The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-04
OUR BEST LAND Apygnr1sE,,,,sr


,,t i. Is said that in the reclaimable.
WwaaiinIough temporarily worn-out river
aleSS OF virginia. where corn eyerv
s ent sapP pee, the strength from q
cheapest and best farming land I'm
this country The best recent adyor-
i Iasement Of the value of virginia
inton, 70 the prospective buyer who
ilnten4S TO make his home where lie
puys MS land. was the trial, conviction
and execution of Henry Clay BesttIe. =
me Courier-Journal reprinted from
articio upon Canada. In which an
american farmer was quoted as saving
Ina Ihat Il was not better land. but better
law law mat mat attracted farmers from across
IN Canada" said the man from this
side of the line, .'he is tried and
hanged. and that's all there is to it
s Eng IL makes no difference who he
PLANTATION of the drift H 70 cana ada S eGt
lean ie making rs rm a. 1t the former Amer
very little. personal liberty for decent
eitzens where thore Is no punishment
The Chicago Tribune has been com
piling statistics from reports OF kill
lhSs. and says that there have been
more than 1900 murders this year in
the United States. There are Thanks
giving murders and Christmas muir
ders as grotesque as the terms NAV
seem seem. yet to be listed. II the Trfbune's
hhg 6ir are correct It IS reasonable to
peiieye that the total will be about
II toooo for the year. This, Of course,
Keeps America unique among civilized
countries for the volume of crimes of
violence within It's borders Tho
Brooklyn Eagle calls attention to the
!act that we have about 100 murd ers
10 the 100000 population annually.
s sS r against thirteen IN Canada, where
Ia Ia,
lions somewhat like they formerly
We're in our lawless West
me Eagle continues:
sot; Jndge De courcey. OF Massachu-
SOUS, pointed out to the Prison Re-
form Association at Omaha recently
;rue IN ms city out OF ll9 homicides
iihIvest.gated only forty-five convic-
tons resulted: that in Chicago Tor 202
homicides one man was hanged. fifteen
sent to the penitentiary and the other
men men accused were set free: in Louis
there were forty-seven murders ana
not single execution of n murderer
Our statistics of criminal punishments
al are Even even more uncertain than those
OF crimes, but the Census Bureau col
lected some figures for the year 1904
which showed that out OF $1,000 per
,o1so In the prisons Of this country
or one in eight. How many of that
lo.1OO were executed we can guess
from the above figures of New York.
G IN eng and Louisyille. An Ingenious
you shoot the man with whom yon
nave a quarrel 1t is q three to one
shot that you Will never be brought
70 trlai; ten to one that you will never
pc sent 10 the penitentiary, and eighty
TO one that you will mover pay n deaf
penalty: What better odds could any
man ask who was hot for private VEN
members of the gangs in this city con-
tinuo to settle their own quarrels in
stead OF appealing to the law to pun
ism their asSailants2
what we need Is judicial system
IKE that of Virginia, where Beattie.
VINO killed his wife on July Is, was
executed on November "a. trlfle over
naught all the devices Of Ingenious
lawyers TO prevent the murderer from
suffering the consequences of his
crime. BEFORE wo can get such a sys-
tenn In other States. however. we need
an aroused public opinion which will
take our lawmaking out OF the hands
OF lawyers. wEo now profit by the OPP
cape of murderers. and which Will
iorce our courts to exercise such dis
erection as the law leaves to them in
the conduct of trials for the speedy
the criminal trial is regarded as a
game of wits. in which more account
Is taken of clever points made by law
S Seps than OF facts which are in evil
Let us have special services for
deitverance from murder as well as for
detiverance from war. Tho one evil
we can control If we choose. Our
influence on the other is for the most
part moral and indirect"
The. Old Dominion has every con-
siderable agricultural. timber and min
cral resources undeveloped It gains
ground as state in which tho law
Is vindicated when crime is com
mitted, There is no moro solid induce
ment TO the prospective Settler" than
mat the peace is established. and life
ana property made safe, by rigid
enforcement of law Some of the Euro
warn their immigrants against South
crn states OF the ground that law and
order are not maintained. Statistics
might prove the warning unfair to
Is true in the South. and the Virginia
mcthod..of disposing of murder cases