St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 16

i. a I ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1930. RAGE 2B at. I rrwi ii 1 l5w of glnntn, knows better tha that.

Nething Urn than a man on the order of Paul Banyan, measuring abo-st IS ftet, inches, will appear gigantic to him. and he win direct more hero worship toward a tough little fellow who packs a wallop than to our modern pseudo-giants. ST. LOWS POST-DISPATCH Founded by IOSSPH PULITZER Dtcemba 12. 1S7H FubOtiti by The Puller Ptdkshmg isl CSra Stmt THE LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORT.

La its fir report ta Congress Mr. Hoover's Law Enforcement Qwnmissioa points out oar what has bees for a Tang time obvious to. the country, that the tardea imposed upon the Government and tts courts by new Federal laws has became insupportable. In submitting the report Mr. Hoover observes that prohibition is responsible for "rather more than half jjUUDfS DIPLOMATIC IMPASSE.

Tha zealous State' Attorney at Laredo, Tex, John A. Vails, by his threat last month to arrest ex-President Calles of Mexico, has brought cn a "border incident" the most serious since the stirring days of Paneho Villa. Mexico has closed its consulate at Laredo, the issuance cf tourist cards to Americans has been suspended there and freight congestion has resulted from an embargo on through shipments routed via Laredo. President Hoover, the State Deportment and Gov. Moody of Texas are trying to re of this new harden.

He had already stated that the anti-narcotic laws, another heavy contributor, are responsible, tor 33 per cent ot all the tammies of Federal prisons. Attorney-General Mitchell reports 25,427 prohibition and narcotic eases initiated in Federal courts within the past six months. 23.577 terminated and 20.0S5 pending. CommiIoner Do ran. In charge ef prohibition enforcement, warns Congress that to pass too big aa appropriation for this purpose will be to dog the machinery ot enforcement.

The commission, as might have been expected from XHE POST-DISPATCH rUATFOMSI I bw that ar miicBcat will Hhn tts Nti privlytni tat at mill lwii flskf rr frecraw a a- rWB. awe crate lajaalk-e or cermatkm. alwaya Beat incw saxttea. Mtft taeiws a ay arty. always jpaaa prlvilegea diiMt a awMfe -rlirimra.

aeier laete ayaaaathy wlta tae aoor. alwaya reaaala ale-voted to the pa Mac welfare. aerer oattefted' wit a aaerely prtattas ewst alwaya be traatlrally fade. caaeatt ever utrmtM to attack, wraas. wfeetaer predatory pJ-teerae? or predatory aovrrty.

JOSEPH PLUTZEIU Arm 19. pair the damage caused by the blunder. Calles was to be takes from bis train at Laredo, so able and sincere a body. Is apologetic about all this, I Vails annooneed, to face a charge of murder over the It says very plainly between the line that with the common sense cf the conn try pulling It one way and the misguided prahihiticnisas pulling it the other, the task before it is impossible. Nevertheless, It says solemnly that to gtre prohibition a fair trial these tfrg should be dona That is.

more laws, more Judges. Viore Marshals, more prisons, and more of everything necessary to punish the new crimes. Unfortunately, the commission has not yet said what It thinks of the wisdom of all these new Federal laws. except to remind the country in this significant paragraph that the testimony of American history is against such sumptuary legislation as prohibition death of two Mexican officers seres years ago. If Vails really wanted to make the arrest, his public statement was the poorest possible strategy, the Dallas News points out.

If he did not intend to make the arrest his tactics are eves more opes to censure. That be was badly advised has since been proved by a document from the Mexican Government showing that the kiUfags took place tn Mexico. Calles passed safely through Laredo under protection of our Government. The furor that has arisen in Mexico, where Calles is extremely popular, may bt likened to the stir that would result here if Mr. Coo-Iidge or Mr.

Taft. returning from Central America, were threatened with arrest at a point in Mexico. No one can censure Mexico for its resentment of this discourtesy, but it is unfortunate that its retaliation has worked hardship on so many persons other than the cause cf it. Laredo merchants saw their holiday trade from across the border vanish, travelers are inconvenienced and shippers lose time and money. Mexico demands that Vails be dismissed, and this demand Is backed np in a petition signed by 1200 Laredo citizens.

