The Yale expositor., 1911-10-26
BLOT ON
LIFE OF
AMERICA


guess, but statement based on sta
tistics which l have been gathering
during the past twenty years OF their
accuracy there can be no doubt. These
wholesale murders and the lax adj
ministration of our criminal laws are
the most disgraceful evils that con-
front our country today"
Andrew ID. White sat in the library
of his stately old mansion at Ithaca
snowy with his seventy-nine years,
the glisten of intellectual vigor in his
eyes and the glow Of health on his
fine countenance. The sun streamed
in through the broad windows looking
out upon the campus Of Cornell uni
versity with its beautiful buildings.
1t was 5 o'clock of an early Septem-
ber afternoon.
The venerable scholar and diplo-
mat, who headed the American dele
cation to the Hague conference. was
creator of Cornell university and am.
bassador to Russia and to Germany,
rocked gently in his chair. He was
being interviewed.
| had found Mr.. Whites favorite
subject-crime in the United States
and the lax administration of our
criminal laws. Ordinarily Mr.. White
dislikes to be interviewed, but when
one strikes his hobby he is apt to
say things.
Il repeat that this annual wholesale
murder is the most disgraceful evil
in America today, and conditions are
rapidly becoming worse" he con-
tinued. Ten years ago there were
only one hundred and seventeen mur-
ders to the million. today there are
one hundred and twenty-six. Ten
years ago one in every seventy-four
cases punished, today only one in
eighty-six meets the penalty prescrib-
ed by law.
Lax Enforcement of Law3
THAT this condition is due largely
to the lax manner In which our Grim
inal laws are enforced there is no
doubt Across an imaginary line in
Canada there are only seven murders
to the million annually. There Brit
ish law deals with criminals quickly
and effectively. 1t is a pity we do not
do likewise.
las long as this condition holds
true our Declaration of independence
is joke. In that great document it
Is stated that all men are endowed
by the Creator with certain unalien-
able rights. that among these are life.
liberty and the pursuit Of happiness
are, Of course, impossible. The United
States today has the highest percen-
tage of murders of any country in
the world. Even Southern Italy, with
its Camorrists and Mafias, does not
have as many murders in proportion
to the population as our country.
In England when a man makes
money he seeks home in the country;
in America he seeks the city" con-
tinued Mr.. White. Fortunately we
are beginning to adopt the British
idea, and the back to the farm move
ment is one Of the most significant
movements in America today. Quick
er transportation. better roads and
improved housing conditions make
life in the country far more enjoyable
than 1t used to be. And right here
want to emphasize the importance
OF good roads. To my mind it would
be far better for the state of New
York to spend it's millions for i'm
proved roadways than for the large
canal. Good roads mean almost as
much to farmers as good crops.
Each year immigration and nat.
ural increase add approximately two
million hungry mouths to be fed. and
an Increase of approximately seventy
five million bushels of food-producing
cereals per annum are needed to sup
ply this demand. Failure to increase
the production is steadily and rapid.
ly increasing the cost of living. The
only possible solution, the only poss-
BILE salvation for the country is an
immediate and most thorough awak-
ening of our people to appreciation of
the overshadowing Importance of this
condition, followed by systematic
campaign of education.
New York Falling Behind.
I'm 1860 New York state was among
the first of the great agricultural
states of the Union. Today the state
of Maine, lying further north, with
its rocks and forests, raises more Of
all of the cereals per acre than we do.
and her potato crop averages 225
bushels as against so bushels per acre
in New York.
"A state department of agriculture's
bulletin reports $4,000 acres of i'm
proved farm for sale at an average
price of SITS per acre, and nearly
100000 acres at an average price of
S25 per acre. Every acre of agricuI.
tural land. worn out and impover.
ished as much as it is. is worth 500
an acre when built up and replenish.
ed. We must increase production by
more intelligent methods. or we must
face the relentless. certain coming of
the day when we shall not produce
food enough to supply our own neces-
stiles.
This, more than anything else, is
what our agricultural colleges are