The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-05

Total. .. ............... z23
 The aggregate population of the Dry" counties Is 1.120.s16. With the number of indictments from two coun- ties not fully reported. these -Dry" counties had one indictment for every s95 of population. 5 The aggregate population of the Wet" counties is 250. .304. They, there fore. had one indictment for every l,l22 of population M
 As shown by the Grand Jury re- ports, therefore. the number of crimes was over 2s per cent. greater in the Dry counties of Mississippi than It was in the Wet counties.
 A Clergymnn's Investigations.
 The Rev. Henry c. Kinney, rector Of Holy Trinity Church, Chicago, writing to The Chicago Sunday Tribune. says:
 T have taken the census returns or 12o cities of the United States, the num- Der of saloons to the population of each the number of arrests for drunk enness and for crime. and am pre- pared to say that the arrests made In these cities have no relation to the number of saloons in them.
 "I took eleven cities. for instance. which had no licensed saloons. and hay ing total population of soo.ies. A ing a total of 75i,ss4 inhabitants. and with an average of 55 saloons to each
 
 10000 of population.
 "In the first group. having no IT. censed saloons and .o00 fewer people, found an average of POP arrests for drunk and disorderly conduct in each 10000 of population. as against IF m the 10. 900 in the group of cities having licensed saloons. In each 10000 popu- 1ation in the unlicensed group there were 94.S2 more arrests for drunken ness and 4.23 more arrests for crime than found where liquor was licensed in so many places.
 ,- q have taken official figures only. and present results that cost me most of my surplus time through period of two months. I have onix to say of them that they prove beyond chal- ienge that there is no traceable con- nection between the number of saloons fin the cities and the crime records or those places"
 Prohibition Nurse of Crime.
 Artificial offenses and meddiesome Legislation, and that felt to be unjust. are indeed causes of crime of which the philosophical educator cannot af- ford to be Ignorant. Artificial offenses put a large class of people, and often that of the least discriminating and instructed, into needless antagonism with the law. Confounding of moral distinctions on the side of the law be- gets corresponding confusion in the mind of the citizen. If the law treats the sale of a mug of beer or sweet cider as of like delinquency with the crime of larceny, how long will 1t take the humble and uniearned to conclude that the law is either sham. unwor- thy of veneration. or else jump to the converse of the first proposition and vote larceny of an article to be- no worse than the selling of the beer or tie, cider? So, therefore, every stat ute denouncing the penalties of the criminal law against men in violation of the commonly received sense of Jus- tice. concerning human relations In tho civil state, becomes by reason or that very excess a generator of evil. The laws. under which men are punishable can have no moral value unless the ap- peal can also be made to the eonsct- ences of men. challenging them boldly to the confession ot fhe Apostle, "wherefore the law is holy. and conn mandment holy and just and good. ."-- Ex- Gov Andrews. of Massachusetts.