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Show UNJUSTIFIABLE SEORECY. The persistent tendency in many quarters to cover up important crimes is, we are convinced, a mistaken state of mind. Those who have' undertaken the suppression of facts in connection with the so-called Utah National bank robbery have pursued an erroneous course. There is. no doubt in the world but that a frank and free statement of tho actual facts in that case, mado. at first, would havo been far bettor all around. Take the xase, also of the robbery of tho tray of diamonds and, pearls at Park's jewelry store on Saturday, last. Pursuant to somebody's roquesh. porhaps that of Mr. Park, 'tho Chief Vf Police of this city undertook to suppress, all public mention .of the crime, and did suppress it for six" days; but ono man, aside from tho chief, was. told anything about, it. That this was a mistake there can not ba the least doubt. For first of all, nothing tangible tangi-ble has resulted from that suppression. The police, of- course, have their own means of investigation and observation observa-tion in such cases. -Their efforts to identify and arrest the ofl'ondors in that case were, of course, employed to the best advantage. But what arc the. eyes of a single policeman compared with the C3'os of the whole community? Suppose that information had been promptly given to the press, and the evening papers of Saturday had got out-editions out-editions telling of the robberj' and describing de-scribing as well as possible the persons supposed io have committed it: ever'-body ever'-body on the street, the whole c,ty, in fact, would have been on the alert to note every suspicious person, and to j tip off to the police every one that could in the least be supposed to havo had, anything to do with lhat robbery, iu case they undertook to leave town on any of the trains, or lo hide in any lodging house. There cannot be much doubt that such a general lookout as would have been established in caso of publiciiy would have led to valuablo results. Certainly in this case no valuable valu-able results can be pleaded for the secrecy se-crecy employed. ' It is not contended for a moment that the police would have any right to suppress public mention of a murder mur-der or of certain heinous crimes. "Why is it supposed, then, that the police have a right to suppress information about burglaries and robberies and the like J They havo in fact no such right. Why should it bo considered of any advantage to the persons who are robbed to have nothing said about it in the press? In the vast majority of , cases the main prompt and feasible hope of discovering the perpetrators of such crimes is in public notoriety, for then a thousand eyes are directed towards the discovery of the offendor and the recovery of the property.. where but ono pair of eyes was available through the official means of the police po-lice department; that is. at. least five hundred persons will be on the lookout for the criminal where one policeman would be engaged on tho job. This whole matter has been gone over so often, the benefits of publicity in such cases so fully established, that it is one of the curious and unaccountable unaccounta-ble survivals of mediaeval notions to find such ideas active in our day. In ancient times, when the whole community com-munity was supposed to be in league with thieves and toughs, and the populace popu-lace in a constant latent resistance to law and authority, it was assumed that publicity would enable the criminal the better lo escape. But the conditions of society have beon absolutely reversed from the mediaeval or ancient limy, as conditions exist now in our Republic. No longer is it considered a concession to popular clamor io release a robber upon the community. No longer is it considered an act of grace to the people peo-ple to empty the' jails when there is a public jubilation. On the contrary, if such wore done the first citizens coming com-ing across the jailbirds and knowing them to be such would at once apprehend appre-hend them and turn them over once more to justice. Since the feeling that everybody is a criminal" who is not an official has entirely died out and the coutrarj- rule is that every citizen is just as much an oflicial and just as much interested in the suppression of crime as the officials themselves, the rule should accordingly be reversed, and the first thing doue in the case of any crime of any importance should bo to immediately notify the newspapers with a view to publishing all the known facts iu the case and setting tho whole community upon the search for the criminals. That is the true rule, and it should bo applied in every case iu our modern conditions of society, citizenship, citizen-ship, and feeling of public support for the law. To hold the reverse, is not only an insult lo the public, but au injustice to the person . wJio is robbed, aud the rule amounts to a confederation of officialdom with the criminal with a view to aiding him to escape. |