Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/174

170 of arrests for murder and manslaughter in Cincinnati during the nine years, 1880, 1800 and 1898-1904 (as shown in the foregoing table), was 5.56; for Cleveland during the three years for which statistics are available, the annual average was 10.71 per 100,000 of inhabitants. The causes of this disparity may readily be found in the relative character and proportions of their foreign population. The United States census for 1900 shows that whereas in Cincinnati 35 per cent, of the inhabitants were native-born of native parents, in Cleveland only 23 per cent, belonged to this class. In Cleveland the foreign-born formed 46.1 per cent, of the population; in Cincinnati but 17.8 per cent, were foreigners. It is also worthy of notice, in this connection, that whereas about 37 per cent, of Cleveland's foreign-born population were from southern Europe, in Cincinnati the same countries furnished only about 11 per cent, of the foreign-born inhabitants. In 1903, 13,651 immigrants settled in Cleveland; and during the same year there were 23 murders, 34 stabbing affrays, 45 shooting affrays, 56 cutting affrays, while 131 persons were assaulted. In 1904, over seven thousand immigrants arrived and settled in Cleveland, among whom were 1,464 Italians, 1,098 Hungarians, 1,637 Poles, 826 Russians, 390 Slavonians, 133 Roumanians and 30 Croatians. During this year there were 30 stabbing affrays, 51 shooting affrays, 6 murders, 91 cutting affrays, and 121 persons assaulted. As to how many of these crimes were perpetrated by foreigners is not given in the police statistics, but in his report the Chief of Police remarks that—"While the records show a large number of the arrested to be of foreign birth, it by no means follows that our foreign-born element is a criminal element, but that our city is a cosmopolitan one and our extensive manufacturing interests have drawn a large laboring class to the city." In the report of the Chief of Police of Cincinnati, the number of foreign-born among those arrested is given. The report for 1904 shows that among the 7,135 white persons arrested in Cincinnati, 4,437, or 64.04 per cent, were foreigners, though the foreign-born in that city, in 1900, formed but 18.61 per cent, of the white population. The total number of persons arrested for murder during the year was 31. In respect to other offenses, 68 were arraigned for 'cutting with intent to kill'; 49 were arrested for 'shooting with intent to kill' There were also 146 arrests for 'cutting,' and 61 for 'shooting' a fellow man (with what 'intent' in these cases is not stated). While a large proportion of these crimes of violence were undoubtedly committed by the foreign whites, it must also be taken into consideration that Cincinnati has a large negro population, numbering, in 1900, 14,482: and that while they comprised but 4.4 per cent, of the total population, the number of negroes arrested during the year numbered 2,822, or 19.60 per cent, of the total population of the city.

In the table given above showing the ratio of arrests for homicide