Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/212

* POLICE. 176 POLICY. BlBUOORApnr. Fairlie, Slimicipal Administra- tion (Now York, 1901) ; Castello, The Scic York Police; Sprogle, The I'kiladelphiii Police; Savage, The Boston Watch and Police; Brayer, Police administrative et judiciaire (1894). POLICE, MiUTABY. See Military Police. POLICE MAGISTRATE. See Magistr.vte. POLICE MATRONS. Women who are plaeed in charge of women and children in police sta- tions, jails, and other places where they are de- tained. Klizalwth Fry (q.v.) first called attention to the deplorable condition of women in prisons and insisted upon the principle that none but women should be eiiiidoyed in the superintendence of women. The Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline demanded police matrons in 1823. and the National Prison Congress cited their appointment as a requirement of prison reform in 188. The impropriety of allowing men to search ■women and to care for their physical wants has only recently been recognized in the I'nited States. The reform has been instituted entirely by women — usually Woman's Christian Temi«rancc I'nion workers.' In Portland and ln<lianapolis associa- tions of women provided for police matronsattheir own expense before the position was established bv law. Portland (Maine) first established the position of police matron in 187C. Chicago, Bal- timore. Cincinnati, and Philadelphia employed them at a later date. Among the States where they are required by law for the larger cities are" Colorado. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut. Rhode Islaiid. Nebraska. Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Illinois, and Cali- fornia. The movement has made marked ad- vance since 1800. Consult Reports of ational Confrrrncrs of Charities and Corrections; Lend a Hand. ii.. 471 : iii.. 01; iv., 120: ix., 180. POLICE POWER. The inherent power of a government to take such action and to pass such laws as may be deemed necessary for its own protection, and to secure the safety, comfort, and general welfare of its citizens. It is very dilTicult to define the precise limits of the police power of a government, and probably there are no absolute limits, except that it shall only lie exer- cised for the purposes above mentioned, and such restrictions as may be imposed by a written or unwritten constitution. Chief .Justice Shaw of ^Massachusetts expressed this difficulty as fol- lows: "It is much easier to perceive and realize the existence and sources of this power than to mark its boundaries or prescribe limits to its exercise." The same jurist defined it as "the power vested in the Legislature by the Constitu- tion to make, ordain, and establish all manner of wholesome and reasonable laws, statutes, and ordinrnccs. either with penalties or without, not repugnant to the Constitution, as they shall judge to be for the good and welfare of the commonwealth and of the subjects of the same." While governments have always assumed to exer- cise the powers above mentioned, the law and theory of the police power as a justification and authority for otherwise arbitrary and despotic acts have been a growth of the nineteenth cen- tury. In some respects the police power is more arbitrary than that of eminent domain. By vir- tue of the latter a government may take private property only upon making proper compensation therefor, whereas if property is confiscated or ■ destroyed for the public good under the police power no reimbursement need be made to the owner. The Constitution of the United States enume- rates the powers of the Federal Government, which also possesses incidental power to do all acts necessary to exercise the authority thus vested in it, and this may be said to be its police power. An example of this are the United States quarantine regulations, which, in so far as they are inconsistent with the State laws on the subject, suiicrsede the latter. However, the great bulk of the police power vested in the States is in- deix?ndent of the United States Government, and cannot be interfered with by Congress. One no- table instance where the Federal law has super- seded State regulations under their police power was where the United States courts sustained the right of dealers to import liquors and sell them in a State where the laws prohibited trallic in liquor. The United States Supreme Court held that this interfered with interstate commerce, but expressly stated that the liquor was only pro- tected as long as it was contained in the original package' (q.v.) in which it was imported, thus recognizing the right of the State to regulate the liquor trallic trithin its own boundaries under its police power. Among the numerous laws and regulations of the various States which have been held to be legitimate exercises of the police power are: Acts requiring railways to fence in their tracks: requiring sign-boards at crossings; regu- lating the speed of trains ; regulating the charges of persons in f/iiasi-public occupations, as ware- housemen, cab drivers, ferry owners, etc. : regulating the storage of explosives, the sale of poisons, and of liquor; prohibiting the adultera- tion of foods : regulating the employment of women and children: requiring the quarantine of infectious diseases, and destruction of infected houses and property: and the licensing of physi- cians, druggists, engineers, etc. Laws prohibiting labor and enforcing quiet on Sunday have been held not to encroach on the religious liberty of individuals, but to be a valid exercise of the police power for the general welfare of the com- munity. The subject of police powers is dis- cussed" in: Cooley, Constitutional IJmitalions; Thayer, Constitutional Limitations; Tiedcman, Limitation of the Police Power in the United fitates; Prentice, Police Power. See also Cox- .stttutional Law and the authorities there re- ferred to. POLICY (Fr. police. It. polizza, from JIL. polilicuiii, poletum. poleticum, polypti/cum, register, from Gk. -oavt^tvxov. neu. sg. of ir-n'/l-rv- X0(, polyptychos, having many folds or leaves, from TToXif, polys, much, many + tttIJ, ptyx, fold, leaf, from Tzriaaeiv. ptyssein. to fold). A method of gambling, resembling the ordinary lotterj- in that slips, on which are printed numl)ers and usually some name or device for identification, are given out to the players, and corresponding numbers on slips are intermingled in some recep- tacle and drawn out by a blindfolded person. The players usually make bets upon the order in which numbers in a certain sequence will appear. .lthough the odds given the players are very al- luring, the chances of winning are actually verv much against them. T'sually very small bets will be received, and for this reason it is quite popular among the poorer classes, especially in great