The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-12-09
"DRYS" SAY ARRESTS IN
 CITY DROP
Attribute Decrease To Pro-
 hibition-Liquor Ofenses
 Show Increase, However.

One person in every 16 was ar
 rested in Bridgeport in the city year. closing April 1, 1917. In the year
 closing last April, only one person
 for each 43 in the city was arrested; i; a drop from 62 arrests per thousand of population to 29 per thousand. changes in this Conn necticut city in the past five years, which the Antt-Sa- loon League attriutes to the advent of prohibition.
 If arrests for offenses against laws or ordinances not existing in 1917 but which were on the law-bOoks in 1922. are ruled out-such as traffic regu!a- tiOnS and automobile laws and rules. etc.,-the comparable arrests all to one for each 7S-4 persons in the city
 or only 1.2 persons in each thousand
 of population.
 In 1917, PIT per cent. of the az rests were for drunkenness. In 1922,
 10 per cent. of the arrests were on
 that charge. Drunkenness, reach of the peace and assault caused 60 per
 cent. of all the arrests in 1917 and
 only 24 per cent in 1922.
 The number of burglaries in the
 three wet years included in these figures averaged 76 per year but only
 S1 plus were reported on an average
 for the three latter years, which were
 dry for the great part-so far as the
 open saloon was concerned. For the same periods. murders dropped from an average of six plus per year to
 three plus, while the average nunlhnr
 of arrests for manSlaughter were 15
 per year, throughout the entire period
 studied.
 Arrests for drunkenness. often com
 plicated with other charges, in 1917
 numbered 22S4 out of a total Of SOSt;
 in 1922. these fell to 553 out of a
 total of S329. in spite of the increase
 in the city's population.
 Aside from traffic and auto regula-
 tions, the only offenSes which show
 any increase worth mentioning are
 arrests for violation of liquor jaws.
 which leaped from S4 in 1917 to 451 in 1922, showing the activity of the Brid dgeport police in enforcement
 The increase in observance of the law, with the advent of prohibition has been morem arkei among the na- tive born Americans Ihsln among those of foreign birth who have not earned, possibly. that in America the law rep resents the bill of the people and not the arbitary exercise of power by a dominant class. The arrests of na- tive born Americans in 1917 were one for each 3S.9; in 1922 one in each S1. Next to this decreaSe, is the drop birth arrested, which fell from one for every 5.S in 1917 to one in every 5S.7 with the closing of the saloon. The following are the decreases for the other natiOnalities who stand highest both in number of residents and in the number of offenders. Hun garians, one in every 16.5 in 1917: one in each PCT in 1922. Italians one each 254 in 1922. Russians one in every S.97 in 1917; one in every 1G.S in 1922. Poles one iTl S.4 in 1917; one in 1S.4 in 1922
 The character of the foreign popu- lation in the city has changed greatly in the past decade. These has been a decrease in the number of English speaking people who are not native born and Central European people and an increase in the number of l Slavic and Mediterranean people The | Teutonic and English speaking for