THE LAW MUSCLES IN

In a small Chicago courtroom, there has started a legal battle in which, unfortunately, the interest of members of organized society should be centered. Al Capone, millionaire racketeer, has been victorious in his many affairs with state governments. He was able to afford the best verdicts money can buy, and though known to have been concerned in many felonies, until a short time ago he was allowed to go unhindered. Now, for the first time, he faces the Federal government.

It may be significant of the way justice can be bought and sold that Capone changed his plea from Guilty to Not Guilty when he discovered that he could not bargain with the Federal government. He is being held for evasion of the income tax laws, not for violations of the Mann Act and of the Prohibition Laws of which he is guilty. Evidently the workings of the law have been judged too slippery to hold him on anything but this simple charge. Witnesses may disappear, but bank records remain in vaults.

More than Capone's liberty is at stake in this trial. It will indicate whether the national government can cope with organized crime, now that the states have failed. The federal system has not the scope for prosecution of criminal cases that the state has, but opportunities for the influx of criminal influences are proportionately small. A victory of the racketeer over the federal courts may turn this country into a timocracy ruled by hoodlums. A conviction against Capone will strike an effective blow at our hierarchy of crime.