Evening star., 1925-08-08

law. the record is as follows: 1922.
| 5,7Ss.
or gallons of liquor seized. the rec
ord since 1922 is 9.46s, 1851, 14.354.
and last year 21,S92 gallons.
| Ot violations of the Sheppard law
against intoxiCation, the figures for
successive years. beginning 1922, are
| $3.50, S,S71. 9,715, and last wear
LISP. Shall our law enforcers say.
We have met the liquor violator and
| ne is ours?" Total arrests have grown
from 61.o67 in 1922 TO 1929 in 1895
an increase of % per cent.
! The main interest in any statistics
lies in the lesson they NAV point as
to the trend of conditions. Washing
ton police and courts claim that there
is no marked increase of crime in the
| capital The surety companies allege
| that conditions here are extraordi-
| narily dangerous, mainly because the
! public. banks and business men gen
orally are lulled into a feeling of false
| security. The vigilance committees
of the West, they declare, are driving
the criminals out of that region. and
| the robbers and "stick-ups" are likely
to head in this direction. No expIa-
| nation has been given to the recent
action by the United States Treasury
in supplying sawed-off shotguns to
| employees.
| Surety experts declare they are
alarmed at the carelessness of some
| banks and business firms in their
| handling of securities and funds. One
bank. they say. unwilling to mar the
| architecture of the building placed
| its burglar alarm inside the building
| instead of outside. In case of a bur
| glary or a hold-up, there would be
but faint buzzing inside, instead of
| a real alarm which would arouse the
| police.
Business houses are not alone warn
| ed OF careIessness; homes are equally
opened to similar criticism. Jewelrv
! lies openly upon dressers, or is depoS-
tied IN insecure boxes and drawers
AS Mr. Joyce, the expert whose letter
is quoted in the opening paragra ph d.
says: "Thefts in residences most fire.
| quently are the jobs of servants or
former servants who know the culpa
bic carelessness of the owner. We
have paid losses, and there are also
hundreds of losses we did not insure
+, against, that were caused by eX-con-
victs that were employed and given
free access to the entire residence 8"
There are two phases of the in
crease Of crime, In regard to which
all parties agreeS
First, that they criminals between
the ages of II and 25 are increasing
alarmingly.
The average age Is much younger
than in the past. The reason for
this tendency toward youthful crime
is laid to the general laxness of home
discipline of children, the lowering
of religious and moral standards.
which in so many cases condones
violation Of some obnoxious law, and
thereby teaches that law need not be
respected unless 1t comedies with in
dividual predictions.
| Second, the delays in trial and SEN
| fencing of crimianls. and the loose
! ness of court action, hampered by
1 insuff1ciency of the number of courts
| to give prompt trials, and, above all
to the growth of technicalities for
| evading conviction.
| Too many courts and officers of the
| law take the position that law en-
forcement is optional with them. Both
| judges and sheriffs are sworn to en-
force all laws-county, State and Fed.
| eral. They have no discretionary
! power to suspend enforcement, and
when such officials usurp power of law
| evasion, the influence spreads to
young men and older criminals 10
T, despise all laws. and to seek fo profit
by crime. This is the belief of high
officials in the Washington Police
Department.
tocryriSbtr 1925. by Paul y sGciliss.l