Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-01
CITIES SWALLOW IDENTITY
OF THOUSANDS ANNUALLY
Increasing Population and Greater Tur'
MOL Leave Brotherhood to Society.
Centers ''Ports of Missing Men"

and more 'ports of missing
men,"
Almost as securely as If they were
IN the grave itself, police and social
agency reports show, men and women
are able to escape their pasts and hide
their identities in such teeming human
ant hills as New York, Chicago, Phila-
delphia and Boston. For more and
more such cities are becoming places
where nobody knows and nobody cares,
except organized society as whole.
The business of being my brothers
keeper" has been delegated by the in
dividual city dweller to the great in
etitutions-the police and the charitable
organizations. These, OF course, are
more efficient, but they are restricted
in their scope. They are not greatly
bothered with the curse of the indi-
Vidual-curioSity. The big city dweller
has perhaps approached nearer than
ever before in history to the ideal of
''minding his own business. And this
works for both good and evil.
In the restless depths of New YorkS
surging seven millions, the police COM
missioner reports, approximately $4,000
persons-men, women and children
vanished last year. All but 500 OF
them showed up again sooner or later.
But these 500 vanished as completely
as if they had been swallowed by the,
earth. Yet they may be living just
around the corner from their old aSso-
ciates, who are anxious to hear from
them.
Just Ordinary Folks.
Few of these are criminals. If they
were 1t would be somebody's business
to look for them-specif1cally the bust
ness of the police department. Bnt
they are lust ordinary folks, not sought
for any crime. Many of them are of
interest to nobody but themselves. So
long as they behave there is no par
ticular reason to hunt for them, ex-
cept as a generalized activity of the
police. They are welcome to discard
the weight of their old lives If they can.
This phenomenon of vanishing seems
pretty largely confined to the larger
cities. with populations running over
million. In such a city as Washing
ton, where the population still is not
large enough to preclude speaking &C
ouaintance with neighbors, the act OF
disappearing without leaving the city
or never appearing on the streets would
be precarious. Probably it very seldom
happens. It is like trying to drown
oneself in water which it not over the
head. But the big cities have about
crossed the mark where the water is
over the head.
Family quarrels and disturbances are
the chief reasons for disappearance, it
is shown in the statistics of several
cities Last year, in New York City,
2,540 girls were reported missing. There
were even more boys, but they didn't
attract so much notice. A boy usually
can take care of himself. There is
much more danger of the girl, inexpe-
rienced with life, coming to harm.
Although the conditions are general
over the country. probably in no place
have they been studied more intensively
than by the New York Police Depart
ment. Here much of the responsibility
is laid at the door of the changing
status, both internal and external, Of
the family It hasn't adjusted itself to
a changing social order, especially as
this order is exemplif1ed in the hectic,
oceanlike confusion of the city. In the
very nature of things, the family is less
closely organized. 1t can't be closely
organized with the diversity of amuse-
ments. the employment of women and
the taking over of such domestic labors
as cooking and washing by restaurants
and laundries. There are not the same
economic bounds TO hold the members
together Besides. the conventions and
the mores have changed
Sentiment and Training.
But there is an eternal conflict be-
tween this new order and the old ideas
of what is fit and proper. Parents, es-
pecially immigrants who come from So
cieties where the family is still a strictly
patriarchal system, with the father al
most in the status of an absolute mon
arch, are bound by sentiment and
training to the old order They can't
adjust their minds to the changes.
These seem to them very close to i'm
moral Departure from the old stand
ards angers and shocks them.
Quite different are the ideas OF the
children. They have been educated in
the new age. There is something more,
even, than the old, old revolt of youth
against its elders. Today 1t is clash
of two fundamental concepts OF society.
It is a hard position for youth, with no
sentimental or educational bonds to the
old ideas. Often. it seems, the most
painless wav of resolving the conflict is
to vanish. Such, at least, is the conclu-
sion Of Capt. John Ayres of the New
York Bureau of Missing Persons. And
the same ideas are echoed by sociolo-
gists everywhere.
AS for the economic side of the ques-
tion-the poor mans divorce" long has
been celebrated. Folks live up to their
incomes. In big city they hardly can
do otherwise. Life is keyed to GER
tain pace. which varies pretty steadily
in relation to the rise of income. The
individual is caught in a vicious circle,
and about the only way to escape from
it is to disappear 1t is easier than
dying and. so far as the social factors
are concerned, accomplishes about the
same purpose. 1t is, Of course cow
ardly act-but it may be easy and
painless.
New Workers in Grooves.
"Few of us. I think" said Can't. Ayres.
"resli2e how large is the city of New
York with her 100000 inhabitants,
many square miles of territory and her
various communities, differing widely
from one another in character. The
New Yorker lives pretty much in GER
tain grooves. He goes TO business usu-
ally by the same route, and goes back
home that way. He falls into the habit
of going TO the same restaurant every
day or at least he is likely to be found
at luncheon at one of several restau-
rants. There he may meet much the
same people. Some of them he knows,
with others he has bowling acquaint-
ance. He has established himself in a
rut Of environment
Suppose, now, instead of going home
by certain subway line he takes some
other subway or the elevated. He may
change his Office address by a block or
so. He finds it more convenient to go
to some other restaurants or restaurant
than where he has been taking his
MONDAY meal. Weeks pass. and his
friends and acquaintance begin to Won
der. Three months go by, and they
say. Have you seen Bill Smith? What
has become of him?' Here is a dis
appearance.
Suppose continued the captain,
shat one designs To disappear. His
method would not be much different
from what he might do Internationally
He remains in the city and absents
himself from what may he considered