Whatever other criticisms may legitimately be directed against the white people of this community. they are not given to crimes of violence in larger degree than are their neighbors of the North. the East. or the West. "But while this defense Is Charlestons due. it remains lamentably true that in the South. as in every other part of America. there is lacking that regard for the sacredness of life which should characterize a people claiming tobe civilized. The figures make painful reading. because they indicate conditions to be growing worse instead of better." Viewing the situation broadly. the New York Times thinks that the increase in homicides. while disheartening. "is probably explainable on other grounds than -the degeneracy of the Nation." As the Times sees it: "The percentage of homicides per 100.000 of the population of our larger cities increased between 1882 and 1911 from 5.5 to 8.3. The increase of immigration from southern Euroe in these years was enormous. The concentration of the populaon In the large cities had grown greatly in that period. In Memphis.
Identified stereotypes
Increase of immigration from southern Europe is correlated with an increase in homicides.