The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-06-04
LAW COLLAPSE
BLAMED ON u. S.
MONEY WORSHIP
British Press Points to
Indy kidnapping as
Disgrace.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMs
seTipDs- Howard Foreign Editor

WA-HINGTON, June Are
Americans people? II so, what is
the matter with them?
Taking the Lindbergh baby kid
naping and murder for its text. the
Manchester Guardian. British lib
eral newspaper, ordinarily very
friendly to the United States, at
tempts TO answer these questions.
Like it or not. here is how others
see us-our friends at that. Says
the Guardian
1t Is dangerously easy 70 deduce
the general from the particular. and
70 faS.en on 70 the tragedy Of the
L.ndbergh baby a moral that is be-
vond its scope. But, like an in
verted Dreyfus case, IL has with
out question served dramatically TO
illustrate the defects Of American
civilization.
Law Breakdown Shown
They have not, it is true, been
wanting other illustrations as
forciblc. and sometimes on a larger
scale. At the same time, 1t remains
true that seldom, even in America,
has the breakdown Of law and or
der in face OF organized crime been
made 50 obvious as in the course OF
events since Colonel Lindbergh's
baby first was kidnapped till, weeks
later. its dead body was found by
chance ncs TO his house
The pol e have been active and
he newsp )ers lavish with space;
large sums OF money have been paid
over by Colonel Lindbergh to per-
sons purporting 10 come direct from
The kidnapers, and OF this money
notes have been found in circula-
ton.
The mos fantastic rumors have
been put about. denied, and then
put about gain.
Yet all ne while this has been
going on II looks as though the
dead body OF Colonel Lindbergh's
baby lay a short distance from his
house, where those who stole il had
huuicdly deposited it after having
murdered it.
AaDNbN OntALu hlu
al Capone. from the prison
where he is serving a sentence for
falsifying his income tax returns.
sent out offers of assistance. and
even President Hoover interested
himself personally in the affair.
But not only have the police
failed completely to discover the
actual criminals. they have failed
even to arrest those INSCRIPTIONS
persons who. as is nov believed, sue
cessfully eXtorted money from
Colonel Lindbergh without know
ing anything of the whereabouts or
the fate Of his baby.
Various attempts have been
made to explain how such things
can be in country that, in a ma
terial sense, is amongst the most
civilized in the world
1t is prohibition It is the mix
ture of races II is corruption.
It is the lawlessness Of old pio-
neering days persisUng still. II is
the lack of tradition and the rest
lessness and instability of a people
that is not a people.
Wealth Is Blamed
Any or all Of these may be, and
probably are, contributory causes
but the present breakdown of law
and order in America is mainly a
consequence of the worship of pros
perity.
Wealth is a disastrous social
value. because so much that is bad
can be justified by it.
When wealth is the only social
value. then social institutions COL
lapse and gangsterS no less than
millionaires become national heroes.
1T may be that now, in the au-
tumn of her great prosperity, Amer
lea will rediscover other values and
rebuild those institutions the sig
nifcance Of whose decay has hither-
to. except by the few, escaped
notice"