PERSONALITIES

Southland Times, Issue 19172, 16 February 1924, Page 9

PERSONALITIES

A SOLDIER POLICEMAN.

(By

Ædile.)

A few days ago the cable man treated us to some information about the efforts of the authorities in Philadelphia to clean up the city, and the resultant complaints from certain citizens who were disturbed by the activity of the pciice force under the spurring energy of a new chief. It was made to appear that the police, throwing all idea of constitutional restrictions to the four Philadelphian winds, were behaving with brutal rapidity in enforcing the laws, and the responsibility for this unpopular display was placed on the broad shoulders of Brigadier-General Butler, of 'the United States Marines. This is the second time a municipality has called in a soldier to become Police Commissioner. Some years ago New York called in General Theodore Bingham to reorganise the city’s police force, which was then riddled by political influence and was rotten with corruption General Bingham began operations in vigorous fashion, but before he had gone very far he discovered that there were big interests opposing him and finally he had to relinquish the job because the unpopularity of reform was too much for the municipal politicians who had called him in. Briga-dier-General Smedley D. Butler has already stirred up considerable opposition and it is probable that his fight against the political influences will be as strenuous as his contest with the law breakers. Coming with the insignia of the United States Marines on his collar, General Butler has the initial advantage of public confidence, because the American people hold in high esteem this famous corps which has a splendid record of service in all parts of the world. It is the one American unit which is on a war footing at all times, and it undertakes all sorts of duties at a moment’s notice. The Marines will be found doing police duty, military ' service, refereeing in revolutions in small States, guarding legations and carrying out exploration in all parts of the world, from China to Peru, in Abyssinia, in Honduras, in the West Indies. The Marines arc the first to go in where America is involved, and the crops has as one of its hymns: If the Army and the Navy Ever look on Heaven’s scenes, They will find the streets are guarded by The United States’ Marines. That verse shows that the Marine Corps has a thorough appreciation of the duties it may be called on to undertake. Tn the European War, the Marines were the first detachment of American troops shipped abroad for battle service, and their record in the brief period of their country’s participation in the conflict was highly meritorious. The United States Marines have done a lot of police duty in foreign lands, and the call to Brigaried-General Butler was quite in keeping with the corps expectations of service. General Butler is a picturesque figure. His parents are Quakers, but his upbringing was not enough to quell the fighting instincts in him, and when the Spanish-American War broke out he tried to enlist although he was then only sixteen years old. He put a couple of years on to his age, but without avail, although he tried both the Army and the Navy. Then he heard that the Marines had openings for likely Second-Lieutenants, and he persuaded his Quaker parents to assist him in getting into the corps. His father was a politician in Pennsylvania and doubtless some wires were judiciously tugged to allow the youngster through. Butler saw action in Cuba and then was transferred to the Philippines where at the age of 17 years he was given the rank of First-Lieutenant. His next active service came in China, where he took part in the principal fighting of the Boxer Rebellion. During that campaign he was wounded in the left leg and at the same time a brother officer was struck in the right. They tied their wounded legs together and hoppled to a hospital. When things settled down in the East General Butler went back to America and to Philadelphia. His next foreign service was in Honduras in 1903, where he was the “umpire” of a revolution which caused his transfer there in a hurry. Actually his job was to see that peace was brought back to the republic in the shortest possible time. During the next few years he was often called upon to act in this capacity, and according to all accounts he “umpired” so well that the revolutions he settled usually stayed settled for some time. General Butler has not disclosed his methods but perhaps the Philadelphia lawbreakers will find out what they were. By the time the trouble came at Vera Cruz (Mexico), in 1914, General Butler had become a Major and went ashore at the head of the Marine detachment. Word reached him that a Mexican army of 45,000 men was not far away and ready for war. Thai was serious, if true. He went inland seeking information. Changing from one role to the next as necessity demanded, he finally obtained an audience with Huerta, as a detective seeking a criminal whose photograph he carried. And Huerta gave him an order permitting the inspection of his army units. The General looked over that army in detail and found that it included some 4,000 men, about the same number as the police force he now commands in Philadelphia. He also is known as the man who cleaned up Haiti. The European War brought with it new opportunities for service and General Butler probably holds as many decorations as any soldier in the United States Forces. His left chest supports a heavy array of ribbons. In these times of peace he has been whipping recruits into shape at Quantico and developing a football team which defeated the army. Probably the invitation to tackle Philadelphia’s crime problem was not unattractive. He is accustomed to action and this job promises action in generous quantities.

A friend describing this soldier, who has turned policeman, says that he looks equal to the job he has undertaken. He is in the middle forties, of medium build, and cut on the pattern of a cavalry officer, down to the crook in his right leg, which comes from sitting a horse tightly over many days. He has a head of greying hair and the face of an old-time Indian fighter; just the sort of man one sees in army pictures of the ’4o’s. Finally, he walks with a bit of a swagger, as a Marines’ General ishould. He is known as “The Fighting Quaker,” but privately the Marines call him “Old Gimlet Eye.” He has taken up a difficult task because it is generally admitted in the United States that in Philadelphia crime was well organised, while the “wet” forces were particularly strong. Butler has taken over with the statement that he does not care whether the laws are good or bad. So long as they are in force he is going to enforce them. He has this advantage: the Mayor and the Councillors took office on a platform which promised strenuous police action to “clean up” the City and this guarantee secured an immense majority at the polls; but it remains to be seen if the politicians will be able to stand up to the campaign which is sure to develop against the Marine officer as he proceeds with his work. The cables have shown thar’some opposition has already risen but it is noticeable that since this outburst there has been silence. Perhaps Butler has already got going on a winning track.