The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-04-13
WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 10.

cd because the prisoners now are not left to
plot mischief and grow worse in idleness, but
are kept busy to the advantage of both them
selves and the state; and fourthly the fact that
the increase in the number Of inmates Of prts-
onS and jdttS since 1860 outside Of liquor SEN
fences, has been nearly taoice as large as the an
crease of sentenceS-a fact which can be ex-
planned on no other supposition.
To Illustrate: The number of convicts in
the State Prison in 1860 was about 100; in 1880
according to Judge Goddard 267-increase 167
per cent. The number of sentences to State
Prison in 1860. was Az the number of sem
fences to State Prison in 1880 was
about seventy-increase sixty-seven per
cent That is, Judge Goddard's figures of con-
victs at the two periods show 167 per cent. in
crease of crime, but the figures of actual SEN
fences in 1860 and in 1880, which measure
accurately the high crime of tie TWO years,
show an increase of only 81 per cent. Certain
ly the most liberal estimate possible of State
Prison convicts sentenced to jails in 1880, can
not give an invrase of actual crime from 1860,
of over so per cent, instead of 167 per cent.
And this increase was all, or nearly all, be-
tween 1860 and 1869. Or take sentences, out
side of violation of liquor laws, to both prison
and jails. In 1860 they numbered ", and in
1866 they numbered 100, and in 1880 they num-
bered 146-showing an increase OF crime be-
tween 1851 and 1880 of not over 10 per cent,
but on the whole decrease since 1869.
But Judge Goddard claims that crime has
IN 'reaS6u SLICE lODO-J Oh DdSlS Vi S6ub6uC6b
outside of violations of liquor laws; and the way
he takes to show this is ingenious, if not salts
factory. In order to ascertain the extent of
sentences to the state prison immedi ately after
the war, he includes the year 1860 and all the
years that the war continued, when a large
proportion of the criminally- disposed class
were the camp-followers of our armies outside
of the state. Crime did not increase much until
the close of the war. The average annual sem
fences to State Prison from 1860 to 1866 was At,
but in 1866 the number went up to 104, and
the average from 1866 to 1869 inclusive was "a.
The average from 1869 to the opening of hard
times in 1876, was not more than 60. During
the three years of hard times the sentences
went mp again to IA, but last year they went
down to So To be sure q persons were sen.
fenced to Jail one year and longer, last year,
but if there had been no workshops half of
these would have probably been sentenced
shorter period to jail; so that the whole num-
Der of State prison convicts last year should
not be placed higher than 20, showing that we
have recovered from the influence of hard
times, and that on the whole crime is begin
ming to decrease, certainly not to increase from
the figures of 1868.
Judge Goddard quotes the declaration of the
warden and inspectors of the State prison in
1S77-when "hard times" was increasing crime
of a certain character,-that crime increased
in 1877, as evidence that crime is now increas-
ing. Against any opinion that this is the fact
now, we put the recent statement to us of one
of our ableSt and most observing Judges, who
has been ON the Supreme Bench of Maine for
nearly twenty years, that in his Judgment
crime on the whole is decreasing in this State.
1t is undoubtedly true that some classes of
crime have increased of late, particularly such
crimes as come in waves or are the result of
special temporary influences; but crime in
general is, we believe, decreasing.
All that we claim for the statistics we have
quoted is that they show on the whole a de-
cided improvement since the first year after
the close of the war, and general tendency
to a reduction of crime, instead of the large
increase charged by many newspapers. The
great increase of crime in Maine between 1851
and 1862 greater than in many other States,
notably Massachusetts, is unquestioned, and
the explanation undoubtedly is not only the
decentralization of the war, but also that dur
ing this period we were passing from the rural
and isolated condition which had previously
greatly protected uS,-a transition which most
other States had passed through previously
But having met the full force of influences
common to most of the States, Maine has, we
believe, resisted them better than most of the
other seaboard communities, and has to-day
less crime within her limits than any other
State.
Judge Goddard denies our claim that Maine
has now less crime than other States-certain-
ly any other seaboard State-and asks for
proof. We have not space to more than indi-
cate some of the evidence of this. Massachu-
sets had in 1879 three times as many convicts
proportionally in her prisons and jails than we
have. Comparing the number of conyicts in
the Maine State Prison last December with
the number in the State prisons of other States
at the latest dates we have their reports (1S79),
and We find the following result: