NEW YORK'S TEN THOUSAND 467 



be the manifest duty of the members of this commission to " read up " 

 the entire subject, making themselves fully acquainted with the pro- 

 gressive steps by which the old-time watchman evolved into the muni- 

 cipal force, that having been displaced by the metropolitan police. They 

 will find a continual rather than continuous progress towards better 

 things in ways of organization, each commissioner having left some- 

 thing tending towards improvement ; until, coming to the present time, 

 a degree of practical efficiency is found probably nearly as great as under 

 existing laws the force is capable of attaining. 



But the present conditions can not be safely reckoned upon for 

 continuance. The wide-spread and deplorable corruption that at times 

 has disgraced the department may at any election return. The very 

 efficiency, the very decency of the present administration may be the 

 chief factor in bringing about a change far more likely to be for the 

 worse than for the better. The spirit of that notorious and wonderfully 

 able faction that for almost a full century has imposed its malign 

 influence upon New York simply awaits a renewed opportunity. Not 

 even four years of purest political and business methods can so dilute 

 the foulness of the past as to make palatable the promise of the future. 

 Do not mistake my meaning. The contest for good government in 

 New York is not between democrats and republicans, nor is it between 

 a faction of democracy and a coalition of opposed forces; nor is it surely 

 between Tammany Hall and the so-called " better elements." It is in 

 fact a phase of that interminable quarrel between the narrow " Puritan " 

 and the broad " Cosmopolitan " ideas of civic administration ; between 

 a too tenuous ideality and practicality; that to legislate for the morals 

 of the citizen, and to enact laws in their nature " sumptuary " will 

 always fail of their high purpose. The limitations of enforcible author- 

 ity ought to be recognized and never overstepped. The purpose of the 

 police should be confined strictly to the preservation of the peace and the 

 orderly and lawful maintenance of law and order. So long as human 

 nature exists human infirmity will always evade human statutes. Smite 

 vice if you will, but inevitably the harder it is smitten the wider will 

 it be spattered, the more room will it find for contamination ; it may be 

 diffused ; it can not be annihilated. 



With overt crime the record of the department has not been entirely 

 inglorious ; but in dealing with the vicious propensities the results have 

 been very far from successful. The reasons are notorious — the men 

 " higher up," even perhaps the man highest up, for political ambition or 

 the profit of the pocket, may have connived at or incited a system of 

 paid-for immunity. At one time there has been extreme laxity, at 

 another rigorous — and sometimes illegal — enforcement of arbitrary and 

 unavailing laws. These concerning such iniquities as the saloons, the 

 social evil and " gambling " in all its numerous forms have changed and 



