Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-04
Editorial Digest
Back to Jungle Law.

From the editorial viewpoint. evil
Ia to stop it. The policy adopted by
Chicago's new police commissioner
Don't arrest, shootr'-strikes most
commentators as a more reasonable
approach to the problem than either
f'srandstand play" or the simple
method OF Riding one community of
criminals by passing them on to the
| neighbors. Judges come in for their
| their is general demand in the press
for convictions and sentences that will
inspire wholesome respect for law
and courts.
All admit. says the Rocky Mountain
News (Denver. independently. that the
present orgy of crime is largely the
result of European saturnalia," and
wars madness cannot be shaken off
as easily as it can be taken on. Law
lessness cannot be subdued through
the signing of an armistice." To cure
this disease" the Springfield (Massa
chusetts) Republican independently
| feels that at must be attacked at the
source" and in the opinion of this
paper the tactics followed by city
officials are resulting merely in
spreading the pest" The method of
,expelling undesira bleS sis a good deal
like that adopted by good many
western towns in dealing with the l..
, w. W.. and it is not likely to be more
successful"
In the opinion of the Topeka Capt.
tai (republican), 1.-The police care moth
| ing what becomes of the criminals so
long as they quit operating in par
ticular bailiwick.' and in this sys-
tenn of passing along the criminals
there is no inducement to them TO
change their practices. either in the
81 foa n
of Furnishing crime and preventing 1t,
or by the more difficult and ideallstic
process of guidance and direction into
good citizenship"
The Boston Transcript independent
republican, suggests that the ques-
ton may well be asked whether an
essential weakness and flabbiness in
the administration of justice is not in
a considerable degree responsible FOR
| the present wave of crime. The fear
of the law. as the Albany Times Union
independently sees it, "is the only
weapon with which society can pro-
tect itself in this emergency. and it
must be vigorously used" America is
now paying the penalty for too great
leniency" toward the criminal class,
the Louisville Courier Journal demo
crat) believes.
Commenting on the statement OF
Judge Rosalsky of New York that in
his opinion every man convicted OF
robbery should be sentenced TO prison
for life. because highwayman is
potential murderer" the Boston Her
aid independent republican, says he
Shows real grasp of the situation,
and the Indianapolis Star independ-
ent republican, believes there is much
to support his position. Such men ARE
entitled to no mercy, and when they
are made to realize that none will be
extended them they will take fewer
chances and the number of crimes will
be greatly diminished" The proposal
appears to the Bangor (Me) Com
mercial independently "a drastic one.
yet there is no question but in recent
years, because of light sentences, the
parole system and steadily increasing
pardons, the criminal does not fear
punishment as formerly"
But the criminal reaches the court,
IL at all. by way of the police. and it
is toward this initial step in the ap-
prehension of criminals that much
of the criticism is directed The New
Haven (Conn) Journal-Courier (inde-
pendent) finds that "the trouble with
the American constabularly, speaking
of it as a whole, is that it lacks pro-
fessional detachment. The man at
the top is too often more Of poll
tician than he is a policeman" With
the administration Of the police bust
ness in the hands of one who made a
profession of 1t, there would not be a
who would not sense what this change
in attitude meant"
The New York Evening World (dem-
ocrat) speaks of the spectacular.
smal1-town police stunts" which have
been resorted to in New York in the
effort to clean up the criminals, which
the New York Globe independently
pictures as suggesting prowling bands
OF marauders infesting the streets,
special details picking of thugs and
cracksmen, and bandits on the point
Of erecting barricades and starting a
little revolution of their own. The
New York Times Independent demo-
craft is strong in the conviction that
the incapacity Of the police admins
tration" is responsible for the feel
ing of reasonable security" which
criminals are enjoying, and that self
arming and self-protection seem
necessary"
With this the Brooklyn Eagle Tin
dependent democrat) contrasts the
picture which Chicago presents-'no
unsolved murder in a month; no pay
roll hold-ups in six weeks; a record
breaking series of arrests and con-
victions for strong-arm crimes" all
as the result OF the policy Of the new
police commissioner. who believes that
"a police force Is primarily an agency
for the prevention of crime rather