Houghton High School - Amygdaloid Yearbook (Houghton, MI)

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THE AMYGDALOID Page23 whether she should join 'Sis' or take a course in Interior Decorating. Matt Kesti made a daring flight from Alaska to South Africa. I often wondered who would be the aviator from our class. Geraldine MacDonald, you know, took up ballet dancing. After she became tired of dancing' in this country, she took a trip to Egypt, where she is now dancing for her King. lfVe hardly expect her back, for she is quite satisfied there. VVhen I was still in Europe, Prof. Mil- ton Grams' book, 'How to Assume Knowl- edge,' was being published in Italy. At last Mutt has revealed the secrets which we all could have gladly used at school. On picking up the London Times I read 'John Marshall Has Perfected Radio in Turkeyf From the article I learned that john went to Turkey to be far away from the girls, for whom he always thought that he had a fatal charm, and he is now making a serious study of radio and related sub- jects. In Paris, Amanda Brunet was on a pur- chasing trip for the Warrick Department Store. No' doubt you have heard that Jo- seph W'arrick established quite a trade at Boston, Michigan, and Amanda is in charge of the Purchasing Department. Elizabeth Richards has invented a new kind of hair net which is guaranteed for a year. I am sure she will meet with success with this. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go through the University of Berlin, and I was surprised to find that Russell Bergh is a professor of zoology, and at that time he was experimenting with a butterfly. At this same university Lydia Kotila is at the head of the Latin Department. This did not surprise me, because I expected that Lydia would advance along educational lines after her fine record in high school. Priscilla Miron is quietly leading the younger generation along the paths of knowledge. She is teaching the primary grades in a country school. Margaret Healy, active in planned a trip for a dozen or more young people to Yellowstone Park Canyon. Aileen Pelkonen is owner printing house and is now busy getting in- vitations ready for the 10th Anniversary of the Class of '23. Oh, there's the bell ! exclaimed Lucille. I must be ready for a rehearsal in five minutes. How I have enjoyed talking about our class l society, has and Grand of a large Classmates, this is all a dream. Tlfs is what I heard and saw in my dreamg so fashion your futures according to your abilities. THE CRIME WAVE L. J. GILLES If we assume the protection of life and property to be the first function of govern- ment, then government is failing in the United States today. Crime in our cities is no longer an occu- pation of the individual, but it is a highly organized industry like a great chain store system, and in its organization legal talent plays an important part. The nine thousand murders committed in our country last year conclusively prove that killing is a trade. In New York City alone during the first three and one half months of 1922 we have record of one hundred murders and one hundred and twenty-six holdups. And New York is not an exception. The reports from San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Los An- geles, Philadelphia, Kansas City and other large centers put them on a par with New York. If a man living in a city walks

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Pase22 THE AMYGDALOID will make her assistant secretary to Henry Ford, himself. Kathryn 'Williams studied at the Uni- versity of Michigan, specializing in Eng- lish, but after finishing she went into the insurance business, locating at Detroit. Ethlyn T ulppo has been a basketball star for these many years, and she is as en- thusiastic as ever. When we were playing in San Francisco recently, we had several opportunities to visit Hollywood. One of the largest studios bears the sign, Paul Goodale, Incorporat- ed. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Paul is taking the parts formerly played by Rudolph Valentino. Judging from the number of his employees, he is doing very well. Daniel Brown is Paul's secretary and chief counsel. Dan has had much experience of this kind, so he is able to help Paul's business along a great deal. While I was still in the realms of 'Mo- vieland' and not far from the Goodale Stu- dio, I saw Mary Theriault, the beautiful 'Sis' of our high school days, riding along in her Rolls-Royce. She has retired to pri- vate life, having inherited no small fortune. In Oregon, we ran into Kenneth Lewis, who is now manager of the Lewis Lumber Co., with several branches throughout the United States. Florence Brimacombe is living a lonely life on a ranch in Montana. Living alone and away from people, she seems in danger of having some one Steehler her, but she is well armed. Richard Carne is a salesman for a large concern selling 'Ideas for a Good Time.' This is only a small part of Dick's occupa- tion, because his most important work is finding a girl in each town that he visits. Papers and magazines have scarcely room to print anything but Urho Strang's complete proofs of Einstein's Theory, which has ended all further investigations on this matter. Returning to Canada after graduation, l. but remaining only a few months, Ruth Hamilton decided to remain permanently in the states to devote her entire time and wealth to social work. Ruth has made friends wherever she has gone with her lov- ing, winning personality. I know you haven't forgotten how mu- sical our class was, Henriette. Several have continued along musical lines. For in- stance, Lawrence Gilles and Edward Hild- ner are playing leading parts with the New York Grand Opera Co., and are at present touring Japan. Of course, we expected no less than this from them, after hearing them with the sextette in '23. Also, since John Moore finished college he has Written two books, 'How to Play the Saxaphone' and 'How to Bluff, from Ex- periences at High Schoolf Oh, by the way, John is touring Australia, giving sa:-iaphone concerts. Louise Uren has declared that she is a man-hater and has settled down to write novels from her own experiences here and abroad, her favorite title being 'Storms' Traveling with her husband in Panama, Ruth Kendall spends her spare time making speeches in the public schools. During my vacations I have gone to Europe several times. On one of my trips a few years ago I learned that John Har- rington is poet-laureate of Ireland. I was quite surprised at this, even though John did possess talent of this kind. I In Spain, Marcella Allie is giving en-- thusiastic speeches for Woinan Suffrage. This is surely Marcella's life work. Also in the same country, in a secluded convent, Florence Richards, after breaking many hearts, has become a nun. Here she's finding'peace and contentment. Muriel Kellow and Leona Hartz came upon a fortune, which enabled them to live ten whole years in leisure. Now that the money is gone, 'Sis' has decided to become a model for John Nelson, who has a studio in Rome. Muriel is trying to decide 'vs ' ,ji

