St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-02-07
Crime in Vermont.

! Elsewhere IN this issue Will DC
found an article under the above
heading taken from the Vermont
Medical Monthly which treats the
question of capital punishment in a
very convincing manner On the
same day we read in the Burlington
Free Press an account OF an address
by ]. N. Barss, superintendent of the
State Industrial school at Vergennes,
delivered before the Mems club OF
ST. Paurs church in Burlington, in
which he made the following state
ments:
One-fifth of one per cent of the
population OF the state is in prison,
and hye or SIX out OF every 100 per-
sons are at some time in their gen
Grafton behind the bars. The sum
of 100000 was spent by the state
last year on account of crime, and
this did not include any town or
city's cost in minor ways, nor DIR.
CIRCUITS work at Waterbury, which is
of course made necessary partly be-
cause of criminal conditions. In
considering whether crime is on the
increase, he cited statistics by
counties, irrefutable facts secured
by careful investigation by proper
authorities. 1t was here that he said
with a great deal of emphasis, ''Oh,
to you people, who say with so much
mock self-complacency these things
aren't so, l say they are. Because
know they are. Crime is on the in
crease and the man who says it
isn't is either ignorant or prejudic-
ed"
Mr.. Barss considered what makes
a criminal and spoke of the physical
condition of the children at the
school at Vergennes, sound of body
mostly, but inferior mentally. This
incomplete mentality that impels
them to criminal acts, that makes
them blunted to moral values, is
caused partly by parentage mixed
with alcohol; homes broken up, the
parents not living together, the
stronghold weakened. Then he told
of where the children of the school
come from, places like Battery
street in this city, certain sections in
Barre and St. Adams, but mostly
from the side hills, way back in the
country sending the most hopeless
ly sodden, awful cases of inability to
recognize anything morally.
This problem of the rural COM
munity is one of the biggest prob
lens to be faced. There are
three ways, according to Mr..
Barss to better conditions: first to
build roads; second to send capable
teachers, 1.-The cream of the teach
ing force" and third, send mot the
scraping of the ministerial melting
pot" but men big enough to do
things.
We have long been acquainted
with the facts given by Supt. Barss
and have given them in New YER
mont" meetings held about the state
for the past four year. We have
never published the statistics be-
cause it was thought best not to put
such unpleasant facts into print. It
would seem however that the time
has come when all the people of the
state should be given the facts. We
give the figures Of the commitments
to the state prison only, for the sake
of brevity, but they clearly show the
trend of events. The figures are for
the biennial periods indicated in the
following line:
1SSS-'9O 18983OO 19O8-1O
Whole number of commitments,
SO $50 1876
Natives of Vermont,
43 68 SO
Natives of other states,
Natives of foreign countries,
16 72S 20
Committed for crimes ranging from
assault with intent to kill up to
murder in the first degree,
for larceny, stealing, |
robbery, burglary. and other forms
of stealing,
Committed for arson,
2 9
Committed for forgery,
8 2 L
Committed for bigamy,
/ 2
Committed for adultery, rape and |
other sexual crimes,
IL 10 81
While not a complete record of
for crime in Vermont,
those of the house of correction