304 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



punishment of crime, the prevention of dangerous acts are all 

 functions of the commonwealth. And this with good reason : it 

 would be intolerable to have an independent law-making au- 

 thority set up within the territory of a state. No local com- 

 munity can be permitted to become a nursery of criminals, a cave 

 of Adullam serving as a resort for dangerous elements. Horse 

 thieves and burglars will not restrict their malignant activity to 

 the township of their residence. They may even spare their 

 neighbors and live by spoiling persons at a distance. 



The criminals of a city go out to plunder rural banks and 

 stores. The common interest does not stop at city lines. The 

 common enemy must be caught where he can be overtaken. The 

 recent extension of trolley lines into the country and the intro- 

 duction of swift automobiles have widened the field for profes- 

 sional burglars of cities. Against these trained villains the thin 

 safes of country merchants and banks are mere tissue paper. 



The rural constabulary is no match for city bred criminals, 

 skillful in the use of dynamite and electricity, and shrewd in 

 studying the hours best adapted for their exploits. The sheriff 

 at the county seat is a toy in the hands of a professional sneak 

 thief or burglar. Even if he can spare time from collecting the 

 fees which fall to him as spoils of his office, he has no natural 

 or acquired qualifications as a detective ; he is both awkward and 

 ignorant. Local agents of peace and justice have only a local 

 knowledge of persons bent on crime, usually those who are most 

 harmless, stupid inebriates, naughty boys whose mothers have 

 neglected to spank them. Rural sheriffs and constables know 

 nothing of sleek, well dressed, polite criminals who reside in com- 

 fort in the city and put up at the best inn of the country town 

 while planning to rob a bank or a merchant 's cash drawers. The 

 big, burly sheriff is a baby in cunning when pitted against a wily 

 safe-blower who from childhood has lived by his wicked wits and 

 fooled professional detectives. The rural officials are made cow- 

 ardly by their habits of life ; they know nothing of the daring 

 which is characteristic of urban firemen and policemen who face 

 death daily and never think of shrinking. A desperate fellow 

 may dynamite fish, contrary to law, in a lake near a state uni- 

 versity; but farmers and professors are afraid to inform, and 

 county officials are too timid to arrest. State game wardens, 



