i 3 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



100,000 of population among native whites for murder and murderous 

 assaults was 94.16, among the foreign white population the ratio was 

 146.65 per one hundred thousand. Among the negroes the ratio was 

 107.52. 



In considering the above statistics, the fact should be borne in 

 mind that the greater frequency of crimes of violence among certain 

 elements of the foreign-born population does not imply an inherent 

 and ineradicable viciousness or criminality among these unfortunate 

 immigrants, but merely a lawlessness due to unfavorable environment 

 and inadequate education, mental and manual. Crime is twin brother 

 to poverty, and both are the children of ignorance and greed. 



It may be said, in conclusion, that while crimes of violence have in- 

 creased in Chicago during the past thirty-five years, the increase has 

 not been so great as has been represented, and that the alarming reports 

 sent out about the " carnival of crime " in Chicago are usually without 

 especial significance, since crimes of violence occur in all great cities 

 sporadically, generally in quick succession. At the end of the year 

 it is found, as a rule, that no unusual increase for the twelve months 

 has taken place, or that even an actual decrease has occurred, as was 

 the case in Chicago during the year 1906. 



For the past four or five years the American public has been 

 startled by sensational reports regarding " the terrible increase of 

 crime in New York City." The year 1906 brought the usual quota 

 of comment and criticism. More recently the apparently unprovoked 

 killing of a policeman by an Italian assassin has focused attention 

 upon the fact that at least 1,600 of the foreign-born element of the 

 great metropolis have been permitted to go about the streets armed 

 with a deadly weapon. This evil practise is tolerated more or less in 

 nearly all our great cities, and with the same disastrous results. New 

 York, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and other rapidly 

 growing cities, nearly all show an increase in the proportion of crimes 

 of violence commensurate with the changing character of their im- 

 migrant population. 1 But, contrary to popular opinion, the increase 

 of homicide in New York City has been very slight during the past 

 decade, the year 1906 excepted. This agrees with the fact that the 

 racial composition of the population has not materially changed during 

 the five or six years preceding 1905. Taking a longer period, how- 

 ever, we find quite an increase in the number of crimes of violence, 

 especially assaults Avith a deadly weapon, and, apparently, murder and 

 attempts thereat. In 1880, when less than ten per cent, of New 

 York's alien population was drawn from Russia and southern Europe, 



1 The extent of this change was partially traced by the present writer in 

 an article on " The Effects of Immigration on Homicide in American Cities," 

 Popular Science Monthly, August, 1906. 



