626 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Tlie Massachusetts census of 1885, whicli was taken with great 

 care and completeness, shows the same condition of affairs. The 

 foreign born of that State were 27'1 per cent of the whole popula- 

 tion, and yet they furnished 44"03 per cent of the paupers, 40*G0 

 of the prisoners, and 36'87 per cent of the convicts. 



If we take the statistics of the children of foreigners the result 

 is almost the same. The people of foreign parentage in Massa- 

 chusetts are 47"36 per cent of the whole, yet the number of pris- 

 oners with both parents foreign born was 60'30 per cent, and the 

 number of convicts with both parents foreign born was 51"14 per 

 cent. 



The statistics of the national census of 1890 reveal the same 

 condition. The native white element of the population is 54*87 

 per cent, but it produces only 43*19 per cent of the white 

 prisoners. The foreign white element, counting foreign born 

 and the children of foreign born, is only 32*93 per cent of 

 the population, and yet it produces 56*81 per cent of the white 

 prisoners. 



The statistics may also be stated by ratios per million in each 

 class so as to include the negroes, which gives a still more strik- 

 ing result : 



Prisoners. Ratio per 1,000,000. 



Native white 882 ■ 



Foreign white 1,747 



Negro 3,250 



The negro, though born on the soil, is in every sense an alien, 

 and if we wish to see how much crime is due to our various ex- 

 periments in importing foreign populations we have only to con- 

 nect the negro ratio of crime with the foreign white ratio and 

 compare them with the native ratio. The result can be seen by a 

 glance at the above table and is rather startling. 



We hear a great deal about the crime of murder in the United 

 States and its great increase, and it may be interesting to know 

 the source of a large portion of it. Our population is now divided 

 into native white, foreign white, negro, Chinese, Japanese, and 

 civilized Indians ; and the census of 1890 shows the percentage of 

 homicide to be assigned to each in proportion to percentage of 

 population : 



