Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 15 July 1932 — Page 4
FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1932.
Youths Pleasure Mad Quests One Cause for Increasing Youthful Criminal Army
Comic Succumbs
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NOTICE OF THE SALE OF SCHOOL FUNDING BONDS 1
By Elias Tobenkin, in Fraternal gently determines his course. Order of Police Journal i“ aC + ^ of s y m P a ' t | i y Youth marches *to prison in this Next to the high cost of en te -
year 1932. From New York to San tainment as the cause for his
Francisco the criminal class, since the World War, has taken on a marked adolescent hue. About one-half of the penal population in the country is composed of persons under 26 years. Youth of 20 furnish the highest ratio. The next are boys 19 and 18, respectively. The active, desperate criminals, the “go-getters” of the underworld, are almost invariably under 30. , - ,
A Problem of Youth
What are the factors—the “complexities of modern life,” as George W. Wickersham, chairman of President Hoover’s national commission on law observance and enforcement ,has phrased it that tend to make crime in the United States so increasingly a problem of youth? What prompts vast numbers of young men, who have not yet emerged from their formative stage, to risk their freedom and sometimes their very lives in illegal enterprises? What follows is an answer to these questions from the standpoint of the criminal. Close to fifty men and youths, in different parts of the country, were recently interviewed by this writer while they were still in prison or immediately upon their release. Each was asked to state the circumstances which got him into difficulties wtih the law. When their shell of reticence, distrust and hostility was broken through and their confidence gained, these men and boys gave answers poignant
with drama and despair.
“Prison’s like an accident; somebody’s got to get caught in it,’ ’a convict, who had just passed his twentieth birthday, reflected
with resignation. Does Not Apply
“I didn’t try to break into prison; nobody does,” another answered morosely, though briefly. “I gue«s I was born on the wrong street,” said a third. He thought he was being humorous when actually he had stated
fact.
Men, especially young men, do not go to prison today for breaking and stealing a loaf.” Victor Hugo’s classic painting of the criminal in Jean Valjean does not apply to the American scene. Not the cost of bread but the cost of pleasure is the pivotal factor in our crime situation. Not physical hunger but the desfre to create to make a splash, as the current the impresion Of being some one phrase runs—is responsible for the “bigger and better” crimes to which the public is steadily being accustomed. To the Moloch of “a good time'’ the young of the nation is being sacrificed wholesale. Shouted From Housetops Is this an indictment of the young generation? Not from the standpoint of the criminal. It is, rather, his seniors that he considers to blame for this state of affairs. Pleasure has been made too attractive and too dear. The adult generation emphasizes it out of all proportions. Years ago desires could be held in check; restraint seems no virtue today Temptation is shouted from the housetops and youth is puzzled bewildered. Many lose their bal-
ance.
In this era of night clubs, of cover charges after 8. o’clock, of midnight movies and a thousand other devices to make spending attractive ,taking out his girl on a Saturday night not infrequently becomes a financial nightmare for the youth whose weekly salary is around $18. “If fun could be paid for on the instalment plan, I wouldn’t be here now,” remarked a boy of 19 who had participated in a number of robberies. In the medium-grade slum set in which he mingled, he explained, the social demands on youth have risen almost parallel with the high cost of amusement. Established Prestige Years ago, in his neighborhood, if a youth administered a success ful beating to his rival in the next block he thereby established a certain prestige. But this physical standard of an earlier period has almost wholly disappeared before the newer money standard. Today, in the same set, no boy is a hero to his girl, or to any other girl, unless he can “flash a roll” and spend lavishly. This discrepancy between in come and need, with the thwarted sentimentality it produces, appears to be the mainspring in most of the crimes committed by youths between the ages of 16 and
21.
