The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1886-05-27
Cooperative Industry.
IT'S EFFECT ON CRIMINALS.
El e. 5. GRIFFIN.

When We enter Il city we expect TO find the
most crime in the poorest localities. 1t is set
tied fact that poverty and crime go together;
| that poverty breeds criminals rs naturally as
filth breeds vcrmn and disease. This state
| ment will be accepted without argument. Pco-
| pie surrounded with the comforts and advan-
| tagcs of life are always safe, peaceabc and i'll
dlstrouS people and among them morals and
good manners are most ardently cultivated.
| But ii is not enough to be supplied with all the
! luNuricS of life, for without demand for i'll
dlI,try well kept person will follow mischief
rather than endure idlcnc>s. 1t therefore fol-
| lows, if we would have Il good people. we must
supply them with both employment and the re-
wards of employment, TO wit, an abundance.
| Any arrangement of society that will give en-
! ployment without its Just reward or give an
! abundance without employment will corrupt
! thc morals. People though poor fed, clothed
and sheltered if steadily employed will continue
| to hc GOOD citizens; but withdraw their en-
| ploync&t and the pressure Is too great for them.
Nearly every riot that ever occurred has come
! from this double pressure The poor unem-
| ployed. produced the riots in London, in Paris,
| in l.cfp>ic, in St. Louis in New ork and in
| Chicago, and wherever the cause of riot exists
riot will follow. II is no remedy to shoot or
! hang the RIOTERS or to call them hard names.
| We >houd strive to remoNe The causes. The
man who condemns the riot to-day may lie riot
| ing tomorrow. and the mo Nt day may be con-
| d"nning all di>turher> of peace and order. His
moods depend largely upon his circumstances.
| Convince the people thai work i, Going to be
very scarce and wages clear down TO the Chin
c>c Standard and they Will instantly conclude,
and correctly too, that riot. bloodShed, THEY
| in@, house breaking, highway robbery and
| drunkenness is going to itarfuliy increase, and
| they will Immediately demand more police and
more militia 10 meet the coming danger These
facts tell lis palmer than ANYTHING else where
crime comes from. ana What we must do to re-
move ii. ii we know the call,c Of crime and
refuse /" rcnoy" it and continue to shoot, hang
and impri>on the criminals, who must IN all
Wise judge declare, To- lc thr actual traneyres-
>"r>: Certainly The lulcarned, half starved
and dc>r>cd poor should moi shoulder all the
responsibility. or he alone expected to remove
the causes. Furnishing results and nc%lcctin@
causes il itself criminal, and the people are in
| immediate danger of suffering for this crime.
| If the cooperative system Will rive us all an
equal blessing from industry then it is time TO
| consider and introduce the system. Ii is ncit-
! cr Just nor safe to neglect or dispute the reme-
dies for suffering. TO cover our neglect we
| find fault with the criminals our criticisms
are: '''rllat man is lazy; | gct my Iivin. by
working. or that man is Il liar and none will
trust him; speak trllthtully," OF THAT man
il thirf; / am honest" But we never in
Qllirc into the origin of the Iazy man. tie liar
and The thicl but conclude they are from
hraiinrs> and without raIsr and because they
50 created themselves. But let Us examine the
subject little. ONcrWork breeding mare
| and here colt will be lazy. The children Of over
worked and tired, exhausted mothers are al
way lazy. Ask that child any time in life be
| tween childhood and old ace. how he feels and
| Ii" will answer, Il feel tired and exhausted.
| but | have been doing nothing. He looks
| healthy. eats and sleeps well and shows no
signs OF disease and we therefore say he is lazy.
The truth is he is a> much and a> truly diseased
a> though he had been born a con>umptive TO
| say he l. born tired seems ridiculous because
This word has been mach used for ridicuIc,
| but ii is nevertheless trie that the child was
| bern tired on With an exhausted nature. and it
| is a- painful for him to work at AL as il is for
one 10 work who has 10y hard work been mme-
diatriN exhausted. and il is s cruel 10 beat one
| and force him to work is il i, to Beat and drive
| the other. 1t is always remarked of Il lazy
person that he has no excuse for being law for
his parents We're always smart, active, hard
working people. This is because they do not
| know the origin Of 50 called laziness. Lazinc>s
i, simply an exhausted nature reproduced and
| stamped for life. and can be produced only by
| oNerworked parents. These same parents fire.
