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

OF the 81 .329 prisoners in 1890, 24.217 be-
longed to the negro race. Constituting
negro race furnished % per cent of the
prisoners. If. however, we should accept
these facts on their face value, without
inQuiring into the contributing circum-
stances. we shoulc by no means arrive at
a true analysis of the situation.
Among the causes which contribute to
the high relative criminal rating of the ne
gro We must consider the discrepancy in the
administration of the law in a large sec
ton Of the country. The south has, no
doubt, acted as generously, and, all things
considered, perhaps as wisely. toward the
negroes within her gates as any other CIV
flized portion of the human race would
have done under like circumstances And
yet 1t is fact, known and Acknowledged
by blacks and whites alike,t that the laws do
not bear with equal severity upon the two
races In the late slave states.
In order to establish the truth, we are
not permitted to ignore facts, however I'M
peasant !, IL may be to state them. Mr..
boasts OF my southern ancestry, birth.
rearing, residence and interest" and who
may be relied on not to SANDER his native
sou,nland. observes: But are negroes
treated unfairly by juries and public opin-
ion: Yes, and the experience and observa-
ton of every fajr-minded man will confirm
the assertion One cardinal proof Is that
. Wni,e man seldom receives punishment
LOT assault, however brutal however I'M
provoked. however cowardly be Ii MAIN
ing homicide or murder. upon a negro OF
the numberless misunderstanding into the
t .nousahos-oI homicide and murder of
blacks by whites. there is no single in
stance Of capital punishment, and few very
rev, instances of imprisonment beyond q
Few months in jail or a slight fine"
.. men we notice the high penal status of
the southern negro as compared with that
OF his white neighbor 1t must not he for
gotten that the unequal application of nun
lshment to crime will account for a large
share OF the difference
A Leading Cause.
The social degradation of the negro ts tho
greatest factor contributive to this ALARM
Ing criminal record. The negro race con-
stitutes the bottom stratum of society in
which the bulk of punishable crime Is COM
United the world over. This fact, especial
~ where TIE race Is found in large num-
rs, works the negro q double discraa,..
he maintains the high criminal avara as
natural TO his class and condition: and rbe
1act that he forms the bottom stratum
eievates his white neighbor to a higher
= Ia ana moral piane-so that his record
Is an tue more startling when contrasted
win nat OF the mere favored class
we see by the table that the foreigners
maintain a mean criminal average leiween
me negroes and the native whites-a result
which we would naturally expect from
their relative social status
mat tue negro has no inherent tendency
20 crime beyond that of his white fellow
cltiLen In like conditions is abundaltIv
proved py Inc fact that the presence of a
large number of negroes In any Community
qoes not increase its total criminal average
IL VIII he noticed that the north Atlantic
anu western states. where there are com
perauVeiy Few negroes. have q higher GEN
era penal record than the south Atlantic
ara south central states. where the neg-oes
ar IN greatest numbers. The following ta :
0'e WIFI Illustrate this truth more clearly: