The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1911-12-22
ASATURDAY
4sIsS NIGHT
\ SERMONS
BY
nsAs,.@!s MnuuwpURnsnn
OUR BROTHER IN BONDS.

Text. 81 was in prison and yc camo
unto me. Matt XIV, SO.
Ever meet him-your brother In
bonds2 Think OF him as wild beast
to be manacled, kept behind stone
walls and iron bars? You may find
him quiet, commonplace. fond OF chill
dren and flowers; possibly reminds you
Of your cousin Rob out west Truth IL,
he's just your brother caught In sin.
The saddest and most pathetic story
In the history OF the world is our treat
ment OF those who 60 astrny. The
criminal Is n defective He commits
crimes not because OF strength, bur OF
weakness. He Is n sick child Hygiene,
nutrition. education and environmcnb
would have changed his course. So
ciety must be protected from him as
from smallpox, and the sick one must
be cured. The condition that produces
this criminal ought TO be remedied.
He's ignorant-not I'm reading, 'riting
and 'rithmetic," but his view is wrong.
Society Ia first possible victim then
n vindictive enemy. Government is pol
itics, police part Of the gang. Hunger.
drink illegitimacy, an unjust social
system, are slippery stones I'm his path.
He doesn't know that which you know
that most causes and most remedies,
the kingdom OF vice and virtue, lie
within him.
A System That's Wrong.
Our prison systems wrong. It's q
CHASTITY farce sending n man to Jail,
where he will be fed and sheltered,
while the innocent members of tho
family are left outside Jail walls to
starve-or worse. Who's punished
the man or his little twelve-year-old
girl soliciting male passersby? He
ought to be allowed to work and earn
ings, after jail board bill. be sent TO
that family. In my county n man stole
800 worth Of copper wire from cor
poration that is daily robbing the poor.
1t was his first offense. but he got
three years "as an example," The
state robbed him of three years OF his
manhood. and he has come back TO so
ciety imbittered and actually driven
to steal again. He now has record
He is being logged and Swallowed.
Three times he has got work and three
times has been discharged-a Jail
bird" The police and detectives to
keep up their record" will hound him
till they have him back of the bars
again. Then. again, the long fixed SEN
tence Is wrong. A crime is committed.
Public demands heavy punishment
Five, ten, twenty years are given
There's thrill OF gratified vindictive-
ness The penalty is awful The public
recognizes 1t with shudder OF horror,
but 1t is soon forgotten. The victim
goes away to suffer. When the public
has long since forgotten It he Is still
undergoing punishment Consumption
sets In; rheumatism racks his body,
hair Is gray; skin is CHASTITY. It's a
mistake, shocking perversion of JUS
tice. He is buried alive. The electric
chair is more merciful. Reformed2 Re
pented? Yes. years ago. Then parole
him. Our right to keep man in prison
stops when he ceases to be criminal.
The system is kind" to the erring,
however. or GOO graves I saw in a lit
tie cemetery Of our most famous prison
400 had died between the ages Of TWEEN
ty and thirty! Others go mad Mattea-
wan tells the story. God be merciful!
Thieves and Thieves.
Yes, preacher, but he was pick
pocket, embezzled, used false pre-
lenses" l know, but why isn't it
| criminal when a corporation does it?
The gas company brides city council
| and charges 81 for eighty cent gas. Oil,
beef, sugar. -four are raised because
| one man corners" the market. Others
| drug food and babies die, sell fourteen
| ounces to the pound and cheat the
poor. Hard times fill prisons. Arrests
increase as price Of food goes up. One
house Of correction warden tells me he
had 800 more cases in last panic year
than today. Petty larceny done in
! despair was chief cause. Street walk
ers went up in numbers rs per cent
"All poor people," he added thought
fully. Why weren't there any rich
in the number? The answer is food
for thought. 1t also explains growth
| of socialism. Then frequently men
| of wealth escape. II a man is poor
and has poor lawyer or none he IL
| convicted, thereby establishing his
guilt. If he has money and gets one
| or many skilled lawyers he may es-
cape and so is declared innocent. LET
the prisoner stand up" says "Hiz-
zoner." where's his lawyerT He
doesn't have any or one not skilled In
| defense. Then of course he's guilty.
It's quick job.
Tho Caught and the uneausht.
The number Of uncaught criminals
Is ten times as great as the caught
The real jail Is out Of doors. II get
IS worth of groceries and move away
without paying I'm as much thief as
the fellow who broke In the back win
dow and took that amount from the
shelves. At least Christ said 80! From
great mandatory waste "byprod.
ucts" are now used and represent a
good share OF value. The criminal is
the waste product OF society, once
valueless and hopeless. Punishment
for. vengeance only. But modern
Christ men are at work, saying that
the criminal is still human being,
H.