The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-06-14
Gangland's Sheer at Tolerance

Chicago can now feel certain that Its peace and order
are not to be insured by any gar land truces. One such
was announced by Scarface AL Capone some time age
with a great blare Of jazz. Rivalries had been laid aside
though cooperation was not quite certain, and there were
to be no more racketeer killings.
The assassination of Jake" Lingle was a climactic in.
cident Of the disruption of that pact and the reopenine
Of the old ieud a month after peace, If not actually har-
nnony, had been so loudly proclaimed to the nation. APP
parently the peace deal had no teeth in 1t. Maybe 1t
failed because underworld psychology isn't quite ready
for a super-state yet. and maybe the boys just naturally
didn't take it seriously; at an rate the machine guns be-
gan swinging again, and the casualty list resumed the
proportions of the good old days.
Chicagos breathing space ended amid a clatter of fire
arms. Dead bodies began to strew lonely roads once
more, and firing squads prowl again; the police found
known %gangsters' immersed in their own gore, and
this, that or the other gang getting the credit, or other
wise, for this, that or the other murder.
All in all, the city at the foot of Lake Michigan seems
to have slipped back to normal; and people who like to
be driven to alarm by these violent outbursts on the part
OF our urban civilization have at hand the material for
a new fit of the heebee- jeebies.
We're pretty well used to our big-city gangs now, and
they don't worry or shock us as they used to; neverthe-
less, there's one bit of foggy thinking that these killings
usually bring out, and we might as well take the time to
get straight on 1t.
III PdENCuA6I pL OF UraCOnalty is a reflection that
generally runs something like this: After all, it is only
the ~gangsters that get killed. Each of these ~outbursts
simply removes from circulation a citizen whom we can
very we'll do without. Why get worried? Isn't it, in the
long run, to societys interest to have these yeggs put ono
another out Of the way?
On the surface, that looks reasonable. The assassina-
ton OF Jake" Lingle is the best answer to this. Be-
cause every ~gangand killing simply entrenches the gangs
more firmly In power. Every time one group of cut
threats machine guns a rival group, it merely convinces
every member Of the underworld that he and his kind are
beyond the reach of organized society as represented by
the police and the courts. Every underworld murder
the chiefs of ~gangland. more securely than
before, as a law unto themselves.
For those reasons it is impossible for society to derive
any satisfaction out of this string of murders, otherwise
the murder of Lingle would be such a satisfaction.
These killings are nothing but the ~gangsters' way of
making sure that they can continue to prey on society
There is q new recruit to take the place of
every hoodlum that gets bumped off. When we try to
tell ourselves that we needn't be alarmed because one
more er-runner has been shot to death we are just
kidding ourselves-in a very dangerous way.
Our talkie stars. 1t Is reported, are more ~favorably re-
garded In England than they are in this country. This
us the English are slow to see a joke.