The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 59: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CPR LER WT: SOUTH POLAR POLICE BUREAU. Next morning my host told me that a gang of robbers had been arrested the evening before, and if I cared to do so we would go to the police court to witness the trial. “Whose house did they break into?” I cried. He looked at me in astonishment for a moment, and then, remembering how ignorant I was of the customs of Theon very courteously concealed his astonishment and explained to me: “There is seldom any crime committed in this country. The great mistake nations in other parts of the world make is in waiting until a crime is committed before steps are taken to prevent it. You have a proverb about it in vour language—‘Locking the stable after the horse is stolen.’ ”’ “But how can you prevent it?” “Have you been so long with us and not learned that we are all mind readers?” “But,” I queried, still far at sea, “you have police pa- trolling the streets. I have seen them, and a fine looking body of men they are.” “Ves, of course. We have our police system, and it is very nearly perfect. But policemen here are to prevent crime, not to catch the criminal after it is committed.” Gomicbook (E(o)