308 



THE ABNORMAL MAN. 



Poverty and 

 Crime. 



Environment 

 and Crime* 



Fully twice as many criminals are born in the 

 cities in proportion to the population as in the 

 country. 



It is true that bad environments and vicious 

 postnatal training have much to do in producing 

 the dependent and criminal classes. In some in- 

 stances they are doubtless the principal factors; 

 yet a careful comparison of the physical develop- 

 ment and psychology of 100 children born in the 

 better districts of a city with 100 born in the 

 poorer districts will readily show that the former 

 have by inheritance a great advantage over the 

 latter. 



Mr. Ferri, before the Congress of Criminal 

 Anthropology in Paris, said : "Out of 100 persons 

 living in the same misery and abandonment, 60 

 commit no crime ; of the other 40, 5 commit sui- 

 cide, 5 become insane, 5 are beggars and 25 com- 

 mit crime ; therefore, social environment is not the 

 exclusive cause of crime." 



Commercialism is fast becoming one of the 

 principal causes of prostitution and its correlated 



Commercialism evils - The miserable pittance paid salesgirls, fac- 

 tory hands and women who toil in the sweat- 

 shops drives thousands into a life of shame. The 

 salaries paid in many instances will not house, 

 feed and clothe the toiler; therefore, she is abso- 

 lutely forced to sell herself, steal, starve, beg or 

 commit suicide. Anna Besant aptly said, "Our 

 great employers build homes for fallen women 

 while they are manufacturing them in their fac- 

 tories." 



I recall a scene in a room where four young 

 women toiled day and night making vests at a 



and Vice. 



