South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-01-31
HERE AND THERE
~ LOCAL POST or
AMERICAN LEGION

Since the ending OF the World
War the public has gradually been
receiving the impression thai the
ex-service men are responsible in a
large measure fot the alleged in
crease iu crimes Many think that
because while in the service these
men were trained 10 fight thereby
tossing all OF their respect for life
and property rights. that after re-
turning to civil life. a large number
OF them became gun men and rob-
beers. Many newspapers use large
head lines OF murders and robberies
with statements eX-service men were
believed 10 be the guilty parties.
Numbers OF times 10 was proved af
forwards that the men committing
these crimes were not eN-service
men. However. the first impression
remained with the public. causing a
great deal of comment detrimental
TO those men who risked their lives
iu the service of Our rountry. As
the American Legion Weekly says,
"Protestations of innocence by the
great body of veterans would make
about Is much OF an impression on
the public mind as a BIB shot on a
12-inch belt armor"
DR. Frank L. Christian. superin-
tendent of tho New York State re-
formatories at Elmira and Napanoch
became interested i'm this constant
blaming OF this crime on veterans.
Being a noted criminOlogist. he de-
cided to investigate After three
years of investigation Of men COM
mitted 10 his institutions he has
made the following facts known:
Out Of 800 men received, Il one
institution Els saw service during
the World War; 22O were in the
army SO were in the navy and two
in the marines Ten had served in
other Allied armies This means
that about one in every six commit
ted was former service man Ac-
cording TO his Investigations one
man out of every five available was
called 10 serve the country, showing
that the percentage of eX-service
men in reformatories is nothing un-
Usual, being neither worse nor bet
ter than the population as a whole
]
Christian said. More than half Of
these 31S delinquent ex-service men
had been arrested and convicted at
least once before they entered the
service. They were criminal before
they joined the army Hence their
army training was not responsib Bile
for their criminal acts.
Maybe lots of people don't know
it, but the average soldier was a
pretty good sort; military offenses
committed during war time were
/ fewer than expected. Preparations
were made in the army prisons for
| 20. 600 soldiers. They received o.
600 One-third of these 1000 con-
victions were for strictly military Of
/ fences. This shows that compare
/ lively few criminal acts were COM
mitted hy the military man"
+ During the past year only about
one man who was committed 10 his
prison was a World War veteran.
The following is a short summary
\ OF the conclusions:
l. Most ex-service men now serv-
/ ing Jail sentences were criminals be-
/ fore they joined the service, would
\ have beer criminals anyway Their
| equal proportion with the other in
mated as compared TO the numh-s
of service men and the available
/ possible soldiers proves this.
.. Many of these delinquent vet
/ Grams might have been excluded
/ from the service had the intelligence
test been adequately working from
, the first
3. The crime wave is still at It's
! former height and yet the delinquent
/ forms soldiers are dropping lower
/ and lower in numbers.
4. The veteran is getting too much
misplaced publicity and is suffering