The Washington times., 1903-09-01
Well Meaning Reformers.
The Extraordinary Convictions" of the
Universal Peace Union.

Jhe extraordinary tangles into
which the well-meaning reformer is
apt TO get through constitutional IN
ability TO see two sides of a question
and temperamental lack of a Just
sense of proportion is well illustrated
by the series of Convictions" which
seized the Universal Peace Union
after its last weeks session in Mystic,
Conn.
There were in the list eleven "eon-
yictions." The first and second had to
do with the wickedness of war. The
third and fourth touched lynching
and tie negro. The fifth dealt with
the press. The sixth touched on the
evils resulting from the presence in
the world of many nations instead of
one. The seventh favored a merchant
marine, the, eighth the establishment
IF an international relief fuId, the
hinth closer relations between labor
End capital, the tenth a peace confer
lence every four years TO be called by
the President of the United States,
and the eleventh anti-imperialism
Some of these things are actively
good. Others are merely foolish.
Still others are positively bad-one in
particular being so positively bad that
its presence is a cause of increasing
astonishment. We refer to "convic-
ton" three, which reads as follows:
This article approves the suggestion of Judge
Lore as 20 the prevention Of crimes causing the
lynching Of negroes
And what is Judge Lore's "sugges-
ton" We quote from his address:
OF late years lawlessness has taken the form
Of mob lynching. About one-third the lynchings
were flor outrages upon white women The
lustful brute is not confined 10 any race nor
color. In France lately the crime became so
common thar the assembly came within one
vote Of passing a law that every person con-
victed OF IL should be mutilated. ! am not
sure but that this Is wise punishment OF the
crime.
B1utilation Of the negro convicted of
rape is then the solution which the
Universal Peace Union offers for the
race problem and lynch law. 1t is ex-
traordinary!
We acknowledge that sentiment
should not be permitted to govern one
in considering the matter of making
the punishment fit the crime.
However, we should take into ac-
count past experiences, and we should
also be willing TO learn from past ex-
periences-
Mutiletion as a punishment for
crime is no new thing. Indeed, one
may well believe that it was one of the
first punishments. 1t is a punishment
still in vogue among barbarous peO-
piles.
In England, until comparatively re-
cent times, mutilation of the body of
the criminal, though not always the
precise mutilation recommended by
the Universal Peace Union, was prac-
tieed according TO law.
II is a thoroughly ascertained fact
that brutalizing punishments for
crimes do not stamp out crime, while
they do exert a brutalizing influence
on the community at large. So thor
oughly established are these facts that
collectively they formulate a law.
At the present moment, the safety
of the community demands restraint
of the criminal, but this is at best a
temporary relief, "suffer il TO be so
now.D
The end that must be reached be-
fore the safety of the community is
assured is the final destruction of the
criminal through destroying the evil