The Washington herald., 1921-02-06
BY WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT.

ny "iHSAA" no"Ahb IArIs
1t is rare that a carefully pre-
pared treatise like that Of Mr.. Fos-
dick on American police systems
is so opportune1y published. The
apparently, hopeless effort of those
charged with the duty Of restrain
ing and Furnishing violations of
criminal law to stay the present
wave of crime which is sweeping
over this country should challenge
the attention of every citizen to the
causes for this grievous defect in
our government machinery.
The first reason for being of a
government is the protection of So
cfety in the rights of life and prop
erty and the preservation Of law
and order. 1t is n serious impeach-
ment of a government IL it does
not worthily discharge this function.
OF course, the matter Is one of de-
gree. All crime cannot be prevent
ed. nor indeed can all crime be pun
ished. The excellence or failure of
a government in this regard is to
be judged by comparison with the
efficiency of other governments in
this respect.
Exact comparison between the
amount of crime in this country and
in other countries is not easy, be-
cause one incidental defect in our
system is the absence of satisfac-
tory statistics of all the crimes COM
mitted, presented and punished in
the various States of this country.
This incidental defect is a symptom
of the principal disease. Had we
an efficient machine for the preven-
tion of crime and for the arrest,
prosecution and conviction of the
criminal, we should have complete
statistics; but so slipshod and inef-
fective is our whole machinery that
little effort is made by the authori-
ties to secure accurate and detailed
reports and to tabulate them in an
Ineligible way for public informa-
tion.
Let US take Chicago. which is
one-third the size of London and
fifteenth of the whole of Eng
land and Wales in population. Muir
ders i'm England and Wales in 1914
were ninety-two and those in Chi
cago were eighty-seven. In 1915
they were eighty-one in England
and Wales, and seyenty-seven in
Chicago. In 1916 they were eighty
FIVE in England and Wales, and 1O5
in Chicago. In 1917 they were
eighty-one in England and Wales,
and ninety-one in Chicago, and in
1918 they were eighty-one in Eng
| land and Wales, and ninety-five in
Chicago. And this difference is con-
tinued in the other cities. New
York City in 1915 had six times the
number of homicides-that is. MUIR
der and mansIaughter-that London
had for the same year and only ten
less homicides than all of Eng
land and Wales. In 1917 New York
had six times more homicides than
London and they exceeded the total
homicides of England and Wales by
hfty-six In 1918 New York had
again six times more homicides than
London and exceeded the total homi-
cides of England and Wales by six
ty-seven.
In 1915 New York City had eight
times as many burglaries as Lon
don. and nearly twice the number
of burglaries reported in all Eng
land and Wales. In 1917 New York
had four times as many burglaries
as London and approximately the
same number occurred in England
and Wales. Chicago in 1915 had
532 more. burglaries than London.
In 1917. 3.459 more; in 1918, S66
more; in 1919. 2,146 more. New
York City had S3S robberies and as
saults with intent to rob. where
London had twenty, and England,
Wales and Scotland together had
1v2. In 1916 New York had SS6
such crimes to London's nineteen.
and to 227 of England, Wales and
Scotland together. In 1918 New
York City had S49, while London
had sixty-three, and England and
Wales had 100 And the same con-
trast exists with respect to the other
cities of this country.
Equally unsatisfactory is the con-
trast with reference to prosecutions
and convictions. In a single year
| in Oregon-and this can be dupli-
Gated almost everywhere, there oc-
CURED fifty-siX homicides. Forty
six of the offenders were arrested
ten committed suicide and thirty
six were held for trial. OF the thir-
ty-six only three were convicted at
| all, and of these only one for muir
der in the first degree. In 1913 In
the city of New York there were 323
| homicides, 1856 arrests and only
eighty convictions and of these ten