Evening star., 1936-06-24

'SOIltlIIuCu IlOlIl I 40 dSCD
the short time required for the few
words which I have spoken in this
introduction, at least two major crimes
have been committed in the United
States. If this is amazing. shall fur
ther state that before this speech is
over there will have been 90 robberies.
cases of arson, hold-ups, aggravated
larcenies, assaults, rapes, rnanSlaugh-
ters and even murders within the
limits of the United States.
Murder in Progress.
II must augment this by revealing
that somewhere. as I speak, a human
being is undergoing the pangs of death
at the hands of murderer and that
his life will have been severed before
cease speaking. These are not exag-
gerations. I am merely giving you a
graphic analysis of cold-blooded statis-
tics, which tell us that a man or
a woman is murdered somewhere in
the United States every As minutes
and that every 20 seconds, hour after
hour and day after day. into the weeks
and the months and the years, there
is committed within our boundaries
some form of major crime. which an
nually reaches into one of every Is
homes in this country and which
amounts to a total of 1,500,000 des-
perate offenses against the law each
year"
Hoover said that the best insurance
for a prosperous community Is that
Of crime-free community"
He pictured the country as being
lin the midst of another war in which
We are threatened by a foe which
outnumbers our armed forces two to
one" He said that while the armed
forces Of the Nation number 250O00
men, there are more than 100000
criminals who make use of dangerous
weapons and that the swindlers, en-
bezzlers. petty thieves. racketeers,
chiselers, and others of their ilk aug
ment this number until it runs into
the millions"
Murderers Rapidly Freed.
Every two and one-half hours, he
said. prison doors swing open to re-
lease murderer, majority of them
by pardon or parole. The average
sentence served by persons convicted
Of murder in this country is only 43 y
months, he said. Human life has be-
come so cheapened. he said, that the
penalty for murder ''is little more than
that supposed to be inflicted for ag-
gravated robbery or the theft of a
motor car"
Largely because of this inadequate
punishment, before the sun sets to-
night, IS persons who began this day
with their usual hopes and dreams
and plans of the average human being
will have been wiped out by the hand
Of the murderer" he said. In this
country of ours are 100000 persons
who will commit murder before they
die, and 100000 persons now living
will die by the bullet or the knife
or the club, or the poison Of this
army of murderers."
To Choose Trustees.
In secret balloting later today six
were to be chosen from a list of nine
candidates to serve two-year terms as
trustees.
Nominees were Fred G. McAlister
Of London, Ontario; Sam Clabaugh
Of Birmingham, Ala; Alfred H
Syverson of Spokane, Wash; Harry
D. Macdonald of Colorado Springs,
Colo; Bennett o. Knudson Of Albert
Lea. Mimi; James p. Gallagher OF
Newton, Mass; DR.. Arthur T. Post OF
Clarksburg. W. Va; Franklin C.
Haven of Brooklyn, N. Y, and Edwin
F. Hill of Washington, D. c.
Trustees whose terms expire in 1887
are Faber A. Bollinger, Atlanta
Charles S. Donley, Pittsburgh; C.
Harold Hippler, Eustis, Fla; Vic H
Householder, Phoenix, Ariz.; George
E. Smell, Billings, Mont, and Dr.. w. E
Wolcott, Des Moines, Iowa.
The retiring president is Harper
Cation, Madisonville, KY, and the
retiring vice presidents are Clinton 8
Harley. Seattle, and Gordon 8
Dodington, Toronto.
A dve-point public affairs program