Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-05

found himself mayor or the CITY. ~
not? 1t is true that his supporters
were practically unorganized, ana ma
he was opposed by both the cid parry
machines and a united press, nut stu
why not? When a city can set a man
Of brains as its head Ii IS in luck, ano
when those brains happen 10 have been
atvotins themselves to the realizatlen
of humanitarian ideals it IS more than
doubly blest.
Whitlock, although only Sc. had made
. splendid record in both respects. As
n newspaper man in Chicago. as a mag
azine writer, and subsequently as the
author of such pregnant works as me
Thirteenth District" he had made
deem mark, and in his practice as a
lawyer, in which he confined hlinseil
largely to acting as friend ana eouhseI-
~. For the oufcast. he had given un-
questionable proof of strong HUMANE
tartan tendencies. Moreover, he hao
been the right-hand man of Golden
Rn1e Jones. whom, running always as
an independent candidate and refusing
to appeal to any one class, the peopIe
Of Toledo had got into the habit OF
choosing as their mayor, having eiecteu
him four successive times.
IN fact. the Independent movement
that elected Whitlock, as it had elected
Jones could hardly claim the title II
organization. 1t was rather the spon-
faneous conference of a number OF clti-
zens who believed that the work OF I'M
nroving and building up modern
American city could be done best OUT
side of national politics Ana TINS Inv
nent was not confined to mere voters
for the women OF Toledo, in such or
ganizations as the Federation OF Wom-
ems cl11bs and the Council OF women
has steadily upheld Whitlock's hands as
II did those of his predecessor.
To the insight into practlcal pol ls,',
gained during his experience as d CnlI
caro reporter, supplemented by legal
nTsctice that brought him into daily
fouch. as it brought his old friend car
ence barrow, with the actual macnln-
erv of oIlr legal system as apphed 10
tha masses. Whitlock has added a
thoughtful and philosophical bent tnat
has made him a constant student OF the
leading sociological writers OF the age
a lover of personal liberty and a
hater If coercion in all its forms his
thought runs closely parallel with that
If Tolstov, and, If he is not nom
resistant. it is at least basic with MN
that force is no remedy, that violence
begets violence and that good alone
can produce Improvement. His gen.
eral attitude toward the problems OF
poIiticaI and administrative corruptioh
that confront society at every turn
might be 0JIV up III NAtS
tence Charles Edward Russell prints IN
italics in the concluding chapter OF his
long inquiry into social conditions, pub
lished under the title of SOLDIERS or
The common Good" 1t runs as tol-
lows. $50 that the whole development
resolves itself at last into no more than
this. that to do away with evil IN the
state Ii Is first necessary to do away
with the conditions that produce evil"
Violence Begets Violence
For many years past Whitlock has
done notable work along the line OF
inpressing the public conscience WIN
the fact that revenge, as the OASIS OF
IT'S treatment of criminals, is survival
Of sayagery, and that the policy OF
deterrence does not deter. In parttc-
Mar is this apparent in his criticism
of capital punishment, that being the
occasion on which society shows ltselt
most conclusively as actuated by the
desire for blood. And to those OF us
who have some skill in analyzing liter
airy work; in distinguishing mere SEN
tirnent, always so easy to manufacture,
from the arduous toll of collecting and
rnarshaling facts, of weighing and par
alleling arguments-to those of us who
have any aptness for such discrimina-
ton it is self-evident that Whitlock S
work is that of a painstaking artist.
In his we'll known brochure, Thou
Shalt Not KILL" the objections to more
humane methods are taken up in de-
tail. the theological arguments, based
on literal excerpts from the Mosaic
law. which is still a stumbling block
to many, being dealt with exhaustive
Iv. IT must be when we consider that
recently a Kansas minister petitioned
for the execution of eighty inmates of
the states prison, and that, so lately
as March last, the Presbyterian Stan
dard of Charlotte, N. c., frankly
ayowed it's belief in capital punishment,
declaring that "our country is suffer-
ing badly for hangings."
AS Whitlock shows, IL we are to take
our stand on the law given to Moses,
which is the contention of the class
referred to, we must kill not only those
who themselves have taken life, but
the idolator, the oppressor of widows
and orphans the Sabbath breaker and
> host of others whom the humaner
philosophy and the changed morality of
a later age scarcely regards as GRIM
inals; often, indeed, as in the case OF
heretics, classifying them as seekers
after truth and public benefactors.
By statistics gathered from excep-
tionally reliable sources it is shown
in Whitlock's writings that crime de-
creases as hangings decrease, and that
the fewest murders in proportion to
the population are precisely in such
states as Maine, Rhode Island, YER
mont, Michigan, Minnesota and Wis
consin, wherein capital punishment has
been either abolished entirely or hedged
round with restrictions that have driv-
en- it practically out of use.
Where Lynching Originates
The fact, recently accumulated by
-, hi CFN n
southern conditions, that lynching be-
comes more frequent as official ex-
ecutions multiply, the populace catch
ing the infection and following the ex-
ample set by the state, is amply DEM
onstrated. Much emphasis also is laid,
and properly, on the statement that
the morbid curiosity originally excited
by the commission of a murder is fan
ned and prolonged indefinitely during
the consequent trial, wherein the bat
tie between the prosecution and the
defense, with life as the stake, exer-
cises a most evil fascination.
Whitlock reminds us-and many will
understand how needed the admonition
is-that "the theory of government in
this country, at least, is that govern
ment is a social compact, voluntary
association of individuals" Inasmuch
as none Of these individuals has the
right 10 tdfAC lllS CACSpb III dClCHoc, lil6
individuals agent, the state. can have
only similar right. In snort the doc
trine is persistently advocated that
the fundamental error lies in the sup
position that there are circumstances
in which It is right to kill He insists
that as long as this erroneous philoso-
ply prevails the mob invariably will
feel that the circumstances justify the
lynching. as the Individual murderer
inevitably feels, at the moment he