Evening star., 1931-12-30
BULK OF KILLINGS
IN SMALLER TOWNS
Big City Gunmen Lose Crown
in Survey-Memphis Leads
in HomiCideS.
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.

NEW ORLEANS, December 3O.-The
reputation of the big city gunner as
killer was rubbed out at the American
Association for the Advancement OF
Science today.
Chicago ranks fortieth and New York
seventy-eighth among 174 American
cities tabuIated according to killings
per 100000 population by Kenneth E.
Barnhart, Phi. D., head of the depart
ment of sociology, Birmingham (Ala)
Southern College.
The big cities have the largest total
killings due to greater populations. But
for every 100 900 population, Chicago
kills 144 per cent persons and New
York IL, compared with 56.5 for
Memphis, the top city, and rates that
run above 20 for all the first 80 cities.
The fact that New York ranks
seventy-eighth and Chicago fortieth,"
said Dr. Barnhart lis quite at variance
with a considerable body Of public opin-
ion that our largest cities have the
highest rates Of murder. None OF the
10 largest cities is in the list Of the 80
most murderous cities"
Memphis Tops List.
Memphis is rated first, with 58.8 per
cent; Atlanta second, with 52.6, and
Lexington, KY, third, with 524.
These 80 highest rate cities" said
DR.. Barnhart, grouped according to
geographical divisions of the United
States, show none in the East, one city
in the West, five cities in the Middle
west and "a in the South.
The author believes that the ex-
If ictr c
in the large percentage of colored per-
sons in the South. But race is not the
primary cause of homicide, only Sec
ondary factor. New York City, Chicago
and other Northern cities have large
numbers of colored people, yet low
killing rates compared with the South"
Searching for cause for the top
killing rates, DR.. Barnhart finds proof
that it lies in illiteracy, deducing this
from Birmingham. statistics where the
killing rate has decreased with the drop
in illiteracy rate.
Lowest Rate in West.
"In cities of 100000 population and
over" said DR. Barnhart, the lowest
homicide rate is in the West, the next
in the East. Middle West third and
Southern cities highest But these
larger Southern cities have a lower
The 81 cities listed after the first
three are:
Birmingham, 40; Shreveport, La,
4l4; Augusta. Ga, 80; Nashville, Tenn,
376: Miami Fla, 1858; Savannah, Ga
1854; jacksonville, Fla, 345; Macon
Ca, 3l6: Mobile. Ala, 30.7; Gary
Ind, 3O.6; Hamtramck, Mich, 30.l;
Tampa. 284: Springfield, Ill, 2S.7;
El Paso, 272; Charleston, S. c., 25.9;
s..
Norfolk, Va. 238; Winston-S Salem, N.
C., 23.7: Dallas, 1856; Little Rock, 23.2;
New orleans, %: Kansas City, Mo,
22.7; Pueblo, Colo, 2l.9; Knoxville,
Tenn. 2l.6: Petersburg, Va, 2l.2; East
st. Louis, Ill. 20.l.
DR.. Barnhart said the most reliable
statistics show "the United States Is
the most murderous country in the
world"
SteriIize Milk by Sound.
Sterilization Of milk by supersound
waves and production in America OF
the worlds first synthetic vitamln were
announced to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
Milk can be sterilized by sound waves,
said DR.. Newton Gaines and DR.. L. A.
Chambers of Texas Christian Univer-
sity as effectively as by pasteurizatlon.
The sound waves do not spoil the milk
for human use.
Laws of chance and their relation to
the future fate Of the universe were
discussed by DR.. P. w. Bridgman OF
Harvard University. He showed that
laws of chance are not like a pack of
cards that, If shuffled long enough, will
return to the original arrangement with
which the shutting started
Some scientists, applying laws OF
chance to the future, have predicted the
universe Is running down and that II
will eventually die, because everything
will be changed into heat and cannot be
changed back into matter. Dr.. Brldg-
man said this conclusion was not war
rsnted until man gains more knowledge
OF how the universe operated.
"See" by Quakes.
Seeing" what lies underground with
the aid of small artificial earthquakes
was described by Prof. H. A. Wilson OF
Rice Institute, Texas.
The time taken for earthquake waves
TO travel down into the earth and re-
turn to the surface indicates the loca-
ton and depth of different ores and
rocks, he explained. Scientists make
their own earthquakes by exploding
charges of dynamite, sometimes as
much as a ton.
Seismographs, delicate instruments
that register on paper how the ground
moves in an earthquake, record the
waves produced by the blasts. From
this the actual motion Of the ground
can be calculated, said Prof. Wilson,
helping to show what lies below the
surface.
Afrplanes have made it possible to
wipe out the difference in climate be-