The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1905-07-06
LET HIM BE NAMELESS.



a Method Of PunisAment - Old as
M Mankind Itself.
When men wish to punish one Of
their fellows in peculiar way, when
they desire particularly to show their
deep disapproval OF some wrong he has
committed, they do not cast him into
prison; they do not even take his life;
they blot ont his name All other pun
ishments which men have devised from
the days of darkest barbarism to the
present sink into comparative insight
icance beside the subtle, searching,
complete penalty Of the simple dictum,
lie, him be nameIess."
In the chapel at West Point there is
g tablet in which names Of the coun-
try's Revolutionary heroes are graved
In gold. And there is one name all
but scored out with sinister bar Of
black, just enough Of the letters show
ing to enable one to trace the name.
"Benedict Arnold" THIS was the ma
TONS way Of erasing the name Of a
traitor.
In the regular army the officer who
steals Is ostracised absolutely. Not
only is he forbidden to have any com
merce with other officers. but they are
forbidden to associate with him or to
recognize him In any way. In his IA
tive place he il published ~ one not
1T to associate with gentlemen. This
is the army's way Of punishment for
those who have failed to measure
themselves closely to the standard Of
an on1cer and a gentlemen.
Blotting out the name Of an offender
n not new method Of punishment. It
- a. old as mankind itself. : When Job
wished to show his adherence Of
wicked man he. said. "Hts remem-
bralhce chair perish from tie earth, and
he shall have no ..nameein the street"
David also said Of the transsressors
against divine and human laws, Let
them be <biotted out OF the book OF the
living" The eternal fre and brin-
stone Of the eariier-and some Of the
later-stern religionists still leaves ex-
istence for the culprit But man
comes a. near to decreeing humiliation
as he can when he would have the re-
membrance Of a fellow being perish
from the earth and would have him
walk the streets nameless and un-
known and unrecognized.
To che sensitive man, the man who
has reared a structure based on char
acter and embracing culture and So
cial standing, there must be a poign-
ancy about this sort Of punishment
that searches the very depths Of
the SOUL To such q man the Quietude,
the isolation, of prison cell Is little
more than escape from the accusing
eyes of his fellows. No laws penalty
can add to his mental suffering. He Is
In a worse plight than Cain, for Cain
bore distinguishing brand. Cain still
had name.
Hale wrote about the man without a
country. But what pen Is capable Of
describing the feelings, the sufrerings,
Of man without name? He has
been blotted out Of the book Of the liv-
ing, yet he lives. He appears in the
streets, but without a. name. His re-
membrance has perished from his
earth, yet he remembers, and in this
remen bering while all others have for
gotten lies the chief sting, the deepest
thrust of the way men punish when
they say "Let him be nameless." To
be forgotten of men while one still
treads the earth; to meet in the eyes
Of former friends and acquaintance no
glimpse Of recognition; to be cipher
where once one was a figure of conse-
quence-can human ingenuity devise
greater punishment than this ?-Chica-
go Post. =