Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-18
Stories of the War
War and Crime.

Never has Paris seen so little friv oity and disorder as during the first six months of war. Only two crim- inai acts were committed during that period and only one-of them was of capital importance - a divorce mur- der
 "The police have little to do," says Prefect of Police Laurent to The Asso- clated Press. ''The public itself main tains order. For instance the other night a moving picture show produced a Chinese dance resembling Tango, which had escaped the notice of the police censor; the audience repaired our omission by roundly missing the film. Even on Mardi-Gras, an occa- sion which generally gives rise to hun dreds of arrests, everyone docilely ac- cepted the prohibition of masks and confetti; the police had no occasion to intervene.
 The absence of crime is due prin- arlly of course to the elevation of sen tlment by the tragic crisis of war. There's no place in our minds for things that are base and vile while we have before us so many examples of heroism and sacrifice, and this ap- plies to classes whose state of mind is not always fit for close analysis. When a man is f1attered that he pos sesses an admirable quality that he knows he totally lacks, he immediate ly burns to possess it. Thus the tur- bulent clements of the population took to their account part of the praise that was bestowed upon Paris for it's bearing at the outbreak of the war and they seem to be really taking no little pride in helping to justify it.
 Secondary causes are the elimina- tion of the producing clements misery and vice and the turning of passion from its usual objects to the frontier. There was never less misery in Paris. In normal times many un- fortunate people are out of the reach of charity; at present charity, in the name of relief, acts automatically and these people find it far simpler to be good than to be wicked.
 The suppression of the sale of ab- sinthe, Monsieur Laurent thinks, has not yet had time to produce its effect, and he does not attribute the decrease in crime in any degree to this cause. One of the most conspicuous cases of swindling since the war began was that of an ex-Captain ruined by ab- sinthe-he hadn't been able to get a drink for three months. The ultimate effect of the reform he expects will be considerable but the man whose moral nature has been debased by absinthe has not yet had time to recover.
 "As for. the 'Apaches', the street ruffians who give us so much trou- ble ordinarily, they have disappeared, D he says Many of them are at the front, where they are redeeming many a fault; others are employed on the defence works of the entrenched camp; the rest seem to lack inspiration for their customary nisdeeds, for we hear nothing of them.
 I am no prophet" Monsieur Lau- rent concluded, "and I can't say what permanent effect the war may have upon crime, but I am hopeful. I think that France will be so busy with seri- ous things that the task of the police will be lighter than before, After the scars of war have begun to disappear I think the gaiety and animation of Paris will come into its own but l look for the elimination for years to come of many frivolities and differ ent forms of folly"