St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-12-02

think we have all noticed that crimes
get much larger share of notice in
the papers than good deeds and refor-
nations.
Again, as another says, civilization
has raised many things formerly con-
sidered as immoral, and as offences
against moral law, into well defined
crimes, and subject to punishment as
such. The result is, we are constantly
increasing the work of criminal courts,
by giving prosecuting officers new
fields to canvass, and by adding to the
list of offences defined as crimes" The
number of offences designated as
crimes by the criminal code of Massa-
chusetts largely exceeds that of other
states. For instance, her statutes
cOmprehended in 1850, 158 offences
punishable as crimes, while the code
of Virginia for the same year recOg-
nized but 108, or so less. This pro-
cess of lengthening the list of crimes
by legislative enactment has been
steadily going on during the period
which we are considering, and must
seriously affect any comparison of the
present with the past. The use and
sale of ardent spirits have thus added
whole chapter of crimes which were
once counted hardly among immOrali-
ties.
Again, more thorough enforcement
of the laws, which is itself a sign of a
better state of morals in a community,
often increases temporarily the num-
Der of criminal offences reported. Z"
The statistics of Massachusetts for
twenty years past furnish some useful
facts bearing on this point. Eliminat-
ing all direct rum crimes, which l sup
pose to mean those belonging simply
to the liquor traffic and drunkenness, it
appears that from 1860 to 1879, while
the population increased 5O.4 per cent.
general crime increased but 20.1 per ct.
Murder and manslaughter did not in
crease with the population. The same
is true of the whole body of high
crimes. This class of sentences in
creased 39.5 per cent. and the popula-
ton 5O.4 per cent. l know of no rea-
son to suppose that Massachusetts has
made more gain than the rest of New
England. And if we were obliged to
confess an increase of crime here, this
is to be remembered, that we are un-
dergoing a constant change of popula-
ton. Within forty years not less than
half of all born in New England have
gone forth to other states. Said Sec
retary Sherman in 1873, "We have in
the West more people of New England
ancestry than you have in all New
England, with New York thrown in"
The place thus vacated by the best ell
ements of New England life has been
filed by very different class of peo-
pie. The census of 1870 showed near
ly one fifth of our whole population to
be of foreign birth, and one third of
our whole population either foreign
born or children of parents one or both
of whom were from foreign lands.
Much of that immigration adds directly
to the criminal classes.
And if in these circumstances we did
ais, ought we not to thank God and
take couragef But we have done bet
ter than that.
In New York, while the city popula-
ton has increased over 1000 in the
last five years, crime has diminished
more than twenty-five per cent.
have thus far dealt with the mega
tive, considering what headway, if any,
has been made against evil. l will
close with "a few items indicating what
positive progress Christianity has made
among us during this period.
Note the growth of benevolence.
Contributions reported by the evangel-
ical churches of the United States for
the several decades since 1910, aggre-
gate, for foreign missions, $57 ,629, 900
and for home missions, S72, ,277 900,
emitting the odd hundreds.
OF this amount SO per cent. was rails
ed during the last 80 years, in which
time american Professionalism has
raised more money for purely mission
airy purposes than the PrOtestants OF
all ChristendOm raised in the previous
300 years for the same objects" This
was not quite keeping up with the in
crease of the wealth of the whole pop
ulation, however, which would be a
rather severe test. The population in
creased between 1850 and 1870 foul
and one-fifth fold, and the benevolence
a little more than three-fold. The
number of evangelical church organic
ations has increased 30 fold in 80 years
Compared with the population the fig.
ures read, in I'VE, ,one church for every
1876 inhabitants; in 1870, one fol
every 6l2.
Since 1850, in spite of spiritualism
rationalism, materialism and so on, the
church has grown more than fifty pei
cent faster than the population. Ever
during the last decade, with its finan.
cial depression, labor troubles, and
commercial rascalities, while the pop.
ulation was increasing 30 per cent, the
communicates increased so per cent, =
that is, grew twenty per cent fastel