Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-07-27
THE CRIMINAL WAVE.

A statement Just issued by the New
York Police Commissioner Bingham,
charging the Immigrants from abroad
with the responsibility for the crim-
innl wave that is said 10 be sweeping
over the city. IL interesting because OF
tho enormous number OF foreigners
coming here yearly.
The commissioner has reference speci-
ally to crimes against women and
children. and he alleges that they are
the deeds of foreigners. and not or
Americans. 1T IS this wave OF I'M
migration" he says. that lands hum
dreds and thousands, partly criminals
and partly fellows that don't know
what liberty means,and don't care; don't
know our customs and cannot speak the
English language and are the scum of
Europe mostly The solution he slug
sests is the prohibition OF mmlgra-
ton.
II is customary with certain class
TO place all the responsibility for crime
IN this country upon aliens, or people
Of recent alien descent. But Is this
Just? Is It true? In one of our largest
cities. Chicago, there are yearly about
six times as many murders as occur III
Lordon, and eight times as many as
constitute the record OF Paris. II the
foreigners are such bnd characters.
why does not the record show that Lon
don and Paris are many times worse
than Chicago. where the native ele-
rent ought to count against the for
eikn? Are the aliens responsible for
the lynchings OF the last quarter of a
century? Or the crimes of the Thaw
class During the period of from 1900
to 1904. statisticians tell us, the clas-
sifled criminal population OF the coun-
try increased from one in $500 to one
in less than 1000 That Increase is
out of all proportion to the inmigra-
ton.
But the habit Of charging immigrants
with all sorts of crimes seems to be
one of long standing. DR.. Samuel
Johnson called the Americans "a race
of convicts.' Someone writing of inn
migration In the 18th century claims
that between the years 17F and 1I75
more than 10000 criminals We're sent
to the American colonies. These con-
sisted, 1t is asserted, of "outcasts of
London prisons and sweepings of Lon
don kennels, dissipated scions of re-
spectacle families etc.
In view of the fact that 1t is a habit
of long standing to characterize the
Immigrants as criminals, and that this
has not in the least interfered with
the development Of the country, the
statement of the New York Police
Commissioner Is not alarming. The
scum of Europe" has done very well.
The fact nevertheless remains that
criminal wave is sweeping over the
world. What is the cause? What the
remedy? Anyone who can give a corr
rect answer to these questions will
prove a benefactor of mankind. Is
education insufficient. or is 1t not of the
righr kind? Quarrels, jealousy, drunk
enness, cupidity. revenge, strikes, race
prejudice. riots-such is the origin Of
most crimes of violence. Sometimes
the criminal succeeds in enlisting pop
ular sympathy in his behalf, as was
the case with a fellow in one of the
coast cities. charged with assault upon
the person of child. Improbable as
the story Is. 1t is true, nevertheless,
that his friends and supporters threat
ened to boycott the father of the child
for demanding that the assailant be
brought to justice. Is It any wonder.
II crimes flourish? What with ''un-
written law" "brninstorms, "dementia
Americana and other criminal pleas
made TO defeat justice and shield muir
derers of both sexes 1t is no wonder
If the criminal tide rises higher and
higher. and that both natives and
aliens are being engulfed.