The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-11-20

good and pioiIs preacher who officiatel
I'm the chapel | first suspected the value
OF knowedge and then obtained the books
from which to acquire H. Being my own
teacher To a great extent and Interested
In my pupil. I absorbed knowledge a. a
sponge does water. But. on the otner
hand. from the vast variety Of deiin-
duente who we're sent 20 tho institution
from time 10 tlme 7 also learned the
true meaning OF the words vice ana crime
II entered the reformatory little
thief whose main object I'm stealing mad
been mischief. I left the place pro-
fessionai crook endowed with sirh knowi-
edge az made me self reliant I felt
myself equipped for the battle with rne
world. To such degree that was resuy
10 attack rather than w9tt and defend
myself. and was eager for the fray.
Nine years have passed. and have
lived, N not above suspicion. at least be-
yond conviction. have never been m
prison. and never expect TO be vet
| am a professional criminal.
Having givcn you this short sketch
OF myself. | pass 70 the consideration
OF tho criminal In general. Ny friends
We call ourselves crooks and the worfu
calls US criminals As crooks we un-
derstand and sympathize with one an
other' As criminals does the world un-
derstand or sympathize with US? Does
the Christian, with his creed. Love thine
enemies love us? Yet are we not count
ed a. the enemies OF society?
Let US consider for moment tn-
true relation between the criminal ano
society at large. There seems TO be nut
one doctrine or salvation for the dein-
quent and thai Is punishment. Granting
that this theory In correct one is II
Justly practiced? We find that for a given
oHense there fs a specified number or
years In prison set down as the proper
punishment Are all men who commit
tVn
ment that all should bs treated with
equal severity? Are all of these guilty
persons equally responsible for their
acts! Have all had the same heritage
the same environment. the same exam
pies or conduct and the same oppor-
tunI,les Tor living without resorting 20
crlmeE The answer II so evident that n
Is amazing that civilization should toler-
ate such blindness In the Goddess of Jus
tice.'
lie paused moment, having delivered
the hnal sentences with, such earnest and
intense force shat his audience was car
rieu away by his eloQuencs and applauu-
ed rapturously. Mr.. Mitchell was as
founded 10 ind man OF this mental cali
per openly admitting that ne lived a life
OF crime. He was more Interested than
ne had ever before been In any man ana
was Impatient to hear more.
MY friends. society has made ors
taHe ninto this error from sheer selfish
ness The mistake lies I'm this-the Grim.
maj mas been measured by the standards
applicable TO normal men, whereas
crime ever has been and ever will be the
result or abnormal development or of
physicai and psychical degeneration To
use trite simile. crime is a disease
ana as In other diseases. the sufferer is
personally responsible for his condition
In only small proportion OF cases.
HOW Inherently does society treat
physical and moral disease! For the AZ
physicians, nurseries, sanitariums. hospi-
tails and lazarettos For the latter we
have lawyers juries, judges. prisons
stripes and hanging
In the worst stages Of physical dis
ease the individual becomes menace
ana a danger 10 the community. with
perfect but nevertheless selfish Justice
the afflicted one is seized and incarcar-
ated In a lazaretto. Such fate Is sad
enough and bad enough yet Ii is vastly
dinerent from the extreme example OF
the morally diseased. He endangers the
life or takes the life OF one Of the COM
munity, and his life IL taken I'm payment
Thus society as a whole commits the
very act for which IL dooms the poor
wretch If Ii be argued that society kills,
but does not murder. the contention Is
easily shown to be sophistry, for II a
man should kill a convicted and condem-
ned murderer. thus committing the act
which society has elected itself to COM
mit such man would still be adjudged
guilty OF murder. Yet II all the facts
were considered, including the most i'm
portant one that all morally diseased are
also physically imperfect and that the
two afflictions are interdependent the
world would be aroused TO the recogni-
tion OF its great error, and society would
be compelled TO admit that IL should no
more slay the moral than the physical
leper The day will the day must come
when crime. like disease will be treated
curativey rather than punitively, bu,
that day Is not yet. and we live In the
present and must meet conditions as
they are. How. then. shall we criminals.
we crooks fashion our lives?
II have pointed out to you the great
error made by society: but. my friends
We ourselves have fallen into the same
mistake. and II is OF more Importance TO
us than TO society We also overlook the
fact that our criminal propensities are
born and bred In us. that we are not
solely responsible for what we are. that
we are morally and ofttimes physically
diseased and that we are congenitally go.
Yet such is our deplorable condition
Moreover. no helping hand is outstretch-
ed toward us. The hand that beckons
holds scourge, an6 the index finger
not help us. We must help ourselves,
How?
why not by cooperation az I'm this
society? Thus we erect a community I'm
sympathy with our position and condi-
tion, and by learning TO live I'm true har-
mony with all the members OF this
smaller. diseased community we cannot
but progress In ourselves and I'm our
progeny toward a right to claim a place
In that wider world which holds us now
as enemies-enemies without claim on
Christian love.
In physical disease the most mporta mt
step toward cure has been made when
the presence Of the disturba nee is recog-
nized and correctly diasnosticated. So ~
must be with crime. once the individual
crook realizes his true condition and the
danger he Is I'm because OF the unequal
warfare which he wages with the world.
then surely he is better armed for the
fray
ITO make an end Of my preaching
then, I will advise the individual as
have advised the whole society present.
LET each man 1 have done study put