St Johnsbury Academy - Lamp Yearbook (St Johnsbury, VT)

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THE ACADEMY STUDENT 3 THE ACADEMY J STUDENT Published by the Students of St. Johnsbury Academy TABLE OF CONTENTS Page V aledictory 5 Class Song 8 Salutatory 9 Class Prophecy 12 Class Grinds 16 Editorial 29 Class History 32 Class Will 34 Class Poem 40 Clubs 42 Athletics 48 Last Chapel 51

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VALEDICTORY ESSAY 4-H CLUBS VERSUS CRIME Of all the problems in America today, the most serious except that of livelihood itself is crime. The relation is close, too; for a per capita tax of $120 must he assessed yearly to pay our crime bill of more than fifteen billions of dollars. If the entire cost of crime could be eliminated for two years, that saving would pay off our national debt. Freedom for three years would pay the entire cost of America’s share in the World ar, plus an enormous bonus. Statistics show that last year in this supposedly enlightened and civilized country, there was a minimum of 12,000 murders and an estimated total of 1,500,000 major offenses, which affected one out of every sixteen homes. J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Crime Investigation, warns that 150,000 murderers are now roaming at large in the United States. These are astonishing facts, but the really startling one is that twenty percent of our crimes are committed by persons not yet old enough to vote, by those not yet even out of their “teens,” by those who often are not yet past high school age and who should still be under the active management and responsibility of the home. Yet, it is true, we find children stealing automobiles; we find them committing almost a thousand murders every year; we find that there are tens of thousands of burglaries and larcenies perpetrated by boys and girls who, in any other generation, would have been under the discipline of vigilant parents. The criminal situation as it affects our young people is an undeniable indictment against the American home of today. J. Edgar Hoover says “When youth commits crime it is because older folks have committed the greater crimes of apathy, indifference, and the expression of distorted views.” Thousands of young people, unable to find any kind of employment, are left with long, useless hours to be frittered away. When temptation looms large before them, they do not have the will power to dismiss it. Their early home influences have not been strong enough and good enough to keep them treading the harder upright paths;.