The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-20
QUARTER OF PARIS WHERE tke, ApAcAes
Criminologists Point to Inefficient Po-
lice, Unemployment, Reaction After
War, Bolshevism and |. w. w.

rs mankind going bad?
Was the past war so frightfully
disintegrating to this morals of
humanity, to respect for law and tho
goods Of ones neighbor, that the
whole world is about to DO submerged
in a wave Of crime7
Tremendous queries. in their impli-
cations shocking and startling, no
doubt, to persons who have taken little
moro than the newspaper readers cas-
ual interest in tho daily chronicles o:
violence and of fraud that have pro-
ceeded from every quarter of the
globe, yet utterly justified by a corre-
lation OF the facts. For the whole
world seems to be boiling with evil
and what is going on in New York
or in Philadelphia seems omlnousIy
symptomatic of what Is going on in
London, Paris, Vera Cruz, The Hague.
Picking and Rome, Everywhere crime
Is on the increase. In every nation
and in every capital the precise charts
cutors reveal the curse OF crime
sharply rising since the armistice was
signed. There is no gainsaying the
fact, however experts may disagree
as regards the causes.
From every great centre OF popula-
ton the daily news projects upon the
front pages OF newspapers in the high
est relief tales OF wickedness such as
the world has never known before
These ugly items seem curiously re-
lated. as If each outburst had re-
sponded to the same impulse of rest
lessness and soul anarchy. What evil
spirit, therefore, is beating its wings
over the curve OF the earth, for GER
tainly the predictions that were made
that the end OF the war would sig
nalize a world outbreak of lawlessness
appear to be coming true.
Alarming statistics cited.
II won't do to fall back on the COM
fo~table notion that the professional;
criminals are merely again claiming
their share of the worlds attention
now that the titanic news of battles
and campaigns Is over and done with {:
NAL though appearing to be abnormal.
for the hard and fast statistics OF
the police departments and of the dis
trict attorneys offices prove exactly
the contrary, showing, indeed. a
marked rising OF criminal percentages
a violently increased percentage OF
felonies and OF misdemeanors.
This is true in New York county, as
the District Attorney. Edward Swami.
finds. 1t is true in Kings county. as is
noted by District Attorney Harry e.
Lewis. 1t is sadly true in Philadel-
phia, as is found by District Attorney
Samuel Z. Rotan. The contention is
supported by almost every prosecuting
official with whom THE sun has COM
municated in an effort to throw light
on the great world disturbance. These
men with their sensitive fingers con-
stantly on the pulse of crime are dis
turbed, alarmed. They are addressing
one another In the hope of adopting
some common method OF fighting a
common problem.
It is natural, perhaps, that few Of tn,
police chiefs admit an actual crime
wave in this country, for to make such
an admission would be, TO a certain
extent at least, to confess to a deterio'
ration of their ogn methods Among
these conservatives one finds the Po'
lice Commissioner of New York, Rich.
ard Enright, whose last observation or
the topic was a fiat denial OF crime
wave in this city. d. j. O'Brien, act
ing Chief of Police of San Francisco
states that crime has not increased
there, though there has been "a ligh
crime wave this winter" and "a small
wave OF automobile banditry." L
might be observed accurately enough
that the police news of every city con
tradicts these optimists, for surely II
New York there have never been 81
many unsolved murder problems, 81
many instances OF bank robberies ant
holdups, such an array generally o
crimes of violence and of stealth. Tn,
shocking affair Of the daylight robbery
by two masked men of the East Brook
lyn Savings Bank, the murder Of tw,
clerks and the escape in open daylight
OF the bandits and killers. is an exam
pie of such unpublished wickedness
and of late newspapers have had tn
habit of punching" instances of rob
berry in one STORY" so common hav
they become. other cities are taking
note Of the restiveness of their crimi
nal classes. a fact which led Chief Johl
+. Walker OF Minneapolis to order hi
men to shoot TO kill IL any bandit trie
to escape after being ordered to hall
In Philadelphia the Press stated re
Gently:
1--WE do not wonder that Polio
Headquarters wish to suppress tn
publication OF the holdups. robberit