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Page 36
International statistics then, as far as they go, point to the
conclusion that it is the growth of wealth, rather than the reverse,
which has a tendency to augment the number of offences against
property, and national statistics, as far as England is concerned,
exhibit a similar result. It is perfectly certain, for instance, that
the mass of the population possessed a greater amount of money, and
were earning on the whole higher wages between 1870-74 than between
1884-88. According to the evidence given before the late Lord
Iddesleigh's Commission on the depression of trade, the prosperity of
the country in the five years ended 1874 was something phenomenal.
This was the opinion of almost every class in the community. Chambers
of commerce, leading manufactures, workmen in the various departments
of industry, all told the same tale of exceptional commercial
prosperity. During this period it was easy for any person with a pair
of hands to get as much as he could do; workmen were at a premium and
wages had risen all round.
But, notwithstanding this state of unwonted prosperity, we shall find
on turning to the statistics of offences against property that a
larger number of persons were convicted of such offences in the five
years ended 1874 than in the five years ended 1888. It hardly needs to
be stated that the five years ended 1888 were years of considerable
depression, some of them were years in which there was a good deal of
distress, and in none of them was the bulk of the population as well
off as in the preceding period. It is, therefore, plain that an
increase in the wealth of a country is not necessarily followed by a
decrease in the amount of crimes against property; that, in fact, the
growth of national and individual wealth, unless it is accompanied by
a corresponding development of ethical ideals, is apt to foster
criminal instincts instead of repressing them.
If we look at crime in general, instead of that particular form of it
which consists in offences against property, it will likewise become
apparent that it is not so closely connected with poverty as is
generally believed. The accuracy of Indian criminal statistics is a
matter that has already been pointed out. When these statistics are
placed side by side with our own what do we find? According to the
returns for the two countries in the year 1888, it comes out that in
England one person was proceeded against criminally to every forty-two
of the population, while in India only one person was proceeded
against to every 195. In other words, official statistics show that
the people of England are between four and five times more addicted to
crime than the people of India. On the supposition that poverty is the
parent of crime, the population of India should be one of the most
lawless in the world, for it is undoubtedly one of the very poorest.
The reverse, however, is the case, and India is justly celebrated for
the singularly law-abiding character of its inhabitants. In reply to
this it may be said that India differs so widely from England in race,
manners, religion and social organisation, that all these divergencies
must be taken into account when comparing the position of the two
countries with respect to crime. A contention of this kind is in
perfect harmony with what is here advanced. It is, in fact, a part of
our case that crime is either produced or checked by a great many
causes besides economic conditions. The comparison we are now making
between the criminal statistics of England and India is intended to
show that economic conditions alone will not satisfactorily explain
the genesis of crime. If such were the case India would have a blacker
criminal record than England, for it has a lower material standard of
life; but as India is able to exhibit a fairer record, in spite of its
economic disadvantages, we are compelled to come to the conclusion
that poverty is not the only factor in the production of crime.
A further illustration of the same fact will be found on examining the
Prison Statistics of the United States. According to an instructive
paper recently read by Mr. Roland P. Falkner before the American
Statistical Association, the foreign born population in America is, on
the whole, less inclined to commit crime than the native born
American. In some of the States--Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and
California--"the foreign born," says Mr. Falkner, "make a worse
showing than the native. In a great number of cases, notably
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, we notice hardly any
difference. Elsewhere, the showing is decidedly in favour of the
foreign born, and nowhere more strongly than in Wisconsin and
Minnesota." It is perfectly certain that the foreign born population
of the United States is not, as a rule, so well-off economically as
the native born citizen. The vast proportion of the emigrant
population is composed of poor people seeking to better their
condition, and it is well known that a largo percentage of the hard,
manual work done in America is performed by those men. The economic
condition of the average native born American is superior to the
economic condition of the average emigrant; but the native American,
notwithstanding his economic superiority, cuts a worse figure in the
statistics of crime. This is a state of things the Americans
themselves are just beginning to perceive, and it cannot fail to make
them uneasy as to the efficacy of some of their erratic methods of
punishing crime. It has, until recently, been the habit of American
statisticians to compare the foreign born population with the whole of
the native population with respect to crime. The outcome of this
method of comparison was taken all round favourable to the born
Americans, and for many years people satisfied themselves with the
belief that a high percentage of crime in the United States was due to
the foreign element in the community. It is now seen that this method
of calculation is defective and false. A comparatively small number of
foreigners emigrate to the United States under eighteen years of age;
in order, therefore, to make the comparison between natives and
foreigners accurate, it must be made with foreigners over eighteen and
Americans over eighteen, for it is after persons pass that age that
they are most prone to commit crime. The result of this new and more
correct method of comparison has been to show that the native American
element, that is to say, the element best situated economically, is
also the element which perpetrates most crimes. Such a result is only
another illustration of the truth that an advanced state of economic
well-being is not necessarily accompanied by greater immunity from
crime.
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