Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-29
The Lash for Wife. eeaters.

L In his ANNUAL uCSouoN
the President devoted an unusually
large amount of space to washington
! affairs. and no paragraph has attract
ed more general attention than that III
| which he made emphatic reference 10
the class of city criminals whose speci-
alty is brutal cruelty to the weak-to
women and children. He tod con-
sress that the penalty should ut the
crime and that mere imprisonment
does not at all fit this kind OF crime.
| The wife-beater is locked up; the wire
| and children are left to fend for them
| s.,x,ea IN. beg, or starve. President
Roosevelt suggested some form OF
corporal punishment" He did not
say whipping post, but everybody has
assumed that is what he meant.
The suggestion seemed to start
sbudder in some quarters. and many
| people have expressed regret that the
| President should recommend a punish
ment-whatever the crime-so degrad-
ing as the use of the lash. The whip
ning-post was IN general use in earlier
times. but We believe Delaware is the
only state which retains it and there
| wife heaters are its usual victims. In
| Washington itself the suggestion OF
the President seems to be received
with general. though not universal,
favor. Last week the Washington
Post collected opinions in the capital
CITY about the Presidents suggestion,
and Sunday morning it published
them.
| Bishop Satterlee OF the Protestant
Episcopal church is heartily in favor
of laying the lash on wife-beaters.
He gives 1t as his belief that by whip
ping only can this form of contempti-
bile crime be reached effectively" He
would prescribe the same treatment
for certain other criminals. Bishop
Cranston (Methodist) isn't afraid of
| "brutalizing" the wife-beater by fog
1
cannot be made any more like brute
than ne is" Rev. ]. ID. Stafford uto-
man Ca.holic) thinks that the pros
pect Of corporal punishment would
have strong restraining effect on
wculd-be wife beaters; linen who
maltreat women, in addition to being
brutes, are always towards" Rev.
John NJ. Schick RefOrmed) cOncurs in
thu, opinion: Il believe that the whip
ping-post is wholesome and easy
solution of the problem" he says. Rev.
J. G. Butler LutheraD sees in the
| whipDing-post the merits of economy,
simplicity and efficacy. lone taste OF
the lash would be enough for the
average wife-beater,' he says. Il
have never had the least doubt about
the usefulness and desirability of cor
poral punishment says Rev. A. W.
Pit1er lPresbyterian). Il am ab5o-
lutcly. unqualifiedly, and unanimous
", without any of ifs or butts or per-
haps excerpts about it, in favor Of the
whipping post for the wife-beater."
says Rev. Wallace Radcliffe Presby-
terian). -- II do not know anything so
dastardly, so mean, SO utterly inde-
feasible in conduct as the beating of
ones wife, and l would apply to its
punishment a good, stout physical
chastisemenf with the LASH" says Rev.
=. Reese Murray (MethodisU. Three
or four other Washington pastors are
, lkc-minded on the subject.
/ How about Washington laymen
The President is right" says District
Commissioner mcfarland. "A man
who beats his wife ought himself to
be beaten; it would teach human
brutes u deserved lesson" says Com
missioner West. 1T seems to me that
some form of corporal punishment. as
suggested by the President, would
meet the case" says Commissioner
, Riddle. 1.-THE effect of putting into
operation a law establishing the whip
ping-post would be cure; I do not
believe 1t would be necessary ever to
use such a remedy more than once in
each case" says Judge Ivory G. Kim
ball. police court magistrate. "For
. the past seven years have been IA
vorable to the establishment Of the
. whipping-post for wife-beaters and
p thieves" says Major Richard Sylvester
superintendent of police. In my
y opinion the application Of the lash in
one or two cases in the District OF
I Columbia and the holding Of the ap.
paratus in readiness for the future
would tend more to stay the cruel
r treatment Of wives and children and
e prevent the snatching Of pocketbooks
0 assaults, and robberies, than almost
A anything that could be devised"
= On the other hand it is to be noted
v that Rev. Teunis s. Hamlin. Rev.
Tho,v,oc Do~, D,--.-