The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-02-04
ON THE

| with US, would it not be well for COM
mon men who are neither legislators nor
editors, to air and perhaps tighten the
subject a little?
The News and Observer very ably dis
cusses the pen~itentiary matter IN seeking
for some plan to make it in whole or in
part self-sustaining. There is not rail
road building or other public work
enough to employ the convicts, and of
course the only other alternative is for the
state 10 go into business that belongs to
private enterprise. The News and OBJ
server says:
The substance of the matter is that some
plan Of work should be agreed on, and ar
rangements should be made for carrying the
plan into operation. If working plug tobacco
is the thing, let a begi ming be made in that
IL the manufacture of a fertilizer is the thing,
let's start in on that. At any rate let a start
be made in some line that is capable of eX-
pansion.
Very well. The suggestion is indel-
mite, but about as good as any that conld
he offered, from the standpoint Of SO
costly a luxury as a ~penitentiary. The
objection to it is:
l. 1t brings crime in direct competition
with honest industry, and puts the state,
with one or two thousands of criminally
cheap laborers, in opposition to the great
mass Of honest struggling poor men,
whose profits barely support their wives
and children. Even no y, honest COmpe-
titiOn is so great that in a large majority
of enterprises it is simply a struggle for
existence. An essential condition of sue
cess in turning the ~penitentiarY into an
enterprise for placing manufactured
goods upon the market, would be cheap
ness. In other words, it would be com
PEELED to sell far below private manufac-
turers. This is not right either in the
sphere of morals, economies or common
sense.
3. 1t offers a premium for crime. Most
Of the work done in manufacturing es-
adjustments is light. 1t is no punish
ment to nine tenths of the criminal class
to put them at such work. They are
we'll clothed and fed, and in many cases
are really better off inside than outside
the penitentiary.
The truth is we have no use for a peni-
Tertiary. 1t is the outcome of a soft and
morbid sentimentalism. 1t is remarkable
how weak minds sympathize with crimi-
nails who hurt other people, and how
fierce and bitter they are when themselves
are touched In some places in our
country sin is treated simply and only as
a misfortune by this class, and the crimi-
nal is the recipient of more attention
than he ever received as an honest man.
The remedy is the whipping post. A
sickly sentiment that passes by, without
care, a poor suffering and needy woman,
and carries flowers to a criminal, will say,
with spasmOdic uplifting of the whites of
the eyes, "Oh, my, return to such barba-
rism as the whipping post?"
Yes, return to the whipping post. Let
us see which is the most %barbarous. |
give a real case. A man was convicted
Of stealing ten dollars. He was sent to
the penitentiary for a long term of years.
His poor wife and children were on the
charities of the city and they suffered.
The poor woman, in a few years died.
Now there's barbarism for you A man
commits a crime, large or small, and his
uifa and Il ron - DuniObo6 for II Ha
is shut up in a fine building, fed, clothed
and cared for nicely, and %blubbered and
palavered over by a sickly set of simple
tons in the name of religion, while the
poor wife is deprived of his labor to get
her bread, and dies in want.
In the name of common sense, have
we gone 50 far in folly until we are I'VE
our heads and never can get out Is
there not enough of manhood in the state
to undo this %tomfoolery before it is too
late.
Let us have the whipping post. En-.
large the jurisdiction of magistrates, so
that small stealing can be settled with
Immediately. For murder in first de-
gree, hanging. In second degree, brand
ing on the hand and whipping. For lar
ceny, thirty nine lasbes at the whipping
post, and then turn him loose to work
for the support of his wife and children
and if he don't do it, take him to the post
and repeat the dose. 1t would amaze the
simpletons to see how rapidly this diet
would benefit the public moral health,
we should shortly see a great reduction
in the %stealings, cuttings and shootings
in this state.
But what would you do with the peni-
Tertiary building? Sell it to a private
syndicate for a cotton factory or an iron
foundry.
As it is, it is a nursery for crime, and
either a lightweight upon the tax pay
ers or a state opposition to the honest
labOring classes of the state.
T. A. YATES.