314 JOSEPH W. FOLK 



tion of laws by executive officials who have sworn to enforce 

 them. It is not for an executive official to say whether a law 

 is good or bad, but to enforce it as it is. He should not ask, 

 Is it popular? or is it good politics? but is it right? In the end, 

 if he remains steadfast, the right will win. The trouble has 

 been that a privileged class have violated the law with im- 

 punity, and escaped its consequences. It is not hard to pursue 

 with all the terrors of the law, the wretch who picks a pocket or 

 steals a loaf of bread ; but it is quite another matter when the 

 law is sought to be put against those who have millions behind 

 them, with political inffiience enough to affect an entire com- 

 munity. When bad men get a bad man in office, they support 

 him in all the evil that he does. Bad citizens are combined; 

 good citizens are divided — that is the chief cause of law break- 

 ing. If good citizens would join hands in patriotic endeavor, 

 the lawless could not control anything, for they constitute but 

 a small proportion of the entire population. The effectiveness 

 of law depends entirely upon how it is executed. When the 

 prosecuting officer is attempting to enforce the law against 

 those of power, he may find himself besieged on every side; 

 close political friends may plead ; inducements and hopes may 

 be held out for lessened activity; annihilation may be threat- 

 ened if he proceeds. Pursuing steadily the course that he has 

 mapped out, with the good of the people alone in view, he may 

 find himself hedged in at times by a wall of hostile inffiiences; 

 but now and then looking beyond to that great public that he 

 is serving, a friendly glance or a kindly clasp of an outstretched 

 hand will cheer and encourage him for further effort. He 

 cannot expect the good opinion of those agamst whom he en- 

 forces the law. Their ill will is the best evidence of his sincer- 

 ity. Every pressure may be brought to bear to swerve him 

 from his conception of honest effort. If once he falters, his 

 usefulness as a public servant is gone. It may be far easier 

 for him to allow some offense to go by unnoticed, but he should 

 rather have the approval of his conscience than the plaudits of 

 those who w^ould profit by his neglect of duty. He should 

 prefer to retire to private life conscious of having done his best, 

 than by failing to do so receive the encomiums of law breakers. 

 If he halts, he will be applauded by those he should prosecute; 