The young criminal confines himself very largely to larceny, burglary, robbery—offenses which he calculates will pay for flashy clothes and amusements with a minimum of danger. Room for Speculation Stealing automobiles is a specialty with offenedrs of this class,, who believe a car is a prerequisite for almost any kind of “fun.” In Milwaukee, where the subject of youthful criminality has been studied more carefully than in any other city, Judge George A. Shaughnessy recently disclosed that youths between 15 and 21 were responsible for 61 per cent <3f the automobile thefts in that city. • There is room for speculation as to why certain youths would rather starve their play faculties than resort to unlawful means to grat ify them and why other youths will commit a crime to satisfy a need. Certain predisposing social, family and environmental factors can, however, be indicated. The set of circumstances in which the youth finds himself not, infre-
downfall the-young man behind prison bars most often names what he terms the older generation’s lack of sympathy for the problems of the young. Men whose own youth was spent on farms or in small towns enact such laws and ordinance for city boys to obey as they would never have lived up to when they were young. The maxim that “boys will be boys” has ceased to have meaning in the large cities, where boys are expected to act like grown-ups. A man will frequently invoke the law against a boy when a “talking to” would have sufficed. What is aften no more than a boy’s silly prank is magnified by the older generation into something vicious and criminal and causes him to be shunned by the circumspect. This drama of misunderstanding often includes friction between
parents and children. Considered Good Treat
When my father was a boy,” said a convict not yet 20 who had already spent two birthdays in a State prison, “a nickel bought a cigar. A bottle of pop was considered a perfectly good treat for a lady. Today a drink or two in the corner drug store is 40 cents. There are no back fences in the City as there were in dad’s days, and if a boy wants to be himself with his girl for two or three hours on Sunday he has to spend nearly a dollaar in carfares. If my father had not been so unreasonable about such matters I wouldn’t have gone to live by myself and probably never would have seen
the inside of a prison.’
The broken home is an even greater source of youthful criminality than the home in which there is no peace between the generations. In the Preston School of Industriy, a boys’ reformatory in California, a. youth of 17 was interviewed. He had been sent there for complicity in a series of robberies. He had a quick, sensitive face. He was asked how a boy of his intelligence could stoop to rob-
bery.
He answered that his parents were divorced when he was a year and a half old. His mother was killed in an automobile accident and his grandmother took him to live with her. Mind in Frenzy “Other boys enjoyed things could not have,” he explained. “I made the acquaintance of a boy my own age who chummed with an older fellow. We planned and carried out the robberies at a time when my mind was in a frenzy of
desires.”
Seventy-nine per cent of the boys at the Preston School came from broken homes, “step homes, or else gave their status, at the time they committed their offense, as “living alone. Most of the convicts interviewed drifted into crime from occupations in which specialization has made the work exceedingly routine. The sameness of the job, coupled very often with the seeming remoteness of advancement, forced upon them the muddled and impatient determination to gratify their desires in other than legitimate ways. Feels Resentment What does the young convict think of the treatment he receives while in confinement? What mood will he be in when ,at the expira tion of his prison term, he is restored to the community? He usually feels a resentment that greatly perturbs penologists. A 17-year-old boy who had been committed to prison for breaking into a warehouse and stealing $100 worth of materials bristled with indignation when asked to comment on the treatment the law had accorded him. “If you ask me, it’s all wrong, he replied. “The beating which father gave me and a month in this institution were enough for what I did. I’m no thief. I stole be-
cause I was in ^ jam and had to have money. But I won’t do it again; so why keep me locked
up?”