At a time when both nations are hoping that a lasting era of friendship has begun, this State prosecutor's venture into international diplomacy is' all the more regrettable. Mexico, having registered its Frotest. now can afford to make concessions so the port cf Laredo may be reopened. Both countries It is impossible wfiolly to set off observance of tho prohibition act from the large question of the views and habits of the American people with respect to- private judgment as to statutes and regulations affecting their conduct. To reach, conclusions of any value, we must go into deep questions cf public opinion and the criminal law.

We must look into the several factors in the attitude of the people, both generally and in par ticolar localities, toward laws in general and toward specific reguIatioKs. We must note the attitude of the pioneer toward such things. We must bear in mind the Puritan's objection to administration, the Whig tradition of a "right of revolution," the- coaception of natural rights, classical In our policy, the democrati? tradition ef individual participation in sovereignty, the atti-t tude of the business world toward local regulation of enterprise, the clash of organized interests and pinions in a diversified community, and the divergencies of attitude in different sections of the country and as between different groups in the same locality. We must cot forget the many historical examples of large-scale public disregard of Ljws in oar past. To give proper weight te these things, in connection with the social and economic effects of the prohibition law, is not a matter of a few months.

There has been great apprehension among the dry leaders that the commission would begin with a VV. NF'aBVaA. 3psjgg Judgment epen the wisdom of prohibition, the Harrison drug act, the automobile theft law and the Mann would benefit from this. And sa expression cf regret from the United States for the Tails faux pas is well in order. a a LTNCHINC II CEDES.

Lynching, once a popular pastime in the United States, has receded almost to the vanishing point. Lr. Rcbert R. Moton of Taskegee Institute, aa authority on the subject, lists only 10 lynchings last year. AH took place in the South four in Florida, three in Texas, one each in Mississippi.

Kentucky and Tennessee. Neither Georgia nor Alabama, notorious in the past for this practice, is represented on the list Less than 40 years ago, in 1S92. lynching was at its worst. In that year it claimed 255 victims, including 100 white men. No doubt cooling of aroused In Civil War and Reconstruction days accounts in part for the recession cf lynching.

Other important factors have been education and agitation against a relic cf barbarism which has earned for the United States the scorn of older countries. We are making progress in the fight on "man's inhumanity to man." OUR OLD MAN OF THE SEA. LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE The sams Ji address cf the csukzr wt KXOKptfnv evcrs contribution, but cw request stall ct be published. Letters net excesdizi 200 words n-ii! receue preference. Psychology aial the Cex Questionnaire.

To "tha Eaitor of 0fcVrifiiitrT, IN the matter of the sex questionnaire Issued ty Professors Meyer and De Graff some time iack. and resurrected ta the censers of Missouri University by an investigating committee ef the American Association of Cniverrury Professors: The right of free speech and free press and the necessity of rare and authorised judgment of censorship are so important to the republican institution that any Infringement becomes a public affair. Your alert appreciation of the fact has been shown time and again la mention of the Scopes case, the communist cases and the Bible Kteralness case. So many considerations; are involved this sex case, however. many people will be at a loss la judging it.

There is the obvious standpoint of the professors association, which is tike that of the American Admiralty in the Question of reducing armaments. There is the somewhat Questionable right of a college administration to discharge its professors of long service. But there are deeper principles also. If we Ignore that character of the questionnaire which was shocking to people of the older generation who are far from being Puritans; the Impropriety of the two discharged professors in using the college nime and prestige in a matter which was personal to themselves; and the finer points of Jurisaiictlon between the accusers and acctsed, much remains In Question. First, is psychology a scieaee? Sixty-five thousand words nsed In description of It in the encyclopedia which fails to help any one In arriving at a conclusion on the subject, hardly gives it point as science.

