The copper country evening news., 1896-04-13
HOW CAN WE LESSEN cR1MEp

| In spite of all that has been done fol
the reformation of the world In spite Of all
| the Inventions In spite of all the forces OF
nature that are now the tireless slaves OF
man, in spite OF all improvements in agri.
culture. in mechanics, in every depart.
| ment OF human labor, the world Is still
cursed with poverty and with crime.
The prisons are full, the courts are
crowded, the officers of the law are busy,
and there seems To be no material de-
crease In crime.
For many thousands of years man has
\ endeavored to reform his fellow men by
Imprisonment torture, mutilation and
death, and yet the history of the world
shows that there has been and is no re-
forming power In punishment. 1t Is Inn
possible TO make the penalty great enough,
horrible enough, TO lessen crime.
Only few years ago, in civilized coun.
tries, larceny and many offenses even be.
low larceny were punished by death, and
yet the number Of thieves and criminals
of all grades increased. Traitors were
hanged and quartered or drawn into frag-
ments by horses, and yet treason hourished
Most of these frightful laws have been
repealed, and the repeal certainly did not
increase crime In our own country we
rely upon the gallows, the penitentiary
and the Jail. When murder Is commit
ted, the man is hanged, shocked to death
by electricity or lynched, and In a few
minutes "a new murderer is ready to suffer
n like fate. Men steal. They are sent to
the penitentiary for certain number of
years. treated like wild beasts, frequently
tortured. Al the end Of the term they are
discharged, having only enough money to
return to the place from which they were
sent They are thrown upon the world
without means-without friends-they are
convicts They are Stunned, suspected
and despised. II they obtain a place, they
are discharged as soon as 1t Is found that
they were in prison. They do tho best
they can 20 retain the respect Of their fel.
low men by denying their imprisonment
and their Identity. In little while, un-
able to gain living by honest means, they
resort to crime, they again appear In
court, and again are taken within the
dungeon walls No reformation, no chance
TO reform, nothing to give them bread
while making new friends.
A penitentiary should be a school; the
convicts should he educated. So prisoners
should work and they should be paid a
reasonable sum for their labor. Tho best
men should have charge of prisons. They
should be philanthropists and philos-
ophers; they should know something OF
human nature. The prisoner, having been
taught, we will say, for five years-taught
the underlying principles of conduct, of
the naturalness and harmony Of virtue OF
the discord Of crime; having been con.
WINGED that society has no hatred, that no.
body wishes to punish, TO degrade or to
rob him, and being mt the time Of his dis
charge paid reasonable price for his la
Dor; being allowed by law to change his
name so that bis identity will not be pre-
served, he could go out Of the prison
friend Of the government. He would have
the feeling that he had been made better
man; that he had been treated with jus-
tioe, with mercy, and the money he carried
with him would he breastwork behind
which he could defy temptation. breast-
work that would support and take care of
him until he could find some means by
which to support himself And this man,
instead OF making crime business, would
become n good, honorable and useful cit
lien.
Murderers. those belonging to the dan
gerous classes, those who are so formed by
nature that they rush to tho crimes of des-
peration, should be imprisoned for life, or
they should be put upon some island, some
place where thcy can DO guarded. whore 1t
may be that by proper effort they could
support themselves the men on one island,
the women ON another. And 10 these
islands should be sent professional Grim.
inals, those who have deliberately adopted
q life Of crime for the purpose of support
ing themselves, the women upon one
island, the men upon another. Such peo-
pie should not populate the earth
Neither the diseases nor the dcformities
OF the mind or body should be perpctuated:
life at the fountain should not be polluted