Courier Democrat., 1904-02-04
DISEASE AND CRIME.
Results Of Poor and Insufficien.
Food and Clothing.
WHEN ENsTEALMe1sNorAN ofrENsE

WHEN sTEALMa1 NoTAN oFrENsE
How Police Court Reports and Vital
STATISTICS Answer the Republican
Claim That ''There IL Work For
EVERY Man Mt a Compen.atinR
Wsge'-Republican. Re.pon.ible.
disease and crime are epidemic in
many OF our great cities. New York.
chicago, Pittsburg and Cincinnati are
among the worst sufferers. The NOR.
tality In these and other cities is very
high. One of the most fatal diseases
this year is pneumonia. The average
number Of deaths from pneumonia in
New York city alone is now about 25O
week, and in one week its victims
exceeded 300.
There is also a great increase in
crime in these and other cities. especial
" in thievery and burglary. In Gin
cinnati the machinery of justice has
partly broken down because Of the
great amount Of thievery and the great
number Of petty criminals. The grocer
whose meat is stolen refuses to prose-
cute, the policeman pleads for the man
caught stealing bread, and the Judge
refuses to hold the thief brought be-
fore him. Why?
Things do not happen by chance
There is cause for everything. What,
then, is the cause of the present cpl
demic of disease and crime? Is it
hard to find?
The grocer did not prosecute those
who stole his meat. He told the police
man, "Lord knows, they need it," The
policeman said: "Judge, there are near
~ 200 people down there who are
starving. This man Jones is work
ingman and not thief. He was 60
ing to share what he stole with the 9TH
ers. In the buildings at 31S, 800 and
322 there are many who have not
cent and who have nothing to eat"
The judge said in his verdict, "The
stealing Of bread under such circum-
stances is no offense."
Thus, in the opinion of the grocer, the
policeman and the judge, the cause Of
some at least of the thievery is poverty
poverty for which the thieves are not
directly to blame, for If it could have
been shown that, as Congressman Hep
burn said few days ago, "there is
work for every man who wants to
work and at a compensating wage"
then the grocer, the policeman and the
judge would have behaved very differ
emily toward the thieves.
Pneumonia, which is raging every
where this year, is recognized as dis
ease due to particular germ and is
therefore transmissible from patient to
patient. In order for the germ to de-
sary that there shall be some undue de-
preston Of bodily vigor. Such depres-
sion commonly finds its origin in expo
sure to cold, in improper clothing, in
lack Of food and in poorly heated and
badly ventilated rooms. The man who
is well fed anG clothed is not likely to
suffer much from exposure-in fact, he
does not often have to expose himself
in the worst weather.
During the recent zero weather in
New York city the street cleaning COM
missioner generously gave coffee and
rolls to the thinly clad, hungry and
shivering wretches who were shoveling
snow. 1t enabled them to do much
more work, he said. Had these poor
men and their families lived in COM
Portable homes and been we'll fed and
clothed they would hardly have ex-
posed themselves day and night for
the little they could earn in this way.
But even If they had shoveled snow
they would not probably have suffered
greatly from such exposure and have
fallen victims to pneumonia, as many
Of the 1000 undoubtedly did. Poverty,
then, is a cause of disease as we'll as of
crime.
What is the cause of poverty? Why
must half starved and shivering men
work? Why are SO many out of en-
ployment in this country of boundless
opportunities sGll0 at Cme Wle0 1C IS
blessed with the best crops the world
ever saw?
We do not have to look far for one of
the principal causes of poverty. It is
found in the Dingley tariff law. This
law keeps foreign goods out of our
markets by levying the highest import
duties levied by any nation on earth
except possibly Russia. Under this
law trusts have developed and -four
ished to an unprecedented extent.
These protected Dingley bill trusts,
having monopoly Of our markets,
have put up the prices Of commodities
until during the last two years the cost
Of living has been higher, than ever
before In modern times and fully 40
per cent higher than in 1897, when the
Dingley bill became law. ThSe has
never been greater prosperity fof trusts
than during these Dingley bill years,
but it has been at the expense Of the
consumers-that is, Of the people at
a .--1..