Evening star., 1934-04-29
Equipment Lacking as agents
Battle Well Armed Gangs
Federal Men Must Depend on Wit and
Grit to Take Place of Guns
and Defensives.

berry, transporting stolen money
across State lines and fleeing from
one State to another after commls-
sion of q felony.
AS it is, If Dillinger is caught by
Federal officers, they must turn him
over to State authorities for prosecu-
ton on the more serious State
charges listed against him.
Authority Questioned.
There was even some question as
to the legal authority Of Justice
agents to make arrests and, collat-
orally, to carry arms, but Attorney
General Cummings appears to have
settled that issue, for his men are
doing both.
Before the kidnapping and racket
eering war was declared by Cum
mings, most of the work done by j
Edgar Hoover's Division of Investiga-
ton was, as the divisions name i'm.
plies, of an investigative nature
Special agents of the division de-
voted most of their time to inyesti.
eating national bank embezzlements
bankruptcy frauds, thefts of property
in interstate shipments, violations O.
the Dyer and white slave acts anc
crimes on Government reservations
Rarely did the agents have to "shoo
it out" with gangsters.
linen came the wave OF kidnapping
and the Kansas City massacre Il
challenge the entire system of Law
enforcement and precipitate a grin
battle to the death between Fedora
agents, symbolizing the mailed fist O.
the Government, and rowing criminals
symbolizing lawlessness gone mad.
The challenge at Kansas City wa.
written in blood spilled by a barrag,
of machine gun bullets and sawed-ofi
shotgun slugs. The officers who fel
did not have q chance in this unever
battle 1t was a case of machine gun.
versus revolvers-and the gang gun.
men knew it when they laid tht
ambush.
Accepts Challenge
The Attorney General promptly ac'
cepted the challenge. Blasting ava!
red tape, he ordered the purchase o.
at least one machine gun for each
field office of the Division of Investi-
CATION. Limited funds precluded pur'
chase of more, although they arr
needed urgently.
The investigative aspects of tht
divisions activities proceeded, but
along with them there have grown VI
new and dangerous police functions
exemplified in the roundup of kid.
napers and mobsters of the predatory
type
More than ever have wits and grit
been necessary on the part of the
Federal men. Both attributes were
responsible for the solution Of the Ions
list of kidnapings and the remova
| from society Of such notorious out
laws as Harvey Bailey, Wilbur Under.
hill, George C''Machine Gun"D Kelly
Frank Nash, the Touhys and tht
others.
A remarkable record under the bes
Of conditioDs, but especially SO wher
the handicaps under which the Fed
eral men are laboring are considered
Strengthen Enforcement.
The new crime laws will strengthen
the ,Government's arm of law enforce.
ment to great extent. Also they
will increase the responsibilities oi
the Department of Justice
Not only will more and better
equipment be needed-more men o.
the highly trained type already or
the trail Of the Nations public ene-
mics will be required, according te
the Attorney General
1t is not so much the quantity as
the quality of men that must be con-
sidered, he declared TIE Justice
agents are trained in law and scien-
tiflc crime detection as well as in
the art of handling a gun. They are
Virile young men, chosen for theil
character as well as their brains anG
Drawn. This standard of personnel
must be maintained at all costs, he
contends