The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-12-22
GEOGRAPHY OF CRIME.
Murder Product of Lack of Civ
uization.
The Restraining Influence OF Religious
sentiment-Countries Where the
Most Murders Are
Committed

Murder, geographically considered.
is the product OF lack Of civilization.
writes Prof. Oettinger in his Moral
Statistics" Whenever a state Of e,ov-
ernment is in a state Of REORGANIZATION
the people become demoralized. educa-
nonal and religious progress is Al a
standstill. and murder is boupd "a in
crease. IL is essential to Law f,reat
stress on the religious feeling of Il
community, because conparat.yei,- few
murders occur in Turlyey a conntrv
dcranged and unsettled in lis AZ
fairs, wherein large pronortion
Of the people are lacking in civiliza-
tion and culture. But the Islam faith
IS productive Of a certain relipioiis
sentiment i'm these uneducatcd masses
which prevents murder. the greatest
crime against human and divine laws
Compared with Turkey. Greece. once
the seat OF civilization. but now de-
moralized and degraded bv Turkish in
huence, without the prohibitivc power
OF the Mohammcdan religion. manifcSts
the truth of this assert ION 10y rolling mn.
in a population Of less than 1000. 900
people. 3lG murders. and 4.8 fcloui0us
assaults, an average OF one killed or
MANNED for every $500 souls This
number Overshadoyvs dcmoralizcd Ire
land. where for number Of YEAR the
most terrible agrarian crimes. Inur-
ders. arson. etc, have been committed.
the outcome of the atrpcious feeling
between landowners and the peas
antry
Another country with large per
centage is Spain. and an increase iu
bloodshed goes hand in hand with its
gradual decline. 4 glance at the Grim
inal statistic Of the United States
demonstrates that murder reaches It's
highest percentage among the uucdu-
Gated class. who can neither write nor
read. In the state Of Texas. for eX-
ample. one murder occurs 10 every
eight thousand five hundred inhabi-
tauts. In Illinois this percentage is
considerably lowered. one murder be-
ing quoted for every fifty thouaaud.
Germany Of late years shows an in
crease Of murder cases and assaults,
born out Of socialistic tendencies. The
murder percentage of Great britain is
comparatively small. with the eNcep-
tion Of London and ireland. and per
soual safety in England ana Scotland
is commended on all sides. Even few
thcfts are committed in the 'vcl por-
tiOns. France. Sweden. Denmark, Bel
gium. Holland and Switzerland record
murder statistics similar 10 those OF Ger
many. No substantial data can be
obtained about Russia. but the strilJ-
ing iucreass in political murders. sig
nalized by the nihiiistic and socialistic
era. needs no comment. No state In
the world rolls up more revolutionary
attacks and crimes at the present time
than Russia. During the wear lss5-s7.
the last authentic report thar could De
obtained, three thousand persons were
deportcd to Siberia for life
As with suicide and murder. IL is with
theft.geographically speaking. Lack OF
culture and civilization is synonymous
with increased theft and dishonesty,
not 50 much on account of the immora
and depraved condition of the people as
because Of lack Of protection. Theft in
sweden and Norway, in Denmark and
the extreme north il cNcecdinrrly rare.
The oriental and southeastern states
show an alarming amount Of theft. and
next 10 America Turkey, Russia. the
Balkan states and Hungary contain
the most crooks.
Fraudin all its.various denominations.
ranging from high-grade swiudle in
its manifold phases down 10 small
shady transactions which hoveg be-
tween dishonest practices and techni-
cal evaSions of the law. has its home
principally in the large cities Of the
world London i a perfect mecca for
swindlers, while throughout England
with the exception Of London. bust
ness dealings are characterized 10y
sound principles of honesty. Compar
atively little fraud is practiccd in the
northern and western states. as Swe
den, Norway, Denmark and Finland
Holland. Eelgium, TraHcc aGl tuij ser
land rank favorably in this respect In
Germany a striking decline E. noticca
BILE in fraudulent transaction. The
same conditions-laclS of civilization
and education-wLich prevail with
other crimes pertain TO fraud Spain.
Italy, Greece, Turkey, and, above all,
Russia lead the line.