MARK TWAIN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC CHRONICLE
1865
IMMORAL
We regard Mayor Coon's proposition to reduce the pay of policemen as shockingly immoral. How are the policemen going to live on less than $125 per month? Does Mayor Coon wish to drive the police to the necessity of practising the arts for which it is their duty to protect society against? We understand that there are not more than a dozen policemen who have accumulated $100,000 worth of real estate on salaries of $125 per month. This is creditable. But if their salaries are reduced, of course, they will be obliged to make up the deficiency 'outside.'
[published in California Feuds by William Secrest, p. 77-78.]
