The San Francisco call., 1896-02-09
THE RESPONSIBILITY.
Oakland Is Ag:tating the Question
Whether the Boys Should
Go to Prison.

Oakland Is Ag!tating the Question
Whether the Boys Should
Go to Prison.
There is general discussion in Oakland
of the moral responsibility of the boys and
of the law of heredity in connection with
this case. In an editorial yesterday the
Tribune said:
The two young rascals who have been ar
rested in this city for series of burglaries
have made an extraordinary record OF crime.
1t is doubtful if it can be matched by any
other criminals of the same age in all the
country. What astonished the community
was the youthfulness of the criminals. Young
in years, they were old in crime. Now, where
did they get their schooling? They had
complete set of burglars tools, most of which
had been made TO order. They knew how to
drill safe, put in a stick of dynamite, arrange
the fuse and make as complete job as any
old criminal who had spent half his life in the
penitent ntiary.
Are these eongenital.eriminals who needed
very little schooling 10 fall into criminal ways?
One of them is the son of man who was exc
cuted in this city for of the most dia bolical
murders ever committed in the State He did
not commit the act, but planned it and then
induced three others to rob and murder an in
offensive old man who was living in q lonely
cabin III the hills OF Santa Clara County. The
criminal inheritance of the other is not quite
so clear. But he is so desperate that he ae-
cused his mother of a knowledge of some of
his crimes He had not even the chivalry of
an ordinary criminal.
The boldness and rapidity with which this
series of rascalities was committed disclosed
genius for crime that has seldom been sur
passed. These fellows are young enough to be
sent to a reform school. 1t is doubtful if there
is any training at Whittier that can make them
other than what they are now. The peniten-
tiary is a very poor school of reform but it is
quite the safest place for those-whose inherited
instincts and aptitudes are all for crime.
The Enquirer says in regard to the same
subject:
In the general mind the idea of heredity as
applicable to crime is that of yielding to ire
sistible inclination, and the view taken of re-
sponsihilities under these circumstances is ex-
pressed by the remark which has been heard
during the last twenty-four hours "a person
is not responsible for what he can't help and
should not be punished for H." Such express
sions as these are prompted by general and
not an intimate knowledge of the doctrine of
heredity, as. it is held by scientific men. How
the latter look at it was explained by Professor
Jordan of Stanford in a lecture which he de-
livered in San Francisco last evening. The
following is a condensed report of portion of
lis remarks:
"When the individual is born" said the
speaker, che finds that the gate of gifts is
closed The characteristics he inherits are,
so to speak, stage directions by which his life
is ordered. If he is a well-balanced man he
may develop new characteristics, acquire new
individualities, develop the best and suppress
the worst of his inherent qualities. He inher-
its many diverse and discordant elements. 1t
is the work of training in life to bring these
discordant elements into harmony. Many in
dividuals go through life and never do any,
thing except by the stage direction of heredi-
ty. Many of the so-called double lives are
the result of failure to bring these discordant
elements into harmony. Lives sometimes fall
apart through degeneracy. Every mans an
cestry has left him mosaic of characteristics
which he may, if he works right weave into
beautiful pictures, or which may be a simple
tumble of inchoate elements. If he does not
work them right he is simply machine for
spelling so much oxygen"
1t will be seen that in the way President
Jordan puts 1t all responsibility does not go
out when heredity comes in. We are all to
some extent victims of criminal heredity, be-
cause we all inherit some vicious tendencies
along with our good ones. The boy Majors has
had many ancestors and has inherited from
all of them; he did not get his whole nature
from his father.
BY the clergymen who have been inter
viewed about the proper punishment for
the boys the following opinions have been
expressed:
Rev. DR.. e. s. Chapman: s1 believe they
should be dealt with with such severity as to in
timidate any others from attempting to follow
their example. They are not boys. One II
years of age is as old as one was at 80 when
was boy. l have no faith at all in reforma-
tory institutions for such, for they are beyond
the age when they can be reformed I have
the greatest interest in boys have been
teacher among them for years. believe in
teaching them the power of government and
authority"
Rev. DR.. Alfred Hummer: 1.-THE question of
what to do with them is grave one. Young
fellows who are so hardened in crime as 10 be
ready to take life, however, cannot be allowed
to go unpunished. The manner of Furnishing
them and at the same time to make something
out of them is one of the unsolved problems as
yet. 1t is pitiful to see such young fellows
going to the bad. believe 1t is greatly due to
the literature they are allowed to read. There
is romantic streak in most boys which causes
great deal of such trouble, even when fed on
proper material. They are not hardened GRIM
inals, but are carried away easily, owing to q
lack of early training
Rev. Dr. Robert F. Coyle: 'Such crimes as
these boys have been guilty of should be pun
ished. The punishment, however, should be
OF reformatory nature, which it has not
always been. But because it has not is no rea-
son why punishment should not be meted out
to such Offenders
Among the announcements of the