The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-12-26
Poverty and Crime.

EONe'ti 'NhN taithS
Everybody knows on the best auth"rl-
~ who the "fatkcr of lies" is; about him
II is not allowed us to doubt. But the pa
tnrnitv Oh >rnlc other ugly things has not
beer, so satisfactorily vouchcd for. Among
t!iom arc crimes. Govcrnc" Hampton
in his recent excellent message cSS;'yHd
to Indicate the parcnta-c, saying that 'iS-
norancc is the. fruitful parent OF criinr.
and if we hope TO suppress the latter We
must first eradicate the formor.' Per
hans w ought to grant that ignorance Il
APPARENT of'crimc, and 4 fruitful n too:
but. like all offspring, crime must be al
lowed tohave two parents. one of whom
is the trOuge and the more accountable
for the bringing Of the offspring into the
world. That one is poverty. \ little re-
Election will suffice to settle the father
% hood on poverty. 1T no period III the
history of this country have crimes been
suoro prevalent than 1t present, ana hef-
or before was poverty so widespread,
deep, and hopeless. This simultaneous
occurrence is something more than mere
= coincidence. 1t has always been thus
. Every season OF scarcity and commercial!
depression has il all countries been
marked by an alarming. increase i'll ti"
number Of crimes. No doubt many
crimes have their origin i'll ignorance, but
by far the larger number spring out OF.
the depths Of poverty. TalrcrisN and
49,. .,,.,,-. ,l,nr,, il, .1rr,INnl limos
and ppfi prSsn. !; mag trutifnll:y Ec
said that the crimes OF q community are
in inverse ratio t. the income; the nigh
or the rate ofincomc, the lower the rate.
tin Of crime. Take larceny, the com
monc~t species of crime it is the natu-
raj child Of need. Hunger and d,>tltu-
tion spur mon OH to commit larceny IN
spite of all the obstacles that knowledge
and education may place in the way. Ii
weimay be pardonel for pursuing the met
aphor of parc,ltagc made Use OF III the
message, we would say that crime and
ignorance both are the children of poycr-
~ and idlCnc>S. Industry and intelli-
gcnce are az CLOSELY conjOinGd As likeness
and ignorance; and it amounts 70 a tru-
ism to say that the more lndustrlou>t the
people are tho more intelligent d" they
become, qS we'll as the farther REMOVED
from poverty and its temptations. 1t Is
the spread OF industry that We need for
cradicateing crime, industry which will i'll
sure moderate but general ~pro>pcri-
tv. The highest education is too often
no preventive Of tho commission Of
crime. The iorgcr, the swirdler, tho fraud
uient trustee. the scientific poi>oncr, are
fLrnish"d almost 10 y man by thu clu=
Gated classes; and the annals of ,AIncri-
can courts for this year record the crimes
and the dnom of a ShQmefullv large num-
Der or Intelligent crimina!S, We
fcrlbounu 20 consider crimes us
arising ont of the Gist:r,Se much
more frequently than out Of the dcpravi-
ty Of humanity.
These bp serious wor:'s--ton grave
perhaps for Christmas morning, albeit wc
are told u mix trembling with orr
smirth. But in tiliS Sc: son. so peculiarly
ucvOtcd to wcl!-wiShing. it cannot be
unS"a alal'!e to wish prosn ritv rs W
"a peace and goodwill, especially to the
poor. III the ensuing year, great efforts
will rightly he mldc to build and cndow
schools ~ the elevation OF the ignorant.
with this Is we'll as other pra's wol by
objects in vicw-thc decrcaS. Of crime.
Let us not forget the other more NJ or
tanl flctor IN the work ~ much needed
the cul;iyatinn in them Of industrious
habits, and the providing for them, as FIR
as in Us lies, constant work. And nS we
sit urouild our Christmas tabl, let us
not Enthusiastically thank God we are not
:S other lnrn. nor even rs the criminal
classes, but let us pity the poor who are
often tempted to commit crime only by
seeing TIC wolf at the door; and
Jet us hope tat better t n $ are crn-
ing for them as well rs for us, that work
will som be more plentiful, and wages
better; and that ignorance and poverty
will ere long dislp ,@ Il before ~ th" adj
vance If cQurAlicn :nl general c~Dlntort.