The herald., 1896-12-27
characters, as compared to the number

characters. as compared to the number
furnished by the higher plane.
Not enough Of the inmates of our PEN
itentiaries are from the poverty class to
make such institutions necessary. The
jails and workhouses would furnish am
pie accommodations. In other words,
the men Of poverty are not the men OF
crime, generally speaking. Houses OF
i'll repute do not 60 to the haunts of
poverty for recruits. as . general thing
nor are men who patronize such places
poverty stricken. They are men OF
means. The saloon and the gambling
room are not maintained by men of pow
erty. but by men who are money max
ers. 1t is not the man Of poverty who
lives extravagantly and looks to ROBBIE ~
or forgery or counterfeiting to pay his
bills. 1t is not the man Of poverty who
is entrusted with public funds, and when
q treasurer defaults the officers of the
of poverty. 1t Is not the man of poverty
who betrays the confidence of the di-
rectors and runs away with the bank 8
money. tits not the man Of poverty who
lends money on the widows furniture
at 10 per cent a month, and finally robs
her of her household goods No, 1t is not
the man OF poverty who does these
things.
1t is not the man Of poverty who or
ganizes trusts and monopolies to filch
the people. It is not the man Of poverty
who corrupts legislators and buys
judges, nor are such legislators and
judges from the walks of poverty. 1t
is not the man of poverty who
prints and cdrculates obscene literature.
1t is not the man of poverty who by cost
ly presents and highly colored word pic
lures of the "splendors" of such a life
lures the poor but honest" girl
to her everlasting ruin. 1t is not the
man Of poverty who puts sand in sugar
The man Of poverty may be driven to
steal bread for his wife and little ones,
but it is not the man of poverty, 1t is
the man of property who is the great
criminal The man Of poverty is, for
the most part. the product Of mans In
man and not his victim who is the GRIM
inal. The man Of poverty knows
something down deep in his heart tells
him that his redeemer liveth, and that
somehow, some way, somewhere, some
time God will right the great wrongs
that have been put upon him and satisfy
the desire Of his soul, but the greatest
wrong that is done him. and he feels it
keenly, is associating him with crime
simply because he is poverty-stricken.
In dealing with the question Of ''crime
and poverty" one has no right to consider
only those who have been convicted Of
crime by the courts. We all know how
very hard 1t is to convict q rich GRIM
inal and how easy 1t is to convict the
man OF poverty. We allkpow that some
Of the greatest criminals are not even
molested in their thieving. immoral and
diabolical operations. We all know that
men combine and force the price of the
necessaries Of life to the utmost Of con-
sumers to pay, and we know, too. that
If the poverty-stricken man were to at
tempt to secure such results for himself
by the hold up" way he would be called
horrible criminal" and cruelty him"
would be heard everywhere. But what
10 the moral difference? Is not crime
crime7 And is not criminal criminal
whether the law lays hold upon him or
not?
To sum II all up, the relation between
poverty and crime Is distant, If there be
any At all But the relation between
society and crime Is close, intimate and
more or less mutually protective Not
that society purposely encourages crime,
but that society is 50 constructed that it
dare not antagonize wealth nor make
tor careful inquiry concerning from
whence 1t came.