The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-12-16
Crime IN U. s.
BEATS EUROPE
Investigator Tells Why Tolerant
America" Is Plagued With
Murders and Thefts.
Task or POLICE MUCH HARDER
Neither the Police Of London Nor Paris
Would Be Able to Cope With Crime
In New York or Chicago, Says
Raymond 8. Fosdick.

! Would Be Able to Cope With Crime
In New York or Chicago, Says
Raymond 8. Fosdiek.
New York.-TOlerant American cities
are overrun with criminals to greater
extent than metropolitan districts in
| Europe and neither the police Of Lon.
| don nor of Paris would be able to cope
with crime in this city or Chicago, &C.
cordng to Raymond B. Fosdick. who
made public statistics compiled for the
bureau of social hygiene.
1.-THE police of an American city are
faced with task such as European
police organizations have no knowledge
Of" said Mr.. FOsdick in giving statis-
tics from one part Of his forthcoming
work on "American Police Systems ~
1.-THE metropolitan police force of Lon
don. with all it's splendid efficiency.
would be overwhelmed in New York,
and the brigade de surete of Paris,
with its ingenuity and mechanical
equipment. would fall far below the
level of it's present achievement If It
were confronted with the situation in
Chicago"
Mr.. Fosdick discusses the relation Of
heterogeneous population in America
to the crime rate, and concludes that
prepOnderance of crime in this country
is augmented by unassimilated or
poorly assimilated races.
We condone Violence.
1T must not be supposed. however,
that our foreign and colored popula-
ton is the sole cause of our excessive
crime rate" continues Mr. Fosdick. IF
the offenses of our foreign and colored
races were stricken from the calcula-
ton our crime record would still great
ly exceed the record of western Eu-
rope. With all it's kindness and good
nature the temper of our communities
contains a strong strain Of violence.
We condone violence and shirk it's pun
ishment.
GAS to the fact Of our excessive
criminality the statistics furnish star
Ting evidence. London in 1916. with
a population of 1850. 900, had nine pre-
meditated murders. Chicago. third
the size of London. in the same period
had 1O3. nearly twelve times London's
total. In 1918 Chicago had II more
murders than England and Wales. In
1919 the number of murders In Chi
cago was almost exactly six times the
number committed in London.
I'm 1918 New York had six times
more homicides than London. and ex-
ceeded the total homicides of England
and Wales by 81. This contrast cannot
be attributed to the peculiar conditions
in London induced by the war. In each
Of the years from 1914 to 1918, fnclu-
sive, New York had more homicides
than occurred in London during any
three-year period previous to the out
break of the war in 1914.
Statistics of this kind could be null
tiplied at length. In the three-year
period 1868, inclusive, Glasgow had
3S homicides; Philadelphia. which is
only a trifle larger. had during this
same period 281. Liverpool and St.
Louis are approximately the same size;
in 1915 st. Louis had II times the
number of homicides that Liverpool
had, and in 1915 eight times the num-
Der.
More 6uroIaries Here.
Equally significant is the compari-
son of burglary statistics between
Great Britain and the United States.
In 1915. for example, New York city
had approximately eight times as many
burglaries as London had in the same
period. In 1917 New York had four
times as many burglaries as London.
In 1918 the burglaries which the police
reported in New York were approx
mately two and a half times those In
London.
"While war conditions undoubtedly
served to heighten this contrast they
were by no means entirely responsible
for. it; in 1915 New York city had
more burglaries than occurred in all
England and Wales in 1911, 1912 or
1913. Chicago in 1916 had 532 more
burglaries than London; in 1917, 3,459
more; in 1918, s66 more and in 1919,
2,146 more.
Even more startling are the statis-
tics of robbery. In each of the four
years from 1915 to 1918. inclusive, New
York city had from four to five times
more robberies than occurred in all
England and Wales in any one of the
five years preceding the war.