The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-10-17


tive, and then began to inquire who
his grandmother was. A year or SO
ago 1 heard the criminal described. He
might be known by his physical irregu-
not exactly on the medal line; the arm
bones little disproportioned; the
fingers misshapen, toes defOrmed, and
so on, until we began to wonder, if it
might not soon come to pass that we
should need only to send out few ex
perts with tape line and note book,
and so find out who are the criminals to
be clapped into prison, and who are the
good citizens to go free. | would not
ridicule or deny the doctrine of heredi
ty, or instructive crime. 1t is one of
the laws of our being and, therefore,
factor to be reckOned with. There are
no doubt moral idiots, as there are
other idiots. But the number is so
utterly insignificant, that we may elimi-
nate them from our consideration here
Heredity, or instinct no doubt in
fuences all of us; but, practically with
none of us, is it fatalistic. 1t may he
modified, turned aside, overcome by
other influences. Old mother Jukes
and her criminal progeny have ever
been the all-clinching argument for in
stinctive crime. But mother Jukes
and her children have committed vastly
more crimes in the hands of the hered-
tarians than they ever committed in
actual life. 1t never seems to have
occurred to these doctors that this
family might have been improved if
someone had taken them kindly and
firmly in hand. The slums of New
FORK have long been the breeding
place of criminals; yet experience is
proving that the children, taken out of
these slums and placed in morally
healthy environment, almost invariably
grow up to be honest men and virtuous
women.
This now brings us to the third and
last class of criminals. The occasional
criminal; one who commits crime in
consequence of the occasion. The Oc
cason makes him criminal. He is
quite normal person. He differs little
from the ordinary person. He may, or
he may not be, little predisposed to
crime. He may be little heavy on
the lower side, and consequently light
on the upper side; is no doubt weak,
but he is not in any sense of criminal
character. Under favorable circum-
stances he would develop into good
citizen. Under unfavorable Scircum-
stances he develops into criminal.
The occasional criminal is practically
) the universal type. | know there is
} the habitual criminal. He is some
times classed by himself, and some
2 times he is put with the instructive
class He belongs to neither. He is
> simply the occasional criminal in
\ whom crime has become habit 1t is
s then, the occasional criminal in whose
e behalf we should erect our barriers
t He is made, not born; and we should
: try to prevent the making of him. The
, truth is, we all have in us some of the
+ stuff criminals are made of. Every
+ man comes into the world on the back
r of wild beast. The reins are put in
to mis- own hands. Some of us are q
v little stronger, perhaps; our social en-
D vironment is little better, and we
!. have been able to hold the beast in
t check. Some are weak, with bad en-
) vironment, and the beast has gained
/. the mastery. And l take it, that most
e if not all of us, can look back to some
S moment in our career when the beas
d came dangerously near taking the bi
O in his teeth and carrying us pell-mel
d into the enemy's camp. It is righ
+ here, now, society must put up its bar
a riers. 1t must make the way to Grim,
O hard, disagreeable, and the way to vir
n tue easy.
: Let us consider now the making O
IS criminals. The principal factor, as al
o ready intimated, is the environment
Q It is almost supreme. As environment
/, improves, character improves; as en-
d vironment becomes vicious, characte