Allowing that tt is net philosophy or theology or metaphysics, what particular one of the many branches claimed by Its warring schools is the branch represented by the sex Question Is it the neurology branch? If so, were these two professors neurologists? Or were they students of Schopenhauer, whose mother suffered from a brain malady, and whose father was found in the Seine River? Or of Nietzsche, who was Incarcerated in as insane asylum? Or vere they followers of the memory trainers and bocy builders and success who guarantf to make every man a Captain cf his Soul, or a General et Great Will, or Master of il emery, to lead the world to bigger and better things, all for from to $30? The elect who every day in every way get better and better? Or the Fletcherites who chew their food many times? Or did they acknowledge the sincere grailists who hope to give a scientific status to the human mind by "Critiques of Pure Reason" and lectures which have no definite beginning cr possible end? Have any of these ever been able to prove that mind Is human instead of civil? Many reasons can be advanced for its civility. If we probe -his question much further it will lead Into the large question of rommercialization of learning as well as 3t football. EUGENE DAVIS- Alton. III. "Ten Years of the League." To ifea EdHor of 16 PaaEiptca.

7 ERE I to close my eyes in sleep be-' fore writing this letter 1 am sure that ghosts of my World War buddies would return to haunt my bedroom before the dawn of another day. And so it is with rosea pleasure that I. as a grateful American and an appreciative reader, thank you most heartily for -your editorial published under the head "Ten Tears of the League." as well the editorial cartoon. Tiis Disowned Child tt ts siu-tt editorials as this eg which Press Comment on the Coast Guard a in i i- i. i ii Evidence indicates three liquor runners slain by Coast Guard got their deserts, says Washington Post; Cleveland Plain Dealer denies they were subject to capital punishment; New York Herald Triune calls Boston meeting significant popular protest; law upheld by killings, defied by drunken brawl.

New Republic points out. act; but Senator Jones secured an assurance some two weeks ago that tae com mission would not da so. Not has it done so, (t has merely recommended: 1. That the enforcement of prohibition be reposed in a single department; 2. That the present disordered Federal laws be consolidated 3.

That padlock injunctions be made more effective: 4. That provision be made for taking the burden of petty cases off the Federal courts. This last recommendation involves grave constitutional questions which we will discuss later. However, if the commission did refrain from expressing a political opinion in making its preliminary report. Mr Hoover did not so refrain.

In. his letter cn the presidency, made public the same day, he said: "It is from too much emphasis upon 'government of the people' that we get the fundamental confusion that government, since it can correct much abuse, can also create righteousness." Neither prohibition nor the anti-narcotic law has stood the test of trial. Both attempted to create righteousness by legislation, and both have failed. In both cases what was regulated has become unregulated, what was once licensed has become lawless. If we persist in these laws we will by DAY, WASUINGTOX.

Ja almost any nignt ef tia 4 Ol Washington's movie district R'! man with a short, quick step maj tti going toward a theater. a alone; at other times he haa There are few who recognize feia Senator from Tennessee, one cf th i tag spokesmen of the Democratic E3 In that body. not merely expend nillioTis in a futile effort to enforce them: we will also demoralize the country while we are making the effort. Senator McKellar is probably tS pion movia-ffoer of Congress. So or less It is Hiram Johnson of Caiiforaia The country will await with interest the political the kick out of this form of enters and recreation that be does.

Mo conclusions without which this or any other survey of crime would be footless. It goes without saying that if we are to persist in all these Federal laws we will have to have more machinery to enforce them and and talking are bis favorite diversies He owns a fine set cf golf clnba. 9rtMm-f2n VA ...1 l.n tact. I more penitentiaries in which to place the increasing number cf violators. The question the country will times be gets oat his trim little drives over the nearby Vireinfa as land hills, but chances are that fre a movie first.

HE reads a great deal, preferail? dealing with the recoaatruction NOT AN OLYMPIAN We have not understood Mr. Hoover. We have been looking at him as a total stranger, one of those congenital workers who joyed bearing fardels, who fairly throve on difficulties, who loved work for its own laborious sake. That's a myth. His letter to Dr.

