The New York herald., 1922-04-10

ton campaign or gubernatoriai elec-
tion campaign, and invariably follow the
wholesale suppression OF vice and gam
bling.
THE present Governor failed by a
very larse vote TO carry the city OF New
York at his last election" the letter
continued. AS Governor he has the
power under the law to remove the Po-
lice Commissioner from office. But it
Is possible that before doing so, having
an eye to the political effect. an effort
will be made to pillory YOU and your
official conduct and management of
your office.
I'm this connection the current oom-
bardment OF abuse may be only the
early stage OF a sustained general en-
gagement undertaken to demoiish and
annihiiate you. do not believe II is the
last stage or that IL IL is 1t will be sac
cessful, because the enemy's ammunition
stores are made up wholly of .'duds.'
However. the noise is fearsome and ter
rifying. Bear In mind that the enemy's
artillery is always prepared for action
and that his guns are trained on his o.
jective. And never forget that you are
that objective.
Never Saw Condition. Better.
There has been a wholesome suppress
sion OF organized and commercialzed
vice and gambling In this city. Never In
my recollection have things been so de-
cent as they are to-day. I know OF my
own knowledge that elimination OF these
vicious conditions excels anything which
your predecessors were able to accom-
plish. While your success In this con-
nection is remarkable. you must realize
that you have built up for yourself many
rfx.I -
GRAFTON are furtive and conscienceless
and who would stop at nothing to get
your scalp.
Recently these has been a consid-
cradle amount OF violent crime. That
cannot be disputed. However, the
amount OF II Is not. / believe. anything
like as large as the free advertising
given the perpetration of crime in this
city would seem to indicate.
Advertising promotes trade. Adver-
tising crime promotes the trade of crime
remember that some famous penologist
spoke OF the stimulus OF contagious ex
ample as being one OF the principal fac
tors in promoting crime. There is plenty
Of stimulus to be found in the scnsa-
t!onal stories which are now featured In
! the daily newspapers.
1T appears that most of the crimes Of
violence are committed nowadays by re-
cruits to the criminal profession. Men
and boys are engaging in holdups who
have no previous criminal records. They
read the free advertising matter and de-
eide that since the game is such an easy
| and a profitable one they will have one
crack at 1t. Many OF these newcomers
| are unknown to the police. Many OF
them are invited here from other parts
of the country. They cannot be watched
in advance and they do not invite sus-
picion to themselves until after the COM
mission OF the crime In which they par
ticipate. Many are from among the
Increasing number Of drug addicts."
Too Few Policemen.
The Committee of Non-Partisan Facts,
with which Herman A. Metz, Frederick
w. Hinrichs, Richard yelling and Will
lam Fl. Allen are connected, issued
statement on the crime situation yes
terday. In the course of which these
comments were made
Public opinion can never be compe-
tent In regard to city management so
long as 1t acts like frontier town which
gives almost unbroken neglect to city
business except as some calamity starts
vigilance committee. Outrageous as
are these new. outbursts of crime. most
of its features are not new, not even the
flash OF public indignation. II the
trouble Is incompetent police manage
ment there is nothing new about that
So far as the trouble is due to too few
policemen, there is nothing new about
that. Gov. Milers demand for compe-
tent action by the prosecuting attorney
Is a new factor. which. like citizen at
tention. should be continuous.
New York certainly needs q citizen
court OF criminal inquiry, but It needs
one all the time. II also needs citizen
court of library inquiry all the time and
road inquiry. street cleaning inquiry,
public bath inquiry, school inquiry and
budget inquiry all the time. Until there
is continuous non-rartisan search for
and publication of facts about work and
tendencies in city departments New
York's civic agencies can never begin to
accomplish what they are capable Of ac-
complishing IL only they have the facts
about city business.
"The big way to use this temporary
interest in better police protection is to
make sure now that without break, year
In and year out. skilled investigators
will always be studying and publishing
facts about those parts of official busi-
ness which are now being neglected by
the public.
ut takes more than police depart
That was shown last Friday when the
Board of Estimate voted an annual bud
get charge of over two millions dollars
for 1872 additional patrolmen 1t was
shown, too when Gov. Miller asked that
the prosecutor and the courts speed up
their work. II was shown again last
year when three different extensive in
uuisitions into police management sent
their force looking for graft instead OF
looking for ways of increasing police
efficiency. An agency of highly trained
men giving continuous non-partisan at
tention to the related activities OF city
government Is indispensable to perma-
nent improvement In police protection"
The rising tide Of commercial crime
was noted yesterday by J. II. Tregoe.
secretary of the National Association OF
Credit Men. Mr.. Tregoe said that there
has been a general lowering OF morals
throughout the world since pre-war days
and that one of the effects of this lower
ing of moral standards has been an
enormous increase Of commercial crimes.
Ernest Balcolas, who runs q fruit
store at 215 Amsterdam avenue. was
knocked on the head last night and
robbed of $40 and gold watch and
chain by two young men who came In
and asked him for q dozen bananas.
While Balcolas was wrapping up the
bananas one OF the men struck him from
behind and knocked him unconscious.
Martin Walsh. 90 wanted by the po-
lice for three months, was arrested last
night by Detectives Unger, Ryan and
Quaine of the East 104th street station
and locked up charged with robbery and
assault The detectives said that six