Newspapers / The State’s Voice (Dunn, … / Oct. 15, 1933, edition 1 / Page 1
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V " It, is rather refreshing to find three candid diag noses of the country’s ills which ignore the long and persistent broadcasting of the! theory that pro C hibition is father, mother, aunt and uncle of every • ^variety of crime that infests'the United-States. Not pnlfr is the new diagnosis interesting but illumi nating, in that it ascribes the blame for the ram ■A ' ]pancy of crime to two of the very groups that have been most persistent in their opposition to pro hibition and most clamorous for repeal of the 18th. junenilmeiu. '• j Apurican^Chiefs of Police Speak Out Even the casual reader and most superficial think fer can but conceive that the chiefs of police in the [United States are thoroughly qualified to diagnose the causes of crime in American cities. Tirose gent lemen are members of’ the International Police ■ Chiefs’ Association. Chief H. D. Harper of Colora do Springs prepared for the Association its pub Unity report. Accordingly, this report speaks not * only for American policemen but for police chiefs throughout the world. ’■ ' . Three Deterrents To Justice That repoTt lists three deterrents to justice and. mi rabile dictu, does not mention prohibition as one k' them. Here are what Chief Harper names as ' the hindrances to the suppression of crime, or as [ deterrents of justice: Political Interference, Irre sponsible Newspapers* and‘Jury Uajys. Requiting TTnanimous Verdicts. , .• S this cow*CcttM7 pIoa«e' ei»sidor &e fhe political machines of America’s great eK4es, irnu feVen smaller ones toward. the enforcement of the prohibition laws and- with respect to the question of repeal of the 18th amendment. Also, consider the media of the repeal propaganda, soApersistent and ft long continued. It is evident that the two groups "most responsible for the agitation for repeal and as ’ deterrents of enforcement of the prohibition laws in the cities, are named in that report. . } Consequently, on the high authority of. the, . fef police, the groups most responsible foir the wave 'of anti-prohibition sentiment are indicted before -r the world as the principal hindrances to enforce : 'ment of crminal justice. Thus we find the arch K criminals resoVting to the well known artifice ■« the sneak thief and raising the cry of “Thief— ? cat** him” and pointing with persistent fingers at - ^ • *• » *“ - -y.-r\ ■ the prohibition law. Y w>U Durant wmnnns me (' But perhaps it would be more exatt to say tbit * jyvJill Durant antedates the pronouncement of the y\ international Police Chiefs’ indictment of politic^ rings and irresponsible newspapers For ^ls article In the September American was written before ihe s decent convention of Police Chiefs, I believe. Mr. | ' Durant, a ’writer' of-sufficient note to secure pub ly- lication in the high-class American Magazine, was ^Wiring under the-heading V “Shall We Train Ottr J^ons For Public Office?”. After discussing the de 1 generacy of democracy he suggests methods of pre serving it. “We have failed to preserve order; our 2 problem is to restore it without abandoning liberty?* pays Mr. Durant. Furtbfmore he says, “We know ; that aa it (democracy) now operates it is doomed.” His suggestion, though not pertinent here, is that h school for the training of public officials, similar , jto that for training soldiers, he'established and that 1 - Jofficials be chosen from “only that irroup which has k ' gad rigorous training for the duties of their offices y hud that the choice be determined strictly upon merit jand a system of promotion based upon honest and • Efficient service in t$e minor positions. “ : y < If y > The Political King Indicted y ? T ' - ? Mr. Purant proceed^.thus: “In almost every city J&f America a tew men,-handed together for thte p manipulation of masses and the distribution of pa Up teenage succeed in organizing a-compact ani.obe3 ‘ * lent minority, through .whose unscrupulous loyalty they dominate primaries and, conventions, dictate nominations, capture elections, and enjoy the spoils, v Pnder these conditions the road to office lies, hot .through honest and competent seryice to a munic ipality or a state, but thropgfi years of coarsening ■; .. V- "" ■ '* ’.'. i subserviency to the ‘m&ehine’; Men of ability, edur : cation, and integrity ate not wanted; they might ' not “play the gam**,”’ Proceeding a few lines, he, says: “In some cities it is difficult to distinguish tbe politicians from the gangsters, since they have hot 'yet agreed on the precise distribution of their - functions and their authority. In some courts the decisive question is hot what a man has done, but ‘wEat friends he can find in the Organization. Grime 'flourishes as^ never before; the murder rate has doubled since 1900; and men seek-imprisonment be 'cause the forces of the law can no longer protect them from assassination. Some of our mayors are in exile, some are in jail. Our municipal taxes have risen to the point where they threaten to bleed in dustry >to death, and have long since discouraged that widespread ownership of homes which is the secret df social stability and peace. - Net a Word About the Prohibition Menace' Above you find a clear-cut indictment of political rings for the prevalence of poverty and crime in Che cities, but not one word in respect -to prohibi tion as the basic cause of the prevalence of either, Nor could you expect such a suggestion from a man who thug discloses the criminal association of the dominant political rings with the gangBters and who can but know that those same ringsters are among the most rampant agitators for repeal of the pro hibition laws,, and have been largely responsible for file failure of all attempts at ehfotceSient of those •' ■' S'-".