Milford chronicle., 1958-05-23
FBI ACTIVE LAST YEAR

tell fS a sorry One- Eac1 minute throughout
the year nearly five me- jor crimes were COM
mitted--and a homicide, rape or attempt to
kill occurred about every four minutes.
Crimes against property happened with rec
ord frequency. AS a consequence, the de-
mands upon the FIJI and other law enforce
ment agencies were extremely heavy.
There is, however, a brighter side to the
ledger In fiscal 1857, 967 per cent of per-
sons tried in Federal court as result of
FBI Investigations pied or were found guilty
and the number of such convictions reached
a 10-year high of IL ,218. This figure does
not include a great number of other convic-
tiOns obtained in state courts and based upon
evidence gathered by the FBI.
The FBI has a wider range of RESPONSE
bilities than, probably, is generally recog-
nized, and it is frequently widened still far
ther by Congressional legislation In the past
year, for instance, legislation gave the Bu-
reau new or extended jurisdiction in cases
of kidnapping the interstate transportation
of stolen property; thefts from banking-type
institutions, and malicious damage to air.
craft or motor vehicles moving in interstate
or foreign commerce. Also, the FBI has the
extremely important and delicate duty of pro-
tecting the civil rights and privileges of the
people of this country. This is field where
misinformation and controversy are apt to
be rife. For number of years tn FBI held
a series of civil rights schools for police or
ganizations, and special agents of the Bureau
have made hundreds of lectures on the sub |
ject. The magnitude of the job is indicated
by the fact that in fiscal 1857 1,289 prelimi-
nary Investigations of civil rights allega-
tions were Investigated.
An increasingly important area of FBI
responsibility is in the field of domestic in
telligence. The purpose is to protect the in
ternal security of the United States and to |
combat espionage, sabotage, subversive ac-
tivities and related threats And here Mr..
Hoover's report has some significance things
to say about the Communist Party USA. De-
spite certain setbacks, he says that "a hard
core consisting of thousands OF dedicated
MarZists in this country has clung to it's un-
American ideals and emerged into what it |
interprets as an atmosphere conducive to re-
growth and attainment of it's goals" The
Party's leaders, for the most part, have long
established records of cOnSpiring to teach
and advocate the overthrow of the govern
ment by force and violence. 1t is dominated
by directive from the Soviet Union. And the
members g. have become experts at seek
ing refuge behind the very rights and priv
ileges which they would Destroy" In addi-
~tion, the Party has successfully devised var
ious front" groups which are used to dupe
loyal citizens into supporting and promoting
campaigns which will serve its ends in one
way or another
Mr.. Hoover's report is brief, but we'll
documented and comprehensive. 1t shows
that the war against crime, in all it's mani
fold ramifcations, must be waged more in
tensely with each passing year.
THE CHAINS ARE CONFIDENT
Most operators of this nations chain
stores consider the current recession little
more than temporary obstacle to their ex-
pansion and sales goals-and many expect
that an upturn will soon permit them to
equal or surpass last years sales. That hap
py observation is made by Chain Store Age,
after surveying some fOur-dOZen chains, rep
resenting virtually all fields of retailing.
AS an example of this optimism, the ma
jority of companies reported that conditions
had caused no curtailment of previously laid
plans to build new stores and to mOderniZe
and improve others. Only one chain has
abandoned its improvement program COM
pletely. In addition, advertising and sales
promotion campaigns are not being curtail-
ed, although naturally enough, all techni-
ques, tools and tactics are being scrutinized
to see that the advertising dollar does the
most effective job possible. Many Of the
systems are spending more on promOtiOna
activities to reach the consumer with money
to spend.
An important development from the con-
sumner point of view is that, due to greater
consumer resistance, many chains are look
ing for better buys in merchandise. The goal
is to offer prospective buyers the best poss-
ible DEAL
All of this certainly comes under the head
ing of good news. The volume of retail trade
is an enormously important factor in decid-
ing just how good or bad economic condi-
tions in general are. Well all hope that the
chains confidence proves to be fully justified
NS0N<
STATE DEPARTMENT NONSENSE
The State Department, it has been reveal
ed, paid modern dance group $275,00O in
salaries and gave it cocktail parties which
cost the taxpayers some ST 100000. This was
the information given Congress recently by
j. F. Magdanz.
Oddly enough, this sort of nonsense has