02-16
/. VICTOR 4. oLANnrR.


/ larry bills. known among trade union.
+ ISIS S tie Military Police Riils. were
introduced in the Fifty-secana Cen
eral Assembly b Senator Henry NJ.
Dunlap Of the fWenly-fourih senator
AL District and Representative How
/ ard I. Castle q TIE Seventh SenA.
torlal District Is Senate Bill Ne. 55
and Is House Bill NJ. lie.
Fortunately fer TIE people of Illi-
ncls bolh bills were defeated. Ii Is
probable, however. thar the promoters
Of the military police scheme nil CON
unue their efforts to enlist support
Tor their nefarious proposal. II Is
therefore necessary 20 aeunAint the
people 81 the state With the contents
OF these bills IN order that they will
not b mislead into a surrender Of
their liberties.
The Senate and House bills are
Identical IN language and were intro
ouceu on the same day. They pro
vide Tor the establishment Of a mill
tary police force entirely removed
FRO mall local responsibility ard with
/ power 70 Invade any community In
the state, even against the protest OF
local authorities. The force Is TO be
organized on strictly military lines
IN troops differed BY captains, lieu
/ tenants, Sergeants and eorporals
The bills provide that the military
police shall be under the control Of a
commanding officer" 20 be known
as the superintendent Of the Illinois
state Police" who IS TO be appointed
Tor life and may only be removed for
certain specified constitutional causes.
Every member of the force is to have
full police authority in all parts of
the state to not only make arrests
and searches upon warrants but to
arrest without warrant any person
against whom they may have suspic-
ion. 1t provided also that the mill.
tafy police may enter any city or
town at any time for any purpose.
They are to be authorized TO disre-
gard the protests of the mayors. OF
sheriffS and toeaet as they themselves
please.
The state eonstabulary bills are the
most dangerous measure ever pre-
senied in the Illinois legislature.
They propose to inilict upon the
citizens of Illinois the same form of
military policing used by the Span
ish government in Cuba before the
Spanish-Anerican war, by the Gar
list government in Russia, by the
German kaiser in Alsaee- Lorraine.
by the Belgian king in the Congo,
by the British government during the
early colonial days in America and
later In India and Ireland and by the
Diaz government in Mexico.
The promoters of these measures
have conducted a great publicity cam
paign throughout the state for many
months, urging the necessity of more
effective policing of rural highways,
and they have succeeded in mislead-
ing many Of the farmers into belief
that the purpose is To furnish rural
police protection. Even casual
reading Of the bills shows the whole
campaign TO have been miserable
falsehood. Instead of providing for a
rural police, sprsSfl out in the rural
communities and permanently sta
toned in these communities, the bill
offers a military force for quick
mobilization in military units. II is
an army for service against the peo-
pie.
Section Two of the bill reads: The
Illinois State Police shall consist Of
a superintendent, an assistant super
intendent, and such number of
troops, not less than three nor more
than seven, as may be determined by
the superintendent, subject to the APP
prOval of the governor. Each troop
shall consist of a captain, two lieu
tenants. four sergeants, eight corpor-
ais and fifty priyates. The superin-
tendent shall be the commanding Off
Ger of the Illinois State Police Each
troop shall be commanded by cap
tain.
This section shows that the pro-
posed police department is to be a
strictly military force organized in
large units, each troop to consist Of
a total of sixty-five men, fifteen of
whom are to be officers and all to be
designated by military titles, namely,
captains, lieutenants, sergeants, cor
porals and privates. The general
commanding officer" is, however,
provided with the unobstructive title
of superintendent" and his imme-
Mate subordinate is to be called "as-
sistant superintendent" as a cover
for the military position of general
and colonel. But they are named as
Commanding" officers and not as
directors or heads of departments.
The terms superintendent" and
assistant superintendent" are in
tended to be misleading and to con-
vey the false impression that the
force under their command is not a
purely military organization. The
section ,confers upon the commanding
officer. the so-ealled superintendent,
the power to increase the force from
three troops TO seven troops, or from
one hundred and ninety-fiye men to
four hundred and ffty-five men, or
ganized in troops Of sixty-five, and
to do this with the approval Of the
governor without asking sanction
from the legislature. The number of
troops provided is, in either case,