“ The great triumph of the reform movement at the last election was principally due to the very elements of our population which are injured and oppressed by the strict enforcement of the Sunday law, and everything points to the conclusion that the said elements will at the next election give expression to their indignation in a manner which will be a serious blow to the cause of reform. ”

“ Whoever furnishes the city an efficient, incorruptible, and dutiful police will confer upon it an inestimable benefaction and deserve the gratitude of every decent citizen. The men now at the head of the department are honestly endeavoring to do this, and the Germans will not imperil the success of that endeavor by demanding that the old demoralizing business of selling permission for violating the Sunday law be continued. They wish to attain the desired Sunday liberty, not be a demoralizing circumvention of the law, but by an orderly change of the law. ”

“ They will not forget that the accomplishment of reforms in a democratic community usually requires patience, and that he who means to be a good citizen of a republic must cultivate that patience. They will remember that the liberal current which has given us of late years public Sunday concerts and open museums, promises soon to loosen other unreasonable restraints. They will, with calm perseverance and in a lawful manner, continue their efforts until the Sunday question is submitted in the spirit of home rule to the local option of the people of New-York City. ”

“ Now, you may say that the police force can be inspired with proper respect for the law even if the head of the police ordains that a certain law, impunity for the violation of which had formerly been one of the main sources of police corruption, shall be enforced only apparently, or a little, or not at all. ”

“ The Germans of New-York are no exception to the rule. They will, in this emergency, surely do what is right and worthy of the German name. While ever as much in favor of a more liberal Sunday law, they will remember that this is neither the only nor the most valuable object of their endeavors. Although the recent struggle for good municipal government may not have yielded all the fruit they desired, yet, as good citizens, they recognize it as their duty to preserve and develop all the good results it did yield.
The corruption of the police was the most dangerous evil afflicting the community. ”

“ The Sunday law remains unenforceable, despite all the endeavors to enforce it; the police well know this, and their chase in the impossible task has a far more demoralizing effect than the exercise of discretion of authority on the part of the police. As to the supposed stoppage of the source of corruption, Mr. Schurz knows, as well as every other person, that the decision in all cases depends upon the evidence of the police. The temptation for the policeman increases with the increase of arrests. ”

“ I do not mean merely that questions of National union or independence, or of peace or war and the like, are of superior consequence; but it seems to me that honest municipal government, with reliable protection of person and property, with intelligent and impartial administration of justice, with an efficient and incorruptible police, with enlightened care for popular education and sanitary measures, &c., is of greater general importance to the people. Certainly good municipal government, with reasonable Sunday liberty, is preferable, and should be worked for. ”

“ You predict only that the Germans of New-York will at any price drive out the present municipal administration, and put in its place one favorable to Sunday liberty, of whatever elements it may otherwise be composed. ”

“ Schurz falls into a much greater mistake; he confuses cause and effect. The German-Americans do not desert municipal reform because (to use Mr. Schurz's words) they desire to see the beerhouses open on Sunday; on the contrary, they complain of Strong's and Roosevelt's want of reason and want of judgment, through which reform is given a deathly stab, while the mass of the people cannot be kept together any longer in the reform movement. ”

“ In other words, the law has always been enforced against some saloon keepers. But it never was enforced against the man with a pull. The only difference in my method of enforcing it has been that I have enforced it against every man, whether he had a pull or whether he hadn't. I started with no theory whatever about the excise law. But Sunday after Sunday complaints were brought to me that certain saloon keepers were forced to close when men right across the way from them, or even next door, were allowed to be open. ”

“ Because we recognize the inevitable results of this baiting of the saloon keepers, because we understand the impossibility of soothing the irritated feeling resulting from an utter disregard of the wishes of a sensitive class of citizens, or of quieting them with nice words, we oppose the Roosevelt policy; nor have we hesitated to speak bluntly and plainly, as is necessary in cases of want of sense and blindness, in order to produce an impression on Roosevelt and Strong, and to induce them to retreat from the wrong road. ”

“ But I believe the population of New-York can, after all, get along better without the opening of saloons on Sundays than without clean streets, a plentiful supply of good water, good schools, public security, effective sanitary arrangements, and the like, all the days of the week. ”

“ He is a Republican partisan, but I have never known a public officer who permitted himself to be less biased by party interest or influence in the performance of his official duties. As a Civil Service Commissioner he enforced the law with rare energy and intrepidity, and in doing so he spared the politicians of his own party perhaps even less than those of the Democratic faith. ”

“ Schurz has fallen into the narrow view of the native-born American. This is a question of class differences. While the citizen without wealth can only satisfy himself by violating the law, the wealthy citizen pleases himself with a freedom that is not circumscribed. ”

“ The non-enforcement of the city ordinance against street stands is a technical violation of law by the Police Commissioners, which should render them amenable to immediate removal. According to their own views of their official duty their resignations should be promptly submitted. ”