13G PERILS. — INTEMPERANCE. 



thus throwing the power into the hands of the bad mi- 

 nority. " There are two things," said D'Alembert, " that 

 can reach the top of tne pyramid— the eagle and the 

 reptile." Under the rum government of our cities, the 

 reptile climbs. In 1883, of the twenty -four aldermen of 

 the city of New York, ten were liquor dealers and two 

 others, including the President of the Board, were ex- 

 rumsellers. Important offices in the city government, 

 which pay a salary of $12,000 or $15,000, have within a 

 few years been occupied by men who kept "bucket 

 shops" and '-all night" dens; some have been prize 

 fighters, and others had been tried for the crime of 

 murder. Is it strange if the law in the hands of such 

 men is a dead letter? Says Anthony Comstock: "I have 

 no doubt many of our influential city politicians are in 

 receipt of a regular revenue in the way of hush money 

 from gambling-saloons, brothels and groggeries, and the 

 word is passed all the way down the line to let them alone." 

 The late Dr. Howard Crosbj^ said.: ' ' One of the captains 

 of police is said to have made $70,000 in one year by his 

 carefulness in leaving the law breakers alone. Any- 

 body with half an eye can see that the exemption of the 

 liquor-selling law breakers from prosecution is a system 

 and not an accident." "From Police Headquarters " he 

 continues ' ' goes forth the order, not written but verbal, 

 that the police are not to enforce the excise law. I have 

 had my man on the force, and can speak with knowl- 

 edge of the facts. If a man is arrested for violating an 

 excise law, the next morning the one who arrested him 

 is called up, reprimanded, and the man arrested is dis- 

 charged, while the policeman is transferred to some far- 

 off district, the twenty-fourth ward, for instance — that 

 Botany Bay of the police force— if he is not immediately 

 discharged by those four men we call Commissioners." 

 Says the New York Times : ' ' The great underlying 

 evil, which paralyzes every effort to get good laws, and 

 to secure the enforcement of such as we have, is the 

 system of local politics, Avhich give the saloon-keepers 

 more power over government than is possessed by 



