LONDON SURPRISED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 368, 1 November 1932, Page 7

LONDON SURPRISED

MAYOR OF CHICAGO PAYS A VISIT TO CITY. SUPPRESSION OF CRIME. Mr. Anton Cermak does not look like a Mayor of Chicago. There was some confusion at Victoria Station among the people who had come to rneet that distinguished official when, out from his carriage there stepped an elderly white-haired gentleman, who, with his blue serge suit and goldrimmed glasses, had the air of a prosp'erous school-teacher "doing" Europe, says the London Daily Telegraph. But this was the man who had successfully rivalled "Big Bill" ThorhpsoU, been nicknamed "Tony the Bohunk," and then succeeded in shocking Chicago by recommending that part of the shore of Lalce Michigan should be reserved for sunhathing in the nude. Not only does his appearance differ from what Hollywood has taught us to expect of the men who wage war on gangsterdom. Mr. Oermak's manner is ■equally surprising. A note of almost parental pride crept into his voice as he said that Chicago has now dropped to twenty-fifth on the list of the murder rates of the citiesj of the United States. * Fire with Fire. "You have got to fight fire with fire," he said in his ever gentle, f atherly tones, when asked if he could suggest any remedy against car bandits. He would not dogmatise on the subject, he said, aS he .had not studied it locally, but described some of the things which "had helped him to "clean up" Chicago. • • ; "We have 400 poliee cars," he said, 'in the city which are) eapable of 70 m.p.h'. By using cars and wirel'ess, police can get to any £pot in an ave- ■ rage time of two mihtites and ten seconds. Our- penitentiaries and gaols are crowded: • There • are 1 4500 prisoners, and they include every known crook in the city. 'In; the last twelve months we hava had less crime than in any of the preyious " ten years, and we now need only f our Judges instead of seven." Only one thing really stirs Mr. Cermak.' That is a meqtion of Hollywood. - It is tke films, he declares, which have made Chicago's reputation "v7hat it is, and this in spite of the f act that he himself has prevented the showing of many of them in his own city. ' : "I have an agreement with th'e producers not to mak'e any more gangster pictures," he said.