The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1892-06-08
stiDcts. desires, and environments
have heen degrading

is an effect, and crime can be dimln-
3ished only BIZ removing the cause,
"A product can be reduced only BIZ
eliminating its factoss. Keep men
from becoming criminals by destroy
ing the sources Of eviIinfiuence, and
BY reducing the agencies u licii make
them yicinus. The criminal will fit
his environments He comes into
the world with defect ID bis mural
constitution. A germ Of moral de-
lpravity lies dormant ID his very
blood. awaiting the. ferment of I'M
guarded passion. No individual, no
matter how depraved he may be, ever
expects q innfae r md cpkseQp neatly
never feels TIE need If til e lesson Of
the gailows.
n We have ND moral Fright to take the
life of a criminal. No individual is
justitfable insthe sight of God and in
the eyes of his state, no matter what
may be the IroVocation, in deliberate
" taking thS life Ola criminal who is
securely bound or incarcerated. And
yet the state will take the very same
man, and, after weeks Of preparation,
commit the very same deed, which, if
perpetrated by an individual, it pro-
nounces ami Furnishes as murder.
Whence derives the state this author
ity? Who constitutes the state?
Its citizens, Tirrespectiye their num-
beers. And hhe citizens can possess no
authority iii their associated capacity
as a state but such as is derived from
themselyes5as individuals. The state
cannot say,&tI have a right to kill
because am the state, or 'tbeeause,I
have the poWer;;n it can only say it
has. this right as the gift Of the ~citi-.
zens. But can any individual dele
gate to another right which he does
not himself possess? It is said that
this authority is derived from COM
pact in which the citizens mutually
agree to surrender life under certain
circumstances. But how can any one
enter compact by which he can
confer upon Others an au-
thority which he does not himself pos
sess? A man cannot surrender his
own life until it is called for by The be-
net1cent God who gave it. May he then
contract with another to destroy it?
Sneh a contract, if executed, would
involve the one party in the guilt of
suicide, and the other in the guilt of
murder. If this is not suicide on the
one hand, 9and murder on the other,
what precise number of persons must
engage inSthe compact in order that
what was. originally criminal may be-
come innocent, if not yirtuous? How
can a combination of persons ia Com
init crime transform that crime in
to a virtues? Upon what hitherto I'M
heard-of principle of morality is ain
act of murder in an individual, or
small corporation, converted into an
act of justice when another subscriber
has joined the association for mu-
tual sacrifice? 1t is true that, great
corporations will do with a great de-
gree of sself-exoneration, what the
very individuals composing 1t would
repudiate with shame and horror; but
a criminal act is as unjust when COM
mitted bT ten thousand persons as
when peEpetrated by one. Increasing
the nunber of offenders does not 'di-
minish tie crime. To every Chris
.tian country, to every individual, and
to every human compact, God has
given His great and immutable law:
'HThou shalt not kill" l.. H.
A law which would secure the Grim
inal in prison--treat him kindly-in-
struct him in his duty to his God and
to, his fellow men, Undue his soul
with the essence of Christianity, span
the hideous gulf.which separates him
from the pure, by the bridge of human
kindness and sympathy, would be in
harmony with the Christian precept
which requires ''good foreyil." When
the horrors of death by the law have
failed to deter a man from crime, the
tender touch of love, the kind and
cheering words of affection, and the
gentle deeds of Kindness will melt his
stony heart to tears. ~
: Let the state then, in its dignity,
teach a lesson of gentleness and benig-
nifty to every man, woman, and clild.
Both by its laws and it's examples, let
it carefully maintain and enforce the
sacredness of human life-teaching
that vengeance and retaliation belong
Jouly to a barbaroIls age; that human
life is the gift of a Benefcent God,
and by Him only should it be taken;
that it is better to suffer wrong than
to: do wrong; and that elemency and
forbearance are more divine. ennob-
ling and blessed than rancor and ma
Lightly. Let it not hope to impress
the 4sanctity OF life upon the minds OF
the people by violating it, or arouse in
them an adherence of crime by
initiating crime.
There is a nobler end of punishment
than the infection of pain; there is a
higher dictated than that of revenge:
there is holier incentive to righteous
ness than thatrof fear: it is found In
the spirit of that divine justice whose
compassionate lips ever plead for bleed
ing humanity. Laws whose penalties
wrap within the folds of fiimsy vel
of justice the hideous mien of Ven
geance- Vengeance which has NJ
head to think or heart to feel-car
never, never recall the wretched wan.
derer from the rough, stony paths o.
crime and vice, and place his errine
fleet in the flower strewn footprints
OF Him who is The Way, the Truth
and the Life who came Not t.
destroy mems lives but to save them.
Satan cannot cast out Satan:' tn,
spirit of God alone, will accomplish
this work of mercy.
The Quality Of mercy is not strained