Year: 1878

falls 81 250 zoe short Of the earnings requisite
support the % 900 eOnvies in those prisons las;
That sum divided among an average OF $4,000 State
prisoners, gives average cost Of something more
than Sl3 year for each convict. If add in the
sum paid for the support Of short-sentenced prsO-
ners In as the total Of the co. 600 persons in
prison throughout the year 1877 would probably ex
coed IS zoo oo9, something more than $50 year
for each prisoner.


We clip the foregoing from the San Fran
cisco Bulletin of August Goth. The curiosity
that attaches to the above statistics is shown
in the three facts disclosed. First, the in
crease of crime in the United States since the
close of the rebellion. Second, that the pro-
portion of criminals is greater in proportion
to the population, in Massachusetts, than any
other State in the Union. Third, that in the
State of Delaware they have no central prison
or penitentiary, and yet the cost to the people
is less in proportion, than in any other State.
Now, as to the first fact disclosed by the sta
tistics, we can easily understand. chat of the
large mass of men suddenly thrown back upon
society by the termination of the war, who had
been in the army on both sides. II is but nat
ural consequence that great number were
demoralized; and preferred a life of crime, to
life of honest labor. Nor is it surprising
thst in the Southern States, the increase Of
crime after the war, should be greater than in
the North, because the people of the South
were not only demoralized, but utterly ruined
in pocket; besides the white people of the
South had not been Injured to labor, and with
the immense population of blacks set at lib
erty by the results of the war, the only won.
der is. that the increase Of crime is not greater
than it is.


Mr.. Sanborn asserts that in Massachusetts,.
where the people claim 4 higher enlighten-
ment than in any other State; and where civ
ilization is claimed to be farther advanced
than anywhere else, that the increase of crime
is greater than any other State, in proportion
to its population, is a rather startling state
ment, and calculated to awaken inquiry on the
part of those who are curious about tracing
cause and effect


In the third place We have the fact, stated
by Mr. Sanborn, that in the State of Delaware,
where there is no central prison or penitentiary,
the cost of the administration of the punish
ment for crime is less than in the States where
such institutions exist, but Mr. Mr. s. does moi
give any reason for the fact. 1t consists in
this, however: In the State of Delaware, the
people have preserved, from the earliest period
Of the States existence, the old English mode
of punishment: for the smaller grades of crim-
inal offenses, such as petty larceny, assault
and battery, malicious mischief, and a host Of
other petty crimes, by putting the criminals IL
the stocks, exposing them TO the public gaze
for hours with labels attached, on which are
inscribed in large capitals their respective
crimes; and to this is added in many cases
the additional penalty of the whipping post
Ii is this mode of punishment that criminals
are more afraid of than they are of either the
ellis of penitentiary or the gallows. Strange
as 1t may seem, it is nevertheless a fact, that
criminals are towards, which make them fear
detection and exposure 10 the public gaze
The cat O. nine-tails has more terrors for the
criminal than any other mode of punishment
This we have always believed, and in that be-
lief We are borne out by the statistics of Mr..
Sanborn. The statistics of crime in all coun-
tries and in all ages develop in a wonderful
degree all the phases of poor human nature,
and should be studied to be understood.