The Washington times., 1924-12-10
With The
.Alibi Artists.
"A Cross Section of the
Daily Grind in Judge
ScEuIdt's Court
Read EN- and Weep.
BY DONALD MacDOUGAL
nAfAcflva VRaion
Read EN- and Weep.
Defective vision.

OOAoCUlVO VASAUMs
We remember reading, quite
while ago, something about a
Congressional junket to the Canal
Zone. Some time before that
there was a junket to the Philip.
pines-or' talk about it. anyhow.
We don't remember whether Con.
gress followed its usual procedure
and let it go at that, or whether
the trip was actually made. But,
at least Congress partially. recog.
nized the desirability Of knowing
something about the subject it
was legislating upon.
\ Congress knows more about the
Philippines than 1t does about
the District, yet it legislates more
intimately for us than it does for
the Tagalogs and the Zamboan.
goans. Wouldn't junket through
the District be good idea? Our
national legislature probably con.
sists of the most practical and
hard headed individuals in the
world. These are excellent quail
tiles, with the one disadvantage
of rendering their possessors in
capable of understanding anything
they can't see at close range.
AS an instance, the District
Commissioners have long been
begging. beseeching, pleading for
a larger police force, and for a
traffic court. A clear, forceful,
accurate statement Of the neces.
sity for these things. they laid
before Congress. They might as
well have laid it before the Home
for the Aged and Infirm. Con-
gress couldn't see 1t. Description
doesn't mean a thing to a Con-
gressman-he wants to put his
finger in the wound.
A number of reckless and
irresponsible drivers obligingly
furnished the wounds. With a
few corpses thrown IN by way
of lagniappe, and now we're
going to have the increased
police and court facilities that
the Commissioner have been
begging for so long. We might
as well have had them before
those 10 people were killed-but
unfortunately Congress can learn
only by object lessons.
Congressional Reasoning.
The Congressional reasoning
simple, direct, and to Congress
at least convincing, runs some
thing like this:
We will not appropriate money
FOR locks on your stable door
= Is proved beyond every doubt,
reasonable or unreasonable. The
only proof acceptable to us is
the stealing Of the mare. We will
not, then, appropriate your money
for locks on your stable door, I'M
til your mare has been stolen. I
After the animal has disappeared,
there is. of course, no need at
all for locks, and we do not feel
justified in appropriating your
money for such purpose.
Washington has been ruled in
accordance with this Congress
sional syllogisnn for a good many
years, with such practical re.
suits as the Knickerbocker
Theater collapse, the 40 people
slaughtered in our streets In less
than two years, our Gopher
Prairie style of street lighting,
and our crowded public schools.
A Congressional committee
should certainly go on a junket
through the District. We suggest
that they start with the police
court, a quaint, delapidated old
structure that hasn't been painted
since 1t was built; that houses
some three or four hundred peo-
pie an average Of three hours
every day and hasn't a public
drinking fountain in any of its
dingy corridors from cellar to gar
ret; an institution so under.
manned that It hasn't facilities
for trying 10 per cent Of the Dis.
trict's law violators; that must
not only permit forfeiture Of col
lateral, in order to save trial costs.
but must and does encourage such
justice peddling by allowing the
accused to forfeit an amount con.
siderably smaller than the sum
posted as surety for his appear
ance in court; and all the while
turning into the credit Of the
United States a surplus Of S400,-
900 or SO annually sum that
might appropriately be headed,
From the sale Of justice in
broken lots"
We'd like to see a Congressional
junket doing the DistBtct--beg
pardon, going through the Dis.
trict-er-pardoh agAin--touring
the District. II the present
regime of political economy Of.
fers financial OBSTACLE thereto,
the Alibt Column will gladly con.
tribute 81 to start q fund to de.
F,.xr 4l,n mwnnm@Am 80 Ar It,.