The Washington times., 1934-12-08
By JACK LAIT
Copyright, 1884. by International
News Service

News Service
From all corners OF the nation,
from many walks of life, men and
women are gathering here to com
pose conclave more extraordinary
than any that has formed since
our embattered forefathers assem-
bled to meet the crisis Of foreign
oppression.
The Attorney Generals confer
ence on crime is its formal
designation. Back of it is a situa-
ton unique in the history OF civ
ilized governments. The mighty
United States of America calls to
its Capital it's best brains and
stoutest hearts to draw a Declara-
--tion of Independence against an
enemy so powerful and so dam
gerous that constituted and regu-
lar resources of resistance have
been proven inadequate. and in
efficient.
Crime Cost Tremendous
The enemy is organized crime
and racketeering, which today
costs us in money more than all
branches of government and
education combined. The total
yearly toll is between $4,000, ,000,-
Q 900 and $18,00O,0OO,000, far more
. than it would require to lift the
= depression. It costs a human
life every 40 minutes of every
day and night, and has raised
our homicide rate to IA per
. 100000, more than nine times
that of England. 1t has cost in
surance company indemnities of
beyond $300,Oo000o for hi-jacked
Il trucks-trucks carrying legitimate
merchandise over our public
=, streets and highways-within the
year.
=, Farley Opens Monday
President Roosevelt will open
this epochal congress of officials
and citizens on Monday evening.
So vital is the cause that it tran
scends party lines, with Patrick
j. Hurley and Henry L. Stimson,
Republican former Cabinet mem
,bers, sitting beside Attorney Gen
eral Cummings, of the current Ad-
ministration.
With repeal, the more pictures
que gangsters of prohibition times
have largely passed from the front
pages, and the casual reader may
have assumed the comforting de-
lusion that violence, extortion,
paid professional murder, terror
, izing by bomb and machine gun,
G. have declined. A sad mistake.
:. Business Target of Thugs
Deprived of most of their oppor-
,.rtunities for large profits from law
! defiance during prohibition, the
vast hordes of sluggers. killers and
s~freebooters have turned not to the
farm or shop in search of honest
work, but to levying on the legal
rand upright businesses, which Of
rEfer far richer fields, and depreda-
%tions against which strike more
E~directly at the average, orderly in
-habitant.
z Not pound of ice nor a quart
eof milk, nor loaf of bread, nor
"a yard of cloth, nor a pair of shoes
ssscan be delivered before the rack
6teer has taken his tax; not brick
sscan be laid, not a tire can be
@changed, not a cigarette can be
lighted before the racketeer has
sstaken his tax; not a can of ashes
.can be removed, not street can
:-be flushed, not bobbed head can
@be marcelled, not a show can be
aseen before the racketeer mas
sztaken his tax.
= The average age of our Grim
=anal population has shot down
Asward at a staggering rate, until
Eour largest criminal group is 20,
sand the average over all is
-under %.
. The era of the trained thief is
Epast. At an alarming speed the
mat has fallen into the crude
land cruel clutches of the unskilled
but deadly hoodlum, who gets an
eautomatic or a typewriter" today
land is in business tonight.
: Kidnap Wave a Scandal
. The recent wave of kidnapings
ss~haS been a scandal unprecedented
s%through the ages, and dozens of
-CaseS have never been made known
@openly because the intimidated vic.
sstims have paid and kept silent,
.horrified by the threats against
their loved ones, threats that rang
-hard and true in reflection of the
-murders and tortures that have
ssbeen committed by these modern
-kidnaperS.
= The worthy results achieved
there and there by our crime-fight-
2 ing agencies have been admirable,
aE but they have been infiniteSimal
8 when balanced with the incalcula.
= BILE scope of the criminal activities
: with which the land is bedeviled.
= TREASURY CONDITION