Evening star., 1922-02-04
NHE startling presentation of
statistics on crime in the Dis
trict Of Columbia embodied in


trict Of Columbia embodied in
an address of Representative
Tinkham to the House in the course
OF Tuesdays debate cannot fail to
arouse combined amazement apd dis
quiet in the minds Of residents of the
National Capital. Advised that between
the years 1910 and 1924 period during
which the Increase in populat tion tor the
District Is estimated at 32.2 per cent
the total number Of cases recorded in
both branches of the local Police Court
increased S5.7. the city-wide audience
Of the gentleman from Massachusetts,
Is still unprepared for the full facts In
their collector in grim array. are pre-
sented conclusively and without the
adornments of elocution.
we learn that during the ten-year
period in question grand larceny cases
In the District Of Columbia Increased
cent, receiving stolen goods by 500 per
cent, assault with dangerous weapon
by 80 per cent and assault to kill by
zoo per cent. 1t Is interesting to note
that, while there have been decreases
IN certain crimes and others have in
SASSS ouS NCPl pdCe Will tue lHCTed6c
IN population. the more violent types
or criminality, with the exception of
assault to rape. attempted rape and
rape. showed marked percentage in
creases. This unhappy fact culmi-
mates In the proof that during the dec
ede under consideration murder in the
District increased from seven cases
to thirty-eight cases. or 443 per cent,
and manslaughter from six cases to
tWenty-three cases. or 24S per cent.
The increase in the total of the two
crimes combined figures at $50 per
cent.
Astounding and distressing though
these statistics will be to the average
man and woman resident in the Dis
trict. their effect would be somewhat
less stunning could it be shown that
since the end of the period they
cover there has been a decrease in
local crime. Nineteen twenty, 1t will
be properly asserted. Is more than
a full year behind us today. What
Yet even here there is no escaping
the relentless statistics produced by
Representative Tinkham. 1t is pointed
out that since the 1920 census abou,
10000 persons have left the District.
or slightly less than 10 per cent.
while simple assault has increased by
Il per cent, assault to kill by l3 la
cent. assault to rape. etc. by 243
per cent. manslaughter by Is per
cent and murder by 16 per cent
Driving home his contentious with
unswerving insistence. Representative
Tinkham demonstrated that. accord
ing to available figures. there were
more than two and half times as
many murders in the District in 1920
as there were in the huge city OF
London: that Scotland. with q pppu-
lation ten times as great as the Dis
trict, has less than half as many mur-
the seat Of the United States gov
ernment. has a higher rate per capita
of murders than any city in the
world.
Appalling facts. these-facts which
cannot but bring to every Washington
nian keen humiliation and the unquali-
fed determination to end the forward
march Of crime percentages in the city
he loves best. Yet in the consideration
Of those facts. in the quest for a means
whereby to render them less menacing.
one all-important consideration should
not be overlooked. Representative Tink-
ham, faced with the task of making a
specific point in limited period Of time,
may be readily excused for the failure
to allude thereto. The consideration in
point is effectively dealt with by Charles
Frederick Potter in the February issue
of Current History.
The phenomenon of rapid crime in
crease in recent years is very far from
unique to the National Capital Investi-
CATION established it as being practically
universal throughout the cities of the
United States.
In the year ended August 81. 1921.
there were, according to the Ameri-
can Bankers Association statistics.
1876 hold-ups and 319 burglaries Of
banks-a bank robbery in some form
every nineteen hours and fifteen min
utes of the year-and this without