The record-union., 1894-10-25
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

They are returning to the use of the
treatment of refractory and incorrigible
prisoners. Even in one of the New York
prisons the Warden has found it neces-
sary to lay on the lash and to administer
other corporal punishment. Out of this
there grew scandal, of which certain
New York journals made a great deal
more than was justifable.
The paddle that Warden Brockway
used at Elmira is not an instrument of
torture; it does not mutilate as does the
lash. and it is at no time dangerous to
the health of the victim. Most of the Of
Tenders at Elmira are boys and very
young men, in whom passion is strong
and the blood hot, and to whom corporal
punishment is less terror and humilia-
ton than to elders. At the worst the
paddle is not severe upon the victims,
yet its use brought about great uproar
and legislative investigation.
We have long believed that the best
way to treat the ''incorrigible'' is to exc
cute him. When it is settled that he can
not be reformed, that he cannot be made
susceptible to gentle influences, it is
humane to put him to death, and cer-
tainly society has the right to secure it.
self against such by that treatment.
If this seems harsh Judgment it will be
found quite otherwise on close examina-
ton. Death is preferable to life impris-
onment and the application of the lash,
the douche, the paddle and the stringing
up, that here and there are applied to con-
victs who cannot be tanned.
But however that may be, we are not at
all squeamish about the use of the whip
in other cases. Applied in calmness,
without anger and by the sternness of
justice, corporal punishment does have a
restraining influence even with men.
This is established as true by the results
at Elmira, which turns out its convicts
reformed to the number of eighty per
cent. This eighty per cent. behave so
well, and are so impressed by the system
there adopted, that they leave the refor-
matory to go into useful peaceful yoca-
tions, and keep out of slums and the
paths of criminals.
We do not say that this is due to cor
poral punishment alone, but the latter is a
part of the system in vogue there. To
just what extent it would be justifable to
return to the use of the lash in prisons
cannot now be stated. But that there are
cases, and numbers of them, where it's
calm and intelligent use would prove ex-
ceeding beneficial to the victims is true.
But the use of the CATO nine-tails out
side of convict prisons. as is urged by
some, is not defensible. That is to say,
the proposition to Introduce its use into
jails and lockups, and as means of pun
ishment for petty offenders, is not wise.
To impose upon Constables and Sheriff 8
deputies the duty of fiogging certain
classes of those against whom the judg-
ments of petty courts run, would not, we
think, tend to the public good. We do
not want the whipping post set up in our
towns and County Jail yards as an en-
blem Of our civilization.
1t is urged that wife, -beaters, at least,
ought to be f1ogged. That it will, if fog
ging is adopted as punishment for such
brutes, tend to restrain others from in
dulging in the pastime. But it would be
greater punishment for the wife-beaters
TO put them at forced labor, and to turn
the money results of such labor over to
wives the brutal husbands have beaten.
The lash on the back of such fellows
would degrade them, and not them alone,
but the innocent dependent upon or
closely related to them. Degradation,
humiliation are not stimulant of pride or
helpful to the victim. The better plan
for wife-beaters, we insist, is to make them
work hard and long. To fine such is farci-
cal: to send them to loaf in prison is cruel
to those they should support; to put them
out to labor for reward and to give their
earnings to the family for its support is
sensible.
IT would seem that China has won at
least one battle, whipping the Japanese
fairly. This breaks the monotone of