THE STAMPING OUT OF CRIME, 529 



is true not only of individuals, but also of masses as well. We 

 have to prove it the statistics of Dr. Ogle, in regard to the Eng- 

 lish population at a time of a steady increase of crime : " Eighty- 

 five per cent of the population were able to read and write in the 

 years 1881-'84, and as this represents an increase of ten per cent, 

 since the passing of the Elementary Education Act, it is probably 

 not far from the mark to say that at the present time almost 

 ninety per cent of the English population can read and write. 

 In other words, only ten per cent of the population is wholly 

 ignorant." In spite of this general diffusion of knowledge, in 

 spite of compulsory education in the most critical and formative 

 years of childhood, there was no decrease, but on the contrary an 

 increase of crime. 



Again, it has been conclusively proved that destitution, that 

 specter which frightens the hearts of men, which covers and ob- 

 scures with its sodden wings every wrongdoing in human life, is 

 not in any way the real cause of crime ; it is true that often it is 

 the excuse. But it is only the excuse, and even in that capacity 

 it serves for the want of something better. However, relying 

 upon this excuse, one would naturally think that men with the 

 greatest burdens would be the most liable to lawbreaking, and 

 that times of profound destitution would be those most deeply 

 marked with crime. As a matter of fact, both of these supposi- 

 tions are false, so that we find criminals, as a rule, to be those 

 persons having almost no responsible burdens, and, strangest of 

 all, the times of prosperity show the greatest flourishing of crime. 

 Therefore, Morrison, a reliable writer, says : " It is a melancholy 

 fact that the moment wages begin to rise, the statistics of crime 

 almost immediately follow suit, and at no period are there more 

 offenses of all kinds against the person than when prosperity is 

 at its height." Again : " It is found that the stress of economic 

 conditions has very little to do with making these unhappy beings 

 what they are ; on the contrary, it is in periods of prosperity that 

 they sink to the lowest depths." 



In like manner it can be fully and plainly proved that the 

 other fortuitous and external conditions which are usually blamed 

 for the wrongdoing in the world are either quite innocent or 

 merely accidental. Thus, climate is said by some to be a guilty 

 factor ; but we all know how easy it is to show that there is no 

 part of the world untainted. Seasons are responsible, say others. 

 Here, again, a strange fact confronts us : for it is in the pleasant- 

 est seasons of the year, when people have least in Nature to con- 

 tend with, when they are most abroad and mingling together, 

 that crime is commonest. Some well-intentioned men say that 

 certain foods, especially " strong " and animal foods, so inflame 

 the tendency to viciousness that evil instincts flare up, and as a 

 VOL. XLvni. 38 