“In other words, the institution has changed you, has reformed you?” it was suggested. ‘ “The shock changed me,” the boy answered. “The arrest and trial cured me even before I saw this place.” 100-Mile Race At Fort Wayne
Ft. Wlayne, Ind., July 14.—Plans for a 100-mile race, the first of its kind to be staged on the five eighths mile dirt track of the Fort Wayne speedway have been started by officials of the local organization in co-operation with heads of the contest board of the American Automobile association. The race will be staged here Sunday, July 24, and $1,700 in prize money will be offered the drivers who finish in the first six positions, with one thousand of it going to the winner. The race will necessitate 16'J laps around the 24-foot banks and wide straightaways of the local track, which this year is under the supervision of the A. A. A. Because of popular demand it was decided to try the long event in preference to the usual four or five-event card. By special permission from the A. A. A. sixteen cars will be permitted to start in this race. T. E. Allen secretary of the American Automobile association, w r ith offices in Washington, D. C., is lending his entire cooperation toward securing the cream of A. A. A. pilots and cars for this event and this is assurance in itself that there will be plenty of competition in the time trials for the sixteen positions in the race. o NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS OF HEARING ON APPROPRIATIONS
In the matter of the passage of certain ordinances by common council of the City of Muncie, Indiana, Delaware County, providing for special appropraition of funds. Notice is hereby given taxpayers of the City of Muncie, Indiana, Delaware County .that a public hearing will be in the City Hall, Muncie, Indiana, on the 1st day of August, 1932, at 7:30 o’clock p. m. on ordinance making special and additional appropriation’s “An ordinance appropriating the sum of $500 to budget item No. 56, board of safety, of the city of Muncie, for the use of said board in paying insurance premium om motov ve--hides used by said board in its police and fire department. An ordinance appropriating the sum of $1,600 out of the general fund of the city of Muncie, Indiana, to budget item No. 56, board of public works of said city, for the use of said board in paying premium on compensation insurance on employees of said board of works. An ordinance appropriating the sum of $150 to budget item No. 7, .board of safety, out of the general ’fund of the city of Muncie, Indiana, for the use of said board in purchasing five semaphores for the regulation of traffic. An ordinance appropriating the i sum of $38 r 0 out of the general fund of the city of Muncie, Indiana, to the board of public works of said city, for the use of said board in constructing a relief sewer in Dill street from West Adams street to river, a distance of 196 feet. An ordinance appropriating the sum of $740.1£r-',out v of the general fund of the City of Muncie, Indiana, to the board of public works with which to construct curb and sewer commencing at Brady street west on Manor street in Whitely, an addition to the city of Muncie, Indiana. Taxpayers appearing shall have
T)ERT LAHR, one of the most fa- ^ mous comedians on the American stage, has finally succumbed to the lure of the microphone, and made his airwave debut June 18th. Lahr, considered by many the greatest comedian of all times, and whose unusual “style” has been widely imitated, has heretofore been microphone shy. While all around him outstanding brother comics were rushing to the broadcast studios, Lahr refused to take the air despite tempting offers. But, they all seem to fall, sooner or later, arvd such has finally been the case with the creator of “Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Ob Boy”, and many other much quoted expressions. Lahr who will be heard regularly Saturday evenings over a nationwide NBC network, following his debut on June 18th, will share honors csn these new Lucky Strike programs with Walter Winchell, Waiter O'Keefe, dramatizations based on actual police records, and the music of the world’s best known dance or-
chestras,
the right to be heard thereon. After the special appropriations .have been decided upon by the Council, ten or more taxpayers, feeling themselves aggrieved by such appropriations may appeal to the state board of tax commissioners for further and final action thereon by filing a petition therefore with the county auditor not later than ten (10) days from the date of the final action of said
Following Old World Trail
^ 1
council and the state board of ta
commissioners will fix a date of (Bracken, Gray & Lie Fur,
Notice is hereby given that at 4:00 o’clock p. m., on Tuesday, the 2nd day of August, 1932, at ,the office of the Superintendent of City Schools in the Central High School Building in the City, of Muncie, Indiana .sealed pro- 1 posals will be received by the Board of School Trustees of the j School City of Muncie, Indiana,! for the, purchase of Thirty Five! Thousand Dollars ($35,000.00) par| value of SchooF Funding Bonds of' said School City, the proceeds; from the sale thereof to be used for the purpose of refunding and extending the time of payment of certain indebtedness of said School City evidenced by bonds
heretofore issued.
