RIGHT AND WRONG

Suffolk County goes on trial today, to be judged at the bar of public opinion all over the country by the result of the election of its district attorney.

The issue is not so much who will actually receive the office. Mr. Pelletier, convicted by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts of misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance," removed as district attorney, and disbarred as a lawyer, cannot hope to resume his former place. In case of his election, the Governor will undoubtedly appoint another man in his stead. The question squarely before the voters of Suffolk County is whether or not they wish to endorse a record notorious for its ill-disguised, long-continued corruption.

Mr. Thomas C. O'Brien, the present district attorney and the Republican candidate for election stands for the highest ideals of the office. In his three months of service since his appointment by Governor Cox, he has shown scrupulous honesty of purpose, legal ability above the average, and fearlessness in the execution of his duty. From any sane, intelligent standpoint it is obvious that his election is of the utmost importance. More than the returning of a good man to office, more than the repudiation of an administration which can be termed a criminal distortion of duty, the whole principle of the worth of popular government is being tested.

Before a question like this, all the other elections of the day take a secondary place. The issue is clean-cut. The difference between the two candidates is the difference between right and wrong And to the eternal disgrace of Boston be it said, that indications point to the voters' choice of wrong.