Evening star., 1922-10-15
''Our American Adventure
- --
Views of ''Sherlock Holiness Given on Prohibition
and Crime and evidence of Psychic Forces
Are Described i'm His First Lecture.
BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

all and gets nothing. This woOld, of
course. make her concurrence all the
hesitation. England also would have
to make a sacrifice as great an or
even greater than America, for ehe
owes about thousand million aor>oud.
while her credits abroad are several
thousand million. A general amnesty
than England. The world will have
to rise to some mutual accommoda-
tlon at last and to understand that
in so small a globe there is no pos
Sibility Of selfish isolation.
We have all been up the Woolworth
building-shot up in something which
was a cross between a lift and a Fat
bei tha-so that you were not quite
sure IT you were merely elevated or
projected into the air. One moment
We were on the ground, and few
moments later. with one change on
most. floor. 1t reminded me Of say
ing by my friend, the late Kendrick
Bangs. that he hesitated whether to
I'VE in the suburbs OF New York or
at the top fiat which he had rented.
The journey was the same in either
case. but one was horizontal. the
other perpendicular. The children.
of course, were delighted An old
traveller told me once that his great
MAXIMUM was always to go to the
highest point of every city he visited.
te II hill. steeple or tower, and get
a general idea before descending to
detail I have often found the idea
a good one. On this occasion we saw
that wonderful map laid out beneath
US. The two rivers. the great harbors.
the long. thin, tapering city with the
curved coast of Long Island to the
north and the fields and houses Of
New Jersey stretching away to the
southern horizon. 1t was a great in
PRODUCTION to the new world.
Liquors and Crime.
New Yorkat the time Of our arrival
was in the throes Of crime wave
In the first ninety days of the year
there had been ninety homicides in
the city, an average Of one per day.
ana there was no sign Of abatement.
Hold-ups were also common. and had
extended from taxicabs to larger
game. for Broadway motor bus was
attacked shortly after our arrival.
This remarkable wave Of crime was
even greater in Chicago, and greater
still. am informed. in St. Louis.
1t is very unfortunate for the advo-
Gates of prohibition that this should
have occurred at such a time. and
that Sing Sing, the state prison.
time to confess that it could hold no
more. 1 have been over it and know
1t to be very commodiouS institu-
tion-very different from the Tombs
in New York city. which is more
select. I believe myself that the
liquor question has nothing to do
with the matter. save that 1t has no:
yet been completely enforced. and
that more maddening forms of alcohol
reach those VINO insist upon drinking.
1t Is more prohibition, not less. which
is needed il the real effects Of prohi-
i,i hal fo he
The cause of the crime lies rather
in the after effects of the war and
the habits of unrest anu violence
which soldering or even economic
disturbance engerders. 1t cannot be
denied. however. that at all times the
United States has a most unenviable
record of crime. which is the more
amazing since the citizens whom you
meet are conspicuous for their gentle
courtesy and law abiding habits.
There is a great deal Of force in their
contention that much of this violence
comes from the u7digested aliens.
people of fiery natures and primitive
passions. drunken With their newly
acquired liberty. But making every
allowance for this-and the names in
ment-there still remains great deal
TO account for.
Suggests Flogging Ganssters.
Hooligan gangs are commoner than
with us-Italian, Irish and American
which have feuds and wage guerriI-
la warfare on each other. and as
lethal weapons are subject to no tax
or license. these trays are serious. At
election time these gangs make them
selves useful in attack or defense
for various candidates, and the leader
thus acquires some political influence.
AS the judges are also temporary
political appointments this influence
can generally be used to postpone
trials, manufacture evidence and gem
gang from his deserts. A good fire
arms law with permanent magts-
trates and summary fiogging or exc
cution would soon. I am sure, put an
end to the reign Of violence. 1t
urgently needs doing. for the present
stato produces a completely false idea
as to the real quality Of American
civilization.
Talking of hold-ups; there was one
occasion. when l think l really put
1 alighted from my cab and imme-
diately afterward discovered that I
had left some precious papers inside
it. The vehicle had moved on and
was in the great flood which pours
it was able to spot it among the
others I am not as active as I was,
but l trotted along the footway with
my eyes fixed upon my cab, to the
considerable disturbance Of the pc
Presently to my relief I saw the
cab disengage itself and turn into a
side street Before it could gain
speed I darted forward and without
took a flying jump on
to the footboard. AS this is an un-
proach. but quite. normal for the
hold-upper, the driver turned q hor-
rified face upon me and 1t took mo
some explanation before could
make him see the matter from my
point of view. But the precious pa
pers-a goodly section of this record
.were safely recovered.
The First Lecture.
And now came the night Of our
like to have my wife at my side. and
the second feels the fight more keenly !
than the principal. We had learned
by the afternoon that the great hall, !
In spite of an abnormal heat wave, !
was sold out. and that seats on the
was kept waiting for a mauvais |
quart d'heure after the advertised |
time, while this great audience was
settling down into their places. When |
at last we were allowed to go. we had |
to thread our way through q long
on the platform before at last we
found the little clear space in front |
and saw that great sea Of faces be- !
fore US. |
An old friend, the eminent Ameri- |
can man of letters, Hamlin Garland, !
was in the chair, and filled 1t with j
tact and dignity. He did not conceal |
that he did not go all the way with |
me, but rather In that halfway posi- |
ton taken by Prof. Charles Richet, |
who admits all the phenomena, in