New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-02-07
CRIME AND IT'S REMEDY.
An Original Article for the Review by
Lady Cook, nee Tennessee Olafin.

offense punishable by law, but there may
be crimes of which the law has no
cognizance. Laws are of many kinds,
natural, political, civil, domestic, and so
on. AS Montesqieu says: ':The sublim-
ity of human reason consists in perfectly
knowing to which of those orders the
things that are to be determined ought
to have principal relation and not to
throw into confusion those principles
which should govern mankind. For
instance, we ought not to decide by di-
vine laws what should be decided by
human laws, nor determine by human
what should be determined by divine
laws. These two sorts of laws differ in
their origin, in their object and in their
nature" All laws should be protective,
even when punitive, and all just law has
one of two esigns-the protection of
the community or the protection Of the
individual. Yet these form but one
ultimate object-the protection of all.
So that it would be a paralogism to as
sert that the good of the
individual ought to give way to that of
the public, for ''the public good consists
in every one having that property which
was given him by the civil laws, invari-
ably preserved" Also the duty to ones
self is stronger than the duty to the COM
munity. And as the law of nature is
superior to all human laws, so ''self-de.
fence is duty superior to every precept.' -
If we were to pursue the objects, we
should find that laws have been some
times more criminal than the offences
against which they we're directed; that
they have been frequently used to man.
ufacture CRIME in those who have neither
injured the individual nor the community
that even benefcent actions have bsen
treated as public Offences; and that
public offences and private injuries Of
the gravest character have been complete
ly overlooked. The field, however, is SC
wide that we can only glance at it as we
pass on.
Imaginary offences, as sorcery an6
witchcraft, have been treated as crimes
scientific discoveries and mechanical arts
have met with the same fate; the opinions
of the minority have always been hetero
dox, and heterodoxy has invariably beer
punished in some form or another. Me1
and women were burnt alive for thei
harmless theological beliefs, when thieves
and murderers were only branded. S(
that we cannot always judge Of the goo(
or evil of thing, or even of its magni
tude, by calling it crime or no crime. L
is true that we do not burn a man now
for his belief. We only ostracise him
If the process should luin him, so mucl
the worse for the man, but why could HI
not learn to believe like ourselves?
In the limited space of this paper, my
reflections must be narrowed to poin
or two. shall briefly call attention tt
conduct that constitutes crime agains
society and against individuals, although
it is not to be found in our Statutes.
If to poison one person be an infamou:
crime-and no one questions it-wha
shall be said of him who poisons mutt
itude, who entails untold sufferings upor
innocent and defenceless generations
who for his own wanton qualification
gives life to another whom he knows
will be cursed with hereditary disease
and premature death? If we were not sc
blinded as we are by customs and self
ishness, we should regard such an one as
a monster of depravity. Daily we see
those in whose blood some horrible dis.
sease turks, marry and multiply with
light hearts and easy consciences. Friends
and relations look on approvingly
Revcrends and Right Reverends give
their benedictions. demonstrate. anC
they answer, they leave it all to Provid
ence, as though blasphemy could excuse
premeditated guilt. Do they expect tc
gather grapes from thorns and figs from
thistles! Were society wise, it would
minimize crime Of this nature.
For what peril to posterity can be
greater than thus to poison the river Of
life at it's source? What other crime car
equal this wholesale dissemination o1
well-nigh ineradicable disease among the
countless sufferers who follow after, to
whom the gift of life comes as curse
lowered with evil. Minds and bodies
that should have been radiant with Joy
and beauty are befouled, deformed blast.
ed, dragged down to unutterable depths