Show OUR lOUR OUR NATIONAL LAWLESSNESS It is one thin thing to enact a lawand lawand law lawand and quite another thing to en- en fore foie it Passing a law doesn't cost the taxpayers anything to speak of but enforcing it calls I for for policing and that may cost more than the evil which the law was intended to remedy Prohibition is an example It is also an example of the i inability of Government to enforce eni enforce enforce en en- force 1 any law against a strong T public sentiment in opposition I I Tto to it certainly of the inability of of the Federal Government to enforce a statute which reaches reache s I into every corner coiner of the nation I regardless of whether the people e of any given s state or community ty y want it enforced The increase of of lawlessness in America is i s directly I traceable to our unwillingness unwillingness unwillingness or inability to enforce e I the laws on the statute books books- We Ve have too many laws and no not t enough policemen Sometimes the failure to enforce enforce enforce en en- force laws is due clue to the timidity of public officials whose duty is to o see th that t laws are obeyed I lIt it is c difficult to see any other reason for the non enforcement of the laws in the numerous I sit down strikes which seen seem j I 1 to be becoming epidemic all over I I contends that such unauthorized Ithe the country Nobody seriously occupation of other peoples people's property is legal yet there have 1 been few instances in which the laws have been enforced Every American Americ n child grows up with rith examples all around aroundhim aroundhim aroundhim him of law violators going unpunished unpunished unpunished un un- punished either because there are not enough law-enforcement law agencies or because those are lax in the p pe of their duties Probably the most widespread widespread wide wide- wide wide-J spread form of la lawbreaking against which the laws Jaws are arc least enforced is in the matter of violations violations violations vio vio- lations of laws governing motor traffic This is is a far more serious serious serious ser ser- I ious offense than many of the statutory misdemeanors f for o r which 1 p penalties ra ties are re more often exacted Motor l vehicle laws nave have navas e i as their main objective the r pro pro- ro of human lives The terrific terrific terrific ter ter- toll toB of d deaths 1 in motor ac accidents accidents accidents nearly last year is s evidence of ot the need for such i laws and for their strict enforcement But when ayoung a ayo ayoung yo young ng motorist discovers that i he s pan can n break almost any high highway way law without getting caught or with rith a mild reprimand ora or ora ora a suspension of sentence if he is caught his respect for law law all all law tends law tends to vanish tl |