Show THE FREE LANCE Speak not ill of the dendand Captain Parker is dead very dead But the Liberality Liberal-ity administration is notall the mores the pity and upon it n sts the responslbll ity for yesterdays tragedy t t t We hear a great deal lately of the lawless condition of other citiesboom cities if your honor pleaseof police muddles of gambling deals and all the other concern uiuant evils of a reckless government all cited to mitigate if not palliate tho reign of terror that exists here In this effort to give a brighter color to tbe sombre picture find the silver lining in tbe black cloud to excuse impending anarchy lies the greatest obstacle to reform within the pre ent administration Itt Many other cities it is true have bad a period > of lawlessness though we dont know of any in which the period was quite so protracted or the lawlessness quite so bola > Occasionally at least a policeman would run in a holdup H burglarora mur darer and if ho were perforce compelled to shoot it was not into the entrails of a brother officer But however that may be when crime became rampant it was not excused ex-cused or apologized for At one time it was in Omaha but it didnt pay the apologists apolo-gists The mayor Colonel Chase wuo was a trustee in the Episcopal church and passed the plate with regularity and uno tieD every Sunday was Impeached and the marshal Cumings went to the penitentiary peniten-tiary for a term of two years After that a Democratic mayor was elected and ho started a practical reform movement as all good Democratic mayors do and when the next census taker came around he found that the city had quadrupled quad-rupled in population wealth ana importance import-ance and improved in safety virtue and credit It was ever thus o tiI Now as to tho murder of Captain Parker that is simply the natural effect of a bad cause an incident in the history of the Liberal misadmluiBtraliou By reason of nit past record and shady reputation Cap tain Parker would have been a fit subject for the police to keep their eyes upon him Instead of that lie was put in charge of the police There are plenty of people here who knew him when he kept a notorious road Douse near this city Now Parker might have reformed and wo hope no had before it was eternally too lale out in that case it would have boen more appropriate to get him a job as captain in the Salvation army than on the police force These sudden reforms after a long career of questionable pursuits do not often wash und at any rate they should not constitute a potent recommendation for a maus promotion to an office in which he is expected to check evil and run down criminals Maybe though that Parker wes not appointed on account of his reformation refor-mation but rather on account of his ability to deliver certain votes where they did the most good And reviewing nis case all through it need surprise no one that ho died as ho has t t t It would bo well perhaps to throw the veil of charity over this bloody climax of a personal feud begotten of official demoralization de-moralization and corruption were it not that the same insiduous Influences as operated in the police department are at work in the other departments of the city i government In the event that u Democratic Demo-cratic administration should succeed the present L one in office it would hove a cieantic and discouraging tusk before it The city I cannot borrow any more money It can sell no more land and the interest on thu bonded indebtedness alone will require an amount of money almost equal to tho revenue of the city a few years ago The taxing power is limited and yet it is necessary to push the improvements I improve-ments which the Liberals have promised and which at this stage of our development are imperative No wonder the Democrats are not stumbling over each other in their eagerness to bu nominated notltattd fit Returning to the rolico department the people will have lo grapple with either horn of the dilemma Turn out the Liberal party and give the Democrats a chance to reorganize it on au efficient basis or duo cause the legislature to create a non purtisan commission that is a commission in I which both the Democratic and Rcpub Mean l parties shall be represented uccord ling I to their respective strenath the total l number to be three or live with power to appoint or remove officers subject to the approval of the city council We would prefer the first alternative because it involves in-volves no red tape and directness is one of the cardinal l virtues of Democracy but rather than suitor from the outrageous abuse that honeycomb the police department depart-ment now we would accept anything But before any true reform can be inaugurated the Liberal party must bo shorn of Its I power for mischief |