Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-08-31
ToDAY's CRIME WAVE.
Writer Claims Bar is Not Ell.
cient or Honest.


writer in the Dearborn lnde-
pendent. Contempt for law by a
portion Of our population is only
equaled by the indifference Of
the remainder. The average citi-
zen pursues the daily record to
eXclalm: "It is terrible. Some
thing ought to be done about it. !"
Eut he himself does nothing.
Occasionally in some Southern or
Western States citizens take the
law into their own hands and or
gsnizations such as the ku Klux
klan spring up.
Crime and criminals we have
always had. There are men and
women whose diseased minds
cause them to prey upon society.
But criminals in the past to a
large extent were isolated; their
crimes were sporadic. Today there
Is an interviewer fabric of crime
covering the continent. Crime has
become a business. Crime has ia
ken leaf from the book of big
business.
Crime, which itself is defined
as any violation of human or di-
lie law, can be roughly divided
into crimes against property and
crimes against man. These can
be subdivided into crimes of guile
and crimes of violence. Crimes
Of guile are compassed through
trickery; crimes of violence by
the application of force. The first
almost invariably leads to the
second. A brainy crook will sell
dom resort to violence, but for
the crook of low mentality it is
the only resource. The success of
master crooks inspires the lower
criminals to emulation in the only
manner of which they are ca
pable.
The center of crime is today, as
it has always been, in the large
cities. In these congested cen
tiers of population, where no one
knows his neighbor's business.
the criminal can work to better
advantage than in the country or
smaller towns where all eyes are
focused upon him. In the cities
criminals of all degrees have
gravitated into the very citadels
OF the officers whom society has
chosen to defend it. 1t is this dis
covery by criminals of the value
OF organization together with the
laxity and indifference Of the
general public that causes the
crime wave of today to be Of
such potential menace to the ma
tion.
From New York, Chicago. st.
Louis, Boston, Seattle, New Or
leans, Cleveland, Cincinnati, De-
t1oit, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Kansas
City and many other cities, these
rings of arch criminals radiate
out to the surrounding country.
Here we have rings of automo-
bile thieves, bank robbers, boot
legyers, white slavers, dope ped
dlers, bunco men, blackmailers
and even murderers. .....
These rings, through liberal
use OF money and political influ-
ence, have corrupted members of
the State, county and city police
forces; have purchased the bar
and often reached the bench i.
self, until honest officials who re.
ally wish the law enforced find
themselves helpless, their hanls
Virtually tied, Thus the public is
left defenseless, at the mercy of
the enemies Of society. The press.
which should sound the alarm
ard awaken the lethargic public
to its danger, usually extends it's
energies to exploiting the results
but ignoring the basic cause.
There is remedy for this men,
acing state~'of affairs. 1t is an
obvious remedy, and simple
one. If the members of the legal
profession, if SO per cent only of
the members of he bar, would
forget their private interests and
devote themselves unreservedly
to the public welfare, the crime
wave could be wiped out in six
nnnnfhc onJ f,,xr-o-..