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THE POTTER, NEBRASKA, REVIEWWe Are at War!GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHINGArticle IIybJJJjJ 111 Lo complacency by prosperity, our citizens pas-JT •J I sivcly accepted this poisonous growth with small concern. S Now that our complacency is gone, we begin to study this foul phenomenon more carefully. We see it eating more and more deeply into our national life, infecting politics, extorting tribute from business, threatening our j very homes. From my own study as an individual, I am j convinced that prohibition, has largely financed this new postwar underworld of ours. Vast profits have drawn 1 multitudes into the bootlegging business, and, once outside th* pale of the law, they do not hesitate to turn to racketeering and other forms of crime. Thus a criminal army has been built up which defies the very government itself.I do n.ot question the sincerity of the prohibitionists, nor their nobility of purpose. Yet the inability to enforce the law in this Respect has resulted in such tragic consequences that I believe the une has come to face this question squarely and to work together 7 oward some other solution which takes more account of the inevitable traits of human nature.But neither the repeal nor the modification of the prohibition laws will altogether abolish crime. The estimated one million or more men, accustomed to the easy money of the bootleg and speakeasy business and with an utter contempt for law, cannot be thus converted into virtuous, law-abiding citizens overnight. Many willturn to other forms of illegitimate ^_______activity. Corrupt officials, deprived of bootleg tribute, will seek new sources of graft.Our frontier ancestors, when the criminal element got out of control, formed themselves into vigilance committees, rounded up criminals, and strung them up on the nearest tree. Every red-blooded man, when he reads of the criminal activities of our modern racketeers and of their apparent immunity from capture and prosecution, feels a natural impulse to .go out and organize a vigilance committee. But action can be taken, under the law, only through the constituted authorities. Any other course would lead to abuses greater than those it might correct.The ability of the underworld to terrorize society lies in the fact that it Is thoroughly organized, while society Is not. At present It is more the gang against the individual than otherwise. Why should, we not form neighborhood and community committees, so that the gang will find itself confronted with an organized body of men larger and stronger than itself? The more important his position in the community, the greater the obligation of the citizen to join the committee.Can Force Action.Such committees, made up of substantial citizens, who regard citizenship as a paramount obligation, could force action. Suppose a neighbor of yours gets a kidnaping threat, or a merchant is visited by a gangster who tries to extort tribute from him, or a section of the town experiences a series of holdups. If the individual citizen goes to the police station or city hall and fails to get satisfaction possibly because of an alliance between officials and the underworld he Is powerless.But if the neighborhood committee stands ready, at the very first threat of gangster activity within its borders, to take common action against the invasion, the picture changes. The threatened man immediately summons all his trusted friends, who advise with the neighborhood committee. Representing the militant citizenship of its-community, it could demand positive action by the police and by the city authorities.Committees of this kind would be vigilance committees, not in the old sense, but in the sense that they would be ever vigilant in the protection of rights and the performance of civic duties. I would consider it an honor to serve on such a committee myself, i These committees would serve many Other purposes beyond the suppression -of racketeering. They would present •a united front against the grafting of •officials. They could hold weekly or monthly meetings to discuss the problems of government. Such meetings ■would serve to bring out and develop, as no institution we now possess does, new leaders, especially among the young citizens, in every community,,One great aid to crime in America Is the veil of anonymity which covers the individual. In any artny, every man is accounted for. His name, rank, regiment, and whereabouts are known! If he is wanted, we know where to find him. In America we have no identification. Men can move from city to city, changing their names as they would their coats. They can register as they please at any hotel, with no questions asked. It is a pleasant, easy-going custom, but it puts an insuperable barrier in the way of the police in the detection of crime. The time has come when we must abandon the right to anonymity, as enlightened European countries have done.Every resident of our country should have an identification card, a small passport with photograph attached. Change of permanent residence should be reported to the police. The card should be shown, if necessary, upon registration at any hotel, or on any Other occasion when demanded by the police. The penalties for forging acard or disregarding regulations concerning it should be heavy.I realize that the inconvenience of the card identification system would be burdensome. But it would be considerably less burdensome than the breakdown of our system for apprehending criminals. The cards would not be a cure-all, but they would be a great help. No honest man could object to a plan which would materially aid in rounding up criminals.Just as the depression has finally opened our eyes to the magnitude of our crime problem, so has it brought home to us the very extravagant activities of unwise politicians during our prosperity orgy.' While the citizens have neglected their public duties, the politicians have quietly, but enormously increased the cost of government, locally and nationally. Expenditures of the national government In 1913 were approximately $700,000,-000, exclusively of interest payments on the public debt. In 1931 they had increased to approximately $2,000,000,-000, exclusive of interest payments on the public debt and expenses incident to the World war. The cost of administration of local governments throughout the country Increased from $1,844,000,000 in 1913 to $7,126,000,000 in 1929. The budget of one of our cities, New York, for 1932, is greater than the expenditures of the entire national government for 1903. Some of these increases, unquestionably, have been necessary for expansion and for coping with the more complex problems of today. But an alarming ■portion of them have been with an eye to jobs for the politicians’ friends. Unnecessary offices, boards, commissions, have been profligately multiplied.And now, when our national revenues shrink, there is little done toward applying the logical remedy of reducing expenses. Instead, legislators resort to the vicious policy of increasing taxes, both direct and indirect Thus the citizen finds himself burdened with the staggering load. But can he, with clear conscience, complain? He cannot. He elected these legislators, he saw them pile up lavish appropriations, and he elected them again. During the