CHAPTER IV.

CAUSES OF CRIME--WEAKNESS OF MARRIAGE-TIE.

Reasons why Second Marriage is Productive of Crime among the Poor--Force of Public Opinion in Preserving Marriage-bond--Weakening of it by Emigration--Fruits of Free Love among the Poor--INHERITANCE--Power of Transmitted Tendencies in Producing Crime--Hopeful Feature in New York--Few Continued Families of Paupers and Criminals--Action of Natural Selection in Favor of Virtue--Vicious Organizations Die Out--Explanation of Extraordinary Improvement in Children under Reformatory Influences--The Immediate Influences of Bad Parents Overcome by the Transmitted Tendencies of Virtuous Ancestors, and by New Circumstances--The Incessant Change of our People Favorable to Virtue--Villages more Exposed to Criminal Families than Cities--Causes................................................pp. 39-50