Evening star., 1924-09-22
THIS AND THAT
BY G. e. TRACEwELL.

side of his head, stood in front of a
store on Pennsylvania avenue.
There was a CLEAN of absolute fas-
cination in his eyes as he gazed upor
the display of revolvers and wicked
looking knives in the window.
big boy, yo' is goin to be mine,"
he breathed. eying a cheap .32-caliber
gun, one Of the number set in Va stand
fanWise.
The man was not interested in any
thing else in the window, although
there was a display of many other
articles, more peaceful in nature and
less harmful in use.
! recalled the above scene when !
received recently from Judge Gus A.
Schuldt of the Police Court the fol-
lowing letter:
I'm recent article you gave a very
interesting survey of d street. There
in you narrated numerous articles on
display outside and inside the show
windows. | notice, however, you did
not mention the most startling and
significant, i. e., pistols and knives.
The large. ostentatious display of
these deadly weapons is, to my mind,
the main cause of the large number
Of 'pistol-toters.'
THE power of suggestion is potent,
and it seems to me that these attrac-
tive displays of deadly weapons, with
the alluring cheap prices marked
thereon, have a tendency to entrap
| many who would not otherwise buy
them. True, there is no law to pre-
vent same, but ii would seem that,
| from the standpoint of civic pride
and common humaneness, such a prac-
tice cannot be excused, even under
the elastic term of business. It's
bad business I believe a campaign
Of education along these lines might
effect cure"
Surely. all ghtthinking people in
Washington, white or black, will
agree with every word Judge Schuldt
says. The Star for many years has
| conducted a campaign against "pis-
| tol-toting," and has advocated con-
| sistently more stringent laws and
| regulations.
Displays of guns in D street win
| dows are not as numerous as they
! used to be, and the number of
weapons now on display are not as
many as formerly. After receiving
| Judge Schuldt's letter / made a spe-
| cial trip around IVA ashington, and
| found that d street is not the only
| offender in this respect.
| In fact, the condition along D street
! in respect to deadly weapon displays
| is much improved, it seems to me,
! over what prevailed some years ago.
! There are still too many such lay
| outs" in windows, however, both
along this street and along other
| thoroughfares of the city.
| One large shop, spectators are
| pleased to note, with about every
| thing in the window from radio sets
| to fishing tackle, does not carry a
! single revolver or pistol.
| These conditions are encouraging,
| and l believe that if city officials
would do a little "get-together" work
| with merchants the last trace of such
evil window displays could be re
moved.
In many affairs of government it
| is daily matter for wonder that
| officials do not more easily descend
| to the ordinary human plane, where
much could be accomplished, l believe,
| that now lies undone.
Take this matter of pistol displays.
| The influence of these window assort-
| ments on weak minds is unques-
toned. Thousands of persons are led
! to purchase articles, after glimpSing
| them in a store window, that they
never thought of buying. That is the
reason they have show windows.
! Now, why would it not be a good
| thing for some high official of the
| Government, say Commissioner Oys-
ter, who is in charge of the Police
Department, to make a personal visit
| to all stores in Washington still car
rying these vicious window displays?
You are a resident of the National
Capital: l am a resident of the Ma
tional Capital" the official might be-
gin. You, the same as l, want this
city to be as clean, safe and fine
city as possible"
A simple request. made in this man.
ner, would accomplish more, it seems
to me, than columns of agitation and
much pow-wowing otherwise. AT
least, it is worth trying.
! Business is business"
"Oh, yes, business is business. But
a better city is a better city, and
| safer city is a safer city, just as a
! beautiful city with trees is better
than a beautiful city without trees.
i These window displays of deadly
! weapons suggest to impressionable
youths and older men with youthful
minds-the so-called morons, those
having the intelligence of the 12-
year-old child-the desirability of
possessing them.
| 1t must not be forgotten that, in
addition to the class that buys guns
and knives with malice aforethought,
in order to wreak vengeance or other
harm, there is large class of persons
to whom weapons have an absolute
| fascination.
Almost every one knows of some
| boy whose one thought is of guns.
This is the child whose mother has
to bribe him to get his artillery"
away from him. This shows no in
nate depravity in the boy, but only
the powerful psychological pull of
the incessant warfare waged by men
throughout the centuries. Men have
not played with guns all these ages
without a weapon having a tremen-
dous fascination.
Put a gun in a mans hand-any
man-and the killer instinct comes
over him. He wants to shoot some
thing. Sure! What is gun for?
| X * x
In this matter Washington ought
to begin at home" by cleaning up its
window displays and adopting strin-
gent laws requiring the strict issu-
ance of permits to carry deadly
weapons.
!, Judge SchuIdt would make an ideal
permit officer. In discussing this
matter he suggests the superintend-
ent of police.
| .T believe we have sufficient laws
to reach the tpistol-toters, he said
Section S55 of the code provides
punishment of not less than $50 nor
more than $500 or imprisonment not
exceeding one year, or both, which
penalty is not inconsiderable.
'It also allows speedy trial, which
would not occur in the event the
penalty was larger and the case held
for the action of the grand jury, with
the resultant long delay before trial.