The Republican journal., 1916-11-02
|5&!!G3,
l3 !,j!!!l3
Whv Men Commit Crime.
Something for Use in the Campaign Against
the Saloon.

llS SdlOOH
Highland Park, Calf. Herald
| am going to make a few suggestions
on a matter which should be used in the
coming Dry Campaign. During the past
five years more than one thousand men
charged with having committed peniten-
tiary otfenses have been before me for
their preliminary examination. | have
made personal examination IN nearly
every case as to the habits Of these men,
and have classified them into several diff
ferent classes according to the character
of the individuals. 1t is of some interest
to know why men commit crime, especial
ly when at least hundred of such crimes
are committed within the jurisdiction of
the Los Angeles Courts each month in
the year. Seventy-fve per cent of the
one thousand men who have been before
me were under the age of thirty years,
and probably twenty-five per cent were
under the age Of twenty years. To say
that fifty per cent of these criminals owe
their downfall to use of intoxicating Ii
quors is indeed a conservative statement.
Fully eighty per cent OF the men brought
before me charged with murder were in
toxicated, at the time the act was COM
mitted, to such degree that they could
not realize what they were doing.
Within one month during the past winter
five men were brought before me charged
with murder, and of this number four
were intoxicated when The act was com
mitted, and the fifth had every appear
ance of having been hard drinker in the
past, which had so affected his mental
and moral nature that he had little con-
ception of right and wrong. Eighteen
men were brought into my court at one
time charged with having committed,
misdemeanor. Examining each one Sc
parately as to his personal habits, 1t " as
found that the entire number, with
single exception, spent their earnings In
a saloon, and when out of work and
money gone they committed some crime
for the purpose of either getting money,
or being committed to Jail, where lodging
and food would be furnished at the Coun-
tvs expense.
Issuing bad checks without sufficient
funds to meet the payment and also forg
ing the names of well known men to
checks in order to have them cashed,
constitute about ten per cent of the
crimes which have been committed in
Los Angeles County during the past year;
of the number who have appeared before
me charged with this offense | can recall
only one who was not intoxicated at the
time the crime was committed. The
men who commit this crime are usually
above the average criminal in soci Al and
intellectual standlng;in several instances
lawyers, statesmen, and not lnfrequently
young men in well-to-do circumstances.
No man sober and IN his right mind would
think of getting check cashed without
sufficient funds to meet it, for he would
certainly know that the crime would be
detected as soon as the check reaches
the bank on which it is drawn.
If some person who has the time and
patience would compute the cost of crime
caused directly by intoxicating drink in
the Counties of San Francisco and Los
Angeles alone, and compare the figures
with the revenue received from all of the
saloons in these counties, it would GER
tainly astonish some of our hard-headed
business men who advocate the licensed
saloons because of the revenue derived
therefrom. The fact is. the drink traffic
could be eliminated the savings to the
taxpayers in criminal expenses alone
would amount to much more than all the
money received from the saloons and
licenses. From the money point alone
the saloon is the most expensive luxury
which the State of California harbors
In the mountains back of Los Angeles
is sort of a refuge camp for the ''doWn
and outs" who have neither home, friends
nor money; this institution is supported
by Individual contributions. spent one
night in that camp few weeks ago, and
the testimonies of the 125 men there at
that time showed that every one of them
was brought to his condition through
drink. Most of these men are incapacita-
ted for work which requires any skill or
responsibility, and were it not for this
home provided by few kindly disposed
individuals they would either be in some
penal institution or in some aims house,
No one who knows the facts from ex-
perience in criminal matters will charge
me with making an extravagant state
ment when | say that at least fifty per
cent of the crimes committed in Califor-
MIA may be traced directly to the licensed
saloon. And | will further state that
seventy-fve per cent of the crimes COM
mitted by boys in their teens is due to
the cigarette habit.
Unless the people of California Danish
the liquor traffic from this State, and pro-
hibit the selling of cigarettes to minors
there is very little hope for the future
manhood of a large class of the boys and
young men in our midst VINO will soon be-
come men in age and physical stature,
but will always be mental and moral de-
generates.
FRANK FORBES.
County Court House. Los Angeles.