The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-24
TEE ErIDEmIo joF CRIME.
By I. NJ srAtSHousE.

For the Sundays Sentinel.
In the Sentinel CT lasts Sunday you pub.
lishtd an article uncery the above caption
from tie pen OF Hon. @. u. Reeve, in which
be assigns tho ttaching9 OF Z. G. IDgeraoll
end others ike him as tie cause of the in
crease OF crime In thu United States. II
seems strange TO me- That man wSo has
read 80 extensively land thought so
deeply as hos Mr.. Rhve, SHOULD tesch
that the belief or NOS belief in an idea
impossible OF dsmoreIstion could be the
cause OF any general manifestation OF hui
man nature, either FOR siIt1e or vice. The
causes OF human action. as displayed by any
race or nation, snripg from something more
tangible than sptculaiieps as to the condi-
ton hey ond the grave. The inconsistencie
into which he is drawn, to account for a
phenomena which is exp aimed by the statis-
tics OF a thousand yeare. are sufficient evi.
oence for the weakness OF his position. First
he says, THE denial of humiliation
and the longing for another and higher
life Is universal" "Ths dread OF
aDnihi'stion ia but agother term for the
"desire to live" Yes according to Mr..
to live and enjoy the society of their loved
ores, and who believe that this world is all
OF life. will kill those loved ones and then
commit suicide, and tfas end, as they be-
lieve, that which they earnestly desire. 1t
this did not come from q man whom highly
respect could bat ray it was nonsense; but
coming from Mr.. Reeve, can but say that
he has allowed his logo to get tangled.
earnestly desire that MY wife and children
may live forever; but .bslieving that they
will not kill them snd' thus cut short that
which desire for them :or all eternity? Is
this logic? Is this couamon sense? Is this
consistent with the ususl methods OF human
reason? But again he says: ut may be the
vile has hope and the husband none." So
then the wife kills the children for fear that
they may be educated without hope. SO we
are placed by Mr.. Rseve: between scylla and
Charybdis IL We havsno hope Of q future
we kill on, children so as to
cut thort what little of life
Wa think nature hg, allotted them,
aud il we have hope wse kill them (. r fear
they may be educated without any. Al,
Brother Reeve! Brother Reevel Bat where
are we to get this hope: which is to prevent
us from killing our children, unless we are
afraid they will be raised without hope, and
which then prompts US 10 kill them? From
a book which, in one pIScs he Gays, has "in,
consistenciss and absurdities," and In anoth.
er place, in speaking OF the B BILE and the
church, he says: with oil their absurdties,
inconsisten cies, irrecoacilable differences
and actual superstitions"Is this book OF Sab
surd ideas. inconsisten c'es and superstitons'
tie foundation upon which he would have
US build "hops' that. woald prevent US
from killing our wife al Chi dren unless we
are afraid they will be raised without hope?
How do We know but that this very hope is
one OF the absurd IDEAS and "supersti-
tons Of which be says there are many in
the church and the Bible?
But it IS needless 10 discuss this question,
or have l any point to raise with Mr.. Reeve
ss to the oivilizing influence of the church
and the Bible. and for The present purpose il
would be needless to indulge in it IL had:
for, as before said, statistics have long ago
settled the ca 1se Of any increase or decrease
in crime; and these statistics teach US that
people abstain from crime in proportion to
their ability to support themselves aud de.
reudents BY honest means. Humanity may
be divided into two g:fat classes-thosa who
would rather steal than beg. and those who
would rather beg THAI. steal-and Whenever
work ceases, or becomes non.re muueratye,
they divide themselves according to their
atural inclinations. into these two classes
So whenever the exigepcy arises beggars lad
CT minals increase at the same time, and
from the same causs-i1ability to earn liv-
irg at labor. In 1885 there were In the
United States Q $50 murders; in 1884 there
were IL Az murders; ia 1888 there was about
the usual number. but In 1884 there was an
increase OF 40 per ce,t Was Ingersollism
the cause Of this sudden and great
increase? Certainly not. Ingersoll has
been on the restrain. and his lectures have
been in the hands of the people for eighteen
years ard TO as great en- extent In 1888 as In
1884 Why, then, should there be a normal
amount OF crime in 1858, and "a increass OF
40 per cent. in 1884, IL this Is the csuse2
But let Us look at the condition of labor,
and STE IL we can not there find, rs Ia ught by
statistics, the cause Of this "epidemic Of
crime" In 1884 $50. 0O0 laborers, 10 per cant.
Of oil engaged in manual labor in the United
States. were thrown out of employment and
were idle on the 1st OF January, 1885 Onc-
halt OF these actually employed were work.
Ing on time at least az aye-:.sv or tnras hours
q day short And In addition to all this.
wages were reduced on average OF 20 per
cent. And all these toeether-one.tenth idle
one sixth reduction in time OF those en-
ployed, and one-fifth reduction in wages
and we have total reduction OF 10 per cent
IN the ability OF the lsboring class to support
themselves. Add to all this the time lost
in strikes and it is probable that the actual
earnings OF the wags-laborers OF the
United States was but little, II any,
more than half in 1884 VITA. il was in
1883. Here We fad that the increase
Ia the crime OF murder bears an almost exact
relation to the reduced ability Of the wage
workers to care for their loved ones-an In
crease Of nesr 40 per cent in the crime OK