Arizona republican., 1912-03-19

| SHouIu declare our policy to be that Of endeavorinG to help the states un- tortunates along the path of redemp- 1 ton and rehabilitation. rather than to
 plunge them into the despair which ends in confirmed crimnality or the
 suicides grave.
 1 l believe d law should be enacted
 beginning with declaration of such import as l have indicated. and con itaining the foundation and groundwork 1 for sweeping reforms l believe the ! officers of the states penal and COP rective institutions, and the boards Tor commissions having supervision over them. should be given wide lat itude in the exercise of their func- tionS. so far as is concerned the en- lcouragement they may offer to the ! unfortunateS in whose hearts the
 spark Of desire for rehabilitation still 1 hurns. This law. or plan. should seek i to make better men and honest, not degraded and humiliated beings with possibilities deadened. faith destroyed. lhope gone sclf-reliancc vanished. ann Ibition killed
 ! Employment Needed
 The inmates of the state prison
 should be fitted. if possible. to take their place in the world. and to hon iestlN and successfully cope with its problems. when their debt to society has been paid. the wrong they may have committed avenged. their time
 served. They should be afforded al Opportunity. upon their release tc start life anew with a reasonable chance of success. Under the present system the odds are very great ana Ian against the man who comes into the world with convict's record to ICombat A suit ot clothes. five dol lars in money. q curbed spirit. and a ticket back to where everyone knows him. and most oI them with Phari- ;S:ical horror shun him; these consti-
 tute the capital with which almost lcVcry convict re-enters the race of life. How vastly beuer would t b. to furnish some useful employment, whereby the faculties might be kept ialiV" and alert. hope sustained, the spirit Quickened. and q little money iaccumuldted against the day when iself-dependence Is resumed? Arizona affords ample opportunity for such emplOymcnt-and the most healthful lcmployment-in her plans for an ! elaborate road system. and l urgently recommend that the law specifically lauthorize the employment of pris- lCuers on the public roads of the state. and that the state or the counties of the state in which such labor may be ITcrfOrmed be directed to deposit to the credit Of the mep so employed. at i least twenty-five cents per day each for their services. The cost will be lsmall as compared to the actual ben iefits to be derived from the construc- ton Of sp!en6id highways. while the benefits accruine to society will. lam convinced. return the investment ta thousand fold.
 Capital Punishment Amendment
 l subscribe. also. to the belief held ,by millions. and yet increasing mil nons. that capital punishment is d irc!ic of barbarism: that the lcGdliZed taking of human life is a straininG jor Christ'S law which has no place in modern civilization. subscribe td the belief that the murderer may be ipunished through the medium of an iaWakened consciousness far more ef- lfectively than by the breaking of his heck and the hurlinG of his soul into ieternity: that a more fearful and ef- itcctive example t0 others lies in the Icertainty oI imprisonment than Tn the lfleeting fear of death. fear which temporarily has no place in the pas ,Sion- heated or drink-crazed brain. It. .i1,, ito the people of an amendment to the IConstitution directed to the abolish
 ment of capital punishment.
 Protection of Children.
 The constitution. among its many lsplendid provisions. has few better jthan that one which throws a pro itecting arm about dependent neg !Iected. incorrigiblc or delinquent chil- ldren. and children accused of crime !undcr the age of eighteen years This ishieId raised between the young boys land girls whose unhappy environ .ment. parentage or misfortune has Iplaced them in the classes I hav7 tenumcrated and the heartlessness of la system containing no element and IComprehendinS no thought of human ity. should be kept in place. the arm 1 which holds it eyer strengthened ana the resisting power of it's metal neN- CT permitted to deteriorate. IL Is wise land good that the judges of the su- perior courts clothed with exclusive, iOriginal jurisdiction in such cases, are compelled tO hold preliminary hearings in chambers of such chil dren as may he brought before them, land not only should this provision ot the constitution he vitaliZed by H comprehenSive definition of the DOW CTS of superior judges to control such children but that definitiOn-and this II most earnestly recommend-shOuld laim not SD much to provide the ma - lchincry whereby society might be iavcnged for some juvenile infraction of the law as to arrive at a means of helping unfortunate. errinS chil- dren to a start along life's straight Tiff narrow pathway l believe that few children are naturally criminal even though they may have commit ted some criminal act, but l am con- vinced that many are made criminals iil, legal parlance. by due process Q. law. IT this legislative body does irothing more than to provide hu- mane and practical system for the Handling of the states dependent neglected. incorrigible and delinquent children. and children accused o'