Evening star., 1925-07-18

The interest with which the country
has been watching the efforts of Brig
Gen. Smedley d. Butler of the Marines
10 clean up" Philadelphia is reflected
in widespread comment on the an
nouncement of his coming resignation
from the office of director of public
safety. Since the director is soldier,
naturally military phrases are used in
discussing the cast He is said Ito be
ready TO hoist the white flag; TO have
met his Waterloo in Philadelphia :;
to have lost his battle; to be pre-
barring ito start a new war on CRIME ;
to have failed in his series OF Sortles,
and to be on the eve OF 'surrenderlng
his command" but standing with his
back TO the wall"
"One hundred and forty-nine years
after the liberty bell proclaimed the
glad tidings of independence to the
land" saws the San Antonio Evening
News. Brig Gen. Smedley d. Butler.
director of public safety, announces
that his efforts to clean up Philadel-
phia have ended in failure. He asserts
that driving vice from the City of
Rrotherly Love has been harder than
any battle he has ever fought. In the
birthplace of American independence
the citizens evidently have forgotten
that liberty exists in proportion to
wholesome restraint.
x X X X
MANY observers are inclined to say
| II told YOU so" with the Fort Wayne
| Journal-Gazett We do not fatter
ourselves" observes the Journal-Ga
| zette. that Gen Smedley ID. Butler
| gave serious attention to a warning
| we uttered for his benefit early in his
| ca sreer as "A special commissioner of
! safety to clean up Philadelphia.
! Nevert heless. we did solemnly admon-
ish him to look out. We told him
| that his great problem in Philadelphia
would not be found in attempting to
deal with bootleggers, crooks and gun
men. but in trying to get along with
| the politicians"
| Gen Butler has encountered the
| age-old obstacle to law enforcement,
| asserts the Kansas City Post, and
| finds his advances repulSed by the
strategy of politics" This comment
! is borne out by the retiring director
| of safety's own statement, which, as
quoted in the Huntington Advertiser,
| va as follows: Il have not been fight.
| ing crime and vice so much as |. have
| heen fighting political influence that
! onnosed me at every turn The Ad
vertiser believes "politics-criminal en-
| tanglements. as they are called by
! Cen. Butler, are making all laws diff
| tiCult of enforcement, particularly tHe
prohibition statutes.
| X
Agreeing that the evil to which Di
rector Butler refers is found in all
large American cities, the Portland
Greg. Daily Journal declares, 1T is a
situation that can be remedied. The
remedy lies in the people of the
! cities The remedy cannot be applied
however. by an Indifferent citizenry
and the Utica Observer-Dispatch
describes the lethargy of Philadelphia
as so great that even man of the
tremendous energy of Gen. Butler car
hardly dent 1t.
| "It looks as If the revelations about
to he made in Philadelphia may con
stitute one of the major police scan
dals of American annals" predicts the
! charleston, s. c.. Evening Post. The
| revelations referred to concern 'the
! corrupt police ring" which, according
to Assistant United States District At
tornev Henry B. Friedman, says the
Springfield, Mass, Union, mot only
| accepted bribes to protect the liquor
law yiolators from arrest, but even as
sisted in the loading of trucks with
contraband liquor and acted as con
VOWS for the liquor-laden vehicles"
Half hearted cooperation of the po