THE MENACE OF CRIMINALITY.
By T.
IT is a noteworthy fact that there is much discussion at the present time in regard to the rapid growth of the criminal classes. There are newspaper and magazine articles on the murder problem, the embezzlements of bank officials and other trusted custodians of funds, the robberies that are growing more and more prevalent, the corrupting influence of bribes upon judges, juries, and officers of state, and so on to the end of the list. Men meet in social or official capacity, and the discussion is very apt to drift into a consideration of some phase of the problem of criminality. All of which shows that there are abundant facts to cause a very general uneasiness. And it is not statistics that are relied upon or used in creating this impression. Common every-day observation irresistibly fastens the conviction upon the mind that we are in the midst of a reign of criminals that is simply terrible. The speech of Lord Salisbury on Lord Mayor's day, November 9, has been quite fully commented upon because of its significance in the field of diplomacy and international politics. But the lord chief justice of England made a speech on the same occasion, and while it has not seemed to receive much attention in this country, yet it is most significant. After speaking of the frauds in the adulteration of food-stuffs the chief justice said:— "I take this opportunity—which I think is suitable for the purpose—to call your attention to another class of fraud which is rampant in this community; fraud of a most dangerous kind, widespread in its operation, touching all classes, involving great pecuniary loss to the community, loss largely borne by those who are least able to bear it; and, even much more important than this, fraud which is working insidiously to undermine and corrupt that high sense of public morality which it ought to be the common object of all interested in the good of the community to maintain; fraud blunting the sharp edge of honor and besmirching honorable names. I need not tell you I am alluding to the frauds practised in abuse of the law relating to the formation of companies with limited liabilities." During the past summer the frauds practised under the "limited liabilities" law were quite fully exposed and discussed. Mr. E. T. Hooley confessed in court that he had been acting as a promoter of fraudulent corporations, and that in his evil work some of the high and titled nobility of England had been his accomplices. His scheme in brief was to go through the form of organizing a corporation to conduct some business; he would then bribe a lord or two, or some other of the titled gentry, to allow him to use their names as among the directors of the corporate-organization; his next step was to bribe a few newspapers to puff his company, taking particular pains to mention that lord so and so was one of the directors. The common people who had a small amount of means would hasten to invest, thinking that any company that was spoken of so highly in the papers, and that had such well-known lords on its board of directors, would be perfectly safe. As high as $50,000 was sometimes paid to a single newspaper to get its editor to laud the corporation as a safe and profitable place to invest whatever savings any of the people might have. Several "noble lords" received $125,000 each for allowing their names to be used as directors of these fictitious corporations. In view of these facts is it to be wondered at that the lord chief justice of the British Empire should offer such words of caution? Certainly it is high time that he should sound the danger trumpet. Highway robbery is never such a menace to the good order of society as the frauds and embezzlements of those who stand high in social, business, and political life. The highwayman is usually under suspicion; he must of necessity keep in hiding somewhere. His influence is limited. There are only a few comparatively that he can train in his school of crime. But the "genteel" defaulter holds a high position in society. His company is sought after, because he is supposed to be an honest, upright man. Young men esteem it an honor to be introduced to him. They listen to his words, and regard them as wisdom. Then, when he has the confidence of the people, he lays his plans to defraud. Some of them will intrust him with funds, or place some kind of business in his hands, and he will insidiously approach others and beguile them into becoming assistants and accomplices in his infamous crimes. Many are in this way led by him into the ways of evil who otherwise would have been honest and true. Thus he is not only a criminal himself, but is a teacher of criminality. When the statesman, the influential lawyer, the titled nobleman, whispers the beguiling sentiments of fraud to one who occupies a less influential position, he is apt to reason that if Mr. so and so, of such high rank, suggests such a thing it can not be so very bad. And then, too, he stands so high and wields such a wide influence that he will be able to protect any one that he asks to help him in his fraudulent work, so that detection and arrest will not likely follow. It is a sad thought that our world is so rapidly filling up with men who are betraying the confidence and trust imposed in them. It is a common thing to speak of the criminals that fill the gutters, and many express themselves as being deeply concerned in regard to the danger that this low-down criminal class presents. But the criminals who stand in high and influential positions are a greater menace by far. They stand where they should be the very foundation and mainstay of society. But, instead of preserving the integrity that such a position demands, they are building rotten timbers into the foundations of the social structure. Such conditions can not continue much longer without bringing on a crisis. And when the crisis comes, it will be a world-wide reign of terror.