The factors partial to viciousness and crime are many. There are the great economic factors, such as insufficiency of work and lack of wage. Both are conducive to poverty and mendicancy, which in themselves are productive of an adverse environment. The slums exist mainly because of some error in the economic laws of the land. By reason of the slums other factors are produced, all fundamental in the production of crime.
It has been the universal rule in making up statistics of crime to place drink as the fundamental cause of most of it. Rather than being the great cause I am inclined to think that it is the great excuse of the criminal world. Every man convicted of error naturally endeavors to “excuse” that error. And what better excuse or palliative is there than drink? It has gotten to be a habit with some people to look upon drink as indeed an honest excuse. No one knows this better than the criminal, and in giving drink as the cause of his falling he but follows the rule of the natural man.
I do not believe drink to be that great cause of crime which it is reported to be. Of course all drinking men are not criminals, yet neither are all criminals drinking men. Indirectly, though, drink is a big cause. The environment of the saloon, rather than drink itself, is what strikes me as being the great factor in producing the criminal. The saloons exist by reason of the permission of the State, and by reason of this fact the State stands responsible for a good part of the crime committed as a result of the saloon’s influence.
It would be impossible, as it would be useless for me to endeavor to indicate all the causes that produce crime. In my mind the center of the evil is reached, and promising work is done when we look toward a betterment of social conditions in the slums and poverty-stricken districts of the city. Reforms made here will soon make themselves felt in other areas. It is Utopian to believe that crime will ever be entirely obliterated in this life. Even believing this as true, the fact remains that by right methods, and human understanding, a considerable part of the underworld can be brought to see the Light.
CHAPTER XXIII
A PLEA FOR DISCHARGED PRISONERS
I would fain, before concluding this story, lay before my readers the cause of the discharged prisoner. I would ask the world to take him on his promise once again. If not to forgive, I would ask that you forget. The road to regeneration is strewn with many obstacles. The man leaving prison doesn’t know all of the pitfalls waiting for him. He imagines it easy to break away from the old life and start straight again. But I know better. I know the pull of the old life. I know the magic spell it weaves about one; and, friends, the way is hard. I’ve heard the call of the road, seductive with its melody. I know how it pulls and tugs at the very heartstrings of a man. There’s a magic in the underworld, with its lights and shadows, hard to comprehend. There’s a glamour in the life like the interest of an old romance. I know the fight ahead of all the men starting out on the straight road, and I would ask that you in some way make it a little easier for them. A smile isn’t much, an encouraging word goes a long way. They all help, they all lift the man a little nearer to the summit of his desire. In your own way you can be of inestimable help in the making of a man. Will you do your part?
Formerly the man behind the bars didn’t count. You locked him up and threw away the keys. When his time was up you sent him out into the world with not a care for his future. Why should you care? Why worry of the road the convict took? The law was vindicated in his punishment. The law would be waiting his next criminal act. But all this was some time ago. Now a new order of things is come to your keeping. Across the nation an era of good will toward the prisoner is sweeping. Understanding of his position is rapidly being brought about. People are more and more willing to give him a chance. Eager hands are outstretched, ready to help him over the rough places of the road. Big minds are taking hold of the problem. A spirit of true religion is being incorporated into the methods of the social worker. But, best of all, waiting for the man desirous of turning his back on the past, is the glad hand of true brotherhood.