TABLE 26.-Relative frequency of gainful offenses: Chicago police arrests, 1905 to 1908.

The most striking revelation of these figures is that the arrests of immigrant offenders were less frequent for the gainful offenses than were those of American white offenders, with the exception of the arrests of Italians for extortion and for forgery and fraud and of Russians for extortion and for larceny and receiving stolen property. With regard to the offenses of personal violence, four facts stand out clearly in the table following, which sums up the relations of the several nationalities to them: (1) That of the arrests of most of the foreignborn groups, those for offenses of personal violence formed larger proportions than they did of the arrests of the American whites; (2) that for this class of crime the Lithuanians, Slavonians, and Italians had 82401°-VOL 2-11-14

larger proportions of arrests than any other nationalities; (3) that the Chinese alone had a smaller percentage of arrests for the whole group of offenses of personal violence and for the specific crimes of simple assault, violent assault, and homicide than the white Americans; and (4) that the relative frequency of arrests was less among American negro offenders for the offenses of personal violence as a unit and for simple and violent assault than among a considerable number of the foreign nationalities, the percentage of arrests among the American negroes being large only in the case of homicide, and even here it was exceeded by that of the Italians.

TABLE 27.—Relative frequency of offenses of personal violence: Chicago police arrests,

With the exception of vagrancy, the offenses against public policy were more common among immigrant groups than among the American whites. This is plainly shown in the following summary table:

TABLE 28.—Relative frequency of offenses against public policy: Chicago police arrests,

The total of offenses against public policy was proportionately greater among the Chinese offenders than among those of any other nationality. This was chiefly due to the large number of Chinese gambling cases. Of offenses of violence against public policy the Italians, Slavonians, Austrians, and Lithuanians had the highest percentage of arrests. This is significant when it is remembered that three of these, the Italians, Slavonians, and Lithuanians, had the greatest relative frequency of arrests for offenses of personal violence. The violation of city ordinances was far more common among the Greeks than among any other group of persons. The higher percentage of arrests for vagrancy among the American whites and the English than among any other nationalities is noteworthy.

The figures of offenses against chastity, as presented in the following table, show that the greatest proportion of such offenses was found among the French offenders, and that crimes connected with prostitution formed a larger percentage of all the crimes of that nationality than of those of any other. With the exception of the French and Russian immigrant groups, offenses against chastity taken as a whole were more frequent causes of arrest among American white offenders than among those of any foreign-born group, although they formed larger percentages of the crimes of American negroes than they did of the crimes of American whites. The American negro percentage is, however, less than the French or Russian.

TABLE 29.-Relative frequency of offenses against chastity: Chicago police arrests, 1905 to 1908.

MASSACHUSETTS PENAL INSTITUTIONS: COMMITMENTS DURING THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1909.

Periodic reports of all commitments are made to the state board of prison commissioners by all penal institutions in Massachusetts. These reports show the country of birth of each offender and (with the exception of those from the state farm") of his father, together with the crime for which he was committed and other personal data.

a The reports of the state farm alone fail to show the country of birth of the offender's father.

From these records much valuable information regarding the criminality of immigrants and natives may be obtained. In the yearly reports of the Massachusetts board of prison commissioners some of this information is published, but no figures are given showing the correlation of nativity and parentage with specific crimes.

In order to make available more of the data contained in these excellent records of Massachusetts penal institutions, agents were employed by the Immigration Commission to copy from the original reports filed with the state board of prison commissioners data showing country of birth, country of birth of father, and crime for which committed, of all persons committed to Massachusetts penal institutions during the year ending September 30, 1909. These data were then tabulated to conform as nearly as possible to the other tabulated data on crime that have been compiled by the Immigration Commission.

The total number of commitments to all institutions other than the state farm of persons convicted of violations of law was 28,330. Commitments to the state farm are not included because the reports of that institution do not show the country of birth of the fathers of offenders and therefore are not wholly comparable with those of other institutions.

The 28,330 commitments to which analysis has been confined are shown by class of offense and nativity and race of the offender in the following table:

TABLE 30.—Distribution of classes of crime: Massachusetts penal institutions, Oct. 1, 1908, to Sept. 30, 1909.

a Includes "Other countries" and persons not reporting nativity or parentage.
Includes 10 commitments of persons not reporting nativity.

e Includes "Other countries."

d Includes 121 commitments of persons not reporting parentage.