The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-12-14
Frederic Haskin's Letter


Washington. d. c., Dec. a.
Washington has about three times
as many homicides as Liverpool.
In New York more people are
murdered in . year than In Ill Of
England and Wales put together.
In q typical American city there
are several times as many burglar
les every year rs there are in Lon
don, in proportion to population.
Over 5000 automobiles were stolen
in New York in, 1918, while 800
were stolen in London and 10 in
Liverpool.
These are . few typical samples.
chosen at random, of the statistics
presented by Raymond B. Fosdick
in his book on America police sys-
TENS. They show that the United
States leads the world in crime,
not by . small margin, but by sev-
eral hundred per cent. 1t il per-
haps the most lawless place on
earth which pretends to have
civilized government.
Mr.. Fosdick occupies q unique
place in this country as an expert
on crime and polics work. who
has studied all the principal police
systems Of Europe, as well as tina,
Of his own country. During The
war he was placed in control o.
the Commission On Training Caml
Activities, which was certainly one
Of the most creditable of our wal
time activities. His book is not q
q popular nature, and appeal!
chiefly to students and profession
ais. It therefore seems worti
while to give the gist of his re
markable facts and argument!
here.
Far more interesting than proc
Of Americas world leadership il
the production Of all kinds of crime
is his acute analysis OF the reasons
for this. His viewpoint here i
that of cosmopolitan rather tina:
a typical American reformer. IL
does not see the cause Of our GRIM
ridden state primarily in the fac
that we do not all 60 to Sunda.
school, nor in the movies, nor il
the dime novels. nor in the fox
trot, nor in short skirts, hOmebrep
nor cabarets. He does not believ,
that a great wave Of moral reform
could sweep all this crime away
nor that multiplication Of law
would solve the problem. On tn
contrary. he makes out q stronl
case for the view that what W
suffer from is too many laws. which
attempt to regulate personal con
duct instead Of to prevent crime
laws which are fundamentally un
enforcible, because they are no
sufficiently supported by opinion
and which have had the effect o
making all law ridiculous, and o
giving social sanction to mucl
law-b-eaking.
Causes Of Crime.
True, he sees other causes TO
our national criminality. He show
that our astonishing mixture o
unassimilated racial elements pre-
sents a unique police problem. H
shows that the absurdity of on
administration of criminal law i
an encouragement to crime. H
shows that almost any crimina
who can hire a lawyer has at leas
an even chance to escape convic
ton, and that one with plenty O
money, or with political pull,
seldom convicted. This is painful
ly true, and has been pointed GU
before. But Mr.. Fosdick's analys'
Of the national mind is the mos
: original and arresting thing he ha
to offer. He shows that none BIZ
: the Germans of the period befor
the war were ever SO ridden b
laws designed to make of men
regimented mass, rather than
group of free individuals.
1.-THE willingness with which "
undertake to regulate by law tn
| personal habits of private citizen
1 |