The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-09-30
from the Scientific Amer an.
A NEW USE FOB CRIMINALS.

A NEW USE Foa CRIMINALS.
Even vermin have their uses, say the
pessimists. 1t is cheering theory, and
one which we should rejoice to see de-
monstrated, especially with reference to
those vermin OF society, the criminal
classes.
Thus far they certainly have been
the reverse of useful. Not only have
they been serious oetriment always, to
national prosperity through their depre-
dations upon life and property and pub
lie peace, but also by their vicious ex.
ample, and, more effectually still, by the
transmission of their vicious traits to af-
ter generations.
Our present mode of dealing with
them labors under the double disadvan.
tage of being very inefficient and very
costly. Every year sees the machinery
of justice become more magnificent aud
burdensome, yet it none the less fails
either to cure or to materially lessen
the evil. Indeed the law has often
more terrors for the good citizen than
for the bad: he has large bill of costs
to pay any rate; whereas the rascal who
plumbers him has everything to win
and very little to lose. If he escapes,
which is most likely, he gets the booty;
if caught, he simply loses for the mo-
ment what is no use to any one-hiS
liberty
1t is not .ime for the we'll disposed,
the innocent, and the law-abiding to
turn the tables and recoupe themselves,
if possible; for their numerous losses?
The ways in which this can be done are
rs numerous and varied as the varieties
of criminal constitution and character.
Just now the AUTHORITIES of Massa-
chusetts are puzzled to decide what to
do with the muiderous Pomeroy boy.
Hang him! said the court: and the
multitude re-ehoes the cry. That is an
easy way to get rid Of him; but will it
pay? What good will it do to kill him?
His death will not atone for the damage
he has done, nor will it deter another of
like mental and moral perversity from
the commission of similar crimes. Then
why throw away all the possibilities OF
use and instruction which his peculiar
character affords?
In case of this sort, vindictiveness
is folly. The boy is what he is through
conditions of heredity and culture
which ought tobe investigated. He re-
presents stage of human development
or atavism which ought to be under
stood. What was the antecedent stage,
and what will the next one be? His
character is likely to change with in-
creasing years; what is the direction of
that change? Education and moral train
ing are supposed to have determining
influence upon character; what can they
do tor him? The boy is a very bundle
Of scientific problems; Why not keep
him for investigation? For the solution
of many of the problems of culture aud
civilization, he is worth dozen ordiu-
ary children. He ought not to be
thrown away. Make 1t impossible for
him ever to transmit his vicious nature
to future generation. then inv st;gate
him, and all others like him, for the
gooo of the race.
Apply the same principle in differ
ent way to very different character,
say the once famous, now Infamous, Col
onel Valentine Baker, late of the Brit
ish Army; man of years and high
standing, whose irrepr- sibe impulses
led him to make criminal assault upon
an unprotected fellow traveller. He has
lost his place in the army and in society;
he b been fined and nominally i'm
prisoned; but his impulses remain unal-
tered, and his example-punlshment
and all-seems to provoke others to
similar deeds rather than {, deter them;
for his unus- | offense has been since
repeated by several. And when he re-
turns to the world, his term Of idle i'm
prisonment ended, he will be simply
what he was at first, lacking the re.
straining influence of his rank and pos
sibilities of usefulness.
This may be justice, but it is not good
policy. What was needed in his case
We chiefly the extirpation Of the cause
of his uncomfortable pFssiou-which
any surgeon could have done in few
minutes-to destroy the only element
of danger in his character.
In a rude stare OF society, the useful
ness of public offender is necessarily
measured by his power to do rude work,
in the quarry, the mine, or the like
We have arrived at a stage when por-
ton Of our superabundancc of such
characters can easily be put to more
profitable uses; though we should by no
means personally object to the employ
meat of the more able bodied criminals
in that way, especially in the coal mines.
Instead of manufacturing for such need
full service degraded and largely Grim
inal class-a process which any one can
see in operation by visiting coal
cracker among the Pennsylvania noun.
tains, where swarms of i'll bred children
spend their days at hard labor under
the most debasing inAuences-It would
be infinitely better to have the work
done by ready made criminals, drafted
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