Show arm AV WOR ri 4 xe r elm oil eilf HE mere mare name of the RUB nue elan clan secret police has haa always inspired a feeling of dread in every honest american heart yet the tha assassination of the gam 5 bler bier rosenthal in new 14 1 york revealed a murderous V y ring that makes the czar azars a spy system appear tame by comparison comp arlton furthermore it seems that the rest of the nation which shuddered with virtuous horror st at the manhattan hattan crimes has good reason to feel ashamed compared to russia this joyous jolou land of freedom averages more than three murders to one worse than russia by far Is this country in its reckless disregard for human life and it Is piling up daml clde cide records at such auch a rate that even insurance experts are beginning to wonder if our vaunted civilization Is ie progressing as fast as an we think it I 1 la a always ways an open season for or unpopular russian officials pot shots at them thein are never held to violate tho the ethics of truo true sportsmanship aside ca from them however the russian Is no not t usually looking for human game when it cornea comes to real execution a new york gunman of the good bid days before lieutenant decker was convicted would put tho the ordinary nihilist in the class of sparrow shoot ers for real deviltry the nicely manicured murderers of the second avenue coffee houses wore ili a class by themselves the rough necked long bearded russian agitators who knew no better than to throw the primitive and bombs could never expect to rival their records barring nihilists nihilisms lists and anarchists however the great mass of russians are not murderers at heart by tar far the greatest proportion of the population to Is composed of ignorant peasants who drudge along as best they may with an extra portion of food and drink on feast east days they aro are stolid 1 individuals with a tingle of ism sm and melancholy as tho the conin common foa heritage of the slav race considering that almost exactly one official a day is brought down the russian marksmanship may he 19 held to be airey fairly airly good in view of 0 thep the driml tivo methods and weapons in the body of the population though the homicides are not greatly it if any in excess of those of england for the five years 1907 to 1912 according to figures recently given out by the statistical department of the ministry of the interior there were killings an average of 1643 annually with only homicides a year to her people england la Is one of the few nations with a record as low or lower on the other hand america with about slay slayings ings per year in her registration area alone Is at the top of the life taking nations just how many murders there are in this country in a year has never been definitely ascertained it la Is known however that in the 63 per cent of the population included in the stated that keep accurate vital statistics the ratio of killings per of population has ranged from 5 to 6 in the big cities it has gone as high as 83 judging from the known to tho the unknown there must be at least to persons slain every years yeara for instance during 1911 there were ere 1300 lives taken in our thirty largest cities giving the high water ratio above quoted in other words worda there are almost as many persons killed in our big towns as in the whole of russia in the decade ending with 1910 there were nearly lives taken in these same cities or three times as many as occurred in england in the samo same length of urns time on this point F L II 11 offman in a recent article in the spectator an insurance journal said the comparison brings out in startling contrast the disregard of human life in the united states at the present time the subject Is obviously one of most serious importance not only to life insurance companies compan lea but also to the public at large and granting the defects in the avat available lable statistics there can be no question of doubt buy that the american homicide rate Is exceedingly high and that tho the rate Is on the increase A conditi condition of this kind is not compatible with the common assumption that actual pro V gross ap 1 seang made in the united states in all Is being summed up under the term civilization and national welfare undoubtedly our worst record which moved mr air to make such a se severe vere assert assertion lod Is that of our cities and according to the statistics complied compiled for his article this follows HOMICIDE statistics FOR 80 30 AMERICAN CITIES MI 1901 1910 1311 1911 rate kate per rate nate per no N 0 no memphis tenn 1458 85 5 charleston S C ISO 25 23 savannah on if 25 now new orleans la 83 atlanta ga da 43 48 13 louisville K ky so 28 88 nashville tenn 40 st loula louis mo its san ban fir W cal 43 41 44 cincinnati ohio 94 ci chicago deago III 1659 84 91 spokane wash 66 80 8 3 27 seattle wash 76 20 7 79 9 washington D C 68 81 92 manhattan and the bronx N Y 1249 61 51 69 9 cleveland ohio 49 60 86 pittsburgh burgh pa 49 60 63 53 providence JEL I 1 97 48 13 boston oston ml mass aes 46 33 48 49 dayton ohio 44 43 8 67 brooklyn N X Y 43 42 61 86 baltimore md 40 27 17 48 Re reading adins pa 82 2 40 7 72 philadelphia pa IM 19 87 66 0 42 11 hartford artford conn 24 88 4 40 buffalo N Y 28 29 25 68 58 minneapolis minn 71 72 27 11 II 86 36 newark N J 68 23 6 17 Ro Tta cheter chester N Y 43 23 14 24 62 milwaukee wis 66 17 11 28 totals 69 1300 1301 83 88 the further we go the tha worse the record gets nor to Is it strange that we reach a point where as mr air hoffman says we begin to have grave doubts as to whether our vaunted civilization Is all that it to Is cracked up to be counting only the 30 principal cities the average ratio per of population has increased from 5 since the decade ending with 1891 to 72 for the 10 years ending with 1911 the maximum so BO far darwas waa reached in 1907 when th the ratio rose to 78 such a showing indeed moved our former ambassador to germany andrew D white to declare some years ago in a speech to the students of cornell university of which he be used to be president my own studies on an the subject which have now lasted through years and have been made in all parts of the union convince me that we lead the civilized world with the exception perhaps of lower italy and st sl elly in murders and especially in unpunished murders in proof of this you have only to consult statistics for the last iasi 16 15 y years which show that the number of murders has risen in proportion far beyond that of the increase of population 1 and from about a year t to 0 close upon also that of recent years only about one homicide in 74 has been capitally punished while there were more than 1650 murders in american cities in 1911 there were in all the nation lees than a hundred executions 1 when it comes to a section study of murder the south with its large colored population leads while th in actual numbers chicago la Is at the head bead of the murder cities its ratio Is tar far eclipsed by some of 0 the smaller towns below it lowest of all ratios ration are shown by the eastern cities 10 of w which during 1911 had homicides or 62 52 per of population much aluch worse wera were the central municipalities six of which showed or 9 per jurt juat a shado shade better were the three biggest western towns with 67 killings or a ratio of 85 awa away y the highest was the sout southern barn grou group P nine of which produced casualties reaching the terrible rate of 20 per or one for every of their population |