Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-28
Great CITIES The
BREEDING PLACES
or OUR CRIMINALS
Judge Sadler of Chicago Draws Les
sons From Long Experience
Dealing With This Class.
AFTERNOON CHAUTAUQUA THEME
Hits Churches for Failure to Be Alive
to Their Opportunities
Saloon Club of Crime.

! INOCh 1Sldnu CuduLduQua yesterday al
! ternoon by Judge Frank P. Sadler of
/ Chicago, and the speaker made some
| statements which were brought home
| forcibly to the people of Rock Island.
John H Hauberg presented the judge
| in a brief address in which he laud-
ed the chautauqua as an uplifting in
| tiuence.
Despite the fact that this is a great
! nation and we consider ourselves d
| little better than the people of the
| old world, the judge pointed out that
criminality is on the increase here and
/ it already is far more common in the
/ United States than in any other land
that calls itself civilized. I'VE are not
importing criminals" said he, we are
making them" There were about
10000 murders committed in this
country last year and most of them
were by young men, the products Of
the crime districts of the larger cit
les.
Home Leading Factor.
There are a number of factors which
enter into the making of a criminal.
| Poverty, weakness Of character, in
| herited tendencies, exploitation of
| crime in the newspapers and environ
| ment are among these. Lack of home
training is perhaps most potent of all.
/ Statistics show that practically all
criminals come from homes in which
they had little or no moral training.
Lack of habits of industry has great
deal to do with the increase in crime.
! Environment is all powerful Some
| people have absolutely no resistance
against evil influences and they i'm
mediately yield to the pressure of the
underworld in the larger cities.
The speaker was inclined to give
some credit to the much maligned COS
sip Did you ever think" he asked,
| how much gOssips have to do in keep
/ ing some people in the straight and
/ narrow? If it were not for rumOr and
gossip there are a lot of people who
would have no check upon their con-
duct. Experience has brought me to
the opinion that, Judging by their ac-
| lions when they get out among stran-
| gers, there are a great many persons
who ought never to travel at all"
Made BY Our Habits.
1t has been said that we make our
habits or our associates and they make
US. This is especially true with the
| criminal class. We cannot escape the
reciprocal relations of life. Character
is more to be valued than great rich
eS. The man or woman of normal ten
denotes values a heritage of character
far more highly than any material
goods that may have been inherited
from the parents. Almost never does
| a criminal come from a home of char
acter, while it has been shown that
! fully per cent of such cases are the
direct result of parental neglect.
| Judge Sadler went into some detail
to describe the pitfalls of the larger cit
les. Big cities form the life currents
of the nation. Chicago dominates the
state of Illinois. Every large city has
it's crime zone. A majority of the
criminals of the country are trained
/ there, though a large part of them
come to the cities from other places.
! Vice awaits at the station for such
newcomers, but virtue hangs back and
waits for an introduction. The speaker
favored having matrons at every rail
! road station in the cities to advise
young girls just arriving.
! The young person who comes to the
| city usually is driven by financial
needs to pick the cheapest lodging
house closest to his or her work. In
nearly every such case the individual
| is at once brought into contact with
| evil Influences Too often these board
| ing or rooming houses are merely
halfway places on the road to the ten
| derlOin. Around them hang, waiting
for prey, those who profit by bringing
recruits to the underworld. 1t is in
! the disOrderly saloon that the victim is
usually landed. This is the club room
of crime. He who passes through the
door of any saloon has taken the first
! step toward the underworld.
Churches Fall Behind.
| There are 700 saloons in the first
ward in Chicago and 200 of them are
/ disOrderly places. In the same dis
/ trict there are only II churches and
missions. The saloons are open from
| 5 a. m. till l a. m, while the Protest
ant churches are open not more than
| seven hours a week. The speaker de-
| clared that in his opinion the church
| es have been going back and losing
| influence for so years. He denounced
them for neglecting their opportunities
/ to be helpful and to radiate light and
/ life all the week instead of only part
/ of the time on Sunday The Judge also
! asserted that any community which
| does not make use of it's school build
! ings for social meeting places for
young and old is behind the times.
! The judge said he understood that
Rock Island had more saloons in pro-
portion to its population than any 9TH
| er city in the state, possibly excepting
! Quincy IF you get any satisfaction
1 out of this" said he, you view the
matter from an entirely different
standpoint than the visitors who come
/ here do. Don t you know that the
/ moral atmosphere OF a city is judged
| by outsiders almost entirely by the
number of its saloons, or whether it
! has any?'
4 The speaker blamed business men
! engaged in other lines Of trade for tho
/ presence of the saloon, especially Of
/ the disorderly saloon. 1t is suffered to
/ exist because there are hundred in
diyiduals in every community who
profit. directly or indirectly from il.
and these individuals measure every
/ thing by the dollar standard. Why"
said he. even a criminal is always
J able to find friends and hackers among