The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-11
THE GENESIS OF CRIME.

hands, and that the use of intoxicating liquors
is SO intimately identified with the commits
sion Of crime that the one can be accepted as
O safe gauge of the other. While these cardi-
nal principles in our sociological philosophy
viii not be readily discarded, and while a
seemingly adverse bit of testimony will not
have any great effect toward shaking the gen
eral belief III their business, it must be con-
fessed that the report of the warden of the Kan
sas State penitentiary will have the effect to
start a new train Of thought. The facts and
figures he gives are such as to awaken the
inquiry whether industry and sobriety
together are even an approximately
perfect antidote to crime; and whether
in the pursuit of these as the ~all-sufi-
Gent remedy. social scientists have not
dropped other very important factors out OF
the problem Of SECRETARY reformation. 1t
should be understood, at the outset, that the
report OF the warden is not issued as an anti
prohibition document, neither do we al
Anuo W 10 HNie VI II purpose VI Ui'Soun.'oS
the value and influence of that
phase Of the temperance reform.
rs a contribution to an impor-
tant discussion the report is valuable,
and it must be taken for what it is worth,
without undue heat, by Prohibitionists, whose
theory it may seem to belittle, and without
undue elation by anti prohibitionists, who,
upon careful analysis, may not find any sound
argument in it for their cherished principle of
personal liberty" which, too often, is a mere
cloak for dangerous license and unquestioned
immortality.
Mr.. w. G.. Jones is the warden of the Kan
sas prison. He took charge of the institution
on the 9th of April, 1883, at which date there
were GA ~convicts. On July /, 1884, there
were 751, making an increase during fifteen
months of 107. This increase was the largest
in per cent. Of ratio known to the State
during the past five years, an increase that
came during a period when Kansas was
more than usually prosperous, and when
there were few idle men among its population.
IL can scarcely be asserted that the general
laws against crime were more uniformly and
vigorously executed during that fifteen months
than during any other similar period; at least
such a fact is not adduced as an explanation
of the phenomenon. But during that period
the prohibition law was in force and executed
with unexcelled zeal and success, so that the
increase in the number of ~convicts cannot be
accounted for upon the theory of an unusual
consumption of liquor. As to the probable effect
Of the prohibitory law, Mr.. Jones gives some
special facts. In Atchison, Leavenworth,
Shawnee and Wyandotte counties the open
sale Of Intoxicating liquors has never been in
terrupted, and these counties have furnished
o smaller proportion of convicts in proportion
to their population than the counties where
the enforcement of the law has been consid-
cred of the first i'm Importance. The total popu-
lation of the four counties named is estimated
ct III, 53S, and they have furnished an aggre-
khLO A0AhbCl Va AliHttJ INV OuhluS
the last two years; while the counties of Lyon,
Wilson, Hervey, Miami, Montgomery and
Bourbon, with a population of us, 865, and
being counties where the law has been expens-
i've, if not successful, have furnished III con
victs during the same period of time. In
other words, from a prohibition population of
115, $50 came sixteen more convicts than from
an anti prohibition population of III, 538. We
do not care to add comment to the simple
to parade ''the failure of prohibition" but
the remarkable contrast will force the sugges-
ton that, possibly, there are other causes
than idleness and liquor at the basis Of the
development of our criminal classes. The chap
lain of the penitentiary, in his report, states
that % per cent. of the ~convicts claim that in
toxieating liquor was the cause of their down
fall; but this modest proposition-modest in
comparison with the colossal percentages
which appear in the average statistics Of tenn
perance literature--will not be allowed
by the warden. He asserts that this
% per cent. is grossly exaggerated,
fer in many cases 1.-The convict. rather
than acknowledge that his crime was willful
and premeditated, and this being the most
convenient excuse under whichto shelter him
self from self-conviction, gives it falsely as
the cause Of his misfortune
Kansas is certainly a fairly average State,
to claim no more for it. in the intelligence
and virtue of its population. 1t is the child
of New England; it has sprung from the best
loins, and its growth and development have
been creditable both to parent and child.
From this very fact the statistics quoted
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