The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-02-22

He came to this country when ne was
four years old.
United States Most Murderous Nation
One of the strangest things in this
world is that we can keep no sort OF
sense of proportion between facts.
And writes Carl Snyder in Golfers,
here is an astonishing example:
The murderous proclivities of the
people of the United States are simp-
ly a horror. And the administration
of criminal law in this country is ex-
actly what President Taft said of it:
"a disgrace to our civilization
Yet no one seems to mind.
In the number of murders per mil
lion of population the United States
stands first among the civilized ma
tions. The average for the entire
country is eight or ten times the
average for the land from which we
sprung
These facts have long been known.
If we could believe the figures of the
mortality bureau of the United
States census they have in the last
few years been growing worse at an
appalling rate.
Yet no one seems to care.
And vet it is certain that these
figures are far below the fact. This
is clear from another simple compari-
son.
The crime and mortality statistics
of Massachusetts are kept with excep-
tional care and are highly reliable.
In Massachusetts, in the last ten years
(quoting Mr.. Phelps's figures AGAIN.
27 persons out of every million each
year died by murder. This is only
about two-thirds the showing for the
registration area of the whole coun-
try and not half the showing for the
last five years reported.
There is reason to believe that
the rate for Massachusetts fairly rep
resents the North Atlantic States. II
then the average in the registration
area was So, it must mean that the
murder rate for the rest of the regis
tration area was far higher than this
or rs to 1O0-or more. The
same consideration lead us to be-
lieve that the rate outside the regis
tration area was higher than within
it. For example, in one year, 224
murders were reported in South Car
olina alone. The larger part of these
would be outside the registration
area.
The murder rate among the rural
population is higher than the city
rate!
Those figures showed last year a
total of 1915 deaths from murder.
Consider for a moment what this
means.
Suppose you possessed a very vivid
imagination, and that you stood in
front of clock, sleepless, day after
day: These figures mean that for
every hour of the day and night
which you heard the clock strike you
would know that some victim of a
shotgun, a knife, pistol or poison
had been done to death in this coun-
try.
And the rest of this story is that
out of these S,975 murders, a little
over one hundred we're legally put
to death. On the average sc out OF
| 81 escaped the gallows! Is it any
wonder that we have the proud rec
ord of being the most murderous ma
tion on earth?
In race track parlance, then, we
may sum up the matter about as fol-
| lows:
If you commit a murder, it is a
better than to 1 shot that you will
never be brought to trial.
It is a better than 10 to 1 shot
that you will never be hanged or
electrocuted.
Some day I hope to have my say
about this monstrous criminal and
semi-criminal organization of the
law and the administration of JUS
tice in this country which makes pos
sible this foul page of American life.
For the moment, perhaps, it will do
some good to turn on the light.
Blown Through Roof by Dynamite.