The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-03
SHARP REPLY TO BINGHAM
.JFUS PRESENT STATISTICS or
THE RACES CRIME.
me, Resent the commissioners state"
ments About vicious Hebrews n
Prepare Figures to show That lie is
Not I'm Accordance With the Facts.

Not In ACCORDANCE WIN uhc F"e'''
influential Jews OF this city who con-
..;mte the membership of the Council
n Jewish Communal Institutions, an
examination recently organized to have
.,peryision over all OF the charitable
and social institutions in which the Jews
~ New York have an active interest,
intend to move against Police Commits
sioner Bingham because Of his recent
,,,era meas in the current number OF the
Worth Americon Reuietr. where in an
.,ticle entitled Foreign Criminals in
NsU York the Commissioner says half
n the criminals In this city are Of Jewish
hirth. Edward La~uterbach, one Of the
influential members Of the recently
oreanized society. said yesterday through
his secretary that the council probably
would present figures to refute Commits
sioper Bingham's statement n would
likely call upon him for a public retraction.
In his article in the current monthly
Commissioner Bingham states as a gen.
srsl proposition that eighty-five out
~ a hundred criminals In New York are
~ foreign origin. He goes on TO state
that lit is not astonishing that with a
riIEon Hebrews, mostly Russian, in the
city (one-quarter of the population)
perhaps half of the criminals should be
OF that race
Tho Commissioner specifies thus:
The crimes committed by the Russian
Hebrew are generally those against prop
ety They are burglars, firebugs. pick
sockets and highway robbers-when they
hsve the courage; but though all crime
4, their province pocket picking Is the one
IN which they seem to take to most naturally,
Indesd pickpockets Of other nationalities
arc he ginning to recognize the superiority
n the Russian Hebrew in that gentle art.
In his article of a year ago Commits
sioner Bingham said that two-thirds OF
the pictures in the Rogues' Gallery at
Police Headquarters were those OF Jews.
Az hat time the coterie Of Jewish bankers
xho rule the entire Jewi sh rGce in New
York prepared an answer to Mr.. Bingham's
statements which refuted his statements
and called upon him for statistical proof
Of his assertion. Later. according to
Mr.. Lauterbach's statement yesterday. a
meeting of these leaders in the Jewish
colony was called at the home Of Adolph
Lewisohn, where the Council of Jewish
Communal Institutions was formed.
Although Commissioner Bingham's
statement was not h immediate cause
NJ the formation of that organization
At that time, it was considered wise by
the members, anon whom are included
Jacob SchiG. James Speyer. Otto Kahn.
Judge Rosalsky and others. to make
p~rovision against possible future state
- A. ,1art rf fan RinOharn
Accordingly Edward Lauterbach, who Is
president of the Liberal Immigration
League, delegated his secretary. Max j.
,;s,z to make an examination OF tine
rpcir,s Of the criminal courts and TO draw
ur statistics on the nationality and race
Il IA OF the criminals who had come up
for trial on serious crimes durisg the last
yel-,
Ii vas this report Of Mr.. Katz, the re-
ut Of three months work. that was
made public yesterday by Mr.. Lauter-
bach, with the appreciation OF his confreres
in the jewish bund The statistics he
ave out yesterday in Mr.. Lauterbach's
Office we're drawn from the records of the
clerk of the Court of General Sessions in
New York covering the year 1901.
According to the figures, OF the 1873
indictments found against offenders for
hiGh crimes, including murder. grand
Il ldICtuy, GU oiSShy ofe ouh Shah .
coo, or 14.5 per cent, were drawn against
Jews. On these 686 indictments 4eO
convictions were found, a ratio of 90 per
cent.
In all 2,s4s convictions were found
against persons brought before the bar
Of General Sessions in 1907, according
10 Mr.. Katz's figures; 1914 per cent. OF
these convictions were against persons
Of Jewish blood. OF l,O34 persons con-
victed OF high crime who were between
the ages of fifteen and twenty years $50,
or rs per cent, we're Jews. OF ne Las
convicted persons between the ages Of
twenty-one and thirty. l4s, or 12.4 per
cent. were Jews.
In the year 1907. 1894 people convicted
BY the Court Of General Sessions were
sent to prison. OF these 324. or III per
cent, were Jews. S~eventy-nine Of the
SO offenders found guilty and sent to
State prison were Of that race. Twenty
were Jews. Sentence was suspended
upon 77S convicted persons during the
year 1907, and Of these 124, or Is per cent,
were Of the Hebrew race.
MIR. Katz also gathered further statis-
tics concerning the Jews convicted in the
General Sessions Court. He found that
Of the total Of 400 Jews crime marked"
or against whom convictions were entered,
t02, or s7.4 per cent. were between the
ages of Is and 90; 374, or 81.8 per cent.
were convicted for crimes against prop
erty, and $50. or CAS- per cent, gave their
residences as the East Side below Four
tenth street. Three hundred and ten Of
all the Jews convicted were foreign born,
according to the records that MIR. Katz
found.
or all these Jews convicted the record
Of the disposition Of their cases is as fol-
lows: Seventy-nine to State Prison,
"A 10 a penitentiary. 1870 to the Elmira
Reformatory, ia sentences suspended.
1t had been found that in the cas- OF 1O7
Of these there had been a former convic-
ton for crime; that so3 were unmarried.
and that AZ, or 0 per cont, were illiterate.
Mr.. Katz produced the following record
in the matter Of pickpockets, which
seemed to substantiate In a msasur the
allegations made by Commissioner Bing-
ham: OF the Isl convictions OF offenders
Of Jewish blood made during the year
1907 on the charge of grand or petty lar
ceny, 80, or S1.S per cent. were on the
charge Of picking pockets. and 20, or 31.l
per cent, were on the charge OF stealing
from employers.
In refutation Of the Commissioners
statement that one-half of tbs foreign
born criminals in New York are Jews
the Jewish council presents the following
figures OF the 1907 criminals indicted
who claimed nativity in the United States,
per cent. were Jews; OF the 1,o+l who
admitted foreign nativity. 90 per cent
we're of that ace. .