New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-18
VHIPPING.POST ADVOCATED.
SPEAKERS BEFORE THE MEDlCo-hTuAH
SOCIETY THINK 1T WOULD BE A
USEFUL, REFORM

rho uodico-I.eeal Society. after a dinner at the
Hotel St. Andrew last evening, discussed the
subject of Corporal Punishment for crime
There were about fifty members present the
women largely outnumbering the men w
president clark Bell was called TO the chair ana
the discussion of the question OF the evening WAS
taken up. - .~,
Justice Simeon f. Baldwin, Of the supreme
Court of Connecticut. was introduced as the hrS'
speaker. He said In part:
do not hesitate to avow, my conviction In tnat
whipping would often furnish mode OF p d inn
nrisonment for minor offences and he useful ad-
dton Imprisonment for grayer Ss Continent of
Europe have in century been strongly a gadns
the induction o. corpSra punishment with sSch
power We do not find II in their Rena o SSae been
only in es state Is un I4' no "aS natural bias
to abuse such prerogatlve Ihere a ,hH certain
Oh ba fisss sentence to ioggng will be passed only
as an act of Justice andS not from iee""eS vi
contempt or f o accept the sentimental humani-
tartan position that the right to punish rests pn
v pe should none the less insist that whipping
was. for many cases the oes' to refrain is
hslf-reformed whipping has direct tendency ein,
to teach a man to refrain from whatever Is liheiy
10 entail another punishment OF the same sort.
Justice Baldwin was applauded frequently in the
course OF his remarks. Clark Bell then spoke. In
the course Of his remarks he said:
There can be little doubt OF the enormous value
and importance Of the whipping post as deterrent
against the commission of crime.
The older men of the South have personal
knowledge of the efficiency OF the WHIP as deter.
rent They all concede 1t. Some of them believe 1t
has stronger influence on the blacks than the
whites 1t is more than probable that no form or
punishment Is more repugnant than that or the
whipping post and its value as deterrent cannot
be overestmated
Among the letters read by Mr. Bell was one from
John G.. Shortall, president Of the Humanitarian
Society Of Chicago who wrote: II am very con-
ndent that the judcious infection Of physical pain
by whipping would greatly diminish the number Of
offences committed by youths under twenty -one
years OF age, provided such punishments were made
without eclat and in the presence OF but a few
persons who should all he present officially and
should include a physician,
Frank Moss, OF the Society for the Prevention OF
Crime wrote In part follows:
Our present system Of punishment by imprson-
ment Is not adequate and deterrent relating to
drunkenness. 1t is useful only in removing the
drunkard from public view and preventing him
from injuring society. There is hardly anything
rather tends the deepening of criminal impulses
and spreading OF criminal influences one OF our
greatest needs issa more enlightened and scientific
Treatment of offenders designed not only TO put
them out of the way Of doing HARM but also to
correct their evil tendencies.
/ have doubt that whipping Is a proper method
OF punishment for those offences In which man
hood Is degraded. The perpetrators of wife-beat-
fogged with benefit to themselves and with the ap-
prevail of society.
Whipping for drunkenness would be than
useless, and would tend only to destroy the slum-
OF reformation. Drunkenness is more a disease than
a crime.