Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-19
A NEW LEISURE CLASS
THAT LIVES BY CRIME
And the Relation Of the lIliet Drug
Traffic to Mysteries That Now
Baffle tho Police

INTO the hands OF multltudes the war
years gave easy money in veritable
| food. A way to reckless cf.indulgence was
| opened for nnumerable young men who knew
| little Of personal discipline and nothing
about the ethical restraints By which society
is held together under all normal conditions.
War wages were wisely used by most Of
the people to whom they were paid. But
there was considerable class recruited from
the work hating underworld upon which
sudden wealth acted with the force OF
powerful intoXicant. Members of this class.
normally incapable Of consistent effort and
without the skill or the habit OF industry
that would enable them to compete for high
wages in the work Of peace. are unwilling
or unable to rclnQuish habits Of life which
they cultivated in the flush years that
brought luxury and fabulous wages to almost
everybody but the soldiers overseas. The
criminal bent always was In some Of them.
It Is these mon. striking out more or less
bliudly in quest of the means to dress and
live according to the peculiar standards
which their world calls high, who are re-
sponsible for the recent increase Of crimes of
violence.
Records and observations Of police depart
ments in all the cities in the country sustain
this view In every city there is a group
VI NV" VIZ" ne"'s "a ~ ,,s "n -,
,uSI'" - t'". my "l.' Nv -.
thieves, burglars and murderers. It is to
men of this sort that the trails must newt
ably lead from the place where the body of
Paul. the Camden bank messenger, was
found. and from the place where lamp
lighter discovered the body Of young Drewes.
Just az none oil the accepted agen'ieS Oh
ORGANIZED so'l''' was P'erul'u W wv W" ~
the more conspicuous after- OF the
war the ponce were uhrPau. 10 u'al WIN
the transient phenomenon o! tTe al''a'eul
aPache' ihe H'"'t ~ ~
the associations by which the police are able
to trace older fashioned CRIMINALS ne ~
apt to work alone or IN small IuunS' ana
IL happens that circumstances over whlch
they have no control nave conspired 10 make
the attendant problem extraordinarily dith-
rult for the police. For the spread OF the
drug habit is unquestionaby related 70 the
general question reflected in the crime sta
tistics Of the present year.
There are drugs that will almost instantly
make potential murderer or thief out Of
any man. and they are being peddled in in
rrcasing quantities every day. The most
violent and dangerous Of these is cocaine.
Almost every hiGhwayman of the new sort
is cocaine fend. and so are most burglars
and most of the lower order of criminals.
The man who roves the street in or out of
a motorcar to get what he can at the point
Of pistol from dcfenseess pedestrians is
usually n sneak, and he is obviously
coward. lnere are few thieves with courage
enough to enable them to go into house
and rob it or to crack n safe. The thugs
Of this order would be helpless without
drugs
Police everywhere know that the vast ma
jority of burGlaries and hoid-ups are com
mittcd BY men temporarily nerved for their
work by cocaine.
Coc,ine 10 tho INDISPENSABLE stimulspt Of
o1,o.t oyorv oyncrienced criminal II is
J.no ,ho, n short rim. will leeve oven
tho most noverful nervous system porma-
ro,,Ir t. to,tors Rut ono dose Of il nro.
J,,aos a,i,o i,,rsion If strength tho fear.
,o..,osa - ,bo maniac insane daring and
n sorso ~ euneriority over NIL visible OBJ.
.tooIos Aftorword comes utter prostrn-
,ior and IN agony ~ weakness, But tho
-, .dd;ot usuolIr has comnleted his
49, ond cscanod before the effect of the
J.,,c n.o,rs ~
Eiir,inoto rocoi,o and similar drucs and
.ran" ,,'iII ho M rooeon to tolk Of crime
Tboro IL q familiar tvpe Of youth who
,,.hon Lo foIt his nockotS filled with money
~ ,hn er.t TINA drif,ed outomaticallv TO
tho J;roa TO had LITTLE Of tho instinct Of
u,oroi rostroint In the frst placc. Drugs
,,oJo On outcost and nm outlow Of him He
- w. n,ahior, with which tbe nolicc and
,,,iot, Lovo nou, N dcnI 4 preat many
rJo ona hocor,ir, on,ious and cxcitcJ
ha,'.o af n,,rders and rohbpries rcnortcd
s.a", o,,nn., ovorv city in tho countrv. and
.hana =. ,oreroI tendency n bcrotc the
ro,;oo
'',, D,. ,ho ,o,,,o,, docsn't Iio with tho no,ico
=. I;a' Lf,I,ar 49,,
~ ''''
There is, for example, no such thing as
moonshinc cocaine or moonshnc hcroin. Sci
rntfr knowledge and elaborate technical
couipmrnt are necessary to the manufacture
Of these deadly substances. The sources of
habit forming drugs ure known But, even
v.bilc tho nartinl suppreSsiOn Of the liOuor