WHY MEN COMMIT CRIMES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6623, 12 September 1908, Page 5

WHY MEN COMMIT CRIMES

Tho number of crimes committed in our midst, (rays a Homo writer;, is a conslnhc source of wonder and dismay. A prominent criminologist attributes the alarming fact to sheer economic pressure. There has never been a time, ho 6ays, when it has been so ditlicult for people of culture and education to make a living mined to their cravings, .sever have luxury and enjoyment of hie been more alluring than to-day. Never have the temptation.-* been greater to tho man or woman of education, wlio gets umo or nothing for long, tiresome nours ol monotonous work. Under modem conditions tho woman becomes a courtesan and tho man. a criminal. xiuy arc forced to M-uit thcmscives, isurrounciou by luxury, 10 remain poor, while riiej aro dreaming of wealth and luxury, aim this creates rovoluntjonary thoughts and mured tho existing oiuca of society. lias-o you noticed how many rich elans wore poor ami aileu.gcmt but not educated i* I do not behove that tm founders of tho fortunes of the Rothschilds or Vanderbilts wo-ro tortured m their youih by dreams of wealth ami luxury", as aro many educated but pomyoung mom of 10-duy. Lieu of mtcJiignneu, of business instincts and acumen they were; it was in their nature to make money as a means of satisfying their irmnsUbio wishes, and they remained spartan .in their fasti', oven alter they had become rich. To glow rich a person must not bo too sensitive, not 100 nervous, not: tortured by dreams or ted by imagination. To ga ahead one must be saving, economical and energy tic. Nothing is so much ol a drawback ns too much imagination. The educated but poor young man m too impatient; his brain is filled with longing* and jealously; ho longs lor luxury, for wealth, and he compares his own poverty with tho wealth ana luxury of those he envies. It is Ums that ho becomes a criminal. lie sees only tho gosl, tho money, tho wealth, The glitter of tho gold dazzle* his eyes, end ho rushes ahead to grasp. Throwing down all obstacles in. his way, ho bursts tho doors which bar him from the treasures ho craves, lio is rulo« by an irresistible desire—that of getting rich.