The Necessity of a Revision of the Classification and Nomenclature Employed in the Vital Statistics of The Value of Percentile Grades. Luther Gulick. Murders in Massachusetts. Waldo M. Cook. . Growth of Cities in the United States During the Decade The Vital Statistics of an Apache Indian Community. . 426 Statistical Data for the Study of the Assimilation of Races and Nationalities in the United States. Rich- Character and Volume of the Money of the United States. Maurice L. Muhleman. . Fluctuations in the Secured Circulation of the National Results of Recent Investigations on Prices in the United Geographical Concentration: an Historic Feature of The Condition and Needs of Statistics of Marriage and Railway Statistics as Applicable to Earnings of Passen- Comparability of Trade Statistics of Various Countries. On the Application to Individual School Children of the Mean Values Derived from Anthropological Meas- urements by the Generalizing Method. send Porter. . W. Town- Anthropometric Statistics of Amherst College. Edward An Anthropometrical Study of the Effects of Gymnastic Railway Freight Traffic Statistics. 576 C. P. Leland. . . 611 REVIEWS AND MISCELLANY. Criminal Statistics of Buenos Ayres. L. P. Lane. . Divorce in France, Statistics of. G. N. Calkins. Statistics in the United States. Emigration, Assisted. W. Z. R. French Population. W. Z. Ripley. Index Numbers. A. Sauerbeck. . Interest, Fall of the Rate of, and its Influence on Provident Life in France, Average Length of. G. N. Calkins. Influence of, upon Mortality. Stature, On Some Relations of Human, to Muscular Strength. . 347 Suicides in the Austrian Army in the Years 1873–90. G. N. C. 264 of Vienna, Work of the Statistical Seminary at. Vitality of Children, Effect of Parents' Age on. G. N. C. AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION. NEW SERIES, No. 17. MARCH, 1892. Read before the AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION, Jan. 22, 1892. STATISTICS OF CRIME IN MASSACHUSETTS. BY FRED. G. PETTIGROVE. In the introduction to his work upon the American Commonwealth Prof. Bryce refers to "the special skill and knowledge needed to distill from rows of figures the refined spirit of instruction." We are reminded of this apt suggestion when we see widely differing opinions seeking support from the same statistics. It is not surprising that uninterested persons very often, to quote a great English satirist, reach a point where they look upon all statistical information as merely "little rivers of tabular statements periodically flowing into the howling ocean of tabular statements which no liver ever got to any depth in and came up sane." Despite this contemptuous estimate, however, every thoughtful person admits today that statistics are fraught with meaning, and make the basis for nearly all reforms. Disputes as to their significance do not lessen their value, for out of the shock of controversy comes the spark of truth. I remember that the general subject of statistics of crime in this state has been ably treated by two eminent authorities, Carroll D. Wright and William T. Harris; and that very recently the subject has been discussed with keen intelligence in the Forum magazine. If your Secretary had not assured me that this Association expects from me an explanation of the statistics, more than a comparison of the present time with former generations, I should not venture to consider a topic that has been so thoroughly canvassed. I leave out of this paper any extended discussion of prison systems. I omit also any comparison with the statistics of Great Britain; until we can send some of our criminals to another community we shall not be in a condition to make a comparison with her upon equal terms. English penologists have claimed that transportation, which was adopted in 1787 and abandoned in 1840, did not reduce crime. A parliamentary committee, in 1838, reported that when London was emptied of its thieves, by transportation to New South Wales, a new crop of criminals immediately appeared; the criminals were banished, but the crime remained. Her modern statesmen do not share in this belief, however, for they have returned to the old scheme of transportation, under the new name of assisted emigration. Another reason why comparison with Great Britain cannot fairly be made is that in many of her communities the laws are not enforced with any approach to the rigor that prevails in this state. The warden of the central prison in Toronto, who certainly would not be prejudiced against Great Britain, bears witness to this fact in his testimony given before the Ontario Commission of 1889. It must be admitted, however, that Great Britain has a superior prison system; and once the prisoner is committed, he is subjected to a just and wholesome discipline. Neither can we with fairness compare the statistics of Massachusetts with those of other states. Comparison with an interior state would be worthless, and there is no other seaboard community that stands in the same position, as to immigration, that is occupied by Massachusetts. New York comes the nearest to us in this respect, but I have been in |