New Britain herald., 1929-04-22
HOOVER ADDRESSES
 ASSOCIATED PRESS
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sider the dominant issue before the American people. Its solution Is more vital to the preservation Of our institutions than any other question before us. That is the enforcement and obedience 10 the laws of the United States. both federal and state.
 T ask only that you weigh this for yourselves, and if my position is right, that you support it-not to support me, bat to support some thing infinitely more precious-the one force that holds our civilization together-IaW. And l wish to dis cuss it as law. not as to the merits or demerits of } particular law but all law. federal and state, for ours IS a government Of laws made by the people themselves.
 A surprising number or our peo- pie. otherwise of responsibility in the community, have drifted into the eX- traordinary notion that laws are made for those who choose 10 obey then.
 And in addition, our law-onforce- mont machinery is suffering from many intIrmIties arising out of its tcchnicalities, it's circumlocutions, its involved procedures, and too often. l regret. from inefficient and delin- quent officials.
 Murder With Impunity
 We are reapIng the harvest of these defects. More than 5000 hu- man beings are laWl5ssly killed every year in the United States. Little more than half as many arrests fol- low. Less than one-sIAth Of these slayers are convicted, and but a candalously small percentage are adequately punished. Twenty times as many people in proportion to population are lawlesSly killed in the United States as in Great Britain. In many of our great cities in the United States murder can apparent ly be committed with impunty. At least 50 times as many robberies in proportion 10 population are con- mitted in the United States as in Great Britain. and three times as many burglares.
 Even in such premeditated crimes as embezzlement and forgery our record stands no comparison with stable nations. No part of the country, rural or urban. is immune Life and property are relatively more unsafe than in any other civil izod country ln the world. In spite ot all this, We have reason to pride ourselves upon our institutions and the high moral instincts of the great majority of our people. No one will assert that such crimes would be committed if We had even a moral respect for law, and if the laws of our country were properly enforced.
 In order to dispel certain illu- sions in the public mind on this sub- iect let me say at once that while violations of law have been increas- ed by inclusion of crimes under the eighteenth amendment, and by the vast sums that are poured into the hands of the criminal classes by the patronage Of illicit liquor by other wise responsible citizens. yet this is but one segment of our problem. l have purposely cited the extent Of murder. burglary. robbery, forgery and embezzlement, for but a small percentage of these can be attributed to the eighteenth amendment. Tn fact. Of the total number Of conyic- tions for felony last year, less than per cent came from that source. IT is therefore but sector of the invasion of Iawlessress.
 Respect for Law Fading
 What we are facing today is something far larger and more fun damental-the possibility that re- spect for law is fading from the sen- abilities Of our people. Whatever the rules of any law may be. the enforcement Of that law, written in plain terms upon our statute books, is not. in my mind, a debatable question. Law should be observed, and must be enforced until it is re- pealed by the proper processes of our democracy. The duty to enforce the laws rests upon every public of-