New Britain herald., 1929-04-23

AiNlilAoo hoboilS, 1hdt IS "oit t'iy object.
 In declaring that no individual has the right to determine what law shall be obeyed and what shall not be obeyed. the President undoubt- edly had in mind certain popular attitude toward the prohibition law In the same breath he declared that if law is wrong. rigid enforcement lis the surest guaranty of it's re- peal.' Unfortunately, so far as pro- hibition is concerned. millions of citizens do not believe tk't. They have learned that 13 dry states can effectively prevent the repeal of the 18th amendment, and the best opinion of the times is that there remaining 10 uphold the amend menr. If the Presidents thesis is cor rect, then a rigid enforcement of prohibition must continue until it becomes so unpopular a law that oposition will become widespread enough to break down it's hold in the final IS states. That would take | long time.
 The President did not differentiate between ordinary -brea king that nobody disputes is breaking funda- mental and natural laws-such as murder, burglary. robberies and en- bezzlements-and such laws as pro- hibltion, which seeks to make a crime out of something that the peo- pie in law-abiding nations like Great Britain do not consider as crime.
 The President stated during his campaign that he would form com mission to investigate the prohbi- ton law and how it works. After the election and by the time he reached the White House he stated the jn- vestigation would include all law. He has not yet appointed the com mission, explaining that 1t will be so important commission that much time is necessary to select it's members.
 The President simply wishes an- other commission to cover the same ground that others have covered and there is no guarantee that his commission will be any better than llS forerunners. The National Crime Commission has made several re- ports, including reports by sub-com- mlttecs. The work has been thor ough. and apparently nobody. not even Congress and the governmental en1orctluent agencies have paid much attention 10 them. Other crime commissions likewise have added their quota of reports,
 By adding the prohibition inquiry to q general crime investigation, the poor enforcement of prohibition will be spared some Of the spotlig ht Prohibition. under a general crime lnNestigaton, will only be one of many things considered; the nation had expected concentration upon this problem, and last fall there was no thought that it did not deserve con- centrated attention.
 Inducing citizens 10 respect the prohibition law by persuasion is d new motif in Jurisprudence. It is not necessary 10 persuade them to re- spect the laws against genuine wrong doing; the good citizen in- stinctiNely respects d law that pro- tects him against murderers, thieves and hold-up men. Laws prohibiting fraud arc not only respected but re. ceiFe widespread encouragement, lt Il. only ill the case of s,lmpt,lary laws. which make crimes out Of what large majority Of people believe 10 1 De no crimes. that the loss of re-. spect onsues. Mir. Hoover. as the President. naturally stands for ob- | sorHance of all laws and wishes that all citizens should yield the respec, and Obedience due. Such super.
 persuasion would not be necessar If the laE were Fundamentally good.
 There was much meat in this ad i dress by the President however. He
 merely referred to the 18th amend.
 ment in passing, and gave attention 1 10 other departments of law in
 greater detail His lecture 10 tha,
 portion Of the press which has had q
 tendency 10 place the halo of TO.
 nance and heroism around criminals
 was well deserved. No sane man car
 have any patience with such dis
 tCftIon Of iOurna llSm His Suapps
 ton that more romance and heroisn
 be applied 10 the officers who
 z"alously try 10 guard us against Inc
 onslaughts Of criminals, likewise wa,
 one worthy Of the deepest approval
 His immediate listeners, the editors
 undoubtedly agree that there i. op
 portunity for improvement almos
 everywhere in this respect.