The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-25
WHY NOt2
THE New York World, under the above cap
tion, attempts to draw parallel between crime
in this State and in the South. II says:-

But of all the places for revolving murders,
philadelphia takes the precedence. 1t Is but q
little while since the country was startled by an
account OF "A tiendish murder in that city by one
Antoine troOst. and now we have to record the
Court, in the City of Brotherly Love- This
deed is step in advance of anything Of the
kind IN the criminal history OF any city in the
Union, and suggests the pertinent inquiry,
Why does not Congress turn its attention to
Pennsylvania? II negro child is spanked in
Louisiana, or an impudent white brawler
snubbed in Texas, all the radical papers set up
a howl against the insecurity OF life and pro-
perty' in those States. Mr.. Sumner, also, pa
rades his budget OfanOnymous letters from the
South, and Mr.. Stevens holds the House breath
less with his denunciations of Rebels, and
vows wholesale cOntiscation, God willing and
living Yet here is the case of a malicious
shooting, in open Court in the terribly loyal
city which adjoins League Island, and not a
word from the loyal press, nor a letter from
Mr.. Sumner, nor an oath from Mr.. Stevensl
Nor is this picture overdrawn. Even the
which leans towards radicalism, in comment!
trg upon this last murder on its city list, is
forced 10 eXclaim that, Never before was there
so many and such flagrant instances of crime,
Prison and the Eastern Penitentiary are filled
TO overfowing and appeals are being made to
the Legislature for means to enlarge one of
them, whilst the city is being asked To build
house of correction for the relief of the other
Can a worse picture be drawn of any city
state in the South? Do not the following words
OF the preamble TO the Military Reconstruction
bill, Just passed by both branches of Congress.
apply with added force to Pennsylvania, nlutdttS
nlutdndiS-' Whereas, no adequate protection for
life and property now exists in the State of
Pennsylv vania ana IOIteredS IL is necessary that
peace and good order should be enforced in said
state therefore be it enacted ETC.? Why
should not the same means to attain the same
ostensible end be applied in Pennsylvania as
in the ten unrepresented Southern States?
Again, why not?"
We know ofnO otherpaperthat so oconceitedly
plumes itself upon its logic as the World. 1t
habitually assumes an air of superiority on
account of its pretended freedom from the low
arts of the pettifoger and the quibbler. Yet
we doubt if Toombs "shyster" could have
written more pitiful piece of sophistry than
that which we have above quoted from it's
columns.
Crime exists in spite of the best govern
ments-always has and always will. The
characteristic of good government is that by
prompt and adequate punishment it endeavors
to repress crime within the smallest possible
limits. The characteristic of bad govern
ment is that, by lax, inadequate, or no punish
ment, it encourages crime. Now the differ
ence between the Government of Pennsylvania
and the pretended Governments of the Rebel
States is, that in Pennsylvania, when man
commits murder he is tried and hanged for it,
while in the Rebel States in ninety-nine cases
out of hundred, he goes unpunished. The
fact that our jails and prisons are full shows
that the administration of Justice with us is
active, and that the laws against crime are
enforced. That much crime is nevertheless
committed merely proves what the experience
of mankind has always shown, that there are
many causes of crime which the laws cannot
reach.
Another important fact in regard to crime
in the Rebel States is its political! character.
Nine-tenths of all the murders, robberies and
other high crimes in those States are COM
mitted upon Union men, white or black; and
these crimes, because Of the sympathy of the
local governments with the political animus
which inspires them, go almost universally
unpunished. Hundreds of Union men all over
the South have been murdered since the war
closed, and yet we do not recall a single in
stance in which the murderers have been
brought to justice. Even the participants in
such wholesale massacres as those of Memphis
and New Orleans go entirely unpunished. The
testimony of such officers as Generals Sickles,
Schofeld, Thomas, Hood, Baird, and Sheridan,
is unanimous that there is no attempt made by
the Southern authorities to protect the lives
and property of Union men.
General Sickles says you could not find
jury in South Carolina that would convict
man for killing Union soldier, no matter
what the testimony. Citizens committing
ofenses against soldiers are not even indicted
by the civil authorities These authorities do
not arrest anybody, nor prosecute anybody,
nor indict anybody for such offenses. Yet
soldiers and officers have been in some in
stances wounded, and in other instances
killed.
General Schofeld says of Virginia that
cases of hostility and outrage of one kind or
another by white men upon freedmen are
comparatively common, and in almost all such
cases the State courts fail to do justice; the
difficulty is in the disposition OF the magis-
trates and jurors. Where the question Is
affected by any allegation upon the part of the
white man of insubordination or disrespect o.
insolence upon the part of the colored man
that allegation will justify him, in the opinion
of the local magistrates or jurors, for inAict
ing upon the freedmen any punishment h
may see fit, either by driving them off tn
plantations without wages, or, as has beel
done in some cases, shooting them. gen
tleman who commits a homicide of that kim
gets his gentlemen friends tOgether--and the,
ara Yaarlv all maqistratas--and thew examin