The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-08-26

Tho city or CnlCdko IS e' D'N'
 city. a maelstrom that gathers a mass of poverty, ignorance, corruption anu wee from all parts of the world. ooriup'
 .ootioe, in public and private life are of daily occurrence, yet the ieloiiouS homicides in Chicago are fewer thah Ill
 Alabama. although the population or Chi-
 aso Ia larger than Alabama. The pop ,,,at;on of Illinois is nearly three times tho nonulation of Alabama and, In aool- t,on to the lawless element Tn ohiceso' there Is a turbulent and criminal popu- ,ation in the southern part or the s'a'e' vet Alabama has more felonious hoiiii- cides than Illinois. Georgia mas U HIT ,.o, raoord a little ahead of Alabama and E1or,da is very much ahead, put "heh
 r,a consider the extensive coast line oi ,,ordo and the large number of hoaters ., .o,ae,vous In that state it is hardly foir to compare its criminal record with
 Alabama. Texas has better recoro 'hdii
 Alabama, notwithstanding 1t IS ooroei state and has a large frontier terrieorS. >-au York is lower than Alabama ana tho nercentage in Minnesota IS one-siH'h of Alabama The latest and most ap
 nalling statement regarding crimlnoloey
 in A1ahama is the report of the attorney
 a, os that state. from which l take
 the following:
 "The number of criminal cases disposed
 of in the state for two years enoing
 sentember 30, 1908, 20,672" This was over 7ooO more than for two years immediateiy
 nrecedine the period named; and further,
 the attorney general says: "Durlng the
 two years covered by this report there
 were 657 cases of homicide disposed or
 in the state; of this number there were
 ,es convictions for murder in the first de-
 gree; 1ss for murder in the second oe-
 gree: IA for manslaughter in the nrst degree and 4o for manslaugnter III the second degree. It Is to be deploreo ehal officially compiled statistics show that ono nerson In every TOGO in Alabama dies yearly as the result of gunshot wounos as against an average for the ohiteo states of one person to HOOD. am ,,nah,e to offer a rational or satisfactory
 exnlanation of this surprising increase in the number of criminal cases before the trial courts of the state A growing snirit of law defiance and correspond ing indifference of law enforcement may he assigned as the reason. am re- luctant to even suggest, much less ao- vance, such degrading cause In the face of the evident moral, social and ed- ucationaI development of our citizenship, surrounded as it is on all sides by schools, churches and uplifting influences"
 lal1a ho in any public position more consclen- tious and honorable official. nor one or more delicate and sensitive state pride than the present attorney general, put In speaking of the schoolhouses ana churches he must have been generalizing or talking of things he would like to have He is in error about the people
 being .surrounded by schoolhouses and churches" If the schoolhouses and churches were there, habitable and oc- cupied, I doubt if the attorney general
 would have found it necessary, In the discharge of his official obligations, to
 state such gruesome facts which must have given him pain to tell about his state.
 Penologists tell us that it is almost a
 nrison maxim that the worst prison
 sends out the worst prisoner" The Age
 Herald has heretofore referred to the re-
 port of the state prison inspector, and I need not quote from that horrible report
 in this article It would be hard to find anything more appalling than the story of Alabama prisons. It is enough to make the most mercenary and hardened stand aghast The highest criminal record is | found as stated, in the states with the maximum percentage of illiteracy, and in the same states we find an absence of | statutes making education compulsory and no laws, or very lax laws, regulating child labor There are A states which I have statutes making education compul-
 sory Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missis- sippi and South Carolina have no laws
 which provide for compulsory education and the laws in these states regulating
 child labor are far below the standard. l In Europe where we find the highest | percentage of iliteracy, there we also fint | the highest percentage of felonious homi cides Beginning with the highest in rela
 tive criminality, we find that Rumana
 Servia. Portugal, Spain, Russia, Italy Greece and Austria are the worst. Ven
 ezuela. Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico are the highest in Nortf America, and Alabama, Georgia, Missis
 sippi and South Carolina are the highes | in the United States In Rumania the
 percentage of illiteracy is s9, Servia SC
 Portugal. 7s. Spain ss. Russia 62, Italy ss Austria 24 and Hungary 2s. The per cap ita expenditure for educational purposes