The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-05-08


| There was a challenge In the
pause made here. But the listen
er did not take it up, and the
harangue ended on a humber
note:
Il studied at st. Mary's under
men whose names you know as
we'll as they know yours. l was
at Berlin and in Stockholm. Be-
fore / was 80 l had put up my
plate in Welbeck ST., and there
| am still"
And yet" said the home Sec
rotary, with faint smile-"and
yet the possibilities are still only
possibilities!
ION the surgical side, yes;
there I was misled by my own
abnormal case. Yet there are
ways of curing even what | re-
gard as the very worst type OF
congenital criminal at the pres
ent day"
81 wish knew of sonnet said
Mr.. Vinson cheerily. But what
do you regard as the very worst
! type of congenital criminal at the
present day."
The society type" replied the
crime doctor without an instant's
hesitation.
His host permitted himself to
open his eyes once more.
Your ideas are rather sensa-
tional, aren't they, Doctor Dol
lar?"
It's rather a sensational age,
isn't It, Mr.. Vinson? When So
ciety women make living out
of bridge, traffic in tickets for
royal enclosures, charge a fat fee
| for presentation at court, and
small fortune for launching an
unlikely family in their own set.
there must be some reason for
it apart from their own deprav-
ity.
They are no more naturally
| depraved than | am, but their
purse is perhaps even smaller,
and their wants are certainly ten
| times as great. Cupidity is not
the motive power; it's simple
shortage of the needful-from
their point of view. So we get
our good ladies with their tariff
of introductions. It's a short
step from that sort of thing to a
shady trick, and from a shady
trick to downright crime. But
it's a step often taken by the type
/ mean-though not necessarily
with their eyes open. And that's
just where the crime doctor
should come in
I'm opening their eyes?"
''In saving 'em from them
selves while they're still worth
saving; in that prevention which
is better than cure"
I'm other words, you would
tackle character as ordinary doc
tors and persons devote them
selves to the body and the soul?'
1T would come to that, Mr..
Vinson. Its a large order, l
know, and l don't expect to see
the goods delivered in my time.
1t will take better men than |
am, and many of 'em. But that's
the idea, all right"
What about the practice?"
asked Topham Vinson.
Rome took less building than
a London practice, by an un-
known man striking out a new
line for himself
Il really don't wonder. Who
would come to consult you about
a thomicidal tendency, or a trick
of tampering with special offer
tories?"
In the first instance, most
likely, the patients people; then
they might send him to see me
on some other pretext."
And what form would the
treatment take?"
1T would depend, of course,
upon the case. They don't all
know that they're being treated
for incipient criminality. The
majority think they are in an Or
binary nursing home"
"A home!" cried the secretary
of state. You don't mean to tell
me, Doctor Dollar, that you actu-
ally run a nursing home for I'M
convicted criminals?"
Potential criminals, Mr.. Vim
son. l have at present no patient
who is actually wanted by the
police"
And where is this extraordin-
airy establishment"
under my own roof here in
Welbeck ST."
"A few hundred yards from
where we stand, yet this is the
first | hear of it,"
Il can see that. It's not my
fault, sir. have done my best
to bring 1t before your notice"
Howl"
by writing many times to tell
you all about myself and the
home, Mr.. Vinson."
Then I never saw the letters.
A home secretary stands to be
shot at by every crank who can
hold a pen. l employ more than
one young gentleman expressly
to divert that sort of fire. You
should have got an introduction
to me, Doctor Dollar"
The doctor smiled.
Il am not sorry l waited for
the introduction which time has
given me, Mr.. Vinson.
You wanted me to assist the
l A.