Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-08
COMPLICATIONS Requiring
PainStaking Examination
Are Disclosed.
HANDICAPPED BY LACK
OF RELIABLE REPORTS
Diagnosis Will Be Made Before
Remedies Are Prescribed,
Wickersham Explains.

A superficial study of lawless symp-
toms afflicting the American citizenry
has disclosed to the National Commits
sion on Law Observance and Enforce
ment complications requiring painstak-
ing examination and analysis.
Admittedly baff1ed by the hetero-
geneous mas of diagnoses heretofore
made by crime analysts in the Govern
nent and out, the commission today
went on recess so that its technicians
might collate the various data in hand
In a sort of Laboratory analysis"
Just how serious the malady may be4
and what the nature of the preScrlp-
ton will be are matters depending
largely on the outcome Of the present
examination of the history of the case.
Adjourns Until June IS.
at may be smallpox, or it may be
Scarletina,' Chairman George w.
wickersham explained as the commits
sion adjourned until June ID. We are
trying to do just what a doctor does
when called in by a patient-make
diagnosis before we try to prescribe
remedies. We want to know what the
condition is; just what disease the
patient has"
Chairman WickerSham said the lack
of reliable information bearing on the
wave OF lawlessness is proving Seri-
Gus handicap.
mo one can realize who has not
tried to look into the question how baf-
fling it is because of the absence of re-
liable statisLics-how difficult it is to
compare statistics in one place with
those of another" he stated. They are
not prepared in the same way. We have
4S States and the Federal jurisdiction.
There is no place where statistics con-
cerning crime of the whole country are
assembled to which one can go and
read them as one would read the sta
tisticS of health"
The first task of the commission will
be to assemble In one place all crime
statistics available, and then to attempt
TO draw from them such deductions as
may be possible under the conditions.
Too Early for Predictions.
1t is yet too early to venture predic-
tions or pass comments on the inquiry,
Chairman WickerSham announced.
I'VE are not working in way in
which the heads OF departments are
working from day to day." he pointed
out. I'VE can give out no immediate
information.
I'VE have the problem of inquiring
into the conditions of crime, the exist
ence of crime, the existing conditions
in the enforcement of crime laws. It
is very much like the problem of a
chemist who is called upon to analyze
some object. The conditions We are
considering are not all shown on the
surface. We can get some information
on the subject from our courts and
court officers and records in the depart
meiits OF the Government.
Studies Must Be Made.
an order to get the information on
which to base our conclusions. we
have to search those records, see what
they contain and how far they are
reliable and comparable with other rec
ords. We have to get both the records
and the testimony of people who know
the facts. We must make studies.
I'VE have been working for the last
two days on the questions of records
what records there are, where they are
kept, how reliable they are and what is
the best method of eValuating them.
Some of the questions before us are:
Who knows the conditions best? What
are the pertinent conditions in different
places in the country? Who can best
testify concerning them? How soon
can we get them? All that takes time.
I'VE have worked out with our staff
these last two days a general basis Of
our work which the staff will follow
through the next week under my direc-
ton. At the end of that time we hope
to have on hand considerable data and
the names of people who can supple
ment those data and be able to deter
mine how far we can use them"