Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-19
Woman and the Whipping Post

To the Editor of The Evening Stur:
In yesterdays edition of The Star there
appeared an article written by a woman
signed IS. e. W." in which she opposed
the whipping post. Her chief argument
against that antiquated method of refor
ma ton, namely, that the man who beats his
wife Is generally drunk, seems to be nothing
more than general argument against the
saloon She says, 1.-The man who. in a
drunken frenzy, beats his wife, may be a
better man in the eyes Of an unerring
Juoge imam the man who sold him the
liquor Suppose We admit this quota ton
Does the blow delivered by the "frenzied
drunkard' pain the poor wife any the less
hecauSe there Is some one in the world
more degraded than he? If the Judge de-
clares the man who sold the "frenzied
he. will that relieve the grief and sorrow
caused by that brutal assault? Does not
that woman writer know that the saloon
never created the drunkard. but that tina
drilker established the saloon?
This woman writer also adopts the pleas
urged by many others, that the whipping
pest is a relic of barbarism. Certainly it
is. We all admit that it is relic of bar
barisni-but have we not barbarians still
among us? Now, will this lady, or any of
those who have similar views with her
kindly suggest how we are to deal with
barbarians? So loEg as the barbarian ex-
lists, he must be dealt with in the way that
the barbarian can understand and appre-
ciate. When you Plant an acorn, the earth
and the atmosphere combine to develop the
oak. The seed of the oak is there No
matter how great the earth or how volumi-
nous the atmosphere, they can never evolve
the oak from the grape seed. The oak and
the vine will always be distinct. Drink
merely develops in man what he is natural
ly disposed to be or to do. If a man Is by
nature coarse and brutal. when he gets
several drinks IN him he will manifest
ooarseness and brutality, and such mani
feStation will not be due to the drink any
more than the earth and the air are re-
sponsible for the growth of the oak from
the acorn. The seed-the germ-the es.
Sence, Is in the acorn, and the earth and
the air merely develop it. So the whisky
simply draws the curtain from the face Of
the individual who absorbs the stimulant.
and presents him to view as he is. When
in darkness We strike light in order to
the ooject-it merely enables to see the
thing as it is No more does drink bring
Into being the evil qualities manifested by
the drunkard. 1t simply shows us what is
there: what might have passed by with
cut noticing were it not for this CLEAN. We
cannot dissuade the wolf by moral force
from attacking the lamb. No Sunday school
precepts will prevent the rape fiend from
pursuing his hellish design. The wife beat
er must be treated according to his malady
give him that remedy which alone can
prevent recurrence of TIE disease.
Abolish all sentimentality about the moral
effect on the community. Every day all
over the world people are treated for
loa thsome diseases. and in the majority of
cases the world knows nothing about it.
does not even know that such diseases ex-
ist, much less that individuals are treated
for them
Let us employ barbarous methods to ex-
terminate barbarians. 7. H. F.