IN THE NAME OF SPORT, LET'S STOP YOUTH DRUG USE

WE, who live in the most marvelous city on earth, should be ashamed of
ourselves. We are the great failures of the world. What is happening to
some of our children is a disgrace to all mankind. We can't claim
innocence. We haven't given them the protection this age demands. There are
adolescents in this town who are mad with the sensations caused by
narcotics. They find an awful excitement in drugs, which they use to grant
them a spurious ecstasy their time withholds. We are at fault, all of us
who live in the city. There are no exceptions. The childless are guilty as
well as the parents of those children who have been degraded by a vice they
can't comprehend, although they are its anguished subjects.

We, who are New Yorkers, express our municipal pride in many ways. We
measure our achievements by the majestic heights of our edifices, the
efficiency of our traffic system, the purity of our drinking water, the
speed of our transportation, the rapid removal of snow, the disposal of
garbage. We are the capital of the lurid arts and the delineator of
national cure. We are the home address of the famous.

We employ a furious piety to denounce the detective who allows himself to
be bribed. We put bookmakers in jail. Our rages have established a curfew
for taverns. We are the most tolerant of cities, and people of all kinds
live harmoniously here. We are immense and wonderful and great in all the
ways a city must be judged. But all this must be judged as the perfect skin
on a rotten apple, if our children succumb to the dirtiest craving of
modern man.

The adult guardians of our children have functioned improperly. The
collapse of the youth is not general but the cases are not isolated. Slums,
of course, breed, such wickedness. The children of the poor are exposed to
this filth. As a man who makes his living covering games, I believe that
the cessation of high school sports in our town hinders the defense of the
young against adult foes. High school teachers refuse coaching jobs as a
protest against the low salaries paid educators. The resumption of sports
will not be a quick solution to adolescent drug addiction. But organized
games certainly will be a decent influence.

Putting a baseball into a kid's hand will not break up the evil syndicates
that sell diversion for a kid's leisure time. There must be a force for
good. Sport also segregates the young. It gets them out of their basement
clubs. It puts them in gymnasiums instead of pool rooms. You will find more
drug addicts hanging around the corner candy store than you will in the
playground. Breaking up gangs into teams will help.

There have been enough drug addicts exposed to indicate this is a trend
among the young. It should be stopped before it becomes as common as
playing the juke box. There should be immediate negotiations to reinstate
extra-curricular activities. The teachers do not describe their refusal to
do extra-hour odd jobs as a strike, but it is. They must not be condemned
for trying to raise their low standard of living. The revelations of the
narcotic investigators should not be used as a weapon to slug them into
line. But the city administration should submit a proposition to the
teachers without delay. It is obvious that this is not the time to put the
young adrift after hours.

The sale of hop to the young is a profitable racket. It is like all
criminal activity that makes money. It will not perish unless it is
destroyed. It seems to me that a sports program, supplementing the Police
Athletic League, should be promoted by the city. There never will be enough
playgrounds but available space should be used to set up fields and courts.
Buildings, not being used, could be turned into gyms.

There were no plans made for automobiles when the city was laid out. The
parking situation is still inadequate. But special boards scheme to relieve
the congestion even though they haven't had notable success.

There should be a special department and a commissioner of sports to
operate it. We've had enough time to be horrified. We must do something
about it. We won't solve it just sitting around and making comments about it.