Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-12
DECREASE IN CRIME.
Views of Superintendent Byrnes on
the Relations of Intelligence and

Views of Superintendent Byrnes
the Relations of Intelligence md
Crime.
From the st. Louis Republic.
Men and women" said Superintendent
Byrnes OF the New York city police, in the
course OF an interview. ARE constantly be-
coming more intelligent. An increase Of
| intelligence cannot but go with an increase
of health and increase Of strength which
these scientists have announced has come
| to us. and II DR.. Tracy can say that with
in the last twenty years the average life
of the human race has increased eighteen
| months 1t certainly gives me great pleasure
! to be able to say that in New York city,
at least during the last twenty years the
average OF crime has decreased rs per cent.
This sounds like broad statement Many
people will probably question It. / will ex-
plain 1t.
I'm the first place, there is the ethical
reason for 1t. That Is this The increase OF
human life is the logical result of the in
crease of human intelligence. People are
| learning better the laws Of health. The
decrease of crime is the no less logical re-
suit of the same thing. People are learn
ing better the laws of sense. Honesty is
the best policy AS people become more
what the best policy Is and they are more
likely to recognize it when they find it;
/ thus. an Increase in intelligence cannot
/ possibly fall TO bring a decrease in crime.
But all criminals, even now, are not In
| telligent. With a majority of them the
| argument that l have just advanced has
| no weight whatever So, in the second
place, we come tC practical reason.
When a man becomes professional THIEF
or habitually vicious 1t is safe to say that
something Is wrong with his mind. Its
| condition Is due to one o. two things
| Either he has inherited crime from his
ment which has discouraged honesty and
| encouraged evil. In either case, as / have
said, something Is wrong with his mind.
Now there is no other influence to which a
weak mind Is so susceptible as fear. When
we teach all the criminals that 1t Is dan
serous to commit crime-really dangerous.
mean; that the chances of escape are less
than half-then we will have driven nine
I tenths of them into enforced honesty. Per-
haps We will not have reformed them, but
We Will have scared them. Their criminal
tendencies will remain the same. but they
will be afraid to commit crime themselves
and the environment Of their children Will
not be so likely to encourage crime as Il
would be II the parents were not afraid.
A Part Of Modern Progress.
''The advance of intelligence has brought
with 1t an advance in the ways of making
criminals afraid. 1t would be astonishing
| IL IL were uCt So II Is not redSOHau!e 10
suppose that while the doctors have been
finding new ways Of treating consumption;
that while the engineers have been finding
new ways Of applying steam and building
bridges: that while the electricians have
perfected the telegraph. introduced the cleo
| trio light. invented the telephone phOno-
graph. kinetograph. that students Of
criniinology have stood STILL They have
not. There Is one little Illustration Of this
! that occurs to me. / do not cite 1t because
OF self-esteem. but because II happens to
come to my mind at the present time. You
know 1t to be true. You wrote an article
about 1t once. When l was made inspector
OF police something like s11. OOO.OOO IN money.
bonds and securities had been stolen from
| the Wall street district Of New York city
In ten years. That was really at the time
| the most colossal existing blot on the fair
fame of this town. Naturally, 1t was the
! first thing l thought of. / set to work to
wipe 1t out My methods were not mystic
rious. not sensational not dramatic In any
way. l simply proceeded to impress 1t upon
| the mind Of every professional thief that
wall street was dangerous thoroughfare
for him to travel or even approach l saw
| to 1t that the news was circulated among
the criminals that every corner Wall
street and throughout the money district
was guarded by four officers. in uniform or
out. l simply took logical. sensible. simple
measures to protect that district. The re-
suit was that since the day began not one
cent has been stolen In that part of New
| York city. l beg pardon, there was one
| theft. On very foggy day a pig of silver
was taken from a bankers truck. 1t was
not stolen by a professional thief however
IL was taken by an Italian, who saw the
| opportunity and yielded to temptation.
! think not more than ten days elapsed before
the stolen silver was recovered.
The Effect Of Fear ON Criminals.
THAT shows the effect of wholesome fear
and thorough police work on the criminal
mind. The crooks of the United States
realize that to walk into Wall street is to
walk into Jail. They know that it Is dan
gerous to go there. 1 have had thieves
come to me-against whom at the time
there was no charge pending-and ask me
to send an officer with them so that they
could do business in Wall street. This stu
alton Is by no means personal triumph; ii
Is simply illustration. The same thing
to greater or less extent is true In every
great progressive city in the world. Police
methods have improved just as rapidly as
have methods for treating diseased throats
This is as true of vice as 1t is of crime
My recollection goes back thirty or thirty
| five years. Thirty years ago Five Points.
Reade. Thomas, Church, Greene and half
a dozen other streets up to Canal were per-
feet hell holes. They were not only vicious.
| but their vice was Haunted in the face of
! every passer-by, whether he wanted to see
1t or not. Then the vice passed above Canal
street When 1t reached its second stop
ping place many Of the vicious ones had
viciousness. AS they passed still further
uptown, yet greater improvement was VS.
ible For the last five years there has been
no necessity for anyone to know that there
was vice In this town unless he was look
ing for 1t. The vice has not been wiped out,
/ but 1t has been greatly lessened, and the
/ fact that 1t has not been Haunted in the
| faces of men, women and children has
greatly decreased the rapidity of its spread
| don't know that vice will ever be eradi-
Gated. I don't suppose that il ever will en-
tirely, but / do expect to see a steady de-
| crease in IL every year as long as / Ive
/ Just as l expect to see steady decrea Sc
| in thievery and those other things which
class under the heading of crime as distinct
| from vice.
SOME TEA SECRETS.