884 CRIMINAL ANTHROPOLOGY. 



statist ics ill the United States in relation to crime and criminals, went 

 (Ui to s;iy that only in some of the States were records lve})t so that 

 statistics could be ol)taincMl. 



New York and Massachusetts are the most i)romineut. But their 

 records are kept, each on its own i)lan and without relation to the ])lan 

 of the other, and therefore they lose the bcnetit of comparison with 

 each other. In most of the States of the Union there has been only a 

 slight attempt to keep vital statistics. Marriages, births, deaths, con- 

 viction for crime, are intended to bo made a matter of record, but the 

 ]>enalty provided by law for the neglect is so slight and so rarely en- 

 forced as to be ineffectual. Ours is a new country; our ])eople have 

 never been accustomed to strictness in making or keeping such rec- 

 ords. The population in many localities is sparse, the people change 

 their residence often, they go and come at will, there is no military 

 service demanded of them, ajid it is exceedingly rare for a i)auper to be 

 returned to the i)lace of his original domicil that he may be supported 

 at public expense. So the needs which exist in Europe for such records 

 fail in the United States. The only necessity for such statistics is be- 

 lieved by our people to be for historic or sociologic i)urposes. This 

 has not yet been sufficiently ai)preciated by them to overcome the ditfi- 

 culties. There are also more difficulties than exist in European coun- 

 tries. Our country is large; comi)ared with European countries it has 

 a vast extent. It was also as compared with these countries, dis- 

 covered only a few years ago. It has had only about 100 years of life. 

 One hundred years ago it had but 3,000,000 souls ; it extends from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, a distance of nigh 5,000 miles, audits center of 

 l)opulation remained, until within 50 years, practically on the Atlantic 

 coast, and even now has not gone beyond 600 miles to the westward. 

 Our country had to be rescued from the possession of the barbarian, 

 and a people thus engaged have but little time and less inclination to 

 keej) records and statistics which in their opinion have only a senti 

 mental utility. So it has as yet been scarcely attempted. We may 

 accomplish it after a time; not at present. The difficulties are in- 

 creased by our form of government. We have that anomaly of two 

 sovereignties within one country, two governments over one people; 

 and I explained the difference between our State and national govern- 

 ments, each of which has its own jurisdiction over crime, and yet each 

 is independent of the other. So I said the United States Census is de- 

 ])endent largely for its statistics of crime upon information obtained 

 from the State authorities. If, on the other hand, it be a State census, 

 each will be separate and distinct, and may be different from any other. 

 So it was that in the State of Pennsylvania the statistics of crime 

 showed the number of convictions to be 2,030, while the State of New 

 York, with but a slightly increased j)opulation returned 58,070 convic- 

 tions; twenty times more than that of Pennsylvania. The explana- 

 tion given was, that in the former State convictions only in the courts of 



