Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-08-01
Tuesday, August l, 1922.

Charles S. Whitman, former governor
of New York; Judge Marcus A. Kav-
anaugh, of Chicago; Charles w. Farm
ham, of st. Paul and Wade II. Ellis, Of
Washington, d. c.
The five probable causes for the
crime wave, which the committee dis
covered after taking testimony in the
principal cities of the country, are as
follows:
First, that the crime wave is a ma
tural outgrowth of the World War.
Second, that the crime wave in
stead of being an outgrowth of the
war is merely one of the causes that
lead to the war and which is continu-
ing in aggravated form since the war
has ended.
Third, growing belief on the part
of the masses throughout the country
that the courts are only for the rich
and that they deny justice to the poor
with a resulting tendency on the part
of the poor to take the law inc their
own hands.
Fourth, that the trouble is largely
with the members of the bar them
selves. Many men practicing law to-
day (thc committee has been told)
ought to be in Jail. ..
Fifth, that conviction for crime IN
the courts is becoming increasingly
and that the criminal once
convicted is not punished sufficiently
to deter others from repeating his Of
fense"
true, but for this article the first two
causes may be dismissed. They were
largely psychological. A few weak
minds may have been influenced by
war-induced hysteria and a sense Of
the injustice of the scheme of things
to turn against their fellow men but it
mind that the great mass of the men
who went abroad to give their lives If
necessary would so quickly, reverse
their convictions. Our excuse for 60
ing into the war was to preserve
democracy and democracy does not
mean anarchy and crime.
The High Cost of Justice.
The third cause given that the
courts are for the rich and deny JUS
tice to the poor" is not new COM
plant. Here the trouble is not with
the law itself which, in theory, places
all upon the same plane, but with its
practical administration.
Daily in every court is witnessed the
man with money and influence escap-
ing the penalty of his misdeeds
whether on a murder charge or an ar
rest for speeding. Minor offenses, it is
true, furnish better example Of this
than graver charges where public at
tention is focused and the force of pub
lie opinion felt. In any case, the poor
man without money to hire competent
lawyers and without influential friends
is handicap cd. Except in cities where
the office Of public defender has been
tablished he is forced to depend up
on f1edgling attorneys or those who,
because of the small fee allowed by
the court, devote not more than per-
functory attention to his case.
But it is not so much the system of
the guilt or innocence of
the accused, nor its administration,
that is at fault. Despite its defects
there are surprisingly few innocent
persons convicted, whether rich or
poor. 1t is conservatively estimated
that for every innocent person wrongly
convicted a thousand guilty ones es-
cape. 1t is in the degree Of the
wherein lies the injustice
as between rich and poor.
Immediately upon conviction of a
wealthy man, or one with political in
fluence, the machinery is set in motion
to obtain a pardon or mitigation of
sentence. The poor man stays in
prison, forgotten by all except perhaps
his immediate family. The penalty Of
poverty is also felt in the administra-
ton of the alternative of fine or i'm
prisonment. The rich man pays his
fine without suffering even temporary
Inconvenience. The poor man pays his
debt to society with his body, by the
sacrifice of his liberty.
The fourth reason given for the
crime wave places the blame for it
squarcly on the shoulders of the bar
itself. 1t should rest not only on those
crooked members specified but also
upon the other members whose lack OF
initiative and moral courage allows
such conditions to exist.
Occasionally there is a lawyer who
dares to speak out. Thomas Lee Wool
wine is district attorney for Los An
geles county, which embraces popu-
lation of more than million people
and Mr.. Woolwinc is in position to
know whereof he speaks.
In a statement to The Dearborn In
dependent, Mr.. WOOlwinc says:
81 am convinced after many years Of
experience that T am justified in the
assertion that fully Is per cent of the