CHICAGO newspapers have recently given much space to accounts and discussions of the increasing crime in that city, as manifested in burglaries and “hold-ups,” assaults, etc. Some figures on the subject, compiled from these papers, show that in the month from September 27 to October 27 there were 394 burglaries and hold-ups, and only 88 arrests. In the last six months seventeen police magistrates have had before them 226 persons charged with carrying concealed weapons, and of these 121 were discharged, and 105 of the remainder were let off with a light fine. There are now more than 1,000 criminal cases awaiting trial, with only four trial judges in the criminal courts to dispose of them. Within the space of four days, from December 6-9, inclusive, twenty persons in Chicago were held up and robbed, one of the victims being a lawyer, who, in attempting to run away, was shot and mortally wounded. Robbers have entered places of business, and at the revolver’s point forced the proprietors and others whom they found to give up their money. One attempt was made to hold up a street car. Not only are robbers becoming more numerous, but they are showing a more reckless disregard of human life. According to the Chicago News, “there has been a marked and significant change in the character of these crimes during recent years. Formerly the footpad rarely resorted to violence, save as a means of avoiding arrest. To-day the robber’s weapon is used to injure, maim, and kill. Having robbed, he is likely to beat his unresisting victim into insensibility. In short, he is a murderer as well as a robber.” The News thinks that this disregard of law on the part of the criminal class is largely due to the lax enforcement of law, which, in turn, is due in many cases to the political “pull” that protects the dives where criminals resort, and where most of their crimes are planned. “It is the same villainous influence,” the News adds, “that hampers the administration of justice, and secures light sentences and bridewell pardons.” But this is a popular government, and when evil conditions exist, the responsibility for them is seen in the last analysis to rest with the people themselves. The moral degeneracy is a public and general one. This gives to the situation a much more serious aspect than it would otherwise possess.