The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1910-02-18
KINDNESS TO CRIMINALS
If Laid on Too Thick, iS Cruelty to
Honest People-Two Recent
Object Lessons
Tampa Times.

mere Is great zeal Oh lnOllN = IOE
sober, serious, deliberate thought in
the suggestion made by Major Hall
OF Ocala and reported in the news
columns OF the Times a day or two
ago. The foundation germ of re-
fectiOn is the fear tnat our human
itarianism TO the criminal class is
largely d nourishing use of the
continuance of crime. Not the
sufficient magnitude to make it
question whether it is not mater
of bad policy. There is a large class
OF people who honestly believe they
are doing Christ's will in minister
ing to the sinful and wicked, petting
the lawbreaker and pitying the
criminal, undertaking when he falls
into the clutches OF the law to
weaken its punishments and ameliO-
rate its penalties.
Now. purely for Illustrative pur-
poses, man might beat his wife
and abuse his children, and the mat
ter would arouse no special atten-
tiOn from those people. But let a
thief. degraded and depraved a
chronic lawbreaker. be whipped by
a guard a a convict camp, duly au-
thorized. for the aggravated offense
of mutinous conduct. and straigh-
way his cause is taken up by piOuS
people and noise is raised and ser
mons are preached and crusade is
started. The chorus sWells and the
uprOar would indicate that a most
horrible Injustice had been done
and the good name OF the state
smirched with irremovable disgrace
And all this while the innocent wo-
of
ed to the mercy of the callous
wretch Of a husband and father. and
if it happen that he be arrested and
convicted for his treatment of them
or any other crime for that mat
ter-and is sent TO a camp or a
prison he at once is enrolled in the
ranks OF those who are entitled to
the sympathy and assistance Of the
er-righteOuS.
The community a large has been
bounded by teachers and preachers
and lecturers and ESSAY visits and phi
lanthrOpists into mood which re-
CARDS crime as a disease and under
takes its cure on the homeopathic
methods of administering sweetened
pillS-When an Osteopathic method
applied vigorously TO the neck
would be much surer. safer and
more profitable cure. 1t is not diff
ficult to trace a connection between
such preachings and policies and the
awful crime Of Roland Flowers in
this county a few days ago no
guard shot him as he was making
his escape. II he had been shot the
probabilities are that the guard who
had thereby prevented the horrible
outrage he committed few hours
il,b
it. 1t is not stretching matters very
far to attribute the frightful and
atrOcious butchery in Nolusia county
of sweet and innocent young girl
Just standing on the threshold of
useful and loyable and valuable life.
to the parole system in farOff Con-
necticut and the mistaken philan-
thrOpI of a man who thought TO
serve mankind by redeeming a
tough young brute who should have
been restrained Of his liberty for
more years than he had been
Courts and jurists are too tender
with criminals, and the partial per
fOrmance of their duties is still fur
ther reduced by the mistaken kind
ness Of misguided and mistaken
people who undertake to reverse
the old laws that have grown up as
the result Of the experience Of all
ages. The criminal classes find their
punishment easily escapable in part
or in whole, and when inflicted
quite as bearable as the constraint
TO live orderly and decent lives
There are several things that So
clety should do for its own preser-
EatlOn. One is to make sure the
punishment of every known Grim
inal. make il not only sure but hard
The other is to quit mistakine crime
for disease and abandon the
nursing bottle and sugar teat
method of eradicating it. The pro-
per policy for vigorous adoption is
to eradicate the criminal. when
crime will cease of itself by mere
limitation. War on crime Wit
every criminal eligible to parole and
pardon, might go on forever with
the same effect it has ALWAYS had
the vast increase in volume Of
crime and number OF criminals The
knife should be used to remove from
society its undesirable elements as
positively as to amputate diseased
members from the human body.