Such were the laws made by the propertied classes. But they were not all. When a convict was released, the law allowed only three dollars to be given him to start anew with. "To starve or to steal is too often the only alternative," wrote John W. Edmonds, president of the New York board of prison inspectors in 1844.[132] If the released convict did steal he was nearly always sent back to prison for life. Equally severe in their way were the laws applying to mendicants and vagrants. Six months or a year in the penitentiary or workhouse was the usual sentence. After the panic of 1837, crime, mendicancy, vagrancy and prostitution tremendously increased, as they always do increase after two events: war, which, when over, turns into civil life a large number of men who cannot get work; and panics which chaotically uproot industrial conditions and bring about widespread destitution. Although undeniably great frauds had been committed by the banking class, not a single one of that class went to jail. But large numbers of persons convicted of crimes against property, and great batches of vagrants were dispatched there, and also many girls and women who had been hurled by the iron force of circumstances into the horrible business of prostitution. These were some of the conditions in those years. Let it not, however, be supposed that the traders, bankers and landowners were impervious to their own brand of sensibilities. They dressed fastidiously, went to church, uttered hallelujahs, gave dainty receptions, formed associations to dole out alms and--kept up prices and rents. Notwithstanding the general distress, rents in New York City were greater than were paid in any other city or village upon the globe.[133] FOOTNOTES: [112] Hammond's "Political History of the State of New York," 1:129-130. [113] Journal of the [New York] Senate and Assembly, 1803:351 and 399. [114] Ibid., 1812:134. [115] Ibid., 1812:259-260. Frequently, in those days, the giving of presents was a part of corrupt methods. [116] "The members [of the Legislature] themselves sometimes participated in the benefits growing out of charters created by their own votes; ... if ten banks were chartered at one session, twenty must be chartered the next, and thirty the next. The cormorants could never be gorged. If at one session you bought off a pack of greedy lobby agents ... they returned with increased numbers and more voracious appetite."--Hammond, ii:447-448. [117] Journal of the [New York] Senate, 1824:1317-1350. See also Chap. VIII, Part II of this work. [118] "Letter and Authentic Documentary Evidence in Relation to the Trinity Church Property," etc., Albany, 1855. Hoffman, the best authority on the subject, says in his work published forty-five years ago: "Very extensive searches have proved unavailing to enable me to trace the sources of the title to much of this upper portion of Trinity Church property."--"State and Rights of the Corporation of New York," ii:189.