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Nation Can Head Off
Postwar Crime Wave
Quick Reconversion Can Prevent Era of Law
lessness, FBI Chief Says; Expects
Vets to Demand Order.
By BAUKHAGE
Newt Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, 1616 Eye Street NW,
Washington, D. C.
Will there be a postwar crime
wave in the United States?
That question was put to the man
who will have to deal with it if there
is one?FBI Director J. Edgar Hoo
ver. He threw the answer back on
me?and on a lot of other people in
these United States. Here it is:
Whether we have a postwar crime
wave in the United States depends
on how well we as a nation can re
convert. If we do have a period of
lawlessness, it will in all probabil
ity be led by teen-agers. The re
turning veteran has it in his power
to make or break such a crime
wave.
That's not beating around the
bush. Let's look at the facts, dis
turbing though they may be, as the
FBI director laid them before me.
After the last war, he said, there
grew up a lawlessness from which
the United States has never been
entirely free since. When the gang
ster era of the 20s and 30s was final
ly broken up there was some de
cline in criminal tendencies. Never
theless, just before World War II
began in Europe crime was still
vecy much with us?In fact, the
United States had 11 times more
cases of murder and manslaughter
than England and Wales.
With our entry into the war,
crimes increased, the emphasis on
type changing from crimes against
property to crimes against the per
son?murder, assault, rape and the
like. On V-J Day a major crime
was being committed every 23 sec
onds in the United States. One per
son in every 22 in this country had
been arrested at some time or other.
New Crop of
Criminali Teen-Agert
Perhaps the most ominous single
factor about the picture with which
we start the postwar years is that
the most frequent criminals in the
United States today are boys and
girls 17 years of age.
Director Hoover explained why
this has come about. These teen
agers have been maturing in a pe
riod of great political, economic and
social upheaval. As they were en
tering the critically formative years
for them in the beginning teens, fa
thers and big brothers, to whom
they might have looked for guid
ance, left home to enter the armed
services. Mothers frequently had to
take Jobs which kept them away
from home, leaving boys and girls
to their own social and recreational
devices.
, Frequently, families pulled up
roots and moved to teeming indus
trial centers in other parts of the
> country where Jobs could be had in
war plants. Normal living was im
possible under such overcrowded
conditions. There was a general
spirit of wartime abandon which im
pressionable youth was not long in
catching?lack of discipline, lack of
personal responsibility, became the
accepted thing. A "war hero" at
titude developed in many of those
too young to "join up."
Then teen-age boys and girls found
that because of the manpower short
age they could stop school and take
jobs where they would make more
money than some of their elders did
before the war. Coming suddenly
onto what seemed sudden wealth,
and of their own making, found
them unprepared to use it wisely.
"We have been developing a gen
eration of money-rich and charac
ter-poor Americans."
While we had our attention on the
far-flung battlefronts the foundation
was being laid for one of our major
postwar problems on the home front.
There is another condition that
has been a breeding ground for law
lessness during the war, according
to Hoover, and which may spread
if crime detection and law enforce
ment do not keep ahead of It.
"Gangsterism has been showing
signs of revival during the war," he
said. "There have been gang wars
in places where they used to thrive.
Hijacking, shakedown rackets, black
markets and bootleg have been on
the increase."
Therefore, the groundwork has
been laid for a new era of Dillingers.
Then there are the returning vet
erans. Because of their peculiar
training, will they present a new
band of criminals efficiently trained
in taking life and appropriating
property that does not belong to
them?
Veti Desire
Orderly Community
On this subject. Director Hoover
issued an emphatic "No!" Here is
his reasoning:
"Of course, soldiers are trained to
kill?but so are we of the FBI and
so are police officers. But no man of
the FBI has ever been arrested for
a crime of violence. There will be
criminals among the returning vet
erans, it is true?criminals who will
operate more efficiently than they
would have if they hadn't had army
training. But these are the men
who probably would have been crim
inals anyway if they had remained
civilians. After all, the army is only
a cross-section of the American peo
ple. Of course, the real criminals
never got into the army?their rec
ords were too bad.
