222 The New York Police Force 



of government. It afforded a most effective means 

 for blackmailing a large portion of the liquor-sellers 

 and for the wholesale corruption of the police de- 

 partment. The high Tammany officials and police 

 captains and patrolmen blackmailed and bullied the 

 small liquor-sellers without a pull, and turned them 

 into abject slaves of Tammany Hall. On the other 

 hand, the wealthy and politically influential liquor- 

 sellers controlled the police, and made or marred 

 captains, sergeants, and patrolmen at their pleasure. 

 In some of the precincts most of the saloons were 

 closed; in others almost all were open. The rich 

 and powerful liquor-seller violated the law at will, 

 unless he had fallen under the ban of the police or 

 the ward boss, when he was not allowed to violate 

 it at all. 



Under these circumstances the new police board 

 had one of two courses to follow. We could either 

 instruct the police to allow all the saloon-keepers to 

 become law-breakers, or else we could instruct them 

 to allow none to be law-breakers. We followed the 

 latter course, because we had some regard for our 

 oaths of office. For two or three months we had a 

 regular fight, and on Sundays had to employ half 

 the force to enforce the liquor law; for the Tam- 

 many legislators had drawn the law so as to make 

 it easy of enforcement for purposes of blackmail, 

 but not easy of enforcement generally, certain pro- 

 visions being deliberately inserted with the intention 

 to make it difficult of universal execution. How- 

 ever, when once the liquor-sellers and their allies 



