Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-05

dare we pronounce his ofrense to be I'M
rardonable sin? How dare we condemn MIN
and cast him out as an irreciaimabie bru.e.
Incapable Of betterment, incapable OF be-
Ing further brutalized even by The brutal
lash? Such action. of course. is not in ne
spirit OF Christ, but of the system which
lie displaced. with Its harsh. arrogant ana
tnrelenting judgments and It's cruel and
barharous retaliatory penalties.
A Slur on the District.
The suggestion of the whipping post re-
yival for the District inevitably produces
popular impression which is no less than
a monstrous SUR upon the national capital
and libel on Its residents. The people
of Washington are accustomed TO he called,
In the course of congressional debates,
mendicants, grafters, and deficient In a
sense of public duty. Now they are to ne
pilloried before the world as inhuman 20
degree warranting the restoration of the
lash to Its old-tilne brutal activity Thus
far there Is nothing in the records to war
rant the assumption that wffe-beating is
exceptionally prevalent here. One OF the
judges of the Police Court has so stated,
but the statistics which ne subsequently
produced were untrustworthy and value
less. Statistics have been brought forward
by Mr.. Adams to show that wife-beating
is prevalent, or was prevalent twenty years
ago, in Pennsylvania, these statistics haV-
ing utterly failed TO convince that state
that 1t should adopt the whipping post.
In some part the local protest against the
proposition is based upon a strong sense
of pride in the capital city and distaste
for seeing 1t held up before the world as
fit, because helpless experiment station
for new and unusual processes of govern
ment. 1t has been tglus treated often in
the past, and ii has suffered sorely in con-
sequence. But now those who advocate
the whipping post for Washington in erect
declare that what the states have rejected
is good enough for the District dog. Dela-
ware has the post and uses it today, put
1t is not PRESCRIBED as puhlshmeh-
for wife-beaters. In Maryland the
post still stands on the statute
books, but the courts, in the exercise
of their discretion. have for many years
ignored this possible mode of punishment
and sentenced wife-beaters to Jail instead
Nowhere else Is the lash even recognized
in the letter of the law, and yet 1T is pro-
posed to restore 1t in the District upon
which all eyes are focused and which serves
as model in so many respects. Is II
the purpose of its advocates to cause the |
example to spread, until what is at hrst |
merely a local institution shall grow INTO
a national whipping post Already the ex-
ample of the President has inspired legls-
lators in several of the states. The Ds-
trict protests against being used once more |
as an apct hecary's cat for the states, 10
be dosed experimentally with dubious leg
iSlative compounds.
Ia the United States to be cited before |
the world as retroactive and baroarous IN |
its genealogical methods. in the face OF the
universal tendency toward more human
and rational punitive process? Is this the |
civilization for which the western republic
seeks to stand?
No Discrimination.
The Adams bill is distinctly Objectionable
on one specific ground-that it allows no |
discrimination in the application of the lash |
to the wife-beater whatever the degree OF
his brutality or the provocation. 1t leaves !
no room for a plea of self-defense. 1t |
grants no consideration of irresDonsibility |
from drink or such an melting cause as the. !
wife's infidelity. 1t permits no alternative I
Maryland holding the threat of the lash |
over the wife-beater's head without the |
necessity Of actually intiicting it.
The terms of this measure bring sharply |
to view the fact that the advocates of the
whipping post differ widely among them
selves as to the character of that to be es-
tablished in the District. One would punish |
in private in order to avoid the brutality or |
the community. Another would not punish |
in private, because there would be no |
check on Individual brutality of executions, |
and because the important element OF pup
lie humiliation so effective with man would |
be eliminated from the punishment, leav-
ing nothing but the appeal to the animal |
fear of pain Still another would punish at |
the post only habitual or frequently offend !
ing wife heaters. This one would not pun |
from drink. That one favors the lash as a |
cure for drunkenness This one would pun |
ish petty offenders along with w1fe-beaters. |
That one would punish husband beating |
wives, as well as wife-beating husbands |
and also child beating fathers and mothers |
Punishment in Private.
Mr. Adams lash is to be applied in pri- !!
vate. Its brutality is to be hid from the |
public gaze, in order that the community |
may be spared the disagreeable shock. The |
element of shame, so important and effec- |
tive factor in Anticipated punishments like |
the old-time whipping post, the stocks and |
the pfllory, Is to be eliminated. There re-
mains of the old penalty nothing but the |
personal, physical torture, the infection of |
pain. The check upon the brutal infection |
of the punishment which public inspection l.
would in this twentieth century assume is |
removed. The stipulated presence of Ii |
censed physician or surgeon may perhaps
be intended to prevent the killing of the
dashed man, though the surgeon is given no
authority to interfere and must apparently |
confne himself to restoring the nut -ated !
and tortured prisoner to consciousness and |
binding up his bleeding wounds.
Nor can the advocates of the whipping
post agree upon the character of the las.
Some advocate the cato nine-tails, others
cowhide whip while Maj. Sylvester the |
chief of police, has proposed a form of |
"spanker" Of underlined proportions and |
materials
The Effective Whipping Post
The advocates of a polite and refined
whipping post are completely out of har-
mony with the whipping post Spirit, and
their proposition, If carried out, would en-
tirely destroy the effectiveness of the pen
atty and the argument for its institution
The logical advocate of the lash is he who
urges and defends the extreme infection OF
pain and shame of which the punishment
Is CanaDle. AS q nrelininarV wit hea me |
is declared the objectionable sin; the wife
beater is beyond the hope of reformation.
Nothing will appeal to him but pain in
ficted upon his body and the threat of pain
aimed at his cowardly fears. Of course
the callous, hardened, thick-skinned prute
must be more brutality beaten than the deli
cate, helpless wife has been in order to
cause him to feel the same pain that she
has suffered. If the whipping post is TO be
the "scare-crow, the very threat of which
is to brighten an otherwise incorrigibe ruff
fan from his ruffianism. IL must be clothed
with appalling terrors. If, through pain
and shame. we are to work upon fear, let