The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-05-08

der, rape, robbery or arson, If sucf
conviction shall be the first convic
= ton OF the defendant for a felony
the trial judge shall have the power
to suspend the execution of the sen
itence and place the convicted person
In custody and under the care and
1 guardianship of any suitable person 9
! resident of the state during good be
havior of such person SO convicted
1t further provides that the guardian
must make a full and compete report
every thirty days in writing TO the
district court as to the conduct and
whereabouts of the person placed in
his custody. The suspension may be
revoked by the judge at any time and
! to the judgment.
] am in thorough sympathy with
every reasonable plan tending to do
! away with any Injustice of the penal
icode, to humanize the criminal law
and to insure a humane method OF
treatment of the convict with view
towards his reclamation. Yet such
1 plans must not rest on the single
| principle OF reformation OF the In
diyidual convict. That is too narrow
la basis. The primary consideration of
rational justice Is social protection
and positive furtherance of character
| in all members of the community.
Systems must be something more
than theoretically good; they must be
adapted to the times and politicai
conditions under which they are adj
ministered. The good of society as a
whole sometimes justifies the appar-
emily needless suffering of few of
It's members In the interest OF the ma
| jority.
We do not hesitate to inconven-
fence whole ship-loads or families of
our most law-abiding citizens with
quarantine proceedings If diseases
are known to exist, or are even sus-
pected in them. which might do In
jury to still greater number of their
fellow men, and we should not hesi-
tate to isolate and segregate our Grim
inals If society at large will be bene-
fitted thereby.
We are prone to consider the suf-
ferings of the criminal before us
rather than the sufferings Of his vic
tins, or his family, whom we do not
often see The former are frequently
dead and buried when our sympathies
are appealed to. and the latter are Of
| ten in hiding from poverty or shame,
while we are offering our sympathies
to the eyil-doer, who. though in pris-
on, is often in better physical circum-
stances than ever before In his life.
Heine says The critics judgment Is
of little value whose eyes are bedim-
med with tears Practicai charity
often begins at the opposite end from
where mistaken sympathy would be-
stow It. The chief sufferers from
criminal actions are. as rule, not
the criminals but rather their victims,
their families, or society at large.
We should bear in mind that the
prisoners In our penitentiaries are
not sufferers from the laws OF ven
geance. but because. of their own dis
regard of the laws penalties for
crime. The law is made and the pun
ishment fixed within certain limits
before the offense is committed,
hence IT is not intended to be re-
vengeful but TO act as deterrent to
crime. II the punishment be done
away with. or mitigated to too great
an extent. the law is made inefficient.
the deterrent effect is lost, and crims
cannot but increase under such condi-
tons.
One of the penalties of the Law In
connection with confinement in
penitentiary is the sentence to hard
labor usually to be found incorpora,.
ed in the legal statutes pertaining to
crime This hard labor clause is
doubtless In recognition OF the fact
that most of our criminals do not
recognize that 1t is the duty of every
man to labor, but seem to act under
the belief that they have right to
appropriate the rewards Of labor
torcefuIly and without compensation
from their more INDUSTRIOUS fel1oW
citizens. Idleness has in fact usually
prevented them from getting these
rewards in any other way, hence they
owe a duty Of enforced industry to
society. and are physically. mentally
and morally improved by labor. Six
days shalt thou labor" is a divine
command, and there is no reason why
our duty TO obey this Injunction or
why the right TO labor should end at
a prison gate, and In this connection
I / cannot refrain from quoting the
words Of former chaplain, now de-
ceased, OF the penitentiary at Fort
! Madison. upon the sanitary effects of
hard work upon the convicts with
whom he was in daily contact.
He says in one Of the prison re-
ports: And / wish, as a prison chap
lain. to express my profound appre-
citation Of hard work as a meang OF
/ grace. az the truest kindness TO men
who have hitherto imagined that they
cannot perform hard manual labor.