Said School Funding Bonds will be issued and sold pursuant to a resolution adopted by said Board of School Trustees on the 21st day of June, 1932, and will consist of thirty-five (35) bonds of the par or face value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,1000.00) each, all dated September 1, 1932, with interest from said date at the rate of four and one-half per cent (4(4%) per annum payable on January 1, 1932, and semi-annually thereafter on the 1st days of July and January of each year as evidenced by interest coupons attached to said bonds. Said bonds and interest will be payable at The Merchants National Bank of Muncie, Indiana, and all of said bonds will mature and be payable on January 1, 1943. All bidders will be required to state in their proposals the gross amount they will pay for said bonds with interest accrued to date of delivery and will be required to enclose the proposals in sealed envelopes having endorsed thereon the nature of the bid and name and address of the bidder. A certified check for two and one-half per cent (2 1 / £%) of the amount of bonds hid for, payable to the order of said School City must accompany each bid and the proceeds from such check shall inure to the benefit of said School City upon failure of the bidder to comply with the terms of his bid or to take and pay for said bonds. Said bonds will be sold to the highest and best bidder for not less than the full par value thereof, with interest accrued to the date of delivery and the Board of Trustees shall have the right to reject any and all bids. Dated at Muncie, Indiana, this 6th day of July, 1932. SCHOOL CITY OF MUNCIE, IND. By WILLIAM F. WHITE,
EDWARD TUHEY, FRED W. MULLIN.
Board of School Trustees.
Lost 20 Lbs. of Fat In Just 4 Weeks
Mrs. Mae West of St. Louis, Mo., writes: “I’m only 28 yrs. old and weighed 170 lbs. until taking one box of your Kruschen Salts just 4 weeks ago. I now weigh 150 lbs. I also have more energy and furthermore I’ve never had a- hungry moment.” Fat folks should take one half teaspoonful of Kruschen Salts in a glass of hot water in the morning before breakfast—it’s the SAFE, harmless way to reduce as tens of thousands of men and women know. For your health’s sake ask for and get Kruschen at any drugstore —the cost for a bottle that lasts 4 weeks is but a trifle and if after the first bottle you are not joyfully satisfied with results—monej back.
hearing in this city. ^ COMMON COUNCIL,
of City of Muncie, Indiana. Linton Ridgeway, City Clerk.
July 15, 22.
A LITTLE BIT CHESTY
A flea and an elephant walked side by side over a bridge. Said the flea to the elephant after they had crossed over: “Boy, we sure did shake that thing.”
Attorneys. July 8, 15.
Americanism: Professing a great admiration for square shoot ers; choosing leaders who blow hot and cold to please both sides.
TDMEtoFIVE Mimntt l
A Fine Array of Speakers Hear
The boys from Indiana. Ohio West Virginia and Kentucky, who are attending the Fort Benjamin Harrison C. M. T. C., are having the experience of seeing and listening to persons of high degree during their month’s stay. Mr. Albert Stump, of Indianapolis, one time Democratic nominee for U. S. Senate, addressed the boys on Thursday on “Citizenship—It’s Rights and Responsibilities.” Judge Fred C. Gause, of Indianapolis, spoke on “Our Co-ordinate Branch es of Government” on July 13, anji on July 14, Mr. Fred. Van Nuys, of Indianapolis, Democratic nominee for lieutenant-governor, spoke on “American Philosophv of Govern menit.” These talks were arranged by Captain H. P. Hallowell, of me 11th Infantry, as part of the course on citizenship being given the camp trainees.
A - A . Lee of New York (center), formerly of Pittsburgh and Cleveland* and A. F. Kane (right), of Milwaukee, are shown as they appeared with their small native attendant and pack mule, enroute from China to India via an old Chinese caravan route. The party journeyed overland from Saigon, French Indo-China, to Calcutta, India, and is shown halting for a swim near Western Yunnan, China. Note the collegiate pipe which the donkey boy is enjoying as he suspiciously eyes the camera.
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