New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-14
THE CAPITALISTS OF CRIME.

Tho contest between those who work and
those who plumber, is nearly as old as the
world itself. Nor is there much ground to hope
far ts speedy termination. We suggest the in
Uairy whether society may not have made
mistake in its mode of carrying on this contest.
Has il not failed to recognize the fact that
habitual criminality is a craft, not carried on
by isolated individuals, but by virtual organi-
zaiion comprehending various grades ana
divisions of work, and especially requiring the
combined action of capital and labor pre-
ciely as other crafts do, and like them'
tu. being wholly dependent for Its con-
ti,ued existence on this unionf There
ae two well defined classes enlisted in
criminal operations, the capitalists and the
o,eratiyes those who furnish the means and
those who work the machinery and the former
ae absolutely essential to the latter. There
a,e four kinds of criminal capitalists 1. The
owners of houses or dens affOrlng shelter to
hpredators, and places for their congregation
and Acknowledgement saloons. dance-hOuses,
and houses of prostitution. g The receivers or
,uyers of stolen property. g. The pawnbrOkers,
Who lend money upon such property. a. The
makers of burglarious and other instruments
,sed in criminal operations. 1t is the practical
mpunty of these capitalists which supports
,be breed of thieves and burglars. As the law
now stands, man possessed of some capital
may, with absolute impunity, use 1t IN provld-
ing homes for criminals, arranged, II SO
he pleases, for coneealpg the thieves and
their plumber, and for battling the pur-
suit of the police or such a person
may, with equal impunty, engage III tho
manufacture of burglars and thieves lnstru-
ments, some of which are of the most elabo-
rate construction. Ii is true that, as regards
those who cash the stolen property, either by
purchase or by loan-receiyers and pawn
brokers-the law does provide for their pun
ishment; but the requirements as to evidence
are such IA TO make detection and conviction,
in ordinary cases, all but impossible. In New
York, the number of daily receptions of stolen
property probably amounts TO some thousands;
vet the conviction of a receiver is so rare that
there is scarcely one TO ten thousand oiienses;
and the conviction of pawnbroker for
receiving such property in pledge we have
never heard of, Compared to the swarms
Of operative plunderers, the several classes
of criminal capitalists constitute but n
small body. Beng much more sensitive
to the terrors of the law and more confined to
given localities, they offer 10y far the fairest
mark for successful criminal legislation. The
mere "laborern of the criminal class, if we
may so name the thief and the burglar, has
neither reputation TO hazard nor property to
lose he can hide himself or run away. Not
So however the man who has invested his
capital in aid of the predatory class; he can
not conceal himself; and if he Iun away, he
hnucag abnn or
behind him. These criminal capitalists pre-
sent vital and exceedingly vulnerable part
of the organization. IL it were made abso-
lutey unsafe for owners of property to afford
shelter TO habitual criminals-the stern rule
"No houseroom to the dishonest" being rigidly
enforced-and if it were also made absolutely
unsafe either to purchase stolen property or
to advance money upon it, the class that
now lives by plumber would per force
he driven either to honesty or starvation.
Some years ago, in the town of kidderninster,
England, it was noticed that while household
property, shop goods, yaluables carried about
the person, &c, &C., were perfectly secure from
depreciation, the thread and silk used in bonn
bazne and carpet weaving were constantly
stolen. Now, what was the cause of this
large enough TO conceal and support trader
in stolen goods of the ordinary kind, but it
contained many small weavcrs, some of whom
had both means and inclination to buy the
stolen silk and thread. Circumstances enabled
capital and labor--the capital of the small
weaver and the labor of the thief-to act Jointly
against the silk and thread while they did not
admit of such joint action against other kinds
of property. .4
There is a world of instruction in all this.
1t says to society Strike at the criminal capt.
talists in your warfare against crime make
the cities too hot to hold them; destroy oDpor-
tunity in the large towns as well as. in the
small and then evil inclination will remain
dormant and undeveloped in the former no
less than in the latter; but 80 long as, through
ignorance or fear, you fail TO adopt this
method of attack, you will be obliged to main
tain an army Of watchers to check evil incli-
nation as it ripens pinto crime; your property
will be exposed to plumber and your persons
TO injury; and thousands upon thousands of
children, who might be saved by a law as
inexorable as that which makes the magnetic
needle obey the loadstone, will be doomed to
grow up under influences which will compel
them to become the criminal army of the
future. a. L-.E 81 ....
NATIONAL EXPENDITURES
m ~ 3D.. Il, /.