Judge — June 4, 1932 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUDGE “Rut do you think Father would like it if we turned out the light!” Gangsters HERE has been a lot of talk lately about gangsters, and, as a matter act, Iam almost sure that I have en pictures regarding this subject in one or two of the tabloids. The last picture I recollect seeing was a composite photograph of ten gang- sters and ten members of the Board of timate, and, believe you me, it sure was a bad looking map. Well, it seems like now the public has took ¢ rt of dislike to the gangsters, or at least to some of them, and they have suggested to the police that said gangsters be eradi- cated. Now, this is what is known as a sore blow to the police depart- ment, and where will an honest policeman go on a cold night if he can’t ring a bell three times and take off his coat? The public don’t seem to realize what a hard time a cop has. And besides that, when a guy gets to be a gangster, even if you eradi- cate him he is still a gangster— maybe a dead gangster, but still a gangster. What we want is a ounce of prevention, which is worth a pound of erasers, and get these gang- sters before they grow up and while they are ittsey bittsey kiddies and train them to be shoe salesmen or waiters or traffic cops or some other M4 profession where they can work off their spleeny dispositions without a gat. If these kiddies are picked out when they are young, it is just a problem for our educators, and what with all our new school buildings it will he a push-over for the teachers. CAN now hear some narrow- minded heckler saying, “How you yonna know which kids would grow up to be gansters? You can’t make all of ’em w s et certerori.” I am prepared for these hecklers. There has been maybe thirty, forty kids in and around my own family and I have made a study of them as has become gangsters and them which has refrained from the trade. And it is imple thing to predict which kids will and which kids won't, e versa. ‘2 a kid, say, five y old. You give him a fire-engine—nice and new and shiny with big red wheels and a gong and maybe some clock- works. In half an hour the wheels are square, the gong is tied to the dog’s tail, and the clockwork is firmly affixiated to the walls with carpet tacks. That's all right—he’s no gangster. But take another kid. He sits and looks at the fire engine comicbooks.com