Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-21
ROUNDLY CONDEMNED
IT IS CONSIDERED AS INEFFEC-
TIVE, UNWIsE AND UNSAFE.
Only One Voice Raised in It's Behalf
Murder or Wife Desertion Would
Follow Whipping.

the conditions of life directly affected by
the proposition. The Star recently addressed
inquiries to those whose names 1t has been
able to obtain, Replies have come from
several of them, and 1T is an interesting
and Instructive fact that wherever opinions
are directly expressed upon the point at
Issue they are. with the exception of
single case, emphatically opposed to the ap-
pication of the lash to brutal husbands.
This exception is afforded by Major 6yl-
vester, the Districts chief of police. who,
however. in his advocacy of corporal pun
ishment for this class of offenders. argues
for "spanker, rather than flesh-cutting
lash. All others who have communicated
with The Star hold to the belief that whip
ping husbands would be Ineffective as a
punishment and some fear that the whip
ping of a man would cause him either to
kill his wife at the first favorable oppor-
tunity or desert her forthwith. The views
of two women whose work among the poor
of Washington and other cities entities
them to credit as unusually we'll acquainted
with the conditions which mainly surround
the lives of the worst offenders in this di-
reetion especially valuable. Both of
these women strongly condemn the propo-
sition.
Would Be Ineffective.
Mr.. Samuel ]. Barrows United States
commissioner of the international prison
commission, at the State Department at
Washington, says:
I'm regard to the use of the whipping post
as a punishment imposed by law it is near
ly obsolete in most. civilized countries. 1t
is regarded for the most part belonging
TO the 'bygone punishments.'
I'm England it appears from A Century
of Law Reform that the only whipping
post now allowed is under the vagrant act
or IsZ4 by which an incorrigible rogue can
be sentenced by the quarter sessions to be
whipped; also what is known the gar
rioters act of 1868, under the act of 1912
for molesting the queen by striking her,
pointing pistol at her and in two other
cases. There are other statutes authorizing
the birch for Juvenile offenders.
THE English statistics of punishments
show that whipping is not much reSorted to.
1t is relic of the days when torture was
thought to be necessary for the repression
of crime more modern view is that
prevention Is better than repression.
AS to the application of fagellation to
wife heaters, my observation in these
cases Is that the offense is nearly always
the result of intemperance, and intemper-
ance leads to d variety of offenses. accord
ing to the disposition and character of the
fnebriate. Wife beating is such brutal
offense, and so naturally arouses sense
of Indignation, that even eminent judges on
the bench have sometimes wished that they
had the power TO treat man the way he
has treated his wife. Nevertheless, setting
aside the feeling of retala ton, 1 am forced
TO express my conviction that the threat of
whipping would not restrain men from
drinking to excess 1t is an old question
whether intemperance aggravates the
crime or excuses it; but it is certain that
We have not yet developed methods of
treating intemperance from a legal stand
point which have proved effective. The
short sentence is folly. I am just as sure
that the whipping post would be ineffective.
IF we are to reverse the modern policy
of prevention and reformation and substi-
tute retaliatory penalties. 1 do not see why
we should stop with the whipping post
But I cannot think that such reaction
airy measure would prove to be any more
valuable than a hundred other methods of
torture which have been abolished and the
instruments of which to be seen in the
famous museum at Nuremberg
A Dismal Failure.
Col Edward Daniels of SIS @ street. an
old campaigner for reforms says:
During residence of many years in
northern Virginia I have had occasion to
observe the effect of the whipping post. 1t
has been dismal failure The class of
crimes for which it is applied being stead
fly on the increase, the offenders choose
whipping frequently, where choice is given
between that and imprisonment
AS a remedy for wife beating it will no
doubt be as inefficient as for larceny.
TO a man imbruted as the wife
beater, such slight and temporary pun
ishment makes his offense seem trivial He
is put IN the class with robbers of hem
n
dency Is to lower the standard The wife
beater Is dangerous brute to be classed
with highway robbers and murderers a
man guilty of this ofrense sould be given Ar
least five years in the penitentiary and com
PEELED 10 labor for his support and that of
his family With persistent and intelligent
prison training for term of years these
saVagcs might be made over and then re-
leased on probation Many of them are in
sane, as Is shown by the large number who
end career OF cruelty by the murder of
their entire family and themselves Thosf,
VINO are not insane are mostly drunkards
and the drink habit can rarely be overcome
except by long terms of prison life To
whip such man and send him back tn his
family seems a cruel wrong
IF society were shut up to the alternative
OF whipping or small fine and brief con-
hnement In Jail. the advocates of the lash
might have some grounds for their conten
ZION. Tut there is no reason excent the
cost. why long term of Imprisonment
should not be given Who will put a cash
value upon the protection of the wife and
mother and helpless children? Who will
put the dollar against the most sacred thing
our improved civilization has brought ms
the Siiety OF home motherhood, childhood
and helpless old age?
The prevalence of wife beating comes
primarily from the low estimate in which
women are held by large class of men, in
cident from brutality resulting from, neg
lceted training. bad associations and the
drink habit. 1t has been encouraged by the
IDEA that men have an authority over their
wives as over tntiT cfnldren. with the right
to make her submissive by any means they
see 1T to use. Inadequate penalties have
been inflicted; the public even treated to
jokes to see how lightly this offense is re.
garded
GAN this must be changed The chivaI
rous regard for women must be made more
than empty talk. Her person must be made
secure from violence This can be done
only by restraining the offenders and train
ing youths to respect women in the lowest
as well as the highest walks of life
In the matter OF the whipping post our
good President has made a mistake 1t has
been taken by the reactionists of the city to
stampede the people toward the barbarity
OF the past. IL seems pity they are not
as ready to follow his lead in suggestions
that are wise and noble. such as abolishing
the slHms and Improvement of the city,"
Cannot Cure, Will Not Uplift.
AIRS. Sarah Collins Fernandis of 1is "
street southwest. resident worker of the
Social settlement of this city, says
The value of any punishment lies not
only In Its power to correct an evil, but 10
prevent II; to satisfy modern altruism II