distinguish the ways by which he may and may not get
property. His nature always protests against it as he goes along. Only a
few can ever learn it in anything like completeness. Many men cannot
learn it, and if they learned the forbidden things they would have no
feeling that to disobey was wrong. Even the most intelligent ones never
know or feel the whole code, and in fact, lawyers are forever debating
and judges doubting as to whether many ways of getting property are
inside or outside the law. No doubt many of the methods that intelligent
and respected men adopt for getting property have more inherent
criminality than others that are directly forbidden by the law. It must
always be remembered that all laws are naturally and inevitably evolved
by the strongest force in a community, and in the last analysis made for
the protection of the dominant class.

XV

ATTITUDE OF THE CRIMINAL

Probably the chief barrier to the commission of crime is the feeling of
right and wrong connected with the doing or not doing of particular
acts. All men have a more or less binding conscience. This is the result
of long teaching and habit in matters of conduct. Most people are taught
at home and in school that certain things are right and that others are
wrong. This constant instruction builds up habits and rules of conduct,
and it is mainly upon these that society depends for the behavior of its
citizens. To most men conscience is the monitor, rather than law. It
acts more automatically, and a shock to the conscience is far more
effective than the knowledge that a law is broken. For the most part the
promptings of conscience follow pretty closely the inhibitions of the
criminal code, although they may or may not follow the spirit of the
law. Each person has his own idea of the relative values attached to
human actions. That is, no two machines respond exactly alike as to the
relative importance of different things. No two ethical commands have
the same importance to all people or to any two people. Often men do
not hesitate to circumvent or violate one statute, when they could never
be even tempted to violate another.

Ordinarily unless the response of conscience is quick and plain, men are
not bothered by the infraction of the law except, perchance, by the fear
of discovery. This is quite apart from the teaching that it is the duty
of all men to obey all laws, a proposition so general that it has no
effect. Even those who m