LAW AND ORDER LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



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LAW AND ORDER LEAGUE OF THE r.MTEH 

 STATES, a national organization or alliance of lo- 

 cal leagues, which has for its object, as ex- 

 pressed by its constitution, " to maintain the 

 principle that the enforcement of law is essential 

 to the perpetuity of good government, and by 

 promoting the formation of State and local 

 leagues, to secure in all proper ways the enforce- 

 ment of existing laws relating to the liquor-traf- 

 fic, and all offenses against morals and the peace 

 and good order of society, and to encourage 

 and assist the authorities in maintaining the 

 same." The honor of precedence in the law- 

 and-order movement is claimed by a " Society 

 for the Prevention of Crime," organized early 

 in 1877 in New York city, under the leader- 

 ship of Dr. Howard Crosby, which was instru- 

 mental in closing many of the saloons of that 

 city. Later in the same year a similar society 

 was formed in Chicago, to which the movement, 

 perhaps, owes its first effective impetus, and 

 which is regarded as the parent of the pres- 

 ent national league. It was observed during 

 the railway riots of that year that a large por- 

 tion of the rioters consisted of half-drunken 

 youths, and subsequent inquiries elicited the 

 information that not fewer than 30,000 such 

 persons habitually frequented the drinking- 

 saloons of Chicago, and were furnished with 

 liquor in defiance of the law against sale to 

 minors. Aroused by these discoveries, a com- 

 pany of energetic men, among whom Frederick 

 F. Elmendorf and Andrew Paxton were prom- 

 inent, organized on September 25 a " Citizens' 

 League of Chicago for the Suppression of the 

 Sale of Liquor to Minors." The procedure 

 adopted was simple and effective ; the prosecut- 

 ing agent, Mr. Paxton, or his assistants, visited 

 each saloon in order, and whenever a minor was 

 found drinking, a complaint was made before a 

 magistrate, and prosecution and conviction fol- 

 lowed. The law, which for seven or eight 

 years had been a dead letter, only two prose- 

 cutions and no convictions having been made 

 under it, became at once an effective instru- 

 ment to eradicate a growing evil. The saloon- 

 keepers were forced to submit, and in the 

 course of a few years fully five sixths of the 

 sale of liquors to minors was effectually sup- 

 pressed. At the same time the field of labor 

 for the organization was gradually widened till 

 it embraced all forms of legal opposition to the 

 liquor-traffic. 



The knowledge of this work and of other 

 similarly successful work by the New York 

 society soon led to the formation of leagues in 

 Cincinnati, Louisville, and other large centers, 

 which became valuable agencies in their sepa- 

 rate fields. All these were united into a na- 

 tional league, at a convention held in Boston, 

 Feb. 22, 1883, containing delegates from eight 



different States, and representing twenty-seven 

 leagues. Mr. Elmendorf, president and founder 

 of the Chicago league, was chosen president 

 of the national organization. This meeting 

 was followed by the tbrmation of a State 

 league in Massachusetts, and of numerous local 

 leagues in other parts of the country. So rapid 

 was the growth of the movement at this time 

 that at the second annual meeting held near 

 Chicago in August, 1884, the number of leagues 

 then in existence was estimated by the secre- 

 tary at about 500, with an aggregate member- 

 ship of at least 60,000. Ex-Gov. John D. Long, 

 of Massachusetts, was chosen president of the 

 league by this meeting, Mr. Elmendorf having 

 died in October, 1883. The present incumbent 

 of that office, Hon. Charles C. Bonney, of Chi- 

 cago, succeeded ex-Gov. Long in 1885. 



Although primarily and chiefly an organiza- 

 tion to enforce the laws against the liquor- 

 traffic, and though in some States, as in Mas- 

 sachusetts, confined entirely to that work, the 

 constitution of the league does not restrict it 

 to any narrow line of activity, and local clubs 

 have frequently attacked other evils. The 

 league at Cincinnati not only fought the liquor- 

 dealers, but attacked and closed the Sunday 

 theatres of that city. In Louisville a crusade 

 against gamblers was undertaken ; they were 

 driven out of the city, and the Kentucky Leg- 

 islature was induced to make gambling a felo- 

 ny. More recently the league at Seattle, Wash- 

 ington Territory, found an opportunity to 

 work on the side of law and order by protect- 

 ing the Chinese when they were terrorized and 

 hunted from that place. The work of the 

 league is the aggregate work of its local or- 

 ganizations. No attempt has been made to 

 collect statistics from these, but the efforts of 

 any one are indicative of the character of all. 

 The report of what has been done in Boston 

 is here presented. The Secretary says: 



We believe that not less than 15,000 children were 

 patronizing the saloons in the city of Boston when we 

 began our work. It is now a difficult matter to find 

 one of these little children entering a saloon. Most 

 of the saloons were open, doing business on the 

 Lord's day. Hundreds that were then open are now 

 closed, "the Sunday arrests for drunkenness were 

 reduced, during the first year of our work, more than 

 one third ; during the past year they have been only 

 about half as many as they were during the year be- 

 fore the Law-and-Order League was formed. The 

 members of our association have conducted an agi- 

 tation for an increase in the license fees of the city 

 with success, and as a result $666,904 has been paid 

 into the treasury in excess of the amount that it would 

 have received from this source if there hud been no 

 Law-and-Order League. We found ourselves unable 

 to secure any active work on the part of our police 

 force in the enforcement of this law. We began and 

 carried forward an agitation which culminated in an 

 act of the Legislature taking the power of appointment 

 of the board controlling our police force, and having 

 charge of the administration of the liquor law, from 



