CRIME IN U.S.A.

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1945, Page 5

CRIME IN U.S.A.

MR. HOOVER’S WARNING WAR ON HOME FRONT (Rec. Noon.) NEW YORK, Dec. 10. Unless precautions are' taken, the racketeers, overlords, desperadoes, and criminal scum, who characterised the roaring' Twenties, will return to the American scene, said Mr. Edgar Hoover, Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He largely blamed youth and lax parents, and added: “Firing has stopped on the battlefront, but it is being resumed on the home front. Lawlessness has taken such proportions as to startle the imagination. Crime waves proclaimed in the daily press are not imaginary. They are -real and they are bloody.” Comparing. the figures for October, 1944 and 1945, Mr. Hoover said the murders increased 32 per cent., motor-car thefts 38 per cent., robberies 38’per cent., and burglaries 26 per cent. The Federal Bureau Investigation’s fingerprint files reveal a criminal army of 6,000,000 arrested and fingerprinted—one of every 23 inhabitants of the United States. ATOMIC RESEARCH. NEW YORK, December 10. Rochester University has revealed in a report that it carried out two years’ research into means of countering health risks attending the production of the atomic bomb, and eventually helped to draw up a health programme so efficient that none of the hundreds of thousands of workers on the project suffered injury attributable to radiation. The university used for research 200 monkeys, 675 dogs, 20,000 rats, 277,000 mice, and 1200 rabbits, and tested 50,000,000 fruit flies for the effects of radiation on heredity, because the fruit fly’s life span is so short that genetics experiments may be carried out on many successive generations. The university is not permitted by the United Sates War Department to reveal the results of the research, but they are expected in time to have a revolutionary influence on the treatment of diseases like, cancer. . Dr. Leo Szilard, Chicago University physicist, testifying before, the special Senate Committee investigating atomic energy, said that unnecessary military secrecy delayed production of the atomic bomb for at least 18 months. He explained the army asked scientists to work only on parts of the project, and not discuss results with scientists working on other parts. HEAVY BETTING. CHICAGO, December 10. Punters wagered on the totalisator the record amount of 1,306,514,314 dollars in 18 States of the United States during the last racing season. This was an average of 75 dollars for each person on each race day. Nearly 17,000,000 persons attended the races. AERIAL~ RECORD. WASHINGTON, December 9. An experimental twin-engined bomber established a trans-continen-tal speed record, landing at Washington five hours 17 minutes after leaving Long Beach (California). The plane, a Douglas XB 42, is a radical departure from the familiar military types, and has pusher propellers m the tail joined by long driveshafts to engines located forward inside the fuselage. Aided by tail winds, the plane cut 46 minutes off the previous record. SALES TO BELGIUM. (Rec. 11 a.m.) BRUSSELS, December 10. Belgium secured from the United States a loan of £25,000,000 sterling covering the cost of goods en route to Belgium at the time lend-lease ended, and also additional purchases from the United States. N.Z. CONSULATE (Rec. 11 a.m.) WASHINGTON, December 10. Mr Berendsen announced that New Zealand has opened a consulate in New York, with Mr Thomas Oakley Brebner as Consul. '