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Page24 THE AMYGDALOID three blocks from the car line to his home he has not an even chance of arriving there safely. Murder, hold-up, bank robbery and auto-stealing are the usual topics on the front page of our morning paper, the sheet would be exceptionally placid without them. Not hearing anything definite to the con- trary, we begin to be convinced that there is a crime wave. Having this idea fixed in mind, we come to the realization that something must be done. Very reasonable, to be sure, but exactly what? To answer this question we look into the causes of the crime. First of all there is the laxity with which justice is administered in the average Unit- ed States court, then the abuses of the bail privilege and paroles. Second is the disregard for life which seems to be blamed on the war. If this feel- ing exists, there is nothing better than the shadow of a rope to sober the criminal into realizing that life shall not be taken delib- erately. Then there is the increased chance of a getaway which is provided by the auto- mobile. Why is it that the criminal is tak- ing advantage of the fruits of progress while the law lags behind? Justice may be blindfolded, but she should realize that she can't fight a revolver with a pair of scales. Also we have excellent chances of getting free if caught, by means of either a lawyer or a bonding company. There is a certain class of lawyers which caters to the criminal and which finds it worth its while to get a man free regardless of his guilt or inno- cence. There are also bonding companies whose representatives are looked on as friends by the criminal world and who, be- ing notified beforehand of coming crimes, are on deck to bail out any of the crooks who are so unfortunate as to be caught. One man in New York, who had been bailed three times, when caught red-handed in a hold-up trick, said that he needed the money to pay his bail bonds and lawyers. Finally we have loose laws regarding fire- arms. Revolvers should be given only to authorized persons. The armed robber is a murderer at heart. He will shoot if nec- essary, and in many cases he pulls the trig- ger before his victim shows any sign of re- sistance. The penalties provided by law are severe enough if they were only enforced. The United States should make punish- ment quick and certain. The sooner the criminal world realizes that we are through compromising with crime, the sooner will the evil cease, The delay which some of our courts allow in the handling of crim- inal cases increases the chances of acquittal for the accused. The judge can, and often does, speed up a case by keeping the argu- ments as much as possible on the essentials and eliminating much irrelevant material. Arrangement of the court calendar so as to do away with long lapses of time between arrest and trial will accomplish the same purpose. A wonderful example of speed in the han- dling of crime is shown by the case of George Gares, of New Jersey, who mur- dered a five-year-old girl on December 22, 1921. He was arrested two days later, and was brought to trial in the supreme court of New Brunswick on January 4, found guilty January 5, and sentenced to die in the week ending February 6. This gives a striking contrast to the methods of prac- tically any other state in the union. In a report on the New York reforma- tories, it was seen that out 22,000 cases only four were college graduates and out of 1,000 only 7 per cent finished high school and 25 per cent completed the grammar school, while 6-L per cent went only to the primary grades. Here is evidence that even a moderate amount of schooling is a positive and active deterrent to crime. According to statistics, the criminal is not born, he is made. The early environment is in almost every case the cause of a young