FROM the Chicago Tribune's New Years issue we gather the following statistics in regard to crime and disaster in the United States during the past year. In marine disasters during the year, 1,935 persons lost their lives, and 50,000 are reported to have died as the result of epidemics. Tho no large wars have been carried on during the year, there has been a considerable loss of life in the aggregate in battle. The number of killed and wounded amounted to 86,468. The larger part of these casualties occurred in Macedonia. The number of persons who lost their lives in railroad wrecks during the year was 4,090; and in disasters of other kinds in all the world, such as floods, fires, explosions, and tempests, 45,037 were killed. The number of persons lynched in the United States during the year 1903 was 104, an increase of 8 over the previous year. The total number of persons lynched in the United States since the year 1885 is 2,858. The number of legal executions in the United States during the year 1903 was 123. The number of suicides during the year was 8,597, an increase of 306 over the previous year. The records of a few years will show the steady increase. In 1899 the number was 5,340; in 1900, 6,755; in 1901, 7,245; and in 1902, 8,291. The number of murders and homicides, including deaths by violence of all kinds for 1903 was 8,976, an increase of 142 over the year previous. The embezzlements for the year amounted to $6,562,165, a slight decrease over the previous year. This record is itself a striking commentary on the conditions of the times in which we live.