The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-05
Whip the Wife. Beaters.

While the general opinion seems TO
be that inasmuch as the recommended
ton of the whipping-post for Wife
beaters, recently presented by the
District of Columbia grand jury. has
to receive the approval of congress be-
fore it can become effective it will not
be established in Washington, the Post
of that city argues earnestly for the
experiments adoption. Excellent gen.
tlemen," it says, "who do not beat
their own wives and who have no fe-
male relatives whose husbands beat
them are very fond of declaiming
against the brutality of flo-ging and OF
subsequently admiring themselves as
persons of sensitive and exalted hui
manity Far removed from the de-
graded atmosphere in which such In
iquttes flourish. and hedged about from
all possible contact with their shameful
consequences. these easy-going philan-
thropists find no sort of difficulty IN
preaching gentle, Il not jocund dis
persation. But these are not safe
guides in things outside of their expert
ence. The truth Is that the whipping
post Is no more an attribute of barbar-
ism than the dungeon or the gallows.
Our benevolent optimist Is not opposed
to either of those agencies of law be-
cause they both apply to crimes Of
which he Is keeniy aware. He approves
the penitentfary as remedy for those
who threaten his property, and the
llangman's moose as a warning to those
who would inperil his life. He is in-
different to the anguish Of the wife and
child-beaters victims because that
anguish does not touch him personally.
''The fact remains, however, that the
wMpplng-post is an agent of civiliza-
ton rather than a feature of savagery.
Until we can stop the bestfal and loath-
some crimes that call for repressive
punishment, 1T is indispensable that we
apply some remedy, and, obviously, 1t
Is the part of wisdom as we'll as of hu-
manlty 10 choose the remedy that will
best promote the end in view. We re-
sort to solitary confinement, penal
servitude, hanging etc, in the case OF
offenses to which they seem to be ap-
propriate, and perhaps they, in their
respective lines, are as efficacious as
any human expedients could be. But
we have not yet found in the prison or
the workhouse even an approach to
adequacy for the fideous brutality OF
wife-beating and thetorture and degra-
daItion of helpless children. For the
monsters who practice these crimes. q
brief term in the dungeon possesses no
terrors whatsoever. To him it repre-
sents rest, food, recuperation, and an
eamly opportunity to renew his favor
lite indulgence.
I'VE must either encourage or re-
press, either punish or condone these
crimes. If we would protect women
and children from the revolving infa-
mics of which they are now the VIC
Tins. and redeem society from bar
barism that disgraces 1t, then we
should confront these monsters with
the only menace that appeals to their
senses. Ruffians, towards, brutes, they
fear nothing but pain. They laugh at
the we1l-fed penance of the Jail. They
regard the prospect of the workhouse
with contemptuous indifference. But
they would shrink from the lash The
whfpping-post would bring home to
them some of the agony and terror they
inflict on others. If anything may re-
strain them It is the knout."
OF course, all this savors of what
the sentimentaltsts call retallatory Jus
tice. But while we agree that the sur
est cure for. crime is to, remedy its
causes, we can perceive no need for
1eniency toward apprehended criminals
of the type held In mind by advocates
OF the whipping-post. Reform their
children, by all means; but give the old
sinners the cowhide.
Walter Wellman's discovery that o.
ney Is true-blue American will, we
trust, hold water.
The Chicago friends of Cuba who are
raising funds to buy arms for the Gu
ban ,revolutionists are advised not to \
head their procession Of re-enforce-