EDUCATION AND CRIME

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2, 14 January 1909, Page 51

EDUCATION AND CRIME

The following letter from the Rev. Father ..Coffey, Adm., St. Joseph's Cathedral, Duriedin, appeared in the . Otago Daily Times of January 7: — ' Sir,— rln my letter to you of the 26th ult. I said ' I have made my protest and do not intend to .follow the subject further.' Your article of even date is so unjust to the Catholic body that L am forced, against my expressed inclination, to call attention to two points therein. I.' Though in your article, of the 4th inst. you admit ' That what I had said on' the prevalence of juvenile crime had unfortunately a good deal to justify it,' and in your article of even date, you say ' We are constrained occasionally to deplore the prevalence of juvenile crime,' yet you then proceed to argue that because ' the statistics do not show an increase of the number of criminals condemned to gaol in the Dominion since 1892 there, is no actual increase in juvenile crime. I did not write of the inckease of crime. T wrote of the prevalence of crime at the present day, which you yourself have already practically admitted, and- which is lamented by most of the press >in the Dominion. I might also answer that the statistics of to-day do not take account of a large amount of crime that the statistics of '1892 took account. We have progressed in the manner of dealing with old and young offenders since then. In addition to those admitted to probation, of which the statistics quoted by you take no account, numbers are now handed over to charitable organisations that in those days were sent to prison. This fact alone alters the whole significance of your figures and' greatly weakens, their value for purposes of comparison. Personally, I prefer the ex-; pressed opinion of the judges, magistrates, and business menof the Dominion to statistics of -such a kind. It is weir known from Auckland to the Bluff that "such men lament, the prevalence of juvenile crime. The situation is such as ought to make men pause and think. It is a matter of clear and necessary inference that our educational system has a great deal to do with this, admitted sad state of affairs. The general upbringing of the youth of the land has to bear the responsibility of it, . and the educational system (which, no matter . what you say to the contrary, ignores God's laws as the moral sanction of our actions) is one of the most important factors in the upbringing of the child. 2. When you cast down,, the usual shibboleth 'of the number of Catholics in gaol ' as a proof that our Catholic schools, as seen in the result, are no "better, hut even worse, than the public schools of, the Dominion, I am afraid you ar.e cutting ' a rod to beat yourself .* If you prove to me that even a fair minority "of the prisoners in our gaols, who sign themselves 'Catholics,' .were ever educated in our Catholic schools, or that -70 per cent, of them were ever adult members of a Catholic congregation, I will admit the failure of our Catholic schools. It is a notorious fact that the so-called Catholics who get into gaol come from that class which does not attend; our schools. In as far as they have received any education they are; in the' vast majority of cases, the product of the public school system, and as such will tell against it. It is still more notorious that many, very many, of the prisoners, who for various reasons put themselves down as -Catholics on the gaol register, were never even baptised into the Catholic Church nor born of parents who professed the Catholic faith. Every gaol chaplain has proof of this fact; it was ably demonstrated in the New Zealand Tablet a week or two ago ; and at the present moment, if you_ put a reporter at my disposal! with the kind permission of the Dunedin gaoler, I will give you proof of the nulnber who are at present there who have no right to the title Catholic which they assumed when put behind the 'prison bars. Therefore, before you can argue from the prison statistics yoxi will have to prove, first, that every prisoner who is ' enumerated as a Catholic is a genuine Catholic; and, secondj that he has been educated in a Catholic school. If both propositions are not proven, it is manifestly unfair to saddle the Catholic body and • the Catholic school with his delinquencies. Let the school in which he got his education bear the burden. - -

Before I close this, my last, letter on this subject allow me to draw your attention to what I may call ' another injustice to Ireland.' In your first article on. this subject you place- her amongst the countries which show a loav ' birth-rate ' without any explanation. In some able articles published in The Times (11th and 16th October, 1906; Mr. Sidney Webb discusses the question of ' Physical Degeneracy or Race Suicide.' In the course of these articles he says':. ' Ireland is the only part of the" United Kingdom in which the birth-rate has not declined. In Ireland itself it has declined a little, in semi-Protestant Belfast, but -not ■at all in Roman Catholic Dublin.'- Even .if it did show a decline it is manifestly unjust that a country where

the manhood and womanhood have, been, and are being, driven from its. shores, should be compared with more fortunate countries. The method of reckoning the birth-rate per 1000 of the total population is by no means a correct method. The^ rate should be per 1000 -of the ' married women of child-bearing age,' and if such a test,' which is the only true one, were applied, it ' would show that Ireland was not. as low in the birth-rates as this or other civilised countries. In a new country such as this, with a young, active, comparatively well-to-do population, it is monstrous that man is the only creature that reverses the decree of the Creator { to increase and multiply.' The editor of the Tablet will no doubt, on his return to town, justify his own attitude on the subject. I would feel obliged did you print the enclosed extract from a speech made by President Roosevelt, which I think very apropos, " as a postscript to my. letter. — I am, etc., JAMES COFFEY. St. Joseph's Cathedral. President Roosevelt pointed out in his Harvard address some of the evils which have developed in the universities of- the country, such as the growth of brutality and~ professionalism in college sports, and the corrupting evil of luxury in college life. The greatest defect of all, it seems to us, is the lack of adequate training in moral philosophy. In our. striving to be broad and liberal, and to establish a system under which people of different races and grade and prejudices may be gathered, we have given up much which is most fundamental to the welfare of the country. There is nothing which is needed more at this time 'than ' thorough training in the principles of morality. The present generation already reveals the weakness resulting from the lack of such a training. What will* the next generation show, and the generation which shall succeed it, unless an effort is made to remedy this vital defect? It is useless to say that the churches, the press, and the libraries will supply the necessary moral instruction. Fully one-half of the population of the country does not attend church. A large portion of the press is inadequate to guide the people on moral questions, and some of the newspapers are actually vicious and unprincipled in their utterances. The libraries are mainly used for works of fiction, most of which are absolutely worthless even as cultivators of taste and refinement. The only way to teach morals is in the schools, and unless we are to become mere machines of)> money-making, instruction in morals must go hand-in-hand with the instruction of the mind. Moreover, unless this is brought about, we shall in the end fail to be even makers of money, for the knowledge and practical application of morality -are essential parts of that economic efficiency which makes for material prosperity. — Wall Street Journal. ,r