boom days the citizen was too busy in speculation himself to worry about the national debt or the local debt So with municipal affairs. During prosperity the citizens cheerfully looked on while the politicians multiplied unnecessary offices, gave extravagant contracts to their friends for public improvements, passed laws favoring special interests, and loaded the public with invisible taxes in the form of graft Now many of our great cities are threatened with insolvency. Their depreciating securities imperil the solvency of banks where the citizen has his money. The citizen again discovers that, he is the victim. But is he not the victim of his own neglect of the plainest duties of citizenship?In the situation that now confronts him, the citizen is groping. What can he do now? What practical action can he take?He is told to go to the polls and cast his vote, which Is an old story to him, but by itself it will not remedy the situation, for too often the candidates of each party are incompetent or corrupt.There is a great deal more to political duty than going to the polls to vote. A body of uninformed citizens flocking to the polls, prompted only by good intentions, is about as effective as an army made up of untrained men marching to battle.Tear after year, under universal suffrage, there has grown a wider divergence between theory and practice in our political economy.To perform hisxcivic duties effectively It is no longer enough for the citizen to understand the theory of politics. He must study its practice. That means time, trouble, and hard work. He must study the political forces at work In his own neighborhood, his own ward, his own district. He must go to political meetings, associate with politicians.-find out who are the political leaders behind the scenes, drop In6VVTHY should we not form neighborhood and com-w *munity committees, so that the gang will find itself confronted with an organized body of men larger and stronger than itself? .. . Suppose a neighbor of yours gets a kidnaping threat, or a merchant is visited by a gangster who tries to extort tribute from him, or a section of the town experiences a series of holdups. If the individual citizen goes to the police station or city hall and fails to get satisfaction, he is powerless. But if the neighborhood committee stands ready, at the very first threat of gangster activity within its borders, to take common action against the invasion, the picture changes. . . . Representing the militant citizenship of this community, it could demand positive action by the police and by the city authorities.“Committees of this kind would be vigilance committees, not in the old sense, but in the sense that they would be ever vigilant in the protection of rights and the performance of civic duties.“/ would consider it tin honor to serve on such a committee myself!”at the political clubs, look Into the records and alliances of candidates for office.Even this Is not enough, unless there is some organization of nonpolitical citizens to work with united force. Here again the neighborhood committees which I suggested earlier would have their uses. Such committees could compel the respect of the political leader and hold him to an accounting. They could hold meetings and ask candidates to appear before them, address them, and submit to questioning. Moreover, they could and should keep track of the political and financial administration of local and national affairs.might be Inferred from what I say here that I think there are no good men in politics. On the contrary, we all know manj fine men, honest men, able men In politics. But there are not enough of them.One of our problems is to attract men of higher caliber into public life. Certainly the profession of government is as Important as any calling In our nation. Yet it is not even taught in our schools and colleges. We teach political science, yes, but that is a far cry from practical politics. There Is no alternative for the aspiring politicians but to learn their high art and profession at the knee of the district leader or ward captain—too often with undesirable results.Corporations for the conduct of business, education, and charity have multiplied in number and Importance in recent years. Service in hundreds of corporations Is affording a new discipline for thousands in managing and directing people, and this in turn should be of the highest value toward supporting progress and durability in governmental affairs. But business men too often forget that the government is the most important corporation of all. They passively permit men to occupy public offices to whom they would deny jobs In their own companies. They fail to apply, on election day, the elementary rules they have learned In their business.No Time for Shirking.Business men say that politics Is “unpleasant.” So is service in the trenches unpleasant, but our citizens do not shirk it when duty calls.Carelessness, neglect, and Ignorance in the conduct of the affairs of government have exactly the same resultsas they would have in any army facing the enemy on the field of battle. The obligations of the individual citizen as a part of this government are quite as binding as those of each soldier composing an army. Thorough training and a high sense of duty are as important in one case as in the other. The preparation of an army for service with any hope of success demands something more than writing out the details of organization and the issuance of orders. It requires the training of each individual of the army in the particular part he is to play at the front. It is the same In the successful conduct of the government. Each citizen must be trained in his duties and be inspired by a high sense of obligation in carrying them out.Constitutions and laws do not of themselves guarantee either the efficiency or the permanence of govern--ment. In a government by the people the responsibility of the individual must be conscientiously fulfilled, or failure will be the result.Make no mistake about it: Our nation is confronted by a crisis as serious as the crisis of the war. We are at war against depression and crime. And, just as to that earlier crisis, we come unprepared. Our unpreparedness in the war cost as untold billions -in money and the lives of some of our finest men. Our unpreparedness for thi3 battle of peace has also cost us dear.But In the war, once we were aroused, we made effort which astonished the world. Just so today the American citizen, once he is aroused to the dangers that menace his country, will, I devoutly hope and believe, gloriously redeem his indifference of the past.©. 1932, Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.French Penal CodeFrance does not send all persons who commit crimes to the French penal colony on the Isle de Salut, off the coast of French Guiana. The type of prisoners sent is that, generally speaking, of the undesirable habitual criminal whom the French government does not want to return to France. In sentencing the criminal to the colonies the type of criminal rather than the type of crime committed is stressed, such as undesirable political prisoners, as well as vicious habitual criminals.
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The Potter Review
Potter, Nebraska, US
Fri, Sep 02, 1932
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