Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-08-16
SOME CAUSES OF CRIME

One new 1OTk JuuBe WeicoHcs al
other>to the bench in these words:
you have come on the bench Of
the greatest criminal court in the
world at a time when this country is
suffering under an Indictment which
proclaims 1t to be the most lawless
on earth. You will find that the Uni
ted States must plead guilty to that
Indictment. You will be heartbroken
at discovering that The vast majority
of defendants are under nineteen or
twenty years old That Is going to
be youS most distressing problem"
The Herald Tribune concludes II
this be true the courts are at least
partly responsible for it. 1t found
that ten bandits recently arrested had
previously been dealt with gently by
courts for crimes committed. The
courts surely have share in the re-
sponsibility. Probably the public that
doesn't afford the released criminal
an opportunity and proper assistance
for overcoming the weaknesses
4,rough which he has become a Grim
nal. those of us who substitute SEN
timentality for sense in dealing with
crime, who permit too many pardons.
who tolerate the delays by unwar-
ranted appeals. who allow 'pull' to
interfere, all of US in fact, are too
easy-going with respect to crime. We
hear so much about crime, read so
much about It we seem to have be.
come calloused rather than appre-
hensive.
Terrible arraignment of conditions
appears in the Boston Herald. written
by a Brookline woman. In this she
quotes a statistician that: There are
ten thousand people in America alive
today who will be murdered this
year" She estimates that in ten
years more there will have been
murdered in this country more
Americans than lost their lives in the
two years our forces were engaged
in the World War. She calls atten-
tion to the District of Columbia:
governed by Congress. quoting Con-
gresham Tinkham that 1t is 1000 per
cent. more murderous than London.
She thinks the practice of carrying
arms contributes greatly to this con-
dition; also the utterly inadequate
moral education OF our young people.
x x Their ideas on morals are
largely colored by sensational movies
and the jeers and jokes or the
comics
The array OF causes Is appalling
and she has undoubtedly pointed out
some Of them. She does not ask. now
ever. what has become Of parental
discipline. She does not ask whether
1t be possible for woman to take on
all the new obligations and properly
attend to the old, which should In
ing. May this not be a contributory
cause? May not prosperity In this
country and the opportunity it at
fords parental love to make It easy
causee
We do not believe in child labor IN
the industries and in drudgery. but
we do Believe that this freedom from
child labor will entail great RESPONSE
bility for seeing that the time Of the
child Is properly occupied. We do be-
lieve that the natural impulse In the
parent so to provide for the family
that the children shall not undergo
hardship and stress has led to the
rearing of fabby character in many
instances. We think this accounts
in some degree for the crime OF
youth. It would not seem that this
age has disproved the wisdom Of old:
Spare the rod and spoil the child.
No substitute for discipline has been
found and no flower lined pathway
leads to the DEVELOPMENT Of moral or