Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-11-25
A MATTER on INTEREST no ALL.


Tennessee annually spends one mil
lion five hundred thousand dollars for
the prosecution Of cr'me and about the
same amount for public education.
On an average the public school term
is about four and one half months.
The time has come to add these two
sums together for educational purposes
and to have good schools nine months
out of the year, and to compel the
criminals to maintain themselves and
pay the cost of their prosecution.
Georgia has as many convicts as Ten.
nessee and she only pays out annually
about $4,000 for her crime. By adopt
ing the Georgia plan our State can rid
herself Of her greatest burden of debt
and for which she has no return.
The statement that government and
law exist to protect the citizen in his
life and property is as familiar as the
face of the sun. In Tennessee the pres
ent system of criminal prosecutions
and the lax rules of pardon that have
obtained in Governors Office for years
that not only encourage crime but are
a direct reflection upon our courts, ties.
tify e%loquently and conclusively to the
ab%surdity and falsity of the claim in
our case.
After spending hundreds and thou
sands for their conviction, the most
hardened and abandoned criminals are
turned loose, not singly but in gangs,
to again prey on society. In addition,
the innocent and law abiding, in a Pc
cuniary sense, have to suffer the pun.
ishment of crime. And this wrong will
continue until we abolish our present
abominable criminal system.
When WI compel crime to bear its
own punishment and pay its own fines
then will be a marked reduction of the
criminal class and a corresponding
greater security to life and prosperity.
When we make crime self sustaining,
as we easily can do, and spend for the
education of u youth what we now
throw away on criminals, then we will
make rapid strides to that high grade
OF civilization in which government
and law are respected and obeyed.
This important matter has no politics
In it. 1t is pure business. 1t materially
affects all classes. 1t has a vital con.
nection with the prosperity and moral
and social conditions of the State, and
the incoming Legislature can consider
no a of grayer moment and
concern.
The people should be taxed only to
support the Legislative, executive and
Judicial departments of the State Gov.
eminent. to pay the bonded indebted
ness and to maintain a progressive and
efficient school system. Taxation be.
yond this is legalized outrage and rob-
berry. John Jones, Hezekiah Brown,
Timothy Titcomb and Tom Walker
should not be compelled to pay the
cost of convicting John Smith for horse
stealing or burglarizing a meat house,
when the said Smith, by his labor, is
able to pay it himself.
The principle that should control and
guide the Legislature is this, that a
whole community should not be fined
and punished for the lawlessness of an
individual and thatia convict should be
made a producer, instead of a consumer,
just as soon as his term of punishment
begins. Should the product of the con-
yict labor be insufficient to defray the
cost of criminal prosecutions, it is
probable that the fines and forfeitures
would cover the deficit.
The people are aroused on this mat.
ter, the criminal class has become a
burden too grievous to be borne any
longer, and il the Legislature does not
give the people the demanded reform,
1t may prepare itself to permanently re.
tire at the expiration of its present
Iaaoa