THE SUMMER MICHIGAN DAILY v ffilirt $'unm Published every morning except Monday during the University Sunimer Session by the Board in Control of I1Student Publica- tions. The Associated Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and the local news pub- lished herein. Entered at the Ann Arbor, Michigan, postoffice as second class matter. Subscription by carrier, $1.50; by mail, $a'.oo. Offices: Press Building, Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. EDITORIAL STAFF Telephone 4925 MANAGING EDITOR PHILIP C. BROOKS Editorial Director......Paul J. Kern City Editor....Joseph E. Brunswick Feature Editor.....Marian L. Welles Night Editors Carlton G. ChampeH. K. Oakes, Jr. John E. Davis Orville Dowzer T. E. Sunderland Reporters E. M. Hyman Miriam Mitchell Mary Lister Robert E. Carson Betty Pulver Win. K. Lomason Louis R. Markus I BUSINESS STAFF Telephone 21214 BUSINESS MANAGER LAURANCE J. VAN TUYL Advertising:............. Ray Wachter Accounts.........John Ruswinckel Circulation........."..Ralph Miller Assistants C. T. Antonopulos S. S. Berar G. W. Platt Night Editor-ORVILLE DOWZER at least lucky, but in a larger sense the institution should hang its head in shame that even the present percent- age of drunkenness exists. There is no place for that kind of thing at an institution with the ideals and aspira- tions of this University, and while the subject will not arise until the re- turn of the bulk of the student body next fall, it is never too early to fos- ter and abet a growing feeling against the use of intoxicants that will in time drive them out of existence, at least at our state university. MICHIGAN'S NEW CRIMINAL CODE If there is a single forward step to which the 1927 Michigan legislature can point with pride it is the estab- lishment of a new set of rules for Book Notes r TUESDAY, JULY 12, 1927 COLLEGE STUDENTS AND AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP At the University of Chicago sp- cial deputies are to be employed by the school next year to aid in enforc- ing the prohibition law where the federal agents have failed. The action is due to the recent death of a mem- ber of the student body there from the effects of poison liquor. At Yale the students of the divinity school have volunteered to aid in the enforcement of prohibition on the college campus, because there too government means have failed. And while our own and many other universities have as yet failed to break into the limelight with sensational alcoholic records, conditions here, as well, are far from perfect, and we lack divinity students and special deputies to help enforce the lawl Throughout the nation he question of liquor and its illegal use has come into the forefront. This use has not prevailed on college campuses to any greater degree than among the gen- eral public, perhaps, but due to the added sensationalism that college youths are always able to excite, the practice has gained a great deal more attention. One need not enter into a discussion of the merits of the prohibition amendment to discover whether col- lege students, especially students in a state university, should oTey its pro- visions or not. The situation here is no worse, and perhaps not as bad, as in other institutions, but it is far from perfect, nevertheless, and it is a disgrace to the good name of the Uni- versity at times. The idea, allowed to develop among the student body of a great educa- tional institution, that drinking is a fashionable and proper thing to do can not but be pernicious. Even be- fore prohibition the public opinion of the nation did not tolerate excessive drinking, and there is, no reason that it should now. Least of all should a great state university, with presuma- bly the cream of the commonwealth's youth in attendance, look with indif- ference upon drinking; and the situa- tion that has arisen here and else- where in college communities is one which deserves the strictest kind of handling. Michigan could do no better, when next winter . arrives, than to enforce with summary dismissal her rulings of prohibition. It is not a case for liency in any phase, and it constitutes the violation of a law of the state by students who are reaping the bene- fits from that state's generosity. If nothing more it is rank ingratitude, and it is more than that whep one. re- members that there are regular chan- nels in a democracy through which a law may be repealed, and that the car- dinal principle of our government is the assumption that the minority will not only be willing but glad to abide by the decisions of the majority. Michigan, to be sure, has thus far escaped any deaths from alcoholism and poisonous bootleg liquor, and it has also fortunately avoided the na- tional publicity on the subject which some other schools have achieved. For this it is to be congratulated, for it is criminal procedure, to replace the out- worn and complicated set previously on the statute books. ' The new law is unique among the attempts to solve the crime situation throughout the union, and its operation will be watched as an interesting experiment by legal experts and criminologists throughout America and the world. The code is more of a compilation of individual laws now existing in other states than an original set of rules. It is simple and concise, be- ginning with the heading "arrest" and proceeding, chapter by chapter, to the final heading "judgment and sentence." One of the chief of its many innova- tions is the opportunity for a respon- dent to waive trial by jury if he de- sires, which has operated very suc- cessfully already in Maryland. Tech- nicalities in the indictment have been reduced to a minimum, and it is no longer possible to throw cases out of court on misstatements of the charges against the criminal. The bail regu- lations have been strengthened, and all that is needed to bring a case into court is a simple statement of the charge, rather than any complicated form which may previously have exist- ed. Possibly the main feature of the code, however, is the increase of the responsibility of the trial judge. The responsibility for the disposition of the case is squarely on his shoulders, and rather than the sort of glorified umpire that he has been previously he will not be able to dispatch with fair- ness any criminal case. He may com- ment to the jury on the testimony and character of the witnesses, as federal judges now may do, and may guide the jury in reaching its decision. "This procedure has been advocated by Chief Justice Taft and a number of other jurists for years.) Probation, also, can not be granted to a second offender, and it will be interesting to watch this provision work out, since under the state law violators of the prohibition regulations are felons. It is mandatory with the judge, also, to inflict heavier penalties on second and third offenders than on the first charge, and the fourth con- viction-and this is really the teeth of the whole law-Means life imprison- ment after the fashion of the New York state Beumes law. Paroles can not be granted to any but first offend- ers before the expiration of the mini- mum sentence except by consent of the sentencing judge. Restriction on the appeal and insan- ity pleas has also been made, and criminal justice promises to become much more simmary and swift under the new system. Even before its adoption the leading lawyers of the state commended it, and now that it s going to be tried (beginning August 14) it deserves even closer attention, It will test the practicability of rec- ommendations made by the National Crime Commission and other sociolog- ical bodies, which it follows closely, and for that reason will command at- tention on another score. It is cheering iAdeed that the state of Michigan should have been so pro- gressive as to have been among the first states in the union to attempt to meet the crime problem on its own ground. The new code applies strin- gency where stringency should pre- vail, and if it accomplishes only one little bit in checking the wave of criminal acts which is still sweeping the country it will be worth all the effort expended upon it. The pendu- lum of criminal justice swings con- stantly from rigid restriction to pro- tection for the accused, depending on the times and conditions, and in view of the present crime situation it is time that it began swinging back to.