The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-08

habitations of eruelty.-Psalm 1920,
In this day and generation this pas
sage would be written, Have respect
for the law" and it is suggested by this
paragraph from the Atchison Globe:
1T seems that the sight of the sal
lows doesn't prevent one from commit
ting crime. Leavenworth sent more
men to the penitentiary in the year
Just ending than any other county IN
the state. Still, every man in Leaven-
worth county had the penitent1ary
right before his eyes"
It is a well known fact that lynch
ings are frequently accompanied and
followed by other crimes. Lynching is.
in itself. one of the worst of crimes.
There are some communities in this
state that are practically free from all
crime, while in others law breaking Is
commonplace. There is a consider
able number Of western Kansas coun-
ties without an inmate in the penften-
tiary, while there are other Counties
more thickly populated, to be sure
that have large colonies at Lansing
One may look at the question from
all angles and investigate all sorts of
theories concerning it, but in the end
it will be found the cause OF crime in
general-the abstract cause-is a dis
respect for law by the people g
whole.
The community, whether it be Leav-
enworth, Atchison, Shawnee, Wyan-
dotte, or some other county-the COM
munity that allows the laws to be vio-
lated openly and with the connivance
and consent of the officials and per-
haps a majority of the people. is, by
natural law, a breeder of crime. This
does not apply to the prohibitory law
alone, but to other statutes that are
held lightly in some communities.
Take the case of Leavenworth, Tor
instance. It is reported that the law
against gambling is lightly regarded IN
Leavenworth- A gambler, shielded by
the disrespect for the gambling law N
that community, f1eeces a dupe. Crime
No /. The swindled man. seeing that
law is lightly esteemed. believes he has
no redress except such as he can Sc
cure by physical violence. and he as
saults the gambler: Crime No. 2. In
the midst Of the fight the fury of the
combatants is aroused. there is the
fash of weapon, a murder is commit
ted: Crime Nc. 8. Yet the peniten-
tiary is right there before the muir
derer's eyest
Another instance: A jointist. pro
tected by public of1cials-crine No. 1
.-entices laborfng man on Saturday
night to spend his weeks wages for
| liquor: Crime No. 2. The laboring
man, with his moral sense dulled by
liquor, goes forth penniless. lie
knows the jointist is vio1at'~y the law
and goes unpublished, and he sees no
reason why he should not be able to do
the same thing if he is shrewd enough.
/ So he commits robbery: Crime No.
3. Yet the penitentiary is right there
before the thief's eyesl
It all grows out of a disrespect for
law. In communities where the peo-
/ pie are instilled with the idea that all
/ laws are made to be obeyed and re-
/ spected, the morally weak are also i'm
pressed with this idea. In communi-
ties where public officials or public SEN
timent allows certain laws to be brok-
en- with impunity more or less Of a
contempt and disrespect for all law Is
bound to spring up.
The same thing is true with regard
to federal laws relating to commerce.
The Sherman antitrust law prohibited
rebates. The law was practically a
dead letter. It became a common prac-
tice for shippers to accept and rail-
roads to give rebates. 1t was crime.
but the criminals disrespected not only
that but most other similar laws.
Every state antitrust law was violated
also.
The obvious lesson is that law
should be enforced while it remains
on the statute books. If it is a bad law
the people viii demand that it be re-
pealed. If it is a good law it ought to
remain and be enforced