Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1873-05-31

people WHO LIVE IN GLASS; HOUSES
SHOULDN'T THROW arorKs."


,.pR0pt,u WHO LIVE IN athaa HousRs
sHouIpN'r THROW aroNKs.1
hessrs EdttoTs s-rhe Fhileaelphia res
Of the Goth inst, pays marked attention " |
the people Of DelawAre. denounciag their |
criminal code az "barbarie cruelty" and
"disgraoetul 70 tribe oil saVagea, ano IN |
his issue OF to-day the editor proposes 70
send among US some Christian missionaries
10 enh6hten our mlhus,ciflii1e our customs
and humanize our souls. This Is kind. Let
US, BY all means, have these good and pious
emissaries TO teach US better things, but let
them, also, be carefully chosen and set
apart Tor the work as men VINO Will pofh
point the road and lead the way, not such
as will show US the steep and thorny way
TO heaven, whilst they the primrose path Of
dAllianee tread.
In the meantime, A. one Of the benighted
heather OF DelHwAre, while willing TO aek,
nowledge that our criminal system Is not
wholly perfect and might be improved,
am far from believing that 1t Is more cruel
and less efficient than the penal laws of
Pennsylvania
How to protect society from wrong to
graduate punishment TO the nature and de-
gree OF the oifense and to reform the offender,
are and always have been ait1cult problems,
Punishment, II Il be such In anything but
the name, must be more or less severe and
in avoiding unnecessarily harsh OF brutal
modes, the reiormer should not go too far
towards the opposite extreme OF tender re-
ties of the criminal. Men are sctnated, for
the moat part,in their daily lives, by the hope
otreward or compensatton,a and by the tear OF
suffering and privatiOn in all theirmanifold
shApesi and the wise legislator in framing
laws must consider the springs and motives
OF human actions, and the Influences by
which these are governed, controlled or
checked. II 10 not my purpose, however. to
discuss such important and far-reAching
questions; my present aim being only to
show that, BY way Of comparison, we are
net such besotted wreteheu a. our censora
would have US appear.
In Pennsylvhnia the discipline for petty
offenses 10 a lew months In prison, where
the inmates are comfortably sheltered and
generously fed, and the Indictment season OF
winter Is generally selected for the incur-
eeratiOn OF the unfOrtunates when out OF
door life Is not so agreeable This q farce
wise or humane. II hardens the evil dOer
and exposes society TO more frequent depre-
dations. Not long ago, Judge In Penn
sylvania remarked from the Bench that the
jewellers In the prisons were better lodged
and boarded than many honest and toiiinf
artisans who earned their bread and re
spected their neighbors property. Such
treatment as this will not have the effect o
diminishing crime and protecting homes
people, admitting these to be the chief oh
jects Of punishment.
In this matter cruelty is often kindness I,
the criminal as we'll ~ to the community
which suffers with him. We are reproachef
with being bArbarous aud savages.
Such strong epithets sound strangely iron
any quarter sut they strike me stilf NOR,
oddly when coming from the citizen of
State which Furnishes her felons Of a higher
grade hy the slow torture Of solitary con
fuement. Her murderers arc, As in Della
ware, consigned to the gAllows We Ar,
also told that we are behind the age. How
far behind? The most enlightened NATHAN
OF Europe have their penal COLONIES on dis
tAnt islands of the sea, or on barren And In
hospitable coasts. And what, pray. car In
more severe than 10 be torn from Kindred
friends and country TO be herded with IN,
vilest OF the earth, and to languish in a for
eign land for the remainder OF life. or lor
excludes the criminal from the society q
prives him OF ali human aympathy in tn
time of greatest distress, and extinRuiahe
him as a social being and this TOO. v9itho1
the means Of reformation, This Is eve
worse than transportation to the pc nal sci
Elements Of England or France. Siberia
exile .is a paradise to it, for in shat Are.i
region the unfortunate has the society {
his fellows, bad As they may be. These d
ferent systems are alluded 70, not by way I
argumenh but for the sake OF compArisol
az instrument Of torture - and a relic {
barbarism. while not one word is sal
about its efheieney In the protection Of ind
Ylauai rights, IN preserving me public peae
~ So w -, - the ohenueti AWAY
the principal points TO be considered.
Men are put chlluren Of larger growth
ana II Is YET question II the majority {
them are not more Amenable 70 improve
ment snu reiofmaiion, where this is neede'
through poaily ulseipllne, SUFFERING 40
shhme, thAh " moral auAslon' particular
among me classes from when erimins
arc ura" u ~ ~ ohly Ieeently that no
slhg-l oek Patuohi eoIpotal punishment
mas peeh aoollsneu from the puDlc schoo
o. IN sssas a" " Ahink o. W Inc sol
anu laus nteIs ~ qi. ~; prouui educated Ne
Ensianueis a, rhippea ,oI tatalness, oAu co
S, o. " ~ eos ~ ~ iessoni WINE me MT
. ~ 3 ~ v. ~ heiu UP
ssGS eiu ,ieisuie at ,mnippins nor
,.ls s.ars., ~ ~ p.iiollhs the Filiall
~ VA ,.a,n " 'ne Persohs OF htt
hiiia s ~ ~ ~.
NJ. dssanSsns ~ ti IN ", ~" au!oeatl,
80 ~ nost .nnro,,sd ~ M ~ y
- syiras ~ resornoi,,s, .sisat preVxu
Sasdn a. 90 ,,td,asss ~ put IN
rom the rather pbaTissiesI ah,,ss Si ny T.