Daily Yellowstone journal., 1885-06-23
WORSE AND WORSE.
HOW 1T IS THAT STATISTICS SHOW
AN INCREASE or CRIME.
Acts Sot formerly Classed as Criminal
Now Illegnl-Increase OF Facilities
tor DeiocIion-The 'Enterprise"
" tile Modern Newspaper.
Chicago Times!

Chicago Times.
The census reports certainly do show
that the proportion Of population confined
In penitentinries and various reformatory
institutions is increasing from decade TO
decade with fearful rapidity. We must
remember. however, that many acts are
now classed as criminal that were not so
regarded u generation or two ago. Then
lotteries were encouraged in almost every
state in The union. Now II is a crime not
only TO sell lottery tickets but To advertise
a lottery scheme. Then any person
could sell cigars and tobacco as he may
now sell cloth and potatoes, but now il Is
a crime to deal In them without license
or to sell them If they are not
accompanied with revenue stamp.
Then there were no convictions
for selling intoxicating liquors. to
minors or habitual drunkards. but now
such convictions are very common
Teachers are now punished for correct
ing" children in school. New crimes are
created by statute every time the national
congress OF n state legislature meets. The
Number of nominal criminals is increased
NY adding new crimes To the calendar.
lur facilities for detecting crimes aud
FIR arresliug criminals are much better
aud mort numerous than they were even
few years ago The microscope has
beeu improved and new chemical tests
have been discovered Photography has
greatly aided the arrest and con.
viction of criminals by furnishing
the likeness of nearly every per-
son belonging 10 the acknowledged
criminal class, In every considerable
town the police department have large
and well.arranged -rogues' gallery" As
new pictures are taken, duplicates are sent
TO every city in the country The illus
trated papers have made the faces Of the
more noted criminals familiar 10 almost
every person. The daily papers give very
accurate descriptions of the men who
make their escape after the commission Of
a crime, Not only the railroad car and
the steamboat but the telegraph and tele.
phone are employed in the arrest of per.
sons implicated in the commission Of
crime. The governor OF nearly every
state has been authorized to oiIer, at his
discretion. large rewards for the arrest and
detention Of persons presumed 10 be guilty
of crime
The public detective force has been ex.
tended and greatly improved during the
past thirty years. During the same period
the private detective system has been ex.
tended, till now II is the terror of Grimm
ais. Escape from justice by night has
been rendered almost impossible, whereas
II was very easy before the era of steam
and electricity. The criminal courts have
come TO look upon night as confession In
nearly every section of the country the
elevated moral sentiment Of the community
demands the arrest Of parties implicated
In crimes at any cost They are accord
ingiy followed over the continent and
brought back from countries beyond the
seas. With no more crimes committed.
we should expect TO find much larger
number of persons confined in prisons
When large portion of the country
was sparsey settled and the means of con-
veying information were poor, thousands
of crimes were committed that were
never reported to the public The per-
sons committing them found little diff
Guilty in making their escape, and were
not likely to he pursued and captured.
Their names never appeared TO swell the
list of offenders confined in penitentiaries
Newspapers then displayed little -enter-
prise" in collecting criminal news II was
very difficult and expensive 10 do so.
The newspaper, In the proper sense Of the
word, is very modern institution, II had
its rise with the Introduction Of the means
for the rapid Transmission Of intelligence.
II gives an account Of more crimes and Of
more charities than the old-time paper
did. The science Of statistics as well as
the art Of making newspapers has made
It's greatest progress during the last thirty
years. IL becomes easier every year 10
show by statistics that the world is grow
ing wicked and society is becoming more
demoraliled.