Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-03-21
CONCERNING CAPITAL PUNISH
MENT.

THERE HAS BEEN much discussion
of the capital punishment question
recently, discussion which has left
the matter just where it started, those
believing in it still doing so those OBJ
jecting to it, still more firm and vocif,
erous in their objections. In view Of
the little social function at the prison
tomorrow with the Humphreys as
guests Of honor and for which invita-.
tons are out, at least to the newspaper
fraternity brief resume of the subject
may not be very Inappropriate Why
do we inflict the death penaltyl Is it
n punishment, a deterrent to others by
example or matter of safety to the
public2 1t must be one of the three or
it is indefensible.
If it is for punishment II may we'll be
doubted if it is equal to life imprison.
ment, with the pardOning power remov.
ed and all hope Of freedom forever cut
off. To the intelligent man this, it
strikes us, would be immeasurably
worse than death. To the ignorant, de-
based, ANIMAL the defective, the per.
vert, it might not seem that way, but is
it not true that men of this class, moral
perverts are in a sense bamelessl Are
they not in class that, while not per.
haps to the same degree, should yet
be looked upon as irresponsible, the
same as the idiotic or insanel That is
question we must all answer and
answer in the negative if we insist on
capital punishment for that class.
Then the question comes up Is capi
tai punishment deterrent2 From the
remotest ages the time to which the
memory Of man runneth not to the con.
trary, death has been the world 's pen.
atty for murder. Has it put stop to
murderl Has it decreased III Are
there not as many murders now, or
more in proportion to our population,
than there were 90, so or an 100 years
ago' The answer is, yes. with an ex.
pertinent extending over several thou.
sand years at least, that has utterly
failed of results, can capital punish.
ment be considered as a deterrent of
murderi In the same paper in which
You read Of an execution, you will Ger.
tainly find an account Of n murder or
many of them. And between execu.
tions, in those same papers you can
read of countless other murders. While
here in Salem the Humphreys are to.
morrow to pay the penalty the law has
affixed to the crime Of murder the pa.
pers all over the country today and to-.
morrow, too and on all subsequent days
will have in their tclcgraphic news,
stories Of brutal murder Since the
Humphreys have been sentenced, since
the triple hanging here a short time
ago there have been dozen murders
here in Oregon Can we then honestly
say that capital punishment acts at all
as Il detcrrcnt1
When u man has murder in his heart
he does not stop to consider the punish.
mcnt If he has plenty of money, he
thinks, and generally very properly,
that he can dodge the extreme penalty,
at least, aud IL he is naturally a erin.
inal, his brute cunning tells him he can
avoid discovery If he is of the crimin.
nj class alluded TO- born 80, he is proba
bly, Incapable Of realizing the cuormity
of his offcnsc, and the punishment be.
ing of the remote future is beyond his
comprehension
A criminal trait born in a man is M
much ga gift' though left handed
aud unfortunate one, ms Is that Of gc
MUS The born criminal is moved to
crime as the artist to put on canvas the
glowing beauty that rivals natures fin.
est creations, the poet to reduce, to put
in rhythmic sentences the lofticst
thought; the composer to bind with
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