Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/172

168 population. During the decade following, the immigration from Italy, Poland, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans greatly increased, and Newark got her full share of all these elements. The police reports of the period following show an increase in the ratio of crimes of violence in general, while the ratio of arrests for homicide in 1900 was five times greater than in 1890. That this great increase was not merely the result of an unusual year is shown by more recent statistics. The annual average ratio of arrests for homicide in Newark for the six years 1899-1904 was 9.16 per one hundred thousand of population; this is on the basis of the population of the census of 1900, more recent statistics not being available.

In New Haven, Connecticut, where the Italian population has greatly increased since 1890, the ratio of arrests for homicide has about doubled during the past six or eight years. In 1880, the ratio of arrests for murder and manslaughter in that city was 1.59 per 100,000 of inhabitants; in 1890, 2.46; and during the four years 1901-04 there were 4.16 arrests per 100,000 of population on the charge of killing a fellow man. This ratio is still quite low, compared with some cities of the east, but the increase is very significant, especially in view of the fact that the second generation of foreigners is always more criminally inclined than the first.

The relation of immigration to the proportion of crimes of violence in urban counties is well exemplified in the various large cities of the Empire State.

In the city of New York, with its million and a half of foreigners, constituting as they now do more than 37 per cent, of the total population, and nearly half of whom are from countries other than those of northern Europe, we find very favorable conditions for a comparatively high ratio of crimes of violence. Consulting the police statistics of New York City, I find that the ratio of arrests for homicide has increased more than fourfold since 1880, rising from 3.6 per 100,000 in that year, to 6.7 in 1890, and 13.12 in 1900. The annual average ratio for the six years 1898-1903 was 13.23 per 100,000 of inhabitants. There are no statistics available showing the proportion of these homicides which were committed by New York's immigrant population. Many of the journals of the great metropolis charge the Italians (of whom there are now about 400,000 in that city) with a large share of the murders committed; and when it is considered that, as shown in a preceding table (No. II.), one out of every 1,906 Italians in this country is held for murder, it is apparent that the charge is not without foundation. Some idea of the problems arising from such a vast influx of aliens as the past few years have witnessed is derived from the records of New York's Children's Court. Of the 7,647 children arraigned during the year ending December 31, 1904, more than half were born in Italy or Russia or of parents born in those countries.