"I expect the returning veteran to
be a big help to us in combatting
crime," Hoover went on. "The boys
who are returning from the battle
fields have seen so much of destruc
tion, horror, disease, the dangers of
dictatorship that they are anxious
to see their communities get back
to normal, peaceful ways. They are
more interested in their homes and
civil affairs. They want law and or
der over here."
The FBI expects the veterans to
be a major influence on the crim
inal tendencies of the teen-agers.
"If the big brothers and fathers
coming back settle down into jobs or
go back to school, they can show
the younger boys and girls how to be
good citizens. The youngsters look
up to these men as heroes?they can
be a strong influence on them."
But the responsibility for leading
the teen-agers aright does not rest
solely on the veterans?nor alone
on the agencies of law enforcement.
"The question of crime among our
youth cannot be pawned off on a few
juvenile courts, overburdened juve
nile bureaus, and the local police,"
Director Hoover declared. "These
agencies can help materially, but the
big job is getting every parent, busi
ness man, school teacher, salesman,
farmer, mechanic, housewife, and
every other forward-looking citizen
to knuckle down to the two-fisted
realization that this is their job and
it is up to them to do something
about it."
But no matter what is done to try
to meet a crime situation that now
has a potentiality for great evil in
this country, there is one thing
which Hoover believes will deter
mine in the long run whether it will
be law or lawlessness from here on.
"Whether or not we have a post
war crime wave will depend in the
last analysis on how we as a nation
convert to a peacetime basis," Di
rector Hoover announced emphati
cally. "You can't divorce econom
ics from crime. Although it is true
that having money does not neces
sarily prevent a person from com
mitting a crime, not having money
is a definite cause of it. When peo
ple are out of work, there is a great
er chance for them to get into trou
ble than when they are employed."
? ? ?
"If the Republicans don't look out,
this guy Truman is going to pick up
some votes right out from under
their noses, he's so darned human,"
a political wiseacre whispered to me
at the Press Club party for Byron
Price.
We were watching the President
mingle with the guests, obviously
enjoying himself.
Just then a colleague of mine on
the weekly press came up. His face ,
was wreathed in smiles.
"Guess what," he exclaimed. "I
Just said to the President 'I'm from
Kansas City' and what do you think
he said? "That's a suburb of a cer
tain city, isn't it?* "
And my friend, who has been a
Republican since he can remember
and especially so in the last 11
years, is beginning to think that
"this guy Truman" is all right
When the party was breaking up
the President was heard to observe
with a broad Missouri grin that he
was having as good a time as he
did when he was at the Press Club
last. That time he was still vice
president and his picture wes taken
playing the piano with movie star
Lauren Bacall perched atop it.
BARBS . . . by Baukhag?
Christmas is coming?yes it is. It
will be here before your package to
your soldier is there unless you mail
now. Wrap securely?address prop
erly.
? ? ?
In 1MQ this country had less than
13Vt mllHefi men in what is coo
aidered the productive age group of
When the German armies left Hol
land each soldier was permitted to
carry T5 pounds only. Any more was
confiscated by the Hollanders. But
they wouldn't hare had much chance
to loot anyhow because the German
civilians left the Netherlands ahead
of them and left very little behind
thsd wasn't nailed down.
? e ?
Tokyo Lying in Ruins Struggles Back to New Life
w
This bombed-out area in the heart of Tokyo, near the imperial palace, shows the devastating results of
American lire bombing attacks. Each section of the city is responsible for clearing away its osn debris
and the Japanese have been ordered to do a good Job.
Defense Lines, Bases Desired by Army in Pacific
B \ PACIFIC OCEAN M(0WAyM
pr^^^jpoitmAWA JjiowiN M^US
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Proposals by Air Gen. Henry H. Arnold for maintenance of a series of defense lines in the Pacific for
fnture national security is receiving growing support in congress. The latest proposal would provide major
fleet bases at Pearl Harbor, Guam, Saipan, Manns and Noumea, with a main naval air base at Mactan island in
the Philippines. The whole would provide chains of security far from the United States shores. The house
committee said the bases are needed to maintain peace.
