Weekly miners' express. (DuBuque, Iowa) 184?-1849, 1847-09-29

4 ui N'I'' q ION. Glover will take from /
g = yards for ton.- Albany Cul,iva
/ The INFLUENCE or EDUcATIo,
UPON CRIME.
4 30 comprehensive is this subject that it !
lniposslbe t., treat it as its merits des.rv
4 - Inc Columns Of daily print. Such i
/ NOT QUE object but rather to state ceriai,
developments which have been mad, nv M
/, investigation of the influence Of education
upon crime in England anu Wales.
ne term education in this case is uset
| - us ordinary acceptation, and is mer.l,
] !hsshded 10 imply instruction. and TINS it.
.'..iueice upon crime becomes an importan,
question: In it's higher sense, signfyiun
! tue culture and elevation of tine moral char
a'ter, u is evident that its immediate and
essential influence is to destroy crime. r..
In England the only available test is that
furnished by the record, which show the
proportion OF the persons marrying who are
incapable TO write their names in their mar
rage registers. BY following out this test
1 IN the interval between the years 1894 and
le4o, It was found that by taking tn dis
tricts OF the kingdom in whl.h the great, st
! proportion could write their names. crime
was about 81 per cert. below the average
oi the whole country; but in those districts
IN winch the least proportion could write
thelr mares, crime vas ID per cent. above
the average. Having determined these
FACTS, further investigation was made to
determine il tina difference in the amount of
crime vas not owing to some other element
than simply education or instruction. It
might be held that high state of education
Is generally the concomitart of wealth or
more advanced position in the social scale
OF society, aud hence the reduced rate of
crime; and thate low state of education is
usually associated with peculiar grade of
employment, subject to marked fluctuations
IN prosperity. exposing those engaged in
them TO deprivation, temptation, and vice.
ana thus directly increasing the amount Of
crime, which is believed to have arisen from
want OF education, instead of the provertv
ana distress co-cxlsting with it.
An arrangement was next made to deter
mine the extent Of such influence. For this
purpose various counties and districts in
England and Wales were divided into sec.
lions, ana the communities composing them
were as much as poss bic similarly circum-
sthhceu IN regard TO manufactures, ayricul-
lures, and wealth-so that so far as statist-
caI tests were available. the two sectinus or
classes compared, were, with the exception
o. education, placed under exactly the same
social and political conditions of society,"
Under this arrangement not single in
stance appearance. in which marked and
generally most striking difference, avera-
glng above twenty-five per cent, did not
snow Itself in favor of tie better educated
districts. Ali the other combinations and
arrangements made. to determine the active
element N the increase and decrease of
crime, were unsu Gees sful and produced no
satisfactory result; in fact, they did not lead
t. the discovery of any condition or crcu1n-
stance of life which was peculiar to one dis
trict more than anc Their; but as soon rs the
educational test was introduced, it immedi-
ately ans jzed districts, which before show
ed the most contradictory results, into a
uniform and regular series
Bat that it might not De objected that this
result arose from some other cause than ed
ucatIon and that differences ufmanufac,ures.
OF agriculture, Ut wealth. or Of position in
the soc TAI scale of society, existing in com
blnatlon with the degree of crime noticed
might be the real anu active agent in prudu-
cling the peculiar results attributed to edu.
cation, still more refined analysis was
made. IN this instance there appeared a
constantly increasing ratio Of uninstructed
Criminals IN these sections where crime was
above the average, and also reduced ratio
of uElnstructed criminals where crime was
below the average. The districts Of coun-
try IN which the general population was
poorest educated, the districts in which the
greatest amount of crime prevailed, and the
districts in which there was the largest pro
portion OF uninstructeG criminals, were con-
stantly assmilated; while, OH the parallel
sectIona OF the same groups, was seen those !
districts OF the country winch were the be. / |
educated, tie least criminal, and in which
less proportion was found of unnstructed
criminals, invariably combining.
The repor, to the British Association,
from which we learn these particulars, clio
SEES in these words: ''rae agreement, there.
lore, of those very different tests may be
held conclusive, and to establish as a fac!
that the mere mechanical process even off
education or instruction carry with them al
Wavs powerful protection against CRIME.
AS already stated, education IN its higher
sense must OF necessity dlssevernte itself
with crime, and this eminent degree of edu
cation viii long be impossible Of attainment
70 the whole population Of every country;
but there seems to Oe no superabie difficult !
ties in the way OF impaiting TO the bulk of
community something above the mere ele
ments ofreadlng and writing at least; and
Ill this limited sense it is evident there is to
be found powerful check on crime, and the
most efficient means Of subdung the dan
gerous passions of The people,
Evening Post.
Death Of Maj. Mils.-It is with ex-
IRENE regret that we announce the death
Of our friend, Maj. F. D. MILLS, Of Iowa,
on the field Of battle, before the city of
Mexico. He was young gentleman of