tes of jail commitments for Baltimore, Charleston, and St.
Louis have increased slowly since the seventies until the
nineties, and now apparently are beginning to decrease slightly.

The workhouse commitments for Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati,
Louisville, Chicago and St. Louis "show a similar tendency to
decrease." Penitentiary commitments[27] for Baltimore and Chicago
show, on the whole, a decreasing trend. "The rate of annual
commitments to the state penitentiary of Illinois from the city of
Chicago in 1873 was 4.4; in 1902 the rate was 1.6," the highest rate
being in 1873. Mr. Work continues,

The rate of annual commitments to the penitentiary from
Baltimore in 1888 was 1.1; in 1902 the rate of annual
penitentiary commitments from this city was 1.3; the highest
rate of annual penitentiary commitments from Baltimore was 2.0
in 1899. Since 1898-1899 there has been a decrease in the
annual Negro penitentiary commitments for both cities. The rate
per thousand of the Negro population for the number of prisoners
received in the Kansas penitentiary was available for four
years, as follows: in 1889 and 1890 the rate of annual Negro
commitments to the Kansas penitentiary was 1.5; in 1891 and 1892
the rate was 1.3. The rate per thousand of the Negro population
for the number of prisoners received annually in the Indiana
penitentiary was available for three years, as follows: in 1900
the rate was 2.1; in 1901 the rate was 2.5; and in 1902 the rate
was 2.0.

Mr. Work remarks finally,[28]

Summarizing our results, it is seen that police arrests, jail,
workhouse and penitentiary commitments appear to have increased
during the period from 1890 to 1892-1896. The highest rates of
arrests and commitments were about 1893. Since 1894-1896 the
tendency of both arrests and commitments to decrease has been
notable. The crime-rate for murder is also probably decreasing.
It appears, therefore, that the conclusion that crime is
probably decreasing among the Negroes of the United States is
warranted. The crime-rate of Negroes, North and South, appears
at present to be about the same, although the rate of police
arrests for some Southern cities is higher than that for the
Northern cities. The claim that there is greater criminality
among the Negroes of the North than those of the South is
probably not true. Th