Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-12-05
An Open Letter TO the General As
sembIy OF Virginia.
For the Dispatch.)

i
| To your honorable body now assem-
lied In our capital city, the eyes OF tax
| payers and honest law-abiding citizens
| all over this State are turned. The peo-
pie OF Virginia are looking to you 70
| devise some means by which expenses
may be reduced, means which will avert
| the direful calamity OF an increase OF
| taxation, and will yet carry on the gov
| eminent I'm a manner well becoming
| this grand old Commonwealth. The
measure OF retrenchment, whatever that
may mean, has been suggested, and will,
doubtless, be strongly, by the public
press, and strongly supported by public
sentiment On that intricate subject,
beset by so many perplexlties this
writer has nothing to offer. save as re-
CARDS one of its very simplest phases.
II occurs TO me that the prosecution
OF the petty criminals is costing far too
much, and right here Is a field for re-
trenchment AS our law at present
stands the petty thief is a winner.
whether he gets caught or not. II he is
not caught, he gets a half-dozen hens,
upon which he may for awhile exist,
and II he is caught he gets shelter, food,
and lodging for one or two months, while
the taxpayer foots the bill, amount
ing, IT. some instances, TO three or four
times the value Of the article stolen. The
thief has suffered no humiliation by the
imprisonment. he has not felt the sting
Of any rebuke OF the law, and when he
is released from the Incarceration -
ready to play at Il game which Will
krfr In 81 n O.
cape or capture. There was time In
this good old Commonwealth when such
an offender was not fed and sheltered
and warmed at the expense OF the tax
payer. but when he was warmed In
manner that long remained in his
memory and gave him courage to resist
the savory flesh OF stolen chicken, lamb.
and pig. Let this honorable body of true
Virgnians reinstate the whipping
post" as a punishment for petty thefts,
and they will hear words Of earnest APP
prevail from the good people all over
the State.
There Is a maudlln sentImentality now
a-days which raises IT'S cry against
corporal punishment. These mild re-
formers would take from our homes all
corrective discipline. and have our chill
dren reared without respect OF rightful
authority. With that sentiment I have
no sympathy. There Is certain class
Of offenders, a constant and everywhere
present annoyance to human society.
which must be dealt with as criminals,
and to whom corrective punishment
must be administered for the public good.
We cannot turn our police courts and
our magistrates courts into sentimental
reformatories, nor can we make our
fails the cosey retreats for thieving
idIers, who prefer 10 live at the public
expense rather than work.
/ am In favor OF reformatorles and OF
humane treatment to prisoners. and
recognize the fact that there will be
prisoners who must be confined for
terms Of years, but speak now OF tnat
low class who are annoying and destruc-
tive rather than dangerous TO society.
II Is a well-known fact that the
whipping post" was abolished as po-
iiticai measure. not for want Of Its effi-
cheney In corrective and preventive dis
cipline
As a voter and taxpayer Interested
IN all che affairs Of our State. submit
this appeal to your honorable body. that
you will pass measures TO reinstate the
whipping post" as means OF punish
ment for petty thieving and so reduce
both the stealing and the cost OF its
punishment TAXPAYER