Guently beat. >cod and otherwise torture such
children for being lazy. If either is entitled TO
punishment it is certainly the parents for il is
inhuman to punish the child. If poverty drove
| those parents 10 oYerwork and we refuse to c>-
| tlbiiSh 4 system that will remove this demand
for cNhall>in@ Labor, who then are The crim-
| ual>: II the child grown to manhood hasn't en-
| cr%y enough to earn an honest living and we hv
| law beat torture and impriSon him through
| Life as Il worthless tramp, who are the crim-
| nal>: ii being too lazy to earn a living or beg
it. or TOO proud to BEG. but will ami does steal
it, who is the criminal:
People object to a system in which all should
fare alike because the lazy would ret is much
\ amy one. Is such conclusion innocent or
| criminal, generous or mean. enlightened or bar
| harous: II becomes Us to consider these things
| If we would be civilized beings. Is it right to
| maintain Il system that provides that the smart
alone can Dc blessed and the lazy must suffer?
| + it right 10 maintain Il system that provides
| that they who are the kcencst for getting mon
| ey shall be blessed most. and that those who
| have the least money getting talent shall suffer
most though they have all other talents and
| good qualities. and though the first have no
other: Is such system itself Il moral system:
| Are we justified iii continuing such system
| simply because we and our ancestors We're born
under it: Are we justified in continuing any
| system or part of a system that in it, workings
| Will and does offer premium for crime: We
are in duty bound 10 think of these things and
act upon our conclusions. When by organiza-
| toh we make our necessities a common ncceS
>ity and the supply common property there
| will be no longer need of cXhalstiny labor or
| hidden treasures to steal. and then the thief
| la. ar ht., tod
| When bread is common property then 10 one
| will be imprisoned for stealing Il loaf When
| clothes are common property no one will steal
an oNcrcoat. hrl>t stated the case when he
~lI>anS fe) "shall be without money and
| without price. As simple as this may seem it
Is still the doctrine and when accepted and put
in practice it will remove nearly all crime.
| IhieNIShne>S and lazncss come from holding
"the bread of life for Il price, and most crime
| is dependent on either laZinc>> or thcvishneSs
for its motive power. About all crime comes
from one Of four distinct causes. The most
fruitful cause OF crime is lazinesS, 50 called.
| The next is thcyi>hnes>. The next in order is
Il kind OF VlndietiNencSS and bloolthi.'StineSS,
called brutality. The last is kind of amatiyc
insanity expressed by rape and indecent as
| sauitlng. From these four sources come all or
nearly all crime. The origin of these four
causes are all KNOWN and are easily defined
and are removable; and il is the business of
| removed we have only criminal civilization.
As will be seen in the origin Of lazincsS it is
| difficult to discuss natural causes in a public
newspaper, without shocking many of its rea,l-
tr.. ! shall therefore enter into no lengthy
| discussion on the natural origin of crime. Our
| existence depends upon our bein" selfish enough
| to look out Tor our wants. If we haven't sell
iShncss enough we Shall be prodigal. If we
| have leo much we shall be thievsh. The rich
mans son turns out prodi@a whenever the
| easy abundance of the household, was such that
the parents gave no thought or energy to sup
| plying or preserving the neccssarcS of life.
| The poor mans son turns out thief when the
| poverty of the household turned all thought
| and energy of the parents constantly to what
| they might acquire The eNtravagant circun,-
| stances in each ease produced the eNtrayauaut
character 1t is easy to create eXtrayagances
in human beings as i'll cattle, sheep and chick
ems, and we often see eNtraNagant breeds of
| these that have been bred up in a few wears
| An honest. harlWorking mother who under the
pressure of poverty is obliged to over work
herself mentally and physically is apt to be the
| mother of Il child both lazy and thevish. This
| is why the most criminals originate in the DOOR
| est quarters. This is why thievishness and
| laZineSS are so commonly found in one person.
Furnishing these people is no remedy. we must
| remove the cause. ''The bread of life without
money and without price or ''give us this day
Our daily bread will remove the crimes and
criminals. As we hadn't morality or good sense
| enough to establish the practice of this doctrine
| we are now by our necessities being driven in
to it. AS we have established our common