Article March 12, 1927 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from John A. Hutton, Lena Leonard Fisher, Edgar Magnin

[From the American Issue, Westerville, Ohio]

The city of Concord, New Hampshire, with nearly twenty-five thousand people, a mill town with a mixed population, is a city almost devoid of crime. The presiding justice, Oscar L. Young, in the superior court, ... advised the clerk of court not to issue the call for the convening of the grand jury to consider cases. This was due to the fact that County Solicitor Rainie reported that he had no criminal cases to be presented before the grand jury. This action on the part of Judge Young saved the county's spending two hundred dollars, which is set as the cost for summoning the grand jury for one day of service.

This remarkable situation is ascribed principally to the fact that the employment conditions in Concord have been good during the past year and the wages paid are sufficient to insure a livelihood to the people. There are many, however, who believe that prohibition has had much to do with this freedom from crime. This scarcity of crime in the county made it feasible for the county Legislature delegation to authorize the sale of the jail to the city of Concord. At the present time the jail is being demolished and on this site will be erected a high school, which will cost in the vicinity of five hundred thousand dollars. This condition in Merrimack county also exists in some other sections of the state, as three of the ten counties have abandoned their jails.

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