A weak administration of justice is an encouragement to wrong
doing. Municipal and state officials can best serve their city and
country by dealing quick and severe blows at lawlessness; but to be
effective they must be men of integrity, above reproach, and withal
just. To-day San Francisco is one of the most orderly and best
governed cities in the United States. During my rambles through its
streets I went to and fro at all hours without being molested. I never
met a drunken man or a disorderly person. The city feels the effect of
the Committee's good work even to this latest hour. It serves as an
example. Justice is dealt out speedily to offenders. There are few
if any technical delays of the law and the criminal rarely escapes
without punishment. Some examples have occurred recently which show
that the judges of the superior courts are alive to their duty and
that they can perform it when the occasion arises. A man named John H.
Wood, a former soldier, was convicted of highway robbery, and he was
speedily sentenced to imprisonment for life in Folsom Penitentiary.
Judge Cook who passed sentence on him took the position that a man who
used a deadly weapon in the commission of his crime should receive the
full penalty of the law.
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