Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21


and as these occur u sIdt9of present laws
they are anxious. t0s iul1iet upon those re-
sponsib1e for them z9frer1rw so much great
er that the punishnntnt IN be effective IN
said that neither uase han had any expe-
Renee with the remedy r{dDmmended.
THE principle ap1laies sbfth even greater
force to wife heaters. sams that offense Is
thing by itself. N9s contact can be more
repugnant to every sattnibnte OF true man.
hood than that of the man who beats the
woman he has swocn to rherish and pro-
tect. 1t wrecks the khapfAess Of the home,
disgraces the childrsn as swell as their un-
natural father, and Hoes SMly harm. Ones
hrst thought Is that a man guilty of such a
base and cowardly act should be fiogged in
able; but whether we ought to yield to it is
another question.
Need and Hight.
Il am reminded of an Irishwoman who
was brought into the mayors court for
fighting with a neighbor and who, in tell
ing her story. said:
An I'll admit that whins got her
down I gave her a - good batin': not
out OF ahny malicious intint at ALL but be-
cause thought that she naded It,
1t was easier for the court to agree
with her as to what the other woman need
ed than as to the absence of malice on her
part anu lt Is probable tflat the MAIN FeSt-
son why we are inclined to approve the
fogging Of a man who beats his wife is
because 1t gives us the same kind of sat
isfaction which the IrishwOman found In
pounding her opponent, or, perhaps. as he
found in beating his wife-we feel that he
needs it.
Are we right in following his example
so far as to do by law what he does con-
cause we believe that the punishment is
best adapted to accomplish the object we
should have?
what study I have given the subject
has convinced me that whipping is not the
best punishment for wife deserters, and
while I confess that I share the feeling
above referred to, and also think 1t Wouio
restrain some men, l do not peHeVe tnat
wife beaters should be SO punished. GER
tainly think that before taking such rad
ical step the subject should be studied as
wife desertion was studied In Boston. All
the cases which came to the ASSOCIATED
Charities there in 1900 we're carefully ana
lyzed to determine how many times eacn
man had deserted as well as the reng1on,
nationality, occupation, education and age
Of both man and wife, the circumstances
of their marriage and the number and age
of their children; and the causes OF deser-
ton were carefully listed, showing now
far either husband or wife was responsible
for 1T. Another study was made In Pnlia,
delphia and still another embracing about
600 cases, is now being made in New York
city. LOT
IF the facts as TO all eases u WIZ ood.
ing in the District in 1904, or In 1905, could
be obtained and analysed in this way, ana
If we could ascertain also whether the
trouble is increasing or not, how this COM
munity compares with others IN TINS re-
spect. what effect our present laws have
on 1T and under what laws and with what
success it is dealt with elsewhere. we
should know better how to handle onend-
@rhe importance of the matter warrants
this trouble to see whether our present
methods can be improved by fogging OF IN
any other way
Return to a Disused Device.
"The proposed change is all the more
radical because the plan Is not new, WITH
a promise of betterithipgs than we have
known 1t Is a return to9a disused DEVICE
from which nothing better than former re-
suits can be hoped for. These results are
well known The punishment degraded the
victim. hardened has hesrt, oestroseo ms
ambition and confirmed shim In his evil
WAYS. The community allowed it as 1t al
lowed brutal SPORTS and abolished 1t when
1t learned by experiences that the metnoo
did harm to all concerned, and that there
were better ways. Had this not been per-
fectly evident and certain the almost uni
versal abandonment of fogging would not
have taken place. 40
at is not necessary to go into particulars
about this, or refer to barbarities about
which all know. DR.. Carroll d. Wright
forcibly says: .s.
.'.The piliorys ana whipping posts were
really instruments of torture, and were i'm
ported into the colonies IN America. The
experience of mankind has been that the
torture of human nerves brutalizes the
criminal and the community land logging,
the last remnant of a. cruel system, has
about disappeared a legaltzed punish
ment
1T must be remembered that to interrupt
this tendency, to revive the whipping post
now, would stamp us all still more bafbar-
GUS than our ancestors, not only because
we have more experience to guide us, but
because whipping would be far deeper
disgrace now than 1t was when more CONF
mon. 1t would be more hateful, and the
same punishment more cruel, because more
rare. ~
Until few months ago Russia was
known as the land of the knout, but the
czar, after the birth of his son, largely re-
duced the use of it in the army and abol-
ished it in civil life. 1t is almost incredible
that the capital of this nation should pro-
pose to take up the whip which Russia has
just dropped. and punish free American cit
liens as our own slaves were once punished,
even for the detestable offense of beating
their wives.
"To do this would be to put an old piece
of cloth on to a new garment, from which
it differs in color and texture, and with
which 1t can never harmonic however long
it is worn; and my principal objection to
adopting this punishment is that 1t is who'll
ly at variance with all modern methods of
advancing the welfare of society, and es-
pecially with the fundamental principle on
which the Associated Charities which Is a
type of many others in our city, works
that of trying to remove conditions which
cause distress instead OF regarding only the
distress and being content when 1t is re-
Heved. This is O. building up process, based
on careful investigation and requiring pa
tience and continued effort, looking to the
establishment of those friendly relations
which the sincere interest from which 1T
springs warrants, in the hope that the in
fiuence SO acquired may be helpful in cor
recting errors and defects. It aims to build
up the home, to preserve the family as the
unit of society and to restore its right re-
lations when they have become disordered
Smear the Intel.
This is difficult work at best, but only
by 1t can real and lasting improvement be
made. To bring into some of these homes,
with which in many cases the Associated
must concern itself, an utterly
element makes any responsive 4
feeling impossible. A man, who has been
hogged might be justified in ssmearing a
little of the blood from his lacerated back
on the door-post and lintels as a passover
sign that no friendly visitor representing
the community which authorized such an
act need ever enter there
.Such a punishment resembles its contem-
DOrary habit of doing on bread to the moor