The morning call., 1893-08-25
THE GROWTH OF CRIME.

Students of criminal statistics are aware
that on their face they show steady in
crease in crime, not only In this country,
but in most countries. Crime seems TO de-
velop much faster than population, and
! hence it has been argued that education
prom otes instead of depressing crime. 1t
! is possible that in attempting to account
! for the anomaly criminolOgisis have not
/ allO wed sufficiently for the superior care
| with which criminal statistics are now
collected AS compared with past times.
| Three or four generations ago crimes not
only often escaped punishment but were
not even followed by arrest. Now, il
rarely happens that criminal eludes pur-
suit. He often secures impunity through
the failure of the jury system, but the
proportion of red-hauded criminals who
get away without being put on their trial
is small. OF course the effect OF a more
thorough detective system is to make it
appear that the volume of crime is on the
increase. This perhaps might account
for the increase in the number of peni-
tertiary conyicts from 7O6 in the million
in 1880 to 100 in the million in 1890.
An explanation of the increased crim-
| nality in the United States was furnished
ny OuuSO w dSi III HIS t6pOII " lUo
annual congress of the National Prison
Association in December of last year
The Judge observed that while our immi-
grafton from Great Britain, Scandinavia
and Germany is falling off, relatively, we
are receiving the very dreGs of European
society from other natiOns-the scum of
European cities. the destitute. the igno-
rant, the nihilist, the anarchist He
drew attention to the fact that these
dangerous classes settle in the large cities,
where the idlSand shiftless are welcomed
by ongeniafcomrades and where the
call of hunger prompts the reckless to
crime. In all large cities. where there is a
large influx of imm grants, work IS period
ically scarce. The hungry foreigner who
cOnnOt find employment is naturally led
astray by the appeals of unprinclpled
demagogues and led into crime. He has
not imbibed with his early education that
respect for law and order which is innate
in the American.
DR.. Wines, who has been leader in this
branch Of thought. takes the same view
He estimates that Of the native population
of the United States not over Ons in a hun
dred belongs to The criminal and de fective
class, whereas among the people of some
of the European countries from which we
are drawing a supply of human raw mate
rial the proportion is as high as thirty in
the hundred. We are now importing five
million people in a decade II of these
80 per cent are likely TO drift into the ranks
of the criminals or paupers or the diseased
it will not be necessary to look any further
TO find cause for the apparent increase of
crime.
There is no logic in the argument that
education promotes crime. The counter
argument that il prevents crime ii might
be difficult to maintain. There is no neces-
sary connection between the ordinary
branches of school learning and the indul-
gence in criminal instincts. Education is
intellectual, not moral. But it Is on the
face of it absurd to contend that the de-
velopment OF the mental faculties must be
accompanied by a deterioration of the
moral attributes. A large class of crimes
are revolving to the man whose mind has
| been cultured. a man who has read books
is much less likely to commit larceny than
{ one who for want OF primary education
/ is still on the animal level. An educated
man may be as likely to commit murder
as the unlettered bOor; he may yield as
readily TO many of the brutal impulses
which lead to crime. But il is hard TO
1 conceive any lass of crimes to which
/ education would increase his proneness