Newark post., 1914-01-21


paint from time to time will last a
long time. The state or county
does not need to erect costly build
ings, and there is no continuous
charge for maintenance.
81 am inclined to think that
this argument is little too crude
and too raw to be offered seriously
but let us consider it.
"In the first place, the state
must imprison man after fogging
him, because it dare not turn loose
upon society man filled with hat
red and the passionate desire for
revenge. 1t means a fogging plus
imprisonment.
Moreover, a well-conducted
penal institution ought to be nearly
self-supporting. Then, too, tenn
porary cost must not be confused
with permanent expense. The ques-
ton for society must always be,
which is cheaper in the long run.
Nor is money cost the only cost
which society must consider. The
whipping post, as l shall point out
later, lays a burden on society
through it's brutalizing influence,
which cannot be estimated in mon
ey but which is harder to bear than
the taxes which are necessary to
finance proper penal institution.
Without doubt the third argu-
ment which l have mentioned, the
argument of prevention, is the most
potent one yet adduced in favor of
the whipping post. 1t is claimed
that it prevents crime. Here in
Delaware the classic example Of the
four bank burglars is poked at
everyone who dares decry it's eff
cacy. In England the case Of the
garroters was made to do similar
duty. 1t was said that flogging alb
solutely stamped out garroting.
There could be no greater misrepre-
sentation of facts than this state
ment. 1t has been conslusively
proven that garroting declined
more rapidly before the law was
passed which made flogging a pen
atty for this crime than it did after
the law went into effect. Yet this
false statement, made by an advo-
cate of flogging, has been quoted by
learned American jurist as an un-
deniable victory for the lash. AL
ways there is some one crime which
fogging has prevented, but in each
case it is different crime. AS for
bank burglary, it is not common
crime anywhere. The passing OF
the frontier and the development OF
modern safeguards have rendered
banks far less liable to attack from
the outside than from the inside.
Congressman Brockson calls
our attention to the fact that it has
been his experience and that also OF
other lawyers that criminals would
be willing to have their terms OF i'm
prisonment extended indefinitely If
it were possible by so doing to avoid
the beating. A similar story comes
to us from England and of the
criminal who beloved like a COW
when confronted by the recon-
pense demanded by society.
"The error in this mode of rea-
soning lies in the belief that an ex-
preston Of feeling at the time OF
receiving the sentence is measure
of the efficiency Of the whipping
post. AS Mr.. Taylor so well said in
his Cat Speech in the House OF
Commons, the question is not what
is his state when sentenced, but
what is the effect after he has been
fogged.' ,
at is to be noted, moreover, that
the fear which the criminals dis
played who had come under Con-
gressman Brockson's observation
had not prevented them from com
mitting crimes. That must not be
forgotten.
Brought face to face with the
penalty, most men would shrink
from it. Yet there are cases on re-
cord of men who have been beaten
so many times that they have be-
come utterly calloused to it. Dost-
cieffsky, who has given to the world
in 'The House of the Dead his ex-
perience of ten years in Siberian
prison, says: 'The habit Of recelv-
ing foggings helps in some cases to
give intrepidity and decision to
convicts. Those who have been Of
ten fogged are hardened both IN
body and mind, and have at last
looked upon such punishment as
merely a disagreeable incident no
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