CRIME: ITS CAUSE AND TREATMENT by Clarence Darrow

Luck and Chance last catastrophe he shall meet. Every step is taken in doubt and pain and fear. His friends and companions, through accident or disease, drop around him day by day. He cannot go back or halt or wait. He must go forward to the bitter end.

The whole journey of life is largely a question of luck. Let anyone ask himself the question how often he has escaped disaster or how often death has just passed him by. How often has he done some act that would have led to degradation had it been known? How many hair-breadth escapes has he met? How many accidents has he had which luckily were slight, but which easily might have caused his destruction?

Chance is the great element in life. Two men invest money; one gains a fortune, the other loses all. Two men are riding in a machine and it goes over a cliff; one is killed, the other escapes. The deadly germ is taken by one, it passes the other by; or, it is taken by one when his health will make him immune, by another at the time that it will destroy his life. How many temptations to violate the law has one just missed by a lucky accident? How many times has a previous experience, education, or a friend at the right time saved him from destruction ?

The imperfect man travels this road; he is poor and friendless; his life is a long series of accidents, great and small. The first accident that weakens his structure makes the second more certain, and so on in increasing ratio until the end. Good luck crowds around one life, while ill luck and disaster follow another’s footsteps wherever he goes with the persistency of his shadow.

In all the infinite number of chances one false step may be enough to bring final disaster. All depends on the nature of the step. Every pilgrim makes innumerable false steps; often luck alone saves the situation; often luck alone compasses the destruction.

Insurance companies know just when accidents will befall the insured. If a man lives long enough, he will die from a mischance. In a thousand men a certain number will meet accident in a given time.

It is just the same whether the insurance is written to be payable when a leg is cut off by a train or when money is embezzled from an employer. In either event the time can be figured out, and inevitably it will come if the time is long enough.

141