Thompson, president emeritus of Ohio State University, reveals the chief executive ia a mellow introspective mood. This rambling homily on "the cares that oppress the day" may add no cubits to the author's literary staturex but one gets the impression that, but for an importunate destiny which has ridden him with spur and whip, our indefatigable toiler would have been as accomplished a loafer as any of us. And wa axe shown, too, that place and power do cot fundamentally aifect the viewpoint. Ira a bard life, the presidential job. That is the sum of Mr Hoover's testimony.

The humblest witness would tell the same story. But offsetting the slings and arrows of malice and envy is a host cf good will and sincere co-operation. What Mr. Hoover related at length has been told in the familiar sentence: "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." And every head wears a crown, and finds about the same balance of vexations and assurances. The epistle is a gracious compliment to a venerafe'e educator aa instance ot aa old-fashioned courtesy which it is pleasant to encounter ia the swift tempo of today.

But its finest value, so it seems to us. is the revelation that Herbert Hoover is not an Olympian but a mortal, resiling with the usual allotment ot adversaries and 'sustained by tha Pormai quota cf friends. r' COFFEE AND TEA. All cf us know peopis. who have been browbeaten into giving up coffee.

Tea also has been censured, though never with the violence poured upon the cean that made JaTa famous. The distinction might be that, of misdemeanor and felony. Coffee, we hare been told, biteth like an adder and stinseth like a crotchety asp. This venomous1 genius cf coffee- has tseet ascribed to caffein. Now a doctor who ts supposed to know declares that tea and coffee not only contribute to the grace and fragrance cf living, bat.

if drunk in moderation. have to face i3 whether it wants to persist in them, whether it want3 to manufacture crime upon such a wholesale scale. The best service Mr. Hoover's commission can render the country is to tell it why we have so much crime. That will direct the country's attention to causes.

and causes are immensely more tn American history and Andre He is a great admirer of Jaekon anM sonian principles. Once, when it posed that the famous "rocWRf statue of Old Hickory be rmari Lafayette euuare. across from ta -House. McKellar so vigor a at? ejP that President Harding wrote fcisK Important in this matter than effects. To discover a parallel to prohibition we have to go back to the Arabian Nights and the Old Man cf the Sea.

Certainly Sinfcad. of whom we read that an old man who. under pretense of being carried by Siabad across a brook, fastened himself upon the latter back and could not be was an exact prototype cf that Cade Sam who bears upon his back "I think yoa may give evry a-l to roup feHow eitizena in ti c6" ef Jackson that Washington wni4 a7 remiSlai tar fcirraint anv fcldlg BEARING OCT DR. BCTLER. From the New Republic, President Butler of Columbia were seeking confirmation of his statement that disregard cf qae law does not nee-sarily Imply disrtpect for all law.

he need look no further than recent events in New London. There, members of the Coast Guard, after sternly upholding the majesty of taw ta general by shooting and killing three ram runners who refused to stop when ordered to do so. proceeded to show their contempt cf prohibition in particular by gettiBie drunk and engaging tn a brawl with sailors at a shore party having Imbibed, it is reported, the very liquor which they captured from those who had with their lives for taw violation. It causes us neither surprise nor indignation to learn that Coast Guard members drink; in so doing they are following a social usage having the equivalent of legal sanction. But the Incident is the very symbol of the absurdity which appears when a Government tries to compel obedience to a law to which great masses of the people do not accord moral sanction.

DECREES OF CRIME. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer. THE Coast Guards say abundant warn- tag was given: surviving members of the rum running gang say there was no warn in a at all The point is immaterial. The killers la all probaoiUty. be in-dieted by th State courts of Connecticut -or Uassaehustetts.