Hurricane and Fires Strike Florida Keys I
More then 2M persons were reported Injured in a Ire at the Richmond
navy blimp base aa a tropical hurricane reaching a peak velocity of 113
mllei per boor swept across the Florida Keys. More than 50,MO persons
7re driven to seek emergency shelter in Sooth Florida alone. Hundreds
homes were reported demoted and destroyed in the Keys.
Promise Delivery of Thousands of Tires
Ttraa, thNHab at tfcca, ire tkowa moTtaf o?t of tke knee plants
*t Ik* Flrcstaa* Tin ui Eakkcr ewpuj, Akron. OhW. to ctrflfca ntn
""riSlt ?ow"tn mm SimS*?
Back to the Islands
Paul V. McNutt, shown as he was
sworn in as commissioner of the
Philippines, a position that he held
before the fall to the Japanese after
Pearl Harbor attack. His appoint
ment met with the approval of the
Philippine foverament and people.
Recruiting Head
To Brif. Gee. Harold N. Gilbert,
USA. has been eatrmsted Che ?ree
Meaot tbe^gTeatest reendtlBc eaao
! FARM WAGE DELIRIUM
WASHINGTON. ? Live-wire Re
publican Sen. Ralph Brewster of
Maine recently telephoned hard
working Assistant Secretary of La
bor Carl Moran, also from Maine,
but a Democrat.
"Portland is among the nine dis
tress cities of the country," Sena
tor Brewster reminded Moran. "As
you know, Portland shipyard work
ers have been dismissed from their
jobs wholesale. Meanwhile, farmers
up in Aroostook county can't get
anyone to bring in their potatoes.
What can you do about it?"
"What are they paying for farm
labor in Aroostook county," asked
!the assistant secretary of labor;
"still four cents?"
"No," replied the senator from
Maine, "There's a guaranteed wage
of $12 a day."
Assistant Secretary Moran said he
would do his best to switch some
workers up to the potato farms.
However, he might well have re
plied that the labor department was
that in name only and that it
actually tiuu aiiuusi nuuiing tu uu
with labor.
For the fact is that, under
Miss Perkins, the labor depart
ment was stripped of most of its
labor duties. The War Labor
board is separate and independ
ent, and, most important of all,
the D. S. employment service is
under the War Manpower com
mission. Thus, Assistant Secre
tary of Labor Moran had to turn
to an outside agency, the U. S.
employment service, to try to
get discharged shipyard work
ers to help harvest the Aroos
took potato crop.
This, in turn, has brought out an
other difficulty affecting not mere
ly Maine but the entire nation. Most
war workers, drawing $1 to $2 an
hour plus overtime and bonuses,
don't want to go back to the farm
and farm wages. The labor short
age on the farms, even after V-J
Day, is as acute as ever. Farm
wages are higher than ever, though
still a long way from shipyard
and aviation factory pay. So,
somehow or other, either farm
wages must go up, or war workers
must go back to less money on the
farm. In the former case, the farm
ers will have to get more for their
crops, which, of course, means a
higher cost of living in the city.
Ambassadors' Wives.
Last week this column reported
that Mrs. Ed Pauley, wife of the
U, S. reparations ambassador to
Moscow and former treasurer of the
Democratic national committee,
was listed to receive $25 a day ex
penses while accompanying her
husband to Russia. Since then, I
have received further information
that Mrs. Pauley, although listed by
the state department as an official
member of the party, declined to
accept the $25 per diem.
However, I still believe it a
highly debatable point, when a
million or so G.I.s are not per
mitted to have their wives come
abroad, that American higher
ups should take their wives with
them to overseas war areas.
Alter all, the average American
soldier now occupying Germany
or Japan has not seen his wife
(or more than a year.
When the Pauley reparations mis
sion arrived in western Europe, the
party was split up, because of lim
ited accommodations in Moscow.
