Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-08-15

n. Incrcase OF Crime.

A statement has recently been pub
ii9hed ehowing an alarming increase In
crime In the city Of Philadelphia. This
statement was prepared by the prison
* inspectors of that city and is compiled
from the commitments to Moyamensing
prison during the last month. 1t is en-
deavored to show by q comparison with
The corresponding period Of last year that
there were some four hundred more
commitments to the county prison, the
result Of crimes due to intoxication, than
! there were during July 1855. There
have been a number of solutions sug-
gested for the problem of accounting for
this remarkable increase. The prison
, inspector who wrote the report finds
4. ready solution and attributes it to the
=. recent decision Of the supreme court
! ueceesitating indiscriminate granting Of
!, slicenses to wholesale liquor dealers. This
,blis the opinion Of a Prohibitionist, how
v,dever, and must be taken with some al
y allowance. He shares the common fault
= atof this class Of moral reformers who can
|, ,rtrace every evil thought and deed
"a 10 one source, the use Of Intoxicating
cine ,uors. There are others who find
Theise for this alarming condition OF ef-
1. nsirs In the greater laxity in the obser-
vance Of Sunday lave by the retail
dealers. Others again say the unparal-
elled increase in the number Of chartered
clubs in which liquor is sold to members
on Sunday ~ well as on other days in
the week, Is material cause for the
greater number of arrests for drunken
ness.
The subject of crime and its causes is
an interesting field for speculation to the
moral reformer. He can roam around
and about 1t at will and find justifica-
ton for whatever peculiar views of re-
form he may hold. There Is nothing SO
elastic as argument and the happening
of human events furnishes food for the
theorist of every creed and belief. II is
error to suppose however, because the
number of arrests of drunkenness, for in
stance, have increased, that it necessar-
lily means that crime itself has increased ;
and the records and deductions of prison
officials who make estimates of ne
causes of crimes, are Uncertain
guides. A man n..iay commit murder
anu III rppentant mood may lay the
whole blame upon the demon of strong
drink. He may think that is the cause,
but In nine cases out of ten he is mis-
taken.
Crime is the result of the principle of
evil in the world, and before 1t can be
actualized in murder or theft there must
have been formed the evil character.
This is thing of slow growth and the
criminal act is the elimination of this
growth in the evil. The development OF
character Is not usually a f'uctuatng
thing. Any such occurrences like the
recent decision of the supreme court In
regard TO the indiscriminate granting OF
licenses to wholesale liquor dealers
could have no sudden and direct inHu
ence on the community. All this is the
veriest nonsense, and the moral reform
er who would find cause for increase
in crime in such things as this Is de,
luded. Men grow in the evil as, they
grow in the good, and no legislation or
court decisions can make men better or
worse.
Again, Il is not true that an increase
in crime argues worse condition of
society. The truth lies between the posi-
ton of the optimist and the pessimist.
The world is growing better and at the
same time worse that is the good is
growing stronger and the evil at the same
time is finding new fields and reaping
more abundant fruits. The two princi.
pies develop side by side. The true re-
former will cndeavor TO mould the char
acter and hearts of "a people, mot by legisla-
ton or judicial decisions but by creating
and aiding the moral forces in our civili-
zation. There are moral civilizing forces
as we'll az christianizing factors which
mould human society, and in the dual
struggle Of human life that moral re-
former docs most for the public good who
properly aids these. And this is best
done by exerting influences on the hearts
and consciences of individuals, thereby
creating good characters, than by all
the legislation in the world.