Evening star., 1945-10-15
American u Education DR.. Hugh {. Henry, 50,
Proposes New Plan Of State Mental Hygiene
Attack on Delinquency Chief, Dies in Virginia

Factors threatening a dangerous
increase in juvenile delinquency and
crime here and throughout the
country also offer the greatest op-
portunity in history to reduce
them, in the opinion of the new
chairman of the department of
sociology and public welfare at
American University.
No pessimist, DR.. Joseph D. Lob
man has brought with him from
the University of Chicago a new
explanation for crime and a new
plan of attack.
Reconversion will cause as much
social instability as war created,
he says. But the real danger, DR..
Lohman believes, lies in the fact
that people have discovered that
economic freedom and racial equal
ity are more than verbalisrns.
Their Illustrations will increase l.
they don't get what they think they
deserve, he warns. The unrest of
parents will spread to their chill
dren. e--I g.
OI1 bIlC ObllCI tldIlO VIC 1ldNC d UlC
mendous opportunity to do some
thing about it because we got
start toward realizing our demo-
cratic ideals during the war, he
asserts.
Ridicules Isolation Idea.
DR.. Lohman ridicules the idea
that you can isolate crime and de-
linquency from other social evils
and fight them separately.
What good are teen-age can
teens without social security?"
The separate things we do to COM
bat crime are important only if
they add up to community awake
to it's responsibilities and organ
lied to cope with its problems, he
remarked
In Washington, Dr. Lohman would
start by allowing District citizens
to vote. The first step in awak-
ening community responsibility here,
in his opinion, is to give the people
a say in their own Government.
Suffrage is only the beginning of
what he hopes to see accomplished
in Washington.
Starts With Frustration.
Society, he insists, makes the
criminal; antiSocial acts always
start in frustrat ton. In this coun-
try, he sees the trouble in the
inability of the people to realize
the democratic. ideals on which they
were teethed.
I'VE tell our children they can
get ahead by industry and perse-
verence. Well, there just isn't that
much room at the top. Baked,
they try other ways of getting what
they want"
First, a child discovers that all
men are not created equal. No
matter how hard the child with a
low 1. @. works, he can't get to
the head Of his class. Perhaps he
discovers his skin is the wrong
color or that he lives on the wrong
side of the tracks. He may simply
find out that he doesn't have the
personality to get elected president
of his class, much less president
of the United States.
As the sociologist puts it: THE
degree of social stability depends on
the degree the values a society sets
forth permit of realization"
In plain words, DR.. Lohman wants
jobs for Negroes, full employment,
better distribution of medical care,
equal economic opportunity, elimi-
nation of class distinction, better
education.
Gist of the Problem.
The gist of the problem as he
sees it is not economic prosperity
but social stability. There are rich
people who commit crimes and poor
who don't. The significant differ
ence between a healthy community
and a lawless slum is that the for
mer has the facilities for releasing
social tensions.
He complains that groups within
the community that have something
to offer are becoming so specialized
they can't see where they fit In the
picture. So this week end he went
back to Chicago to lecture on the
social aspects of dentistry"
He plans to begin here by sending
his students out to investigate social
organization, gathering facts needed
for handling community problems
as they learn.
i "If we can look at the community
as q whole, we cah see where we are
going and how to get there. Then
housing, child welfare centers and
free lunches will add up to some
] thing -.s...ss...5.--...5,-......
AS an example OF one community
THAT takes care Of It's own, Dr.. Lob.