UNDER the above title, McClure's Magazine for December presents an array of facts that should be dampening to the "national pride" of this "Christian nation." The fact is shown by official statistics that in the United States there are more murders and homicides in proportion to population than in any other country in the world, excepting autocratic Russia, and that this country, of whose institutions so much boast is made, is but little behind that great absolute monarchy. Thus it is further shown that the claim that our lawlessness is due to foreign influence is without foundation, and that the tendency of the foreign population to lawlessness is rather acquired after a period of association in the United States. And in further vindication of the foreigner against the blame for the increase of crime, the evidence shows that in states which claim the purest American blood, the full quota of crime is on record.
That there is a surprising relish for crime is shown by the patronizing and even lionizing of criminals in many instances. Many people encourage the idea that criminal retaliation for wrongs is a commendable virtue. The New York World is quoted as follows:
In Rochester a woman, who under admittedly grave provocation stabbed another woman dead, was found in a legal trial, "not guilty." She was lionized by the jurors, and plainly made to feel herself a heroine in the public estimation. That she should suffer the extreme penalty was not to be expected; neither was it meet to praise one who took the law in her own hands, and by killing avenged an offense for which no law provides the death penalty.
The idea of enlisting crime as an avenger of wrong, real or imaginary, is further illustrated by another extract from the same paper:
In New York a labor leader, in an interview in the World, boldly stated that he had recruited in this city a powerful and pivotal labor union by the simple method of beating into subjection individual men who hesitated to join it, and that the union thus formed had discouraged non-union competition by "some gorgeous fights." He boasted of "twenty mixups in one day."
The Chicago Daily News is quoted, in evidence of increasing crime as follows:
Not only are robberies increasing in number in Chicago, but the highwaymen are more bold and more desperate than formerly. There has been a marked and significant change in the character of these crimes during recent years. Formerly the foot-pad rarely resorted to violence save as a means of avoiding arrest. To-day the robber's weapon is used to injure, maim, and kill.
Of the desperate situation in that city the Chicago Record-Herald says:
With the city so held in the grasp of criminals that for neither life nor property is there security, the people are becoming aroused to one of the most serious problems that can confront a municipality. . . . Acting Mayor McGann has declared that matters have come to such a pass that to-day crime and the criminal form the greatest question before the people of the nation.
President Henry Hopkins, of Williams College, in a recent address, gave expression to the following sentiment:
The foundation of personal character and our national life are seriously threatened. There are some very ugly features in the present situation. There is abounding evidence of an alarming increase in crime of every sort, but especially of the kind that undermines honesty, chastity, and respect for law.
In an address before the Universal Peace Union, Justice Lore, of the Supreme Court of Delaware, said:
Lawlessness pervades the land, unrest and discontent breed over-apparent prosperity. We have become the money center of the world, but this has bred a feverish appetite for gold, with all its vulgar accompaniments.
And as indicating that the crime throughout the land is not confined to statistical reports of convictions for crime, we quote the judge further:
We would call a halt upon our captains of industry who have brought our country to its present height of frenzied speculation. Plants worth only thousands of dollars are, by the magic of watered stocks and glittering advertisements, swollen into millions. Gigantic frauds are palmed upon the people as successful business enterprises. Our greatest financiers are racking their brains to circumvent the law and the people, and by lawlessness to achieve wealth, caring only to keep outside of actual violence and the common jail. When their cunning evasions of the law are crowned with success, all men are tempted to lawlessness. Captains of industry, how much of the unrest, the mob violence, and the labor troubles of the time, have been bred and fostered by your methods? We ask for an answer.
Another judge's testimony is adduced, and editorially noted as follows:
In his charge to the grand jury at Montgomery, Ala., recently, Judge Thomas uttered strong warning against the increase in the number of homicides in this country, and emphasized the necessity for stricter enforcement of the law, especially in the punishment of crimes of violence. He quoted figures to show that the number of homicides in the United States for three years was one-third larger than either the total number of persons killed upon the American railroads in the same period, or the total losses of the British army in the war in South Africa. The exact figures given by the judge were: Killed on railroads, 21,847; British soldiers killed in Boer War, 22,000; homicides in the United States, 31,395.
The New York Sun, in noting the fact that 222 homicides had been committed in a certain state during 1903, says that a prominent citizen of that state was asked his opinion as to the causes of such a ghastly record, and he replied as follows:
Our own citizens were less shocked by the bloody record than were the people of other states, for we had by degrees become accustomed to homicide. It did not appear to be a phenomenal record, even to our law-abiding conservative citizens. They understood how it was brought about. It would be well for people outside of the state to learn that this record is only the logical result of many year's infraction of law. Some of the jurors are always in sympathy with this sentiment, which has led to the reckless taking of life, and it is impossible to find twelve men who will convict for murder. Especially is this the case when the accused belongs to the party in control, and which has had much to do in the election of judges. Men who are good and true under ordinary circumstances can not stand the pressure of the church and partisan politics when brought to bear in trials for murder.
