========+=========================================+================ | Average Price Per 200 Kilogr. in Marks. | Arrests for Years. |-------------+--------------+------------+ Theft to | Wheat. | Grain. | Rye. | 10,000 Persons. --------+-------------+--------------+------------+---------------- 1882 | 22.57 | 23.63 | 18.81 | 26.0 1883 | 19.04 | 19.29 | 16.30 | 25.2 1884 | 18.44 | 18.75 | 17.17 | 22.7 1885 | 17.92 | 18.11 | 16.17 | 21.5 1886 | 17.68 | 17.94 | 14.69 | 20.7 1887 | 18.88 | 18.95 | 15.26 | 20.5 1888 | 20.23 | 20.64 | 16.19 | 20.3 1889 | 20.03 | 20.52 | 16.50 | 21.4 1890 | 21.43 | 21.71 | 17.97 | 21.2 1891 | 22.48 | 22.92 | 19.26 | 19.3 ========+=============+==============+============+================ There is at first a certain correlation between the figures in the different columns, but there is none in the later years. It is very probable that the diminution in crimes against property is due, during these years, to a combination of favorable economic circumstances at that time. XIV. A. MEYER. The second section of the second chapter of the work, “Die Verbrechen in ihrem Zusammenhang mit dem wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Verhältnissen im Kanton Zürich”, [68] treats of the influence of the price of provisions and crop-returns (see Plate I). The author first calls attention to the years 1853–1861. We see that the curves of the price of cereals and of offenses against property are then quite closely parallel. However, the curve of the price of cereals was lowest in 1858, and that of offenses in 1859. It is a well-known fact that economic phenomena make their influence upon criminality felt only after some time. Further, it is only by the following year that a part of the offenses are counted in the criminal statistics. Crimes against persons increase when prices fall, and vice versa. The less the price of food is influenced by bad industrial conditions, the more its influence upon criminality will strike the eye.