St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-05
JUST FROM ENGLAND.
Prof. 0. T. Wilmington, Of Ok
ford, Discusses So
cial Problems.
H. o. Peterson Formally Re-
fuses to Give Up His Of
flee of Treasurer
Bradish, Ryan and Folwell
Have It Out Before the
Park Board.
Warning From a Convention
Committee--Hell or No
He'll Argued.

o. T. Millington, professor in Mag
dalen college, Oxford, England, is at
present in the city, guest of 5. Blair
McBeth, at Hotel Waverly. Prof. Mil
| llngton is en- tour to California, where
| he eXpecls to remain short time. and
! then return to his duties behind the
walls of "Maudlin" college, as he pro-
nounceS it. He is fine gentleman,
well known throughout England for his
literary ability and through the numer-
Gus articles on philosophical and social
problems, printed In London and Edln-
burg magazines and reviews. IN speak
| ing on one phase of the social problem
| to a GLOBE reporter yesterday, he
said:
| 81 came across some curious facts the
| other day, showing how little pnp1A9t pant
| deters the great majority or crimlnass. Ibefe
! is no punishment worse than d8Rhh, on at
| least none more likely to be dEaded; YET,
| when this was the punishment for even tbe
| most trilng felonies, crime went OH III Inc
country just as it does now. UP to the be-
| ginning of the present century it was a cap
| ital offense in England to steal i've shlIhngs
worth of goods from q shop, TO counterfelt
the stamps used for the sale of perfumery and
hair powder, to rob rabbit warren, 70 cut
| time) or to personal Greenwich pensloper
| There used TO be about 200 offenses, in fact,
for which men might be hanged, and thcy
were regularly committed as at present. Lat-
terly, it is true, only twenty-five OF them
really entailed the death penalty, put
there was a time when the Drnconlan
code was in full! force without making socie.
~ any the better Does any one suppose II
theft were made once more capital oifense,
if it were vigorously punished by death that
this would put a stop to thlcvlng! III SO,
it would be worth while to try the expert
ment. But it would not put n stop to 1T; II
would not. perhaps, even greatly diminish IL.
And the reason would be that the criminal as
a rule does not accurately estimate the pres
and cons of his action. lie is blind on one
side.
whenever crime becomes purely artifi-
cial for the society il exists in, 1t tends 10 De
| laxly punished, and clamoT arises for It's
abolition. number of poachers were
hanged ut oxford shortly before lett VINO
| had murdered the gamekeepers VINO were
| trying to arrest them. Straight%ay an aglta-
ton was started in their favor, the motive OF
which was really detestation of the game
laws. Nothing could be more llloglcal imam
the plea for mercy put in by the newspaper
agitators and even urged IN parliament l9r,
| suppoSing, instead OF the gamekeepers. the
| poachers had killed TWO policemen VINO had
| sought to arrest them. the deed would have
been murder just the same Inc nature OF
the occupation in which they were engaged
made no difference 10 Tue actloH ol INC
transgressOrS.
Surprising you are irterfered with in the
doing of some perfectly innocent thing the
law does not allow you TO murder your al
versary or even MAIN him. But the unayali,
ing agitation got up III behalf of the oxford
poaehers, if it did no honor to the Logical
faculty of its promoters, was crediIable to
their instincts. ! believe the game laws OF
England, with many other so-called rights OF
property, are doomed The rights of prop
erty were invented in state of society which
knew nothing of the pressure of population.
They are trammels which are beginning to
chafe the country at certain points, ana as
population grows, and the struggle Tor life
becomes harder, we shall probably burst
them This say without being socialist,
or having any sympathy with socialism III its
current form, but because see that events
are shaping themselves that way in these
over-populated parts of the world. The
game laws of this country am unncquainted
with vet from what Ihave been told. think
they are wiser than ours from the fact that
| they do not aim to protect individual rights
| alone but the interests of the common
wealth.
by the way in speaking of America l
| find that old, methodical England is gradu-
| ally embracing many of the ways OF living
| that characterize the so-called hustling Yam
| kee The railroads are also using American
patents and it was only short time ago that
| the Southeastern railway, running from Lon
| don south to Hastings, inaugurated special
| train of American cars. This train is now
making regular trips, and is the object OF
much curiosity and speculation. ! am sure
| | can't say which prefer The most-remem-
Der, am q thorough Engllshman."