The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-19

freight advantages, and Savannah would
be greatly benefited by the increase of
commerce which would naturally follow.
-~-e-s-
Crime in the United States.
Prof. Cesare Lombroso, the distinguished
criminologst, writing in the North Amer
lean Review on the subject of the increase
of homicide in the United States, advances
the proposition that, perhaps, after all,
civilization and culture do not decrease the
number Of crimes. They may only change
the character of the crimes from those of
violence and bloodshed to those more sub
tie crimes against property. Statistics
show that in the older and more civilized"
countries crimes of ferocity and upon the
person are decreasing in number, while
crimes destitute of the element of violence,
such as cheating. swindling, fraudulent
bankruptcy. and kindred offenses, are con-
stanuy increasing. This being true. prop
erty may be the safer where there is
heavier percentage of crimes of violence.
.Lombroso holds that as a. general propo-
sition the statistics of homicide are a sure
guide as to a peoples state Of culture, and
says 1t may be safe to
assert that homicides decrease
with increased wealth, great
er density of population and diminished
nHteracy In the United States, however,
some exception must be made to this gen.
eral rule, for the reason that extraordinary
conditions exist in this country. There
are elements here which are not to be met
with elsewhere, and which must be taken
into account. The class of immigration
which comes to the United States is such
as to cause an increase in the number of
crimes of violence. A large percentage
of the immigration comes from those warm
countries Of Southern Europe. which are
known as the home Of violent tempers and
ferocious assaults; Corsica and Sardinia,
for instance. Lombroso is a firm believer
in the influence of climate upon tempera-
ment and character. Warm climates, he
says, engender violent passions, while a
cold temperature makes a phlegmatic
temperament Thus it is but natural that
In Texas there should be more fighting and
shooting than in Massachusetts.
The great cause of the number of homi-
cides in the United States, Lombroso con-
cludes, is the negro population Forty
per cent. of the homicides In the whole
country are committed by negroes, while
the negro population is but IL per cent. If
this population were not In existence. the
professor says, the criminal record of the
United States would compare favorably
with the records of the countries of Eu-
rope. The colored race furnishes to the
statistics of homicidal crime more than five
times as many cases as the white, proper
tionately; in other words there are forty
five homicides to every 10000 of negro in
habtants while there are but eight homi-
cides to every 10000 of white inhabitants
The greatest obstacle in the way of the
negros advancement, says Prof Lombro-
SO, Is the fact that there remains in him
the primitive instincts of the savage, "for
Notwithstanding the garb and the habits
of the white man may have given him a
veneer of modern civilization, he is still in
different to and careless of the lives of
others; and he betrays that lack of the SEN
timent of pity, commonly observed among
savage races, which causes them to re-
gard homicide as a mere incident, and as
glorious in case it is the outcome of re-
venge." Prof. Lombroso goes on to say
that the condition of the black race is
''in some respects rendered worse by the
abolition of slavery" which fact is also
to be considered as predisposing the blacks
to crime.
Taking into consideration the influences
of the climate, immigration, and the pres
ence of the negro, Prof. Lombroso does not
find 1t difficult to account for tho LARGO
number of crimes of violence which are
committed in the United States each year
The way to get rid of such crimes, he says
is to educate the people. But with educa-
ton we are apt to have an increase in the
number of crimes against property. Lom-
broso is evidently something of a pessi-
mist, as wen as a student of criminology.