The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-07-09
BY ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

The official flogger has been ap-
pointed in the Georgia penitentiary.
Large discretionary powers are Civ
en- this official.
He can whip a convict for any Of
tense he thinks deserves 1t.
1t wouldn't take a kindergartener
half a minute to see the finish of the
convicts.
For, as said here once or twice be-
fore, no human can withstand the in
vestiture of authority.
Not even parents.
That's one reason some of the lat
ter are petty tyrants and just because
children happen to have been put I'M
der their care proceed to take on ON
niscience-either God-like or satanic
generally the latter.
Apropos of child beating. by the
way, the following by Ingersoll, while
couched in that floridity which char
acterized this celebrity's speech, both
spoken and written, is considerably to
the point:
IF there is one of you here that ev-
err expects to whip your child again,
let me ask you something. Have your
photograph taken at the time and let
it show your face red with vulgar an
ger, and the face of the little one with
eyes swimming in tears, the little chin
dimpled with fear looking like a piece
of water struck by a sudden cold
wind.
IF that little child should die, l can
not think of a sweeter way to spend
an Autumn afternoon than to take that
photograph and go to the cemetery,
when the naples are clad in tender
gold, and when the little scarlet run
ners are coming from the sad heart of
the earth, sit down upon that mound,
and look upon that photograph, and
think of the flesh, now dust, that you
beat.
Just think of it. could not bear to
die in the arms of a child that | had
whipped l could not bear to feel upon
my lips, when they were withered
with the touch of death, the kiss of
one that l had struck.
In yesterdays indianapolis Star" is
recorded the way of a good kind moth
err with her little boy who had gone to
the woods with some school compan-
ions, much older, after school hours.
The child returned with both club
by hands" full of flowers for his moth
err Running up to her he said see.
mother what l got for YOU" or words
| to that effect.
What did the mother do?
Fell on the kid, yanked him up
stairs. beat him with a leather strap
and put him to bed without any sup
per.
A hungry child who had had nothing
to eat since noon and who was physi-
cally exhausted with his long tramp.
| The childs offense. natural one,
| consisted in going off without return
ing home to ask his mother.
Her anxiety over his absence could
have been impressed on his mind
with vividness in kindly ia shion and
| in such manner as to cause the quail
| ity of consideration to become fixed.
| AS it was, the injustice and unrea-
sonableness of the punishment was
| the In1nS tndL StOOQ out DOlOly In the
child's consciousness.
| And after few exhibitions of this
| sort the mothers influence on the
child is nullified.
He becomes Indifferent or stubborn
or contemptuous.
You can't play the tyrant forever.
! Some day you'll be playing to empty
benches and listening to the sound of
your own caterwaulings.
There is such thing as being hoist
| by your own petard.
Of your evil tempers reacting on you
| like a boomerang
Its the same in prison.
What have the floggings of the ages,
more or less celebrated, done for hui
mainly?
How much toward regeneration is
to be accomplished as long as such
barbarities in our penal institutions
are permitted?
Such power vested in one manor
set of men, for that matter, but es-
pecially one man-ends only in brutal
ity on the one hand and rebellion and
anarchy on the other.
The truth is that any prison system
is wrong
Not only wrong but preposterous.