-. "■ •••- . -r - ' • ' The, New York Campaign Also An Enlightener The New York mayoralty campaign' is also an enlightener in this respect. Tammany Hall is one of the earliest and most persistent sources of agi tation against prohibition, the, corruption of that organization is not only traditional but is now be ing readvertised to the world through the! disclos ures of the two campaigns against the Tammany candidate for mayor. The decent elements of New York City had put out a candidate, Major LaGuar dia, against the Tammany machine candidate. But even the National Democratic machine, which is sponsoring the repeial campaign, must assist in re taining party influence in the city and has endan gered, the success of the fight against Tammany cor ruption by launching an independent Democratic candidate for mayor. And thus political interest i3 seen to supersede civic interest. However, the ques tion of prohibition is. not here involved; yet the action emphasizes the point that city government is a pawn for the political ringsters, while the two-, fold campaign against Tammany based upon the ground of the corruption of city government under that organization’s auspices thoroughly demonstrates the pusillanimity of the American electorate in fall ing over themselves in their haste to support a campaign for repeal of the 18th amendment which largely had its origin in the “Wigwam”, and simi lar political hell-holes. Consider the source' of repeal clamor at the Chicago convention. . AN ASTOUNDING EDITORIAL The Saturday Evening Post is edited'V a inad who Is hot prone to go off half-cocked. The Post’s editorial utterances* are recognized everywhere for? thejr conservatism. Yet that oldest of American pa pers gives .utterance to the following editorial so /utterly, in accord frith the two opinions quoted above as to.be startling Says the Saturday Evening Post under the title of “-What About Crime'?’ - “WHAT ABOUT CRIME?* - “ r Let us face realities. Bepenl of prohibition will not repeal crime. Crime conditions'in America must be attacked from the inside 'instead* of the. outside. There can he no real improvement in them until we go-to th^ root of the; evil, and break'ub. the unholy alliance between the crooked ' politician and the criminal,- sweep his creatures out of office and take the police out of politics. Prohibition has been a smoke screen for crooked politicians' behind which they have tried to conceal their protection of vh* ■and crime, while they fostered them, and so .farr as ^possible corrupted and. debauched our* law-enforce ment agencies. But the smoke has. been steadily _ V* - - — ... „ • * ' •; • .-•* j .. clearing away and we kn&w these fellow^ are vx{ y~ actly what they are*. WHat’-are we going to do them?” 1 ’ • , ■ ' ■ ■ - * Shall North Carolina Beccme a Tod Of Tools?' : V • The higher-ups in the'campaign for the restora tion of legalized liquor 1»'-the-United States have clearly hot hesitated to use any instruments at their hands. Failure ,of enforcement of the prohibition law in th£ cities was conceived as the first essen tial to the successful agithfidh for repeal. Not only '■_% have the political masters of the cities failed tW insist upon enforcement but have “shared in the pro-" fit's of the illicit business Whidh was calculated to serve the greater end of-disgusting* under skillful propaganda, the people of the country -against pro hibition as a policy. Thus the political machines have sought, and sought successfully it would ap pear, to kill two birds with "the gafine stone of en couragement of the practical annulment of prohibi tion in their bailiwicks. And'nfany of the decent peo ple of the country have allowed themselves to be 'duped by this* hellish howj of ‘‘Thief, thief!”, with finger pointed at promotion. Above are three diagnoses'" of the ills of our coun try by parties that have no ulterior purpose in at tributing the cause ta prohibition. The question a rises as to whether the people of North Carolina, like those of thirty-odd states?, will allow, themselves to be duped by this old device of the sneak thief and* give their aid in the chase arid the destruction df ^^riScuM overcoming th# dire conditions' of poverty which Mr. Durant de picts* as a result of the domination of rascally an® inefficient political rings*..or "machines. Three weeks more will answer tb^ question," A just answer de pends partly upon the reader’s own response to the two appeals which reach him-—the appeal of men V with no ulterior purpose and that which is fathered ’ and nourished by the same hellish crew that have connived at the dominancy of crime in our larger cities. It is a wise man who' can, in the midst of an electorate mob-crazed by a decide of agitation, deliberately consider the source of the) appeals arid choose to heed that which comes without taint of corruption. . -V > “The Nation Now Knows” The Christian Science 5tt>nitdr} possibly Ameri ca’s most ably edited daily, commenting upon the report of -the Police Chiefs* Association, says : “The recent Chicago convention removed the gag frofa j the mouths of the police,—Nqw the nation knows that It; is often politicians controlling police de-' partments, who frustrate the law ”_ _/ ^ ’t USTLESSNESS IN REPEAL RANKS The fact that repealists In four counties failed to qualify candidates for the convention is suggestive of a liatlessness or a fear of consequences that hodes no good to the repeal cause in North Carolina. There is evidently no lack of repealists, hut.it is notable that few of those .whose political fortunes might he hazarded have allowed their names to appear on the list of repeal candidates. Nor have such, .who gener ally have a large share itt carrying elections, been very active in securing petitions for others, else such a lapse would not have occurred: That suggests th^fc. the same gentlemen will .not.. with the present evi dence of strength on the part .of the ®rys, risk future political advancement by tekibg a very active part fpj the campaign from how on. .and especially on the day of the Few politicians are desirous of risking the con sequences of activity in behalf of repeal in the face ; of the present opposition to it. It would have be«n, q different if the bandwagon which was expected tb — pass with so great a hurrah had materialized. Yet it. is doubtful if fence-straddling' will profit them. „ The failure to nominate candidates In those four counties means four Dry-delegates assured. The Wets cannot “shirt-tail* us, as the boys used„to a«S..\ in marble &amed ■jfe&ts1... 'tt' ' M your friends to subscribe for the Yoke. * , s - - ' 5 :-'iv , ,-V? . .
The State’s Voice (Dunn, N.C.)
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Oct. 15, 1933, edition 1
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