The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-03-24
The Growing Trend to Murder

The extent to which we arc q lawless people is re-
wealed in our civic corruption. in tragic recklessness in
auto traffic and, above all, in our ascending murder rates
In our infraction Of the command, Thou shalt not kill!
i've easily lead the world in shamelessness. Whereas. in
( England and Wales the homicide rate Is s per 100000
and in Canada 1.3, the rate among 100000 urban
Americans last year was 1o5.
Frederick l. Hoffman. an insurance actuary who gath
es the statistics each year, has made public his latest
figures and he announces that last year in 81 American
cities the death rate from homicide was one out Of every
10000 inhabitants. In New York the rate rose from So
In 1923 to IL in 1929.
It Is battling. Where figures from one section tend
to one conclusion as to the cause of it all, those from
another upset theory and offer no accounting whatever
for the showing. Thus, the murder rate for the Southern
urban centers is 10 to IS times as high as it is in North
ern centers, and this might suggest that the presence of
- large negro population is responsible, but when this
theory is tested by Philadelphia's figures. that explana-
ton fails. for Philadelphia has a very large negro popula-
ton, vet its murder rate Is but q fifteenth of that, for
instance. Of Birmingham and Memphis.
Prohibition has been advanced as one source Of the
increased in murder, but the New York Times has analysed
the statistics and decides that the Hoffman conclusion in
this respect will not stand the test. It says that lin the
year 1900 the homicide rate for big American cities was 3.A
per 100000. BY the year 1908 the rate had risen steadily
to 8 Around that point 1t lowered during the next ten
years. In 1918 it stood 1t 85. went up to e3 in 1921, and
since that year has risen another point to approximately
10.
1T may be argued" says the Times, that the long
= murder rate which had been rising swiftly before, and
that prohibition came along to give it q new start. But
an absolute figures the increase since 1890 has not been
large, and in percentages it is even less impressive.
Without prohibition the murder rate between 1900 and
1910 increased nearly 800 per cent, whereas since prohibi-
lion 1t has gone up less than 20 per cent"
Perhaps this marked contempt for life which is ex-
pressed in such an orgy Of killing Is these murder figures
reveal Is just Is accurately explained by impression as
~ analysis. One need but to survey the temperamental
disposition to lawlessness which has grown 80 prevalent
under the designation Of dementia Americana in another
day and at this time Is perhaps best classified along with
the phenonena Of Jazz, to account. for It all.
This temperamental contempt for restraint in conduct
has been encouraged by the breakdown Of the law in the
processes Of enforcement. Murder Is one Of the crimes
which, in the vernacular, it has grown too appallingly
easy to get away with" Look 1t the long list Of SEN
sattonal saayinss By sentimentaly added women and
Then count the number who have paid the penalty
Hcmictde cases Of the Thaw-white type seldom lead any
where except to exploitation Of the sensation and the
establishment Of precedent making the next crime Of the
ktnd Inevitable Of commission and likewise exempt Of
penalty.
rrpniscncss killing used to be typical Of the old vest
eFn Frontier and there may b something ii the theory
that II thsse murders IN essence are frontier phenomsna.
~ the United States now has frontiers everywhere.
~ some respects they are most conspicuous where pop-
r1ation Is thickest Influx Of foreign elements. expan-
1ip1 q new industries. - Of the auto and the film. and
esnaaAerse = eoutraband liquor have brought some Of
- e3eneut6 6 the old Wild and woody into the urbanI
esntsns 4 ~ scuntry. The racketeess and hi-jacker. 81
@kteago, ~ mstsnce re but tepeoductaons o. Old high
10y tendHs q The rid rush days and the haxd-bolled
MMk eampA - wl take : long time IA the flux 81
eMa21vdnttcn pndef wv n thess Big cities to hiring
esaS - ord1e3tnan. just = thee conditions had to be
9mme4 both ~ pattanee md action a tie sstting ana
- - 49, AAa-na $3.50 I