Okolona Messenger

THE STATISTICS OF CRIME.

The report of the warden of the Kansas penitentiary shows some curious facts, says the Topeka Mail and Breeze.

If all the people who ought to be in the penitentiary are there then Kansas is filled with a remarkably law abiding people, taken altogether. There are less than 800 prisoners credited to Kansas, or about one convict for each 2,000 population. There are 21 in the state that are not represented among the inmates of the pen. These are all counties of small population except Morris and Stafford. Either Morris and Stafford are filled up with remarkably good people or else the officers are not busy hunting up malefactors. Of the 1,100 prisoners 1,019 can read and write, showing that a reasonable amount of education does seem to prevent crime.

Three hundred and five, or considerably over one-fourth of the convicts, are negroes, although the negro population of Kansas is only about 1/28 of the total population, and the negroes of Oklahoma only comprise about 1/20 of the population of the territory.

If there were no more negroes in the penitentiary in proportion to the negro population of Kansas and Oklahoma than there are whites in proportion to the total white population the number of convicts would be 265 less than it is. One of the two things is certain: Either there is very much greater proportion of criminals among the negroes or the negro who commits a crime is more than 10 times as liable to be caught and punished as a white man who commits a crime.

Making all due allowances for any prejudice that exists against negroes, and for the fact that on account of prejudice it is possible the average jury may convict a negro on less evidence than a white man, the truth is that the showing is bad for the negroes of Kansas and Oklahoma.

The reason for this bad showing, in our opinion, is that a very large proportion of the negroes congregate in the larger towns and cities where too many of them become idlers and utterly worthless. The young fellows learn in too many cases to depend on shooting craps for a living instead of depending on honest work. The crap shooter finishes the preparatory department in jail and graduates in the penitentiary. This sort of schooling accounts for the fact that a total population of about 70,000 negroes in Kansas and Oklahoma furnishes 305 convicts, while the white population of about 1,900,000, counting the state and territory, only furnished 783 prisoners.

If the negro population could be got out of the towns and scattered about in the country and induced to engage in farming and truck gardening there would be a great decrease of criminal cases in the courts. So far as they have tried it the negroes make fairly good farmers and gardeners.

Negro farmers and gardeners in Shawnee county are almost without exception doing well and they are respected citizens. So long as 9-10 of the negroes hang about the towns so long they will furnish a large share of the criminals.