Show I Pr Prevailing ev a i I in g 0 Opinions P i ni 0 n s I Comment of the American Press Press- The Case Against Ransoms The modern Charley Ross kid kid- naping case has had the worst possible ending Two days after the ransom demanded demanded demanded de de- de- de for the release of Charles S. S Ross Chicago manufacturer last September was paid he was ruthlessly slain There is grim satisfaction it is true i in the capture of one of the kidnapers and the knowledge that the other is dead ironically killed by his own partner in crime The federal bureau of investigation investigation gation gatlon under its able chief J. J Edgar Hoover has again proved a relentless and efficient foe of criminals arises But on one inescapable fact out of this case to haunt the people people peo- peo pee peo pie who make snake the laws of this country And that of course is that the ransom should not have been paid If it had been impossible to col col- collect collect lect the ransom Ross would not have been It was the chance to get 50 50 that lured the criminals and they were willing to take any chance to get it The law ought to remove every last vestige of the chance for profit in Senator Ashurst of Arizona has been vainly trying to get such a a. law through congress since the Lindbergh making malting the payment of ransom a crime The Hearst newspapers have as vainly urged enactment of the Ashurst bill as the only step in inthe inthe inthe the prevention of within with with- in the power of legislators to make No argument against the bill stands up Nothing is as cruel to the families families families fam fam- of victims and the families of future victims and to the victims victims vic vie tims themselves as encouraging and subsidizing the crime of kid kid- naping by the continual payment of ransom The Ross case again proves not only the evil but the futility of ransoms They rarely buy the freedom of victims or save their lives They simply invest the most despicable and horrible of all crimes with a degree of actual protection under the law unparalleled unparalleled un un- un paralleled and in connection connection con con- with any form of criminal crim inal activity Until the principles of the Ashurst Ashurst Ash Ash- bill are made a part of the law of the nation and the laws of the several states we will continue continue continue con con- to have crimes of abduction abduction abduction tion and extortion and the murdee murder murder mur mur- der dee of innocent victims The The San Francisco Examiner The Nations Nation's Health The of W P A money spent by the public health service service service ice since 1935 has produced what is described as the most comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive compre compre- survey of national health ever conducted A total of persons were found to be incapacitated either by accident or illness throughout the country on an average winter day of these some 42 per cent were suffering from some chronic disease On a per capita basis this means that every man woman woman wom worn an and child in the country is stricken on an average of 10 days a year by serious illness The rate of disabling disease appears to run 60 per cent higher among relief families for instance than among families with Incomes of a year or more At the last convention of the American Medical association the New York delegates tried unsuccessfully unsuccessfully to promote support for a broader socialization of medical facilities Finally a self-appointed self committee of outstanding physicians physicians physicians phy phy- recently declared for federal federal fed fed- eral intervention in behalf of the medically indigent It is becoming increasingly evident evident evident evi evi- evi- evi dent that despite the gallant service servIce service ice of the medical profession in public clinics and the best efforts of private welfare agencies the poor man is not receiving adequate adequate adequate ade ade- quate medical treatment Obviously Obvious Obvious- ly some means of supplying this urgent need must be devised But no difficulties of working out a remedy should be allowed to distract distract distract dis dis- dis- dis tract our attention from the fact that 28 per cent of American families families families fam fam- with incomes of less than 1000 are receiving no medical at- at tion ion in disabling illnesses The The Washington Post |