Then they will, by special ukase, be removed for trial to the Federal courts and speedily aeqsitted. The men who were killed were probably bad eggs. But they were not abict to capital punishment by Federal cr State law. If the killing ef the' rum runners was a matter of no Importance the sequel to the killing ts something very For a bunch of the quick-trtsger Coast Guards appropriated a generous amount of the confiscated boos for their own Tuirtide cheer. Tfcey then indulged ia cheerfully bloody flxht among thmlvea.

resultins tn emergency hospital treatment Now his is eeriouia artaTr Everyone connected with prohibition premises tJiat ther wi! be speedy and severe punishment. We not doubt that the promise will be fulfilled. let we are sontewnai puzxied-by the new appraisement of crime ia this matter of taw enforcement. Homicide, no matter whether the victim ta aridity or snmh-as wider the Volrtid act. is atmost no eHme at aa; while tiie wenlimc of few hettfe ef superfluous booze by hard-working t4 rapid -ehootlnje Coast Guards ts Incomparably more serious n'd THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

From th Baltimore Evening Sua. -p HE declaration of Admiral Biliard. coia- maadmg ta Guard. In favor strong arm tactics against mm runners has drawn a panegyric from the Methodist Board ef Temperance. Prohibition and Public Morals.

Says the board: "That sounds Uke Figatin Bob Evans. We seem to the, figure of Admiral dve standing en the bride ef the Olympla as tt steams rest tte batteries cf Manila." Je doubt, no doubt. Bat there ta a dif ference, after all. "Neither Fighting Bob nor Dewey had to put 24 of his own men under arrest Saturday, and four more Sunday, for co-operating with tie enemy. The men commanded by Evans and Dewey were never charged with wantonly firing citizens of their own country, and aa for asing their position in the service to line thir own pockets, such an action was beyond tbeir wildest dreams.

KILLING SMUGGLERS. From the Washington Post. THE Coast Guard is charged with the A duty of preventing smuggling. If the speedboat' fired upon had been suspected of smugg-llng silk, narcotics, aliens, diamonds or anything else it wonld have been subject to search just the same. 10 a yiirs th law has provided that boats shall stop when hailed by a revenue boat, and that the law officers may fire upon those who refuse to halt.

If the Coast Guard boat, without warning, fired upon men who were ignorant of the command to halt, the fact will be ascertained and the officers and crew will be subject to punishment. But the ci ream-stances strongly indicate that the turn runners got only what was cotntax te them. The pursuit of rum-runners through crowded city streets, accompanied by wild firing that may kill innocent Indivtdaais. Is an Intolerable offense aarainst sociey. The pnblic is entitled to safety first and always.

But when smugglers are on open water, where Innocent Hvps are cot at araite. it ia not only the duty of the anthor-itfea to porsne and search thenv but kiil them If there is no oth-r "means: of overhauling them. RESISTING 'ARREST. From the Dallas News. THE Biaek Duck stex-is unquestionably to have been engaged la liquor Slina Nobody alleges that the boat stepped when ordered so te do la tically every detail tn position of the Black Durk was substantially that of a miscreant on land who resists arrest, exevpt that the law of the s-a is a little more severe than that of the rand, and that resistance of arrest b.v flight aafrteint provocation for a revenue cutter or speed boat to open fire.

IX TI1F CRADLE OF IJBERTT. "From the Ne Tor H-raW! Tribute. I ISTORIC Faneui'i Hair was the acme "--of tae first' really eisnificanl popular iemosaralwa gsint th- -ondict of enforcement. Never before, it our R.M.ory serves us. a grvet jetu of idtUti.e T-glst-ret the Indignation that baa ben kindling ta the popular breast over the eontiaaes bloodshed to the name of this cn-AmrcB tt occasion sad tts setting, rt eeems to lis.

should produce profound fet on to- relator ta Washington wAo not eo long ago cnerd report that a Washington po lice man bad killed a oooOecror. The firat duty of the sutberttle at Wasa--Ingtoa la te dismiss Seymour Lewman. who exacerbates puaBe feUng with Ills airy Justifications of offiHal slanghter. Its second duty Sa a rigid and impartial th9 old man who got on under the pretense of tem are rapidly stadias the Post-Dispatch into more homes day by day and whtch. VM a -nas-4wA 62 if continued, tii ultimately place the perance and cannot be dislodsed.

