p. 9 | THE REIGN OF CRIME by C. M. S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Nov 14, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 46.

THE REIGN OF CRIME.

By C. M. S.

IN spite of the pleading and protests of moral people of New York, the ruling power of crime and criminals in that city is augmented from day to day. Ministers of the Gospel have denounced the "rule of the boss," but the reign of crime continues unabated.

In a recent issue of Harper's Weekly, Mr. Franklin Matthews publishes what the New York Evening Post calls "the most terrible story that has thus far appeared of the way in which Mr. Croker's institution is corrupting and brutalizing the city of New York." The writer gives facts and figures to show that during the last three years of "boss rule" the death rate in the tenement districts has greatly increased; and that there has been "an enormous increase in crimes against children, of the most inhuman and depraved character;" an increase in the number of burials in the Potter's Field; an increase of three hundred per cent. in the number of murders; and the rapid rise of a regular traffic in bringing girls, under promise of good situations, to New York for immoral purposes. In referring to this last item, Mr. Matthews declares that this business was never more flourishing than at present.

From the figures given it is seen that in the year 1899 there was an increase of 1,244 in the number of felonies, and an increase of 610 in the number of grand larceny cases; but the arrests of liquor men for violation of law fell off 326, and the number of arrests for keeping gambling houses was less than for any year since 1885. Mr. Matthews asks why this is, and declares that the answer is found in the fact that the gambling-house keepers subscribed $100,000 to the election fund of the mayor. The number of arrests for keeping disorderly houses has fallen from 488 in 1895 to 180 in 1899. "And yet," says Mr. Matthews, "the town is wide open, notoriously wide open."

This record of sin, official bribery, and the covering up of wickedness is an exact fulfilment of that remarkable prophecy of Micah: "They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire; so they wrap it up. . . . The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity." Micah 7: 2-4.

The world is now entering upon its period of "perplexity," and the day of its "visitation" is nigh at hand. Nothing could more fittingly describe the present condition of things in the world than the utterance of the Word of God. The "judge asketh for a reward," and he gets it, and the guilty go free, while the innocent suffer; and the "great man" is often in league with the promoters of the most "mischievous" schemes; while evil men and women accumulate wealth in the service of sin, under the protection of those who should have enforced the law against them. It is a terrible picture, and the only consolation is in the fact that the very terribleness of the times is an unmistakable evidence that this work of evil will soon and suddenly be cut short. Darkness folds a denser mantle over the earth just before the break of day. We are in that darkness now, and the day is at hand. C. M. S.