One group, including some of the
best experts on reparations, were
told to remain in Frankfurt, Ger
many, because there was no room
to house them in Moscow. But Mrs.
Pauley, despite limited accommo
dations, went on to Moscow.
Later, she also visited Potsdam
for the Big Three session. She was
the only American wife present,
j Mrs. Truman and Mrs. Byrnes,
wife of the secretary of state, re
mained at home. And during the
last session of the Big Three, Mrs.
Pauley sat in the gallery, a priv
ileged witness to the historic cere
mony. Many U. S. and British ex
perts who had spent weeks prepar
ing for this big climax and who had
burned midnight oil whipping the
agreement into shape, were barred
from seeing the windup.
NOTE?On August 4, this column
reported that the office of war in- 1
formation had given Mrs. R. A. Mc
Clure, wife of General McClure, a
privileged Job as receptionist in
OWI's Paris office, thus permitting
her to be near her husband in Ger
many. Immediately after publica
tion of this disclosure, the OWI re
ceived an order from the White
House for Mrs. McClure to come
back to the United States.
Capital Chaff.
The shortening of the congres
sional recess, which was to last
until October 8, has forced several
congressmen to look for temporary
lodgings in Washington. They had
leased their homes for the antici
pated recess period. Some, like Los
Angeles' Chet Holifleld, were fore
sighted enough to make arrange
ments to have at least a bedroom
available if they returned. . . .
Congressman Karl M unfit of South
Dakota, one of the most vigorous
tee, is traveling in Russia. . . .
Ardent Bogota Sport Fna
Douse Fallen Toreador
When the umpire calls a bad aaa
at the baseball game, you cadU
wish you were in Bogota, T*-J
of Colombia, South America.
In Bogota the principal sport la
bullfighting. If the toreador duort
please the bootblacks?who are
the most ardent bull-ring taaa aa
the city?the boys rush into the
arena and take the fallen boo to
a nearby fountain where he is paap
erly cooled off.
SNAPPY FACTS
I afotio
A U. S. Senator lianfcf In
Hm West stopped to ha^ m
yovsg lody (koago o Sat Ham.
The Sot developed a Maad>
ship that Mess owed haBe
marrloge.
Soap Is one of the important mm
factvring agents of syntheticsehhcK,
B. P. Goodrich has developed ?
synthetic rubber using o node ne^
derived from Southern pine Pone
that is a great Impsovamsat oner
ordinary synthetic
Downed for passenger ear
tires will total about 7MMb>
000 casings in the trst poor
after the war?for both mm*
cars and replacements*
[Soodridtj
BPI
Relief At Last
Cnr Vnnr Pminfs
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Creomntetan relieves jamiiCy W
CMise It sou right to the sen a fla
trouble to help loosen and spd
germ laden phlegm, and aid lad in ?
to soothe and heal raw, ???? hto
flamed bronchial raucona noe
braces. Tell your druggist to oSyaa
a bottle of Creomulslan with the at- ,
demanding you must like the ay ?'
quietly allays the cough cr yosacs'
to have your money bach. i
CREOMULSION
for Coughs, Chest Colds, BroacMfii 1
MZO IN T II I IS I
Millions of people suffering fees
simple Piles, have found asenswt
relief with PAZO MntvnL Hm\
why: First, PAZOointmentassdss
Inflamed areas?relieves pals mi
Itching. Second, PAZO dstmal
lubricates hardened, dried mmm
helps prevent cracking and earw
neee. Third, PAZO ointment Sanda
to reduce swelling and check asbaas
bleeding. Fourth. It's easy so wee.
PAZO ointment's perforated Mi
Pipe makes application tfanpla
thorough. Your doctor can tarn
you about PAZO ointment.
SUPP OS ITOK IIS TOtl
Some persons, and many dsctn
prefer to uee suppositories, so PASO
comes in handy suppositories also.
The same soothing relief Ant
PAZO always glees.
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If mora people were ?wmdh?<?
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