Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-27

Startling SUGGESTIONS Of dealings be-
tween Chicago ganglarld and ofhc1als
and other persons moving In circles OF
respectability and influence are found
by the press generally In the disclosures
which have followed the opening Of the
safe deposit boxes Of Jack zuta, slain
sangster cfieftAin.
II is felt by the Chicago Daily News
that ''it would be improper to assume
guilt in any given instance, but there
Is no improperly In saying that many
Cancelled checks and notes found in
Zuta's strong boxes invite grave suspi-
cion." The Daily News concludes that
sit is undeniable that zuta was on
friendly terms with important public
off1cials": that sit is morally certain
that he paid literally for protection"
and that at Is indiSputable that he
made generous contributions to CAM
paign funds and to political organiza-
tons"
at is possible" comments the Cleve-
land Plain Dealer, that the men who
bumped of zuta did not know his habit
of saving papers and other souvenirs.
Perhaps they are even SORRY they
bumped him OF. A good many Chi
cagoans are most unquestionably sorry"
The Champaign News-Gazette feels
that the records found "have abolished
the last vestige of doubt in the minds
of the liberals concerning the serious
status of Americas crime industry"
and holds that crime has become one
Of the major industries"
'The intiniacies these documents
disclose" declares the New York Sun,
increase the distrust created by other
revelations Of alliance, innocent or
guilty, between apparents respectability
and brazen corruption. To scoun-
drels sufficiently sensitive to recognise
the desirability OF bearing q good name,
exposure of their fraud Is bitter pun
ishment no matter how low their hy-
pocrtsy takes them, and the authority
that enacted the moral code did not
cripple It with a statute Of limitations"
Quoting statements that the task
of cleaning UP Chicago sis made all but
impossible because of the tie-up Of the
underworld and a part Of otacialdom, =
the Oakland Tribune states that the
zuta notebook may be q plant and
meaningless. or II may supply that
evidence which It has been considered
necessary to obtain before the gang
war could be carried to the fiyers and
higher-ups," and suggests that chi
Cages battle for civic cleanliness seems
to be entering upon new stage" The
Davenport Democrat advises that pub
licity for the Zuta records and ac-
counts will do more to cripple the
Chicago racketeers than o dozen st.
Valentine day niassacres." The Geneva
Daily Times hopes that mo pressure
which may be brought to bear win
suppress the evidence"
The dead man is called by the CHI
cago Daily Tribune IAN eloquent wit
ness to gang operations, through the
discovery of the carefully kept financial
accounts, showing receipt and payment
Of money used in protecting the
sources of criminal profits and taken in
collecting from them" The Tribune adds,
"The future consequences cannot be
predicted, but where there was a closed
trail there are now hundred open
ones, running into the connections Of
crime with politics, Government, justice
and the grafters who lived by murder
and vice"
Evidence of etnbained guilt" Is seen
by the st. Louis Globe Democrat in
records which "are said almost to form
diary Of underworld transactions. -
The South Bend Tribune assumes that
soctates regret attempts to doubie-cross
him, If they were tempted to do So"
The Kalamazoo Gazette attests that
the gangster lifts q corner OF the
Shoddy curtain behind which the forces
of entrenched crime work hand in hand
with crooked ofacialdom."
~ \ ~
They "killed a. calculating fellow"
declares the st. Louis Times, with the
comment that the records may not
contain convicting evidence, but they
eaSt suspicion ON many otherwise re-
spectacle persons-sllspicion which is
justifiable toward Some-and they
throw light on bootlegging as busi-
ness" The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
suggests N1at "the only surprise Is in |
the apparent good luck IA finding such |