New-York tribune., 1920-12-06
iznlri;s::Eat Z: Denies
Crime ~ ave In
New York CITY
Continued from pann one)

LETT New York with Mrs Enright on
November 10 under a leave Of absence
of thirty days. He said yesterday that
although nc had lnuch more time com
ing to him. he probably would cut his
vacation short and return to his desl.
at Police Headquarters on Wednesday,
Between the Canal Zone and Norfolk
Va, Mr.. and Mrs. Enright, Presideut-
elect Harding and the latter's party
wcrc fellow passengers. The Commis-
sioner and the next occupant of the
White House became acquainted, and
Mr. Enright said yesterday on reach
ing New YORK. that Senator Harding
was "a regular fellow
Took Earlier Ship Home
The Police Commissioner and his
wife left New York on the steamship
Panama and intended originally to re-
turn here on that vessel They trans
ferred to the pastorcs in order to reach
New York a an earlier date than they
had at first planned The police mead
here had anything to do with his hur-
rying home and said that he was only
anNiout to take care of routine bust
ness that awaits his attention.
Mr.. Enrisht seemed in an unusually
affabIe mood as he leaned on the star
board rail Of the Pastores and watched
Manhattan Islands mountains of gran
ite emerging from the morning mists
while the white liner nosed her way
slowly toward the mouth of the East
River.
The only time the Commissioner
showed any annoyance was when a
Tribune reporter enumerated for his
benefit the long list Of crimes that have
been committed in New York in the
last eleven months. He swished his
sjlver-headcd cane about nervously as
he characterized these facts as pure
rot"
When MS attention was called to the
fact that the Bolnb Squad, as reorgan-
zed under the Fnright- Lahey system
after Inspector Thomas J. Tunney had
been forced from the department, had
accomplished nothing in the last year
and had failed to make even one arrest
in connection with the Wall Street ex-
plosion of September l6, in which
thirty eight persons were killed out
right or died of injuries, Commissioner
Enri~ht said rather heatedly:
"Well the government hasn't made
any arrests in the Wall Street matter,
either"
Sees No Crime Increase
When asked if it were not true that
there had been a great increase in
crime in New York City in the last
year, the Commissioner said:
There hasn't been any increase in
crime, according to our records. There
is no crime wave and there hasn't been
any during the present administra-
ton The only time there is a crime
wave in New York is when somebody
with an interior motive wants 10 manu-
facturc one. " hat we have now IS
manufactured crime wave
"About the first of September The
Sun-HeIald published a crime wave
story in which was printed a list Of
scventy-nine unsolvcd murders. When
we got busy and checked up on this
list We found that only nineteen of
the cases were actually unsolved. In
the others we knew the identity of the
persons committing the murders.
"A calendar of crime printed daily
in the newspapers would make any city
look bad II the lists Of deaths were
emphasized every day in that manner
people WOulQ OcglN 10 pel4cNe lndt New
York was a very unhealthy place in
which to live"
There has been absolutely no in
crease in crime here reiterated the
Commissioner "The stories printed in
New York newspapers about a crime
wave are pure rot. | would like TO
know where these stories come from.
The Comm ssioner was then in
formed that the facts on which The
Trbune's crime calender and subse-
quent stories were based had been
taken from official and other authentic
records and the only criticism heard
Of The Tribune's expose WAS that it
was incomplete and failed to list many
crimes that had been actually com
mitted in the city.
81 would like to have The Tribune
sworn as to It's veracity,' said Mr. En-
right. Then he continued:
In d city Ike New York, with its
100000 people and is great shifting
population, there is bound to be a Ger
tain amount Of crime, but to say that
there has been great increase in crime