Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-04

me DOSS2O2L2LU LnQC respect yOI CuCO 20 ."1N 10
fading from the SenSlblatleS OF our people.
THERE IS NOTHING THE MATTER WITH THE INsTITU-
TIoNs WE HAvE-or, rather, used to have. They
embody the basic principles OF liberty, equality
and equity upon which rest the peace and happl-
ness of mankind.
We "pride ourselves upon our 'nSt1tut7onS' as
the President truly says
There is nothing the matter with them If we
can only preserve them
There is nothing the matter with our people
They are great people and good people, with
"high moral instincts" as President Hoover de-
scribeS them.
If. therefore, there is, as President Hoover
fears "the possibility that respect tor lao as td7U
is fading from the SenSibilitieS OF our people,
then there must inevitably be something the mat
ter with the law.
IF there is no sufficient respect for law when
our institutions are sound and our people are
good, then the inescapable conclusion is that our
laws must be bad.
If there is "the possibility that respect for la1O
as lao is fading from the semsibihtles of our
highly moral people, then it must be that the
laws, or a considerable portion of them, are un-
worthy of respect by highly moral people.
That is the unavoidable conclusion, and that
crucial question for the American people to con-
slider.
PRESIDENT HoovER's SPEECH is a shot in the air
a blank cartridge fired at a blank target-because'
it avoids the crucial question of the cause OF law
infraction and concerns itself only with the su-
perfcias of law enforcement and of penalties for
law infraction.
President Hoover forgets the old adage that
IAN ounce of prevention is worth pound OF
cure" and that if an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure, AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION is
WORTH TEN POUNDS OF PENALTIES WHICH DO NOT
CURE.
President Hoover says:
I'VE haze tzUo immediate problems before us n,
government to Investigate our existing agencies
of enforcement and to reorga11ize our system OF
enforcement.
He overlooks entirely the crucial question OF
reforming our LAWS and returning IN our law
construction and law enforcement to the funda-
mental American principles of liberty, equality
and essential equity.
Surely, there is something the matter with the
law when the lawmakers themselves break 1t as
;oon as it is made.
Surely, there is something the matter with the
law when the law enforcement officers may decide
m their discretion to whom it shall apply.
Surely, there is something the matter with the
law when a Cossack crew of enforcement officers
violate all popular rights and liberties and break
into mans house on a warrant obtained on per
ured testimony, and beat him into insensibility,
and shoot his wife to death as she sits at tele-
phone trying to get help for her husband.
PRESIDENT Hoover COMPLAINS of the small per
centage of conviction of criminals under existing
laws and asks for severer penalties, apparently
unconscious of the wellknown fact that severe
penalties, out of harmony with the sentiment of
community, always result in fewer convictions
and greater encouragement of crime; because no
criminal is deferred by law if he is not afraid of
conviction under the law.