Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

- conspiring to stampede Presi-
dent Hoover and his Commits
IL sion on Law Enforcement and
Observance into the prohibition
arena-with all its present violent
,prejudices. But political intriguers
seem to have small chance of trans
forming the law commission into an
extraordinary grand jury on booze. The
Presidents program in this particular
has been formulated with too much de-
liberation to suffer radical readjuSt-
ment through political pressures. And
there are other Federal agencies to
deal with violence.
There Is widespread misconception
of the Presidents purpose in creating
the Commission on Law Enforcement
and Observance. And this has assisted
the opportunists whose present effort,
is successful, would make really COM
prehensive project ridiculously petty
one. Our leading professional cynics
have seen in it only hastily conceived
political gesture, an attempt by diver
sion to stem the rising tide of public
dissatisfaction with conditions surround
ing the VolStead act, a device to pest
pone or evade direct issue on the pro-
hibition question.
A more liberal view, and one which
Is accurate in so far as 1t goes, represents
the President as taking advantage Of
the present keen interest in the wet
and dry question to effect certain re-
forms in the general administration Of
I1uSt1ce throughout the country.
Whatever may be the necessary linz
dtations now or subsequently imposed on
the work of the Law Commission
through force of circumstance or lack of
facility. the President originally had
far more ambitious plans than elevat-
Ing the bar and the bench and intro
~ RiYae afAr a - I'd. 4
promptitude into the administration of
justice. Scion, the great Athenian law
9iver, expressed some cynical doubts
about the efficacy Of laws some CEN
turtles ago. The law enforcement prob
lem is not especially new. AS history
counts time, laws are transient things.
American Imponderables.
President Hoover. when he first gave
serious thought to the questions which
eventually led him to the creation of the
Law Commission, was exploring far
more deeply. He was considering what
he was pleased to call the imponder-
ables-those essentials of American life
and character upon which not only our
destiny but even our existence as a ma
ton must inevitably depend
That We should have criminals and
racketeers is regrettable, but not dis
astrous. That we should have too much
hlhWhIoA ScIlGlILltIlIdllCy IOT LUc CTlEl-
1nal or f1ippant disregard for crime is
quite a different misfortune.
That criminals should escape punish
tnent by reason of the obsolescence of
court procedure is bad. But that peo-
pie should hold our courts in contempt
and lose confidence in justice is an i'll
OF quite different degree.
When voters support the wrong po-
1itical ticket. we may have stupidity.
thnu fa IN ynf at oil de
fault in the primary obligation Of cit
izenship.
When our deliberative assemblies
honestly grope and stumble and blum
der, it is one of the prices we pay for
democracy. But when our Legisla-
lures become babels of skillful mis-
representation and demagogic sophiS-
try. our standards of representative
government fall into disrepute.
When machinery works revolutionary
ciiSplacements of handpower, it often
causes much inconvenience and some
distress. But when mechanical indus
try levels, and even consumes, the
workman, the profits bear faint
When masters of finance speculate
in the billions with other peoples
money, 1t only means that Barnum's
sucker ratio is now obsolete. When
they defy the governmental authority
altogether another kettle of fish.
Offends Public.
When men spend their personal mil
lions to get themselves elected, they
may violate the statute and they Of
fend our sense of public propriety. But
when they employ the power Of public
office to levy tribute they corrupt the
foundations Of government.
When modern invention and Skillful
advertising introduce powerful material
incentives into our daily lives. we only
scamper around faster and subject the
human machine to greater wear and
tear. But when uncontrolled credit
makes us nation of gamblers and
debt-dodgers we mortgage the future
too heavily.
When college professors explain and
defend the f1apper. they only surrender
to the inevitable. But when motion pic
lures dealing with the same theme
glorify the gaudy superficialities OF the
professional they hold out deadly lures
10 the young.
When our economic system induces
Che married woman to work for wages,
our basic institution loses something.
But when this condition Is capitalized
by social charlatans to preach COM
panionate marriage we have then re-
portable disease.
When the products of science are
turned to criminal uses, we have grew
Gus misfortune. But when science sur
renders to Mammon, then we have an
awesome tyranny Of greed.
When newspapers are subservient to
the passing fancy of thrill-hungry
public, we lose measure OF public lead
ership. But when the public gains
cynical suspicion of the integrity OF
free press, we have lost one OF the
vital props of democracy.
When a professional faddist amidst
some applause recommends an aristo-
cracy of culture, he forgets the brutal
power of an ignorant mob. But when
our educational system goes In Tor
standardized mass production, we are
on the road to national mediocrity.
These conditions-some partially de-
veloped, others merely symptomatic
warning signals--seem more important
to the President than whether we drink
LIQUOR or milk. The deal with the inn
ponderables-those national virtues OF
such essential character that they can
not be subjected to any test OF weight
or time. Thew deal with those traits OF
individual character which exalt such
prosaic institutions as home, family,
motherhood, industry, honesty, peace,
and-on the shoW-down-induce US TO
fight for them with the uncompromiS-
ing valor of Verdun. They are the
vital components of national morale.
Important Questions.
II Is unfortunate that we have shyster
lawyers, bootleggers, fixers, racketeers,
archaic court procedure, corrupt ofn-
Gals. debateable constitutional amend
ments, silly laws. dumb policemen, ON
cial shoppers, petty tyrants, drug store
shot putters and gin jennies. Why do
we have these things and why do We
stand for them? Do we want to be