GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 70, 22 March 1916, Page 9

GERMANY.

■ i coiromow or depravity. CRIME STATISTICS. «NeV&^ g 5^ c «K«a»d in the 1 eivW I * Her^M of January 30 last, S„™* t-^. Omi,an6on between crime and immorality in Germany and __£__£ The article was written by Mrf^orge Scho o r\? mC L PaI ° f the toiS h» th T- Haven ' Conn ' Fox' tik A ?i 1 ! 58 v figUreß from *» "Statis- 1 statfst.ir^ c „ U f t H hen^ ichs " the Im P 28 %Za ■£?. G€rman Empire), Vol. -o, called "Knminalstatistik fur das so? n o £ f eP^ mber T 30 ' 19H, Professor Lasfriend as fl? U,liv « Sity ' Wote *° » All fl fo!l " s r We h ave no friends. All fear us, and look upon us as dan-er-and Sh We 3re diligent, active. corLSS SU,pen ° r - European conspiracy has woven around us a web of lies and slander. As for us, we are truthful. Our characteristics'are hu inanity gentleness, conscience, the virtues of Christ. In a world of wickedness we represent love, and God is with us. The falsehood and fatuous folly of these words." writes Mr. Fox, "must be clear to any earnest student of modern history. My interest in the subject was first aroused by seeing figures, dealing with crime in Br. Thomas Smith's book. The 6,0ul of Germany.' There he states the figures for the average yearly number of convictions for serious and brutal crimes in Germany and England respectively, with the caution that the population of England and Wales is twothirds, or with more exactness, threefifths, of that of Germany. The figures are:— Germany. Ewrtand. _, „ , , 1597-1007 1900-1010 Wtahciously aud feloniously wounding 172.153 .. 1,262 Murders ~ 350 g - Unuatural crimes 10,795 ".'. 662 Illegitimate children .. 178,115 .. 37 041 Divorce petitions 20,340 .. 965 Malicious dama_e to property 25.759 .. 35S Arson 610 .. 278 "These figures of the gross immorality of the German nation in comparison with England, which nation Germans are so fond of calling hypocritical and degenerate, were 60 astounding that I could not believe their accuracy, and so began an examination of the official

sources to test their accuracy. His figures for Germany were apparently taken from the Statistical Handbook for the years mentioned, which was not accessible to mc, and I therefore emharked on an investigation of my own. The number of persons convicted of criminal offences against morality in Germany by yearly average for the five years 1904-1908, was 12,902, under section 14, criminal code 5, 60433; Kweikampf (duelling). 100; Mord (murder), 80; Tofschlag (manslaughter). 187; Kindesmord (infanticide), 134; fahrlas-6ige-Toetung (death by criminal neglect), 692; which, with other similar crimes, brought the total to J 777 deathcausing crimes. There were 1330 cases of arson. 'Tage 130 of this volume throws a sad light upon youthful depravity in Germany. Of 13,562 persons convicted in 1908 of violations of section 13 of the Criminal Code, viz., crimes against morality of sexual crimes of different 6orts, 1319 were between the ages of 12 and IS, or about one-tenth. Of 1957 persons in the same year who were convicted of crimes causing death, 176 weTe betweenthe ages of "12-and 18, w a' little less than one-tenth. Of the 434 convicted of intentional arson. 14S were between the ages of 12 and 18, or onethird. Of those convicted of arson through carelessness (817 in number), 221, or one-fourth, were between the ages of 12 and 18. "Another common ..test of the morality of a nation is the number of divorces granted, the number of illegitimate children, the number of suicides. These for Germany can.be found each year in the Statisches Jahrbuch fur das Deutsche Reich. For 1914 the number of divorces is 16,911. The yearly average for the five years 1907-1911 is 14,177. In the same'volume for 1914, page 22, is found the number of illegitimate children, born alive or dead. The number in 1910 was 170.554, and the annual average for the ten years 1901-1910 is 178,081. On page 34 of the same book-is found the statistics of suicide. They are for the year 1912 a total number of 14,864. In Saxony the number of suicides below 20 years of age is 18 per cent, and below 30 is 30 per cent. "Let us turn now to similar statistics for England, so cordially and unjustly hated for the last 20 years by a large portion of German leaders and people. The criminal statistics for England and Wales are the annual average for the period of five years. 1906 to 1910. They are taken from Parliamentary Papers for 1912-1913, CX., page 21. They refer to persons prosecuted or indicted in the assizes or quarter sessions of those, years. In that respect they differ from the German statistics, which refer to the German persons convicted of the offences. To make the comparisons exact. 80 per cent of the figures quoted should be taken in comparison with Germany. Offences against the person:—Murder, 65; attempts at murder, 32; threats to murder, 10; manslaughter, 131: feloniously wounding, 129: illegal operations, 22; unnatural offences, 28; attempts to com- ! Mit such, 62; other crimes, 840; bigamy, 112; arson, 124. "With regard to . divorce decrees in England, the average number of decrees granted annually during the years 1906----»9"10 was 638. "The number of illegitimate births was 37,390. The number of suicides is given as 3.567. In Bodio's 'Movimento Delia Popolazione' for 1894 Austria has the largest percentage of illegitimate births, viz., 14.73. Germany has and England 4.31. The tables of suicides by yearly average for the ten years 1881-1890 in yon Mayr 'Der Selbstmord' shows that Germany nearly heads the list, with 209 per 1,000,000 inhabitants, while England and Wales have. 77 Ito every 1,000,000 inhabitants. "In conclusion Jet us make a brief comparison between the two countries, based !on these statistics. The papulation of Germany is to that of England as 5 to 3. As to crime, the proportion of bigamy is 1 to 2 nearly.; in unnatural offences it is 7 to 1; in sexual crimes it is about 9to 1: in murder, manslaughter and other death causing crimes it is sto 1; in arson it is 13 to 1. With regard to divorces it is 22 to 1. As to illegitimate births it is 5 to 1. The number of suicides is four times as great as in England."- ...... To the thousands at American citizens who are tired and sickened to nausea by this false cry of the knightly Hohenzollern dynasty's struggle for existence for freedom of the seas, for the spread of noble kultur (the article concludes), these statistics may prove an interesting , study. To any fairminded man they | would seem to show that in the moral -righteousness and respect for law which | should pervade a Christian, civilised , nation, and in her relation to the other peoples of the world as setting, a high I standard of moral, conduct, England 'towers above Germany as a giant above a pigmy.