Evening star., 1933-07-15

:, a
Charles Francis Coe. instrume
quently
and the habeas financed by millions in
that the prosperity and safety of the {
money and its corruptive power. Legs
many a killer, and those technicalities
because of influence.
A Viciou
The connection between the police
faced by society. Perfect it, and So
ciety is utterly de1enseless 1t has come
to its greatest fruition under prohibition
because of lack of sympathy for the law
and the ease with which millions have
trickled into unworthy palms. The
criminal always has it on the police
who have taken bribes. They have u
on prosecutors seeking reelection and
Judges depenednt upon the same thlng.
II has made vicious circle.
Well-planned murder is almost i'm
possible to detect and convict. This IS
due to the planning and the apparent
lack of motive in people who had op-
portunity to kill. We may know the
cause and the source of murder, but
we cannot prove them in court. so
murder became easy. 1t was easy pc
cause of this connection between the
law and the lawbreaker. Such connec-
tions are inevitable in great cities with
laws like prohibition battering at the
foundations of honest enforcement.
Now how break up that connection?
With bootleggers turned racketeers and
kidnapers, how handle them? The kid
naping will die away because no one
can protect it long. The racketeerlng
will continue because business finds 1t
cheaper to pay tribute than to risk lie
and property fighting. Yet we must
break UP the rackets.
U. S. Action Held Solution.
It is my judgment that Federal ac-
ton is the only solution. Uncle sam
with his long arm can reach over extra
ditions. He can batter down alliance
between law and crime. He can Step
into city and demand the facts. He
can do that because he will not long
remain in any one city. Not long enough
for his officers to get tangled IN the
web of dirty money that flows IN the
urban streets of America. Ihe feoelai
officer may not be more hohgss NJ, VI
herently than the local one. But ne
has an esprit de corps which only pass
ing contact with local conditions never
favor a national police force for
criminal investigation and prosecution.
T feel that the people of the country
soon will be forced to demand II.
Americas great cities have doupled po-
lice forces in the last 80 years, ana tne
crime rates have increased t"ioe do
much as the police!
see no need of county governments.
They are an expense, a cumbersome
method of maintaining political patron-
age, and generally hindrance 10 ol-
rect and economical government. why
the CITY or village should arrest man
for crime. only to have him tried py
the county and imprisoned by the State'
7 shall never understand. If 1 rely upon
political surveys by puryeyors OF poAli-
cal patronage, of course, mlgnt SEE
good reason for such roundabout meth-
DDS, But I do not rely upon tHose.
That is a political chlcanery WHICH leiis
since has perished in the mlnoS u
tav-h,,rdened. crime ridden people.
If every city in the United States olo
ou,av with its criminal investigation
nolice and turned that function over 10
the Federal Government beleVe clHne
would be reduced to its minimum III
verv brief time. If cities handled tral-
fc protected life and property ana po-
lice as the uniformed force generally
does. there would be no important cor,
r,lption. If. when major criminal
offenses were recorded in any city, tne
Federal Government gave that Guy
three days to apprehend the criminal
then, that failing, took over the lnvestl-
CATION itself, there could be no colrupss
ton that would revert to destruction VI
nonest investigation and expeditions So
luton of crime. What Is more 1 peiieVe
that day will come.
The detectives of the United states
will be like its soldiers. They Will never
know their next point OF call. They
will operate under centralized oroers
from Washington. They will have at
their fingertips a complete international
identification bureau They will use
radio, telegraph. telephone, photography,
fingerprints, Bertillon measurements.
Use, in fact. every science known 10
criminal detection. And they Will sue,
ceed in their job only as they succeed
in the individual tasks OF solution ialo
upon their shoulders. And more tnah
that that thev will walk through absurd ex-
tradition folderol as fireman goes
through a wisp of smoke.
Crime Against Society.
Crime will be against society. not
against county or city or a State.
Prosecution will be by society, not by
a politically-controlled organization de-
pendent for living upon the votes OF
few communities. Crime will be hlgh
menace to the decency of life, the ad-
ministration of business and the sane
tity of the home 1t will be treated as
such. Then solution will be sure IN the
vast ma jority of cases. Then proSecu,
ton will be genuine and speedy ana
efficacious. Then change OF venue
will temper justice with mercy ana
"mercenary" with justice.
Until then the country will stagger
along under increasing police and
prosecution costs. It will carry the
endless burden of county bonds and
county taxes. And by every indication
crime will constantly increase. How
many of Americas great cities are
solvent today? Why?
America, with the most outrageous
murder rate ever known to civilized
land, is, in my Judgment, the most
law-abiding nation on earth. This is
true because America stands for more
ridiculous and politician-made laws
than any other country. Technical
legal expressions are the fruit of legal
lied lawmakers, justifying their own
existence. They have specialized to
cess is the rout of common equity and
average comprehension. Strictly speak
ing, not single American Is free from
the taint of criminal activity.
He may speed in his motor car. A
crime! He may not sound his horn.
A crime! He may run a wire to light
his chicken coop and forget that ne