Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-28
NUMBER OF NEGRO PRISONERS TO 100000 OF
NEGRO POPULATION.

The free negro in the north has crini-
nal record which Is two or three timer as
great as that of his oppressed brother In
the south This high rating is doubtless
due, in part, to the smallness of the NUM-
Der, which is usually favorable to high
proportions. 1t may be said. also, that the
negroes of the north arc confined mainly TO
the large cities. where the legal machinery
is more complex and eXacting than is the
case in the free and easy rural districts OF
the south.
Floating Class.
The negro has no real industrial raison
detre III the north, but forms floating
class whose services are required only dur
ing the summer season. In their season CT
enforced idleness they mistake liberty for
license, and sink into the slums of crime
and degradation. 1t is indeed alarming to
contemplate that out of every ono thousand
negro males in the north Atlantic states
nine are constantly in Jail. Civilization
would be impossible if this condition Of
things held true for the community at
large. Can the negro thrive in the north?
Such criminality must in the end lead to
moral and physical decay. But here again
let bear in mind that we are dealing
with conditions and not merely with race.
In final confirmation of the claim that
crime clings to condition and not to race.
let US compare the police records Of arrest
for 1896 of Washington city, one-third of
whose population is colored, with those of
Boston, where the negro element consti-
tutes a negligible fraction. Nine per cent
Of the entire population were arrested in
Boston during the year. against per cent
for the nationel capital. There Is no list
OF crime committed by the negroes Of
Washington that Is not paralleled in vile
ness and volume by the corresponding class
Of whites in Boston.
Testimony of the Police.
If authority were necessary to prove that
crime is not an attribute of race. and that
a large number of negroes in community
will not affect it's criminal average, except
in so far as they are subjected to unfavor-
able conditions. 1t could be found in the
words of the major of the metropolitan
police in his last report:
Those familiar with the conduct of po-
lice affairs in this country generally con-
tend that there is a constant increase Of
crime; that il keeps pace with the growing
population. While such may be tue Of
the principal cities of the United States
facts and figures support the claim of this
department that in this respect the District
of Columbia occupies a distinct standing
of its own Its comprehensive moral status
II not for the depredations chargeable to
theft, there would be comparatively little
crime to chronicle. This offense must al
ways exist here, unless through some I'M
expected agency complete change should
be effected in the social conditions which
prevail The abiding place of large class
of idle illiterate and consequently vicious
persons, 1t is but reasonable that the re-
spectacle element should be preyed upon
to a considerable extent This Is the tes-
timony Of the police department of a city
containing 9O,O0O negroes. Could any more
be said of Brooklyn or Boston or of any
city that does not contain single negro?
KELLY MILLER.