The Washington herald., 1921-03-27
The Sources Of Crime.

~ Is tdDoo IN Columns OF tnc IcputdDc press
This exclusion is founded upon deeper logic than
that which argues against presentation OF matter
dealing with assaults upon disregard Of the pain
fully formulated codes OF personal morals, or eth
ics and community morals, or law IL is because
such discussions nearly always concern the per-
versions OF the so-called criminal mind the acts
resulting from its functionng.
Considered from these viewpoints, crime is a
dark or lurd thing, fit only for the clinic of Lom-
broso, a purely technical affair for the study and
interest of reformers and penoogists a repug-
nantly practical occurrence calling for correctves
that begin with the armed and commissioned forces
known police and may end with the electric chair
the closing OF prison door that opens not out
ward with life
But there is another aspect to crime which is OF
peculiar interest in this day and generation, namely
its modus operandi. And methods exist only with
that true crime which is a world problem. the cal
culated assault upon ordered society for gain.
Bloodshed and black deeds which afford material
for endless expansion in the yellow journal have
nothing to do with it, save by accident or faulty
planning. Unlawful acts resulting from sudden
temptation exigency lie not in the category The
celebrated "crime wave loses its identity to great
extent when viewed from the standpoint Of true
crime For it is cold and ratiocinative thing.
working in silence and by rule
Successful execution OF crime, considered
attribute of presentday civilization demands speed
in commission and speed in escape. In the halcyon
days of the robber barons an impregnable Rhine
castle was sufficient but there no longer cita-
dels where criminals may take refuge and laugh at
justice, in countries cassed as barbarous or IN
certain isolated sections of those more highly cul-
tured. No.
Therefore, the marvellous development of means
for travel of the past few decades has been bene-
fit to the professional awbreaker at the same time
it has been of assistance to those whose duty it is
actively to oppose him.
OF late Years. the automobile has to be
the paramount auxiliary to crime 1t is speedy; it
is easily disguised it is highly private and it can
always be left behind. More and more the automo-
bile has come to be the vehicle par excellence OF
the calculating criminal
But the factor of speed would be of little worth
were it not for another development namely the
great growth of cities. Speed would be useless 1t
there were nowhere to hide. 1t is the cities which
provide refuge for the lawbreaker. The profess
sional clings to the metropolis; 1t is the amateur
who takes to the small town or the province and is
captured
. Thus certain sections of the large cities have
come to be refuge of the criminal; not his home,
for he has no home and rarely family, but his
rendezvous The police of such cities as San Fran
cisco always have experienced the greatest diff
Guilty in apprehendng Chinese criminals, enabled as
is the Celestial, to merge with multitude OF MS
fellows The thing holds true in lesser de-
gree with the known dsreputable quarters OF other
centers of population. One cannot arrest whole
community.
Where professional crooks are allied in band,
there is hardly ever period when some members
are not doing tme while the rest camouAage their
movements so that the police find it well-nigh i'm
possible task to break up the coterie, as witness
the recurrence of "roundups, moves that generally
peter out in few court convictions and must be
repeated at short intervals.
Headquarters are maintained for brother crim-
naIs resting after lob" and for those just released
from Jail and perhaps shadowed by the law. But
these nests are not cause, but effect of crimes
perpetuation They the haunts of old hands,
upon whom reform forces could not be expected to