The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, SEPT. 13, 1892. "American Institutions"

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 37, 13 September 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, SEPT. 13, 1892. " American Institutions "

It is yery much the fashion among a certain class of New Zealand politicians to hold up everything American as perfection while they disparage and condemn everything English as the reverse. We do not pretend to say that these people have not good and sufficient reasons for the faith that is in them, or that they do not judge according to their lights ; but, i for all that, we infinitely prefer the laws we live under to the peculiar government which obtains in the United States of America. The administration of justice in that free country has been, and is, so very weak and uncertain owing to the political bias of the respective officials entrusted therewith, that the people who are law abiding and determined to preserve law and order for their own protection have encouraged the formation of a body known as the " Pinkerton Police " who can, when required, concentrate a force of two thousaud men at any point in the country within foriy-eight hours after receiving notice that the services of such a body are required. Generally the rneu are distributed over the several States, but railways are so plentiful that concentration is very easily and speedily effected. The expense of maintaining and arming this force is very considerable. A contemporary, quoting the New York World, says that on detective cases the Pinkertons charge i' 2 a day for each detective and expenses. In affairs like the riots at the Carnegie works the average charge is 32s a day, of which the men get half. It is not stated whether the men are paid when not employed, but in any case it is evident that their services must be freely used, otherwise the force could not be kept together. It is quite plain that in a great part of the United States the Government fails to perform its duties. The suppression of disorder and the pre vention and punishment of crime are the most essential parts of the duties of all Governments. Even when private citizens give their assistance to put down crime they should always act under the direct authority of the State, as nothing is so subversive of public order as a condition of things in which each man takes upon himself the task of avenging his wrongs by force, or hiring someone else to do it for him. The existence of private warfare in the Middle Ages has often been cited as a proof of the weakness of the central governments of the time. It cannot be said that the Government of the United States is weak in its dealings with foreign nations or in suppressing avowed rebellion, but in dealing with ordinary crime it is undcubtely weak. If there were a proper system of police, and the public supported it heartily, such a dangerous body as the force controlled by the Pinkertons could not exist.