Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 27, 1906

THAT we are entering on an era of peace and brotherly love is not being proved by criminal statistics in the United States. Last year Judge Taft, in his address at the Yale Law School, presented some figures in this connection that contain food for thought. He showed that between the years 1885 and 1904 murders in this country had increased from 1,808 to 8,482. There had, of course, been nothing like a proportionate increase in population, nor had there been a proportionate increase in the number of convictions and executions for these murders. In fact, while the murders increased nearly five times, there were only 116 executions in 1904 against 108 in 1885. Mr. Taft says:—

As murder is on the increase, so are all offenses of the felony class, and there can be no doubt that they will continue to increase unless the criminal laws are enforced with more certainty, more uniformity, more severity, than they now are.

The editor of the Outlook, in commenting on these facts, says:—

In estimating the significance of these figures the reader should remember that the criminal population of the United States is large, and is believed to be increasing more rapidly than the entire population of the country.

Crime breeds crime. It is true in all countries. We are getting a large amount of criminals from the Old World; but we are not dependent upon the Old World for criminal progress in this country. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,” says the Bible, and present conditions are showing a literal fulfilment of the prediction.