led many men to a life of adventure that for them has been possible only
in crime. Many others found this life in the saloon, mixed with
influences not conducive to a normal life. The closing of the saloons
has added to the already serious need of providing for the innate
feelings of men. This is all the more important for America, as a large
part of our population has come from lands where beauty and art and
music have for generations been made a part of the common life of all.




VII

THE CRIMINAL


Those who have had no experience in the courts and no knowledge of what
is known as the "criminal class" have a general idea that a criminal is
not like other men. The people they know are law-abiding, conventional
believers in the State and the Church and all social customs and
relations; they have strict ideas of property rights, and regard the law
as sacred. True they have no more acquaintance with law-makers and
politicians in general than with the criminal class, which, of course,
is one reason why they have such unbounded confidence in the law. Such
persons are surprised and shocked when some member of the family or some
friend is entangled in the courts, and generally regard it as a
catastrophe that has come upon him by accident or a terrible mistake. As
a rule, they do all in their power to help him whether he is acquitted
or convicted. They never think that he and everyone else they know is
not materially different from the ordinary criminal. As a matter of