The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-06-18
CHURCHES As CURBs ON CRIME

crime seems to the editor of the BoS-
1.-The Congregationalist 10 he a very
satisfactory answer TO those VINO are
harping upon the present-day fnef-
Effectiveness Of our churches. Judge
Fawcett's words. as this paper quotes
them were: Approximately 2.700
cases have been brought before me In
my five and half years Of service on
the bench During all this time / have
ineyer had to try man who was a the
time of the alleged offense, or ever had
been an active member of the church"
This. we are told, was a deliberate
statement, and the judge had even
more to say on the churchs restrain
| ing power in the community Like
this too, recalls the CongregationaIiSt
was the recent testimony of a Chicago.
Judge who had tried many divorce
cases. He said that rarely. almost
never. were the parties to a divorce
suit active church. workers" Judge
Fawcett, IL seems. has such confidence
| in the efficiency of church organiza-
| tions that the boys he puts on proba-
ton are ordered to attend Sunday
| school and church. AS he says:
81 have asked each young defendant
| if he was a member of or an attendant
| at a Sunday school. and l have never
| been answered Yes / believe in sun
day schools, When, by means of sus-
| pended sentences or merciful devices I
| have seen fiji 10 give young prisoners
opportunities 10 lead better lives in
| freedom, | have In every sense insist
| ed that the first thing they must do Is
| to join a Sunday school"
Such words as these. writes the APP
proving editor. are peculiarly valuable
as medicine for scoffers and critics of
| the churches" At least. the churches
are Restraining their adherents from
crime" He comments further:
mot long ago a certain hater Of
Roman Catholicism in a factory town
| said that if he could have his way he
would close the Catholic church. where
hundreds of Poles and Slovacs wor-
shipped. Whereupon his friend said
Then you would have hell here in six
months
"It really looks as tho the Christian
church quite sufficiently justified its
existence TO the nation merely as a
crime preventive, a barrier against re-
| lapse into barbarism. a policy agency
| in preserving order, a preventative of
common virtue and decency. We be-
| lieve any careful student of sociology
and morals will sustain Judge Faw-
cetts statement that the church is
great curb on crime. Furthermore. We
| believe he would agree that it is the
wall which holds the race from falling
| back into primeval habits and Grim
| inal instincts. There is as much truth
as picturesqueness in the habit of call
| ing those towns holes where there
are no churches and several saloons"
| This being true" certain of the con-
| illusions which necessarily follow are
thus pointed out:
| First of all, this: Most of our re-
spectacle, attractive communities of
| high moral tone are so because the
church of Christ is there Our beau
tiful towns are what they are. instead
of being hotbeds of vice. drunkenness.
and crime, because the church is there
Church members are not usually Grim
inals, whatever else they are. Neither
are all on-church members criminals.
but the vast majority of criminals
come from their class. Were not the
town predominantly Christian, crime
would make it impossible as a home.
Therefore, every man in the commun-
ifty owes gratitude to the church He
profits from it whether he serves it or
not. 1t is better burglar insurance
than the Insurance companies 1t
ma kes the streets safe for his daugh-
ters The stronger the church is the
cleaner, healthier, safer, happier, more
respectable the town. If every man
were in the church, it would save most
of the expense for police, Judges, law
yers, and courts. Judge Fawcett tells
US that crime now costs US 100000. 900
a year. 1t would cost US ten times that
if there were no churches. It would
| cost b9r 6IV nf
| in the churches. Really, the man who
! is living in our crime free. respectable
towns and does nothing for the church
| is living on charity He is profiting
! from the church's curb of crime, but is
giving nothing in return"
Then there is a lesson for parents in
Judge Fawcett's remarkable state
ment:
Notice that he always insisted that
boys on parole should join a Sunday
| school class. In his experience they
rarely -relapsed after doing this The
streets of the cities are full of idle
boys all day Sunday. From these
are recruited future criminals
Close to any group of them is a sun
day school with many boys. They are
our future citizens. Judge Fawcett
says they never appear in his court
to need enlargement"
The chief work of the church. we
read in the final paragraph of this edi- |
torial lis not, indeed the curbing OF |
crime. the protection of society," the |
preservation of order, the sustaining of |
civilization, or the warrington of bar |
barism.' 1t is rather ''nurturing child |
rem in the likeness of Christ. the re- |
demption of men from sin. the inspir- |
ing of men to the imitation of Christ |
the preaching of the gospel Of Gods
goodness and the brotherhood of man
the pointing of men to divine ideals
the building of the new society of |
Christ on earth But this writer Is
inclined to believe that testimony to
the efficiency with which she is doing
these things could be found to match
Judge Fawcett's witness to her curb
on crime"
Several pages Of the Jacksonville
Nfo,r ,;,l,