“There is one development in connection with the hearings in these cases which calls for more than passing notice, and that is the testimony of the police as to the character of the saloons. It is a remarkable thing that with so many respectable people in a neighborhood complaining about these saloons, the police—who should be most familiar with conditions—could find nothing wrong about them. Worse than this, in the case of saloons so plainly objectionable that the Liquor License Commissioners, on personal inspection, discover reason enough for refusing licenses, policemen are found blandly swearing that they are decent, orderly places. “The report of the Liquor License Commissioners is a serious indictment of the credibility of policemen as witnesses in hearings of this character, and suggests the need of a searching investigation to ascertain why the police are ignorant of conditions in the neighborhood in question, which are shown to be shockingly bad.” The new Police Board, which went into office on May 1, 1908, took up the matter of dealing with these policemen, as the following quotation from the News indicates: “One of the first actions of the new Police Board, which will be sworn in on Monday next, may be to bring before it several of the most prominent officers of the northwestern district to investigate the charge that they testified falsely before the Liquor License Board concerning conditions surrounding saloons in their territory. “These men—more than a dozen of them—testified that certain saloons within the district bounded by New Street, Lafayette Avenue, Argyle Avenue and Druid Hill Avenue, were well kept and orderly. In fact, they whitewashed these places completely and comprehensively. The protests, however, were so strong that the Liquor License Commissioners went to see the places personally. “As a result they yesterday declined to renew the license of eleven of the saloons. They found them dirty and unsanitary in some cases; they found card playing going on in others, and white and black people of both sexes mingling and in one instance they found the law violated which prohibits a saloon from having entrance other than on a public highway.... “Nevertheless, the action of the Board in itself constitutes a rather serious criticism of the Department. Some of the officers who testified in favor of the saloons stated that they had been working in that territory for more than twenty years; and yet, apparently, in all that time they had not discovered what it took the Liquor License Commissioners only a few hours to find out.” SAYS THE NEW BOARD WILL ACT. Sherlock Swann is to be President of the new Police Board.