Evening star., 1924-10-05
BOYS STEAL BILLIONS
Every Nine Minutes Records Crime of Major
Character in United States

| generation ago a young fellow could
| have what he called d good time
| FOR couple of dollars. For the same
| Illusion OF pleasure he gives a nun
dred dollars today. Youth is not
prone to self-control and he is far
| less likely to exercise 1t when older
people all about him Are throwing VI
to the wind
Cure Lies in Home.
| How about the influence of the home
That is where the cure must start"
replied Mr.. st. John quickly, IF we are
| to fBd cure for the terrible condition
| which confronts us Unhappily the in
! fuence of many American homes in the
direction of right living seems to me to
have steadily diminished. Too many
children no longer have the respect for
their parents whish was once traditional
| with us. and back of that loss of re-
spect lies loss of faith in religion. To
large measure our hold on old faiths is
in question. Belief in life after death
and reward in the hereafter for hon
esty and decent living was once pow
erful incentive in mans conduct, but 1t
seems sometimes today to be operating
with less than its old force. The remedy
for that lies in our churches and schools
and our company is vigorously advocat-
ing the daily teaching of honesty in all
public schools in the United States. ""
have established national honesty bu-
reau. and already more than 1000 school
SuperintendertS have agreed to start
honesty classes if we will furnish SOM
sort of text book or basis of instruction
which the teachers can use. Our idea j.
to convince the youth of the country
that honesty is the only safe policy on
which TO base a happy and successful
life. In our business We have seen too
many thousands of men wreck their
lives by irnpulsive yielding to tempta-
tion. and we feel that there is nothing
of greater importance than to driyr
home to the consciousness of childr, u
the fatal results of dishonesty.'
Tardy Pennitie. Factor.
What are the police courts doing T..
ward checking the crime wave?
There you touch on one of the m.~t
vital factors of the whole situation.
One of the most effective means 10 check
the present spread of embezzlement and
forgery and other financial crime is h!
severe, sure and immediate punishmenf
of the criminal. For many years in thi
country punishment Of criminals hsS
been neither severe nor sure nor imme-
diate. A typical example was a recen
case of a clever crook who formed
conspiracy six years ago to tempt 80 "'
40 boys to steal millions of dollars 0
investment bonds from their cmp'oy
He was arrested and remained out "ll
bail until about three months ago. When
he was finally sentenced to two years II
prison. In my judgment. crook Wh'
teaches one poor boy-not alone 50
40-ought to get 20 years in prisoL
When criminals can conspire with prac
tical impunity to corrupt young Anu
leans by wholesale il seems to me tho
the whole moral and economic structur
of our Nation is in serious danger. ca
company strongly advocates an incrta
cf the police force of all the large citi,
in order to check burglaries and nod
ups but the police cannot prevent en-
bezZlements. forgeries or swindling. IL
crimes OF that character the police can
act only after the crime has been com
mitted. and for that reason We can Oh
cure the disease by going back to III,
sources Of infection. We must begL
with the home and the school. Beyond
that the imperative task is to see thIt
the offender gets swift and adequat
punishment.
Copyright by L. P. {. News Service, In