The question is: Do we want to go in deeper, or do we wast to back out? people newspaper on a plane tn woica wife ef Jactiwn. McK'ilar the- hole thfns as a "rruel isao" xmtrue- sttsek upon the resu50 rhararfpr nn, thai N-f' arTIC'S tt will have no peer. LEWIS BRAKE. Mount Vernon. III.

ever lived, a. Amvttnt Chrtstiaa a3 sl limitations of ire frpeecb. Tj lie Eduor of tie Poat-Dwpatdh. woman." A IX. that sophistry about The Right of Free Speech" does not explain ENATOR KcBTELLAR is taci away the necessity of cur Government one of the few ever to aer fjBftud Stutam Sonata mak bi tor self-preservation, to imprison or deport aliens who ars sent here by tn one of the downtown hotels.

biography he furnishes the Can? Government for the avowed purpose ef publicly the destruction of they make" for happiness, hi en etre. long life and sac He merely states that he was bora mond riallna fanntv aiahams. cess. Maligned caffein. the worthy scientist assures ns.

banishes fatigue, clarifies the mental processes He was idantxi at tm Csrret- and stimulates the fancy. moved -to jMiemnhis. to practice. on hi wav tn imanas a rich as It does not seem fair to leave coffee with fts only half told It may truthfully be said, we Count Karolyi announces himself a 10a Pvr Cent Karl Marx Socialist." If that means that he has it id "Das the distinguished Hungarian is not only a Socialist, but a glutton for punishment. OUt.

DIMINUTIVE. CIANTS. 4 Any small boy who has read "Jack the Giant Killer" cr looked at the pictures in "Gulliver's Travels' caa testify that giants are disappearing." He will see nothing startling in a maa 6 feet 3i inches tall, which stature is the proudest boast cf Prime Camera, latest battling hope to arrive ta this country. Prima would inspire much more awe if he were a maa with 43 first-round knockouts to his credit, tor instance, instead of a man who has to stoop in going through a door. This pugilist's most widely circulated photcgrara shows him standing, beside a 2-year-old girl: that comparison would make anyone bigger than a midget look impressive.

Similarly, tit movies latest giant, said to measure 71-2 feet, is pictured with a pocket-size Him actreea If he Is so astounding ly big. why don't they photograph him beside Marie Dressier? Any maa who has trouble ttralghtaniag oat ia a hotel bed, it seems, is referred to as a giant nowadays. The small bcyt who is up cn the literature th ti5f three Ccr.srwn. thn er.ier-1 are confident, that the man nobody knew, if prop erly fartiiVtd with coffee, becomes the lifa of the party, the wallflower blooms into the belle of the hall. ur Government by violence, the coc2i ration and redistribution of all property as ordered by dictators and the forcible suppression of alt religious beliefs.

la the Califoma case, these fanatics retorted to t-ie despicable subterfuge of enticing innocent children to an alleged summer recreation camp for the purpose ef inoculating their plastic minds with the infamous dsctrraea ef commaswrn nd anarchy. Their punishment a borne. Tor a similar effer.se assinst their Government, woutd have been death, not tm-prisonment. The right of free speech does not permit, without the us of la-K-ent, insulting iibeioas language ta public; ftor does it j'JWTlfv tho a'm-tn nja taira term uj beta are interviewed, photographed and quoted, the maa marries aa heiress sad the girl captures the secretarr. companion and vet Prince.

As for tea. did act Wellington admit that Washingtea. Waterloo was won ia tie 5 o'clock cups cf old En: gland? ttt artempt 1 bitien into an nswtllin See It may be argued, perhaps, that there aresupericr I the Govern merit miahfy ot chargius our Govroaent or laws by tie ballot or cyna-nrte bomb Instead of corpa- arreflnH dfir let Jt display ngid ns ef -D potions potions that, as It were, put a livelier iris oa the burnished dove. Possibly. What we are etrlTing here to "vrr is that tea and coffee are honorable aa trustworthy and; with la their limitations, pretty goo.

rauafrie persuasion and the ballot. fs-asB4euenly Iselrrag VT7r' J'SFFERSONlAN. poo taoee of its agents wto ger aanecejwaruy..