The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-11-05
WHERE LIETH THE
RESPONSIBILITY?
Lack of Will-Power is Not
True Cause of Crime
Every Living Human Being Possesses an
unyieIding Power to Resist Tempta-
iion, If One Would but Train
Oneself TO Make Use eof Il
By II. S. Med.

Where lletn the hespOnSiDlIity!
This question has been debated for
centuries. Now. it seems to US,
that in order to find something like
an exact and categorical answer it
will be necessary to go deeply into
the matter, for by skimming over
the surface only the flotsam can be
gathered up.
The most popular deduction of
the present time places the chief re-
sponsibility for wrongdolng upon
the lack of lack bone" or will
power and lets it 20 at that. Ad-
mitting that the lack of wlll-power
theory is meritorious, let us go a
little deeper and see if there is not
a cause of this lack of wlll-power.
Let US drop the Theory and search
out the Reality and see If the re-
sponslbility has been properly
placed.
The whole universe is governed
and controlled by fixed laws or
rules and there can be no deviation
whatever without serious consequen-
ces. Therefore. there must be law
governing the will. power; a law
that endows each individual with
an unyieidlDg will-power so long as
there is no deviation from or disre-
garding of that law. If, then, there
lie a lack of this power it is proof
positive that there is a cause, and
before a remedy can be applied this
cause must be found. Where, then.
is this cause located and of what
does it consist? The cause is locat
ed In the Man and consists of folly,
carelessness, thoughtlessDess, and
neglect to train the will power to
predominant.
1t is claimed by some that heredi-
ty has a great deal to do with the
matter, but let us see if such is the
case. 10 regard to inheritance let
us see what Professor Edwin G.
Conklin, of Princeton University,
has 10 say:
As a result of the permutations
of ancestral characters, the appear
ance of mutations, and the tuctua-
tions or organisms due to environ
mental changes, 1t happens that in
all cases offspring differ more or
less from their parents and from Que
another. No two children Of the
same family are ever exactly alike
(except in the case OF identical
twins which have come from the
same oosperm). Every living be
ing appears on careful examination
to be the first and last of its identi-
cal kind. This Is one of the most
remarkable peculiarities Of living
things. The elements Of chemistry
are constant, and even the COM
pounds fall into definite categorles
which have constant characteristics
But the individuals of biology are
apparently never twice the same.
This may be due to the immense
ccmplexity of living units as con-
trasted with chemical ones; indeed
lack of constancy is evident in it.
self of lack of analysis into real ele
ments or of lack of uniform condi
tions, but whatever it's cause the ex-
traordiuary fact remains that every
living being appears to be unique.
There seems to be no reason to
doubt that all the extraordinary diff
ferences which organisms show, as
we'll as all their resemblances, are
due to differences Or resemblances
in the hereditary and environmental
factors which have been operative
in their development. But in view
of this universal variability of or.
ranisrns it is not surprising that ill.,
heritance has seemed capricious and
uncertain "a sort of maze in which
science loses ITSELF
Now. taking into consideration
the tact that science has dem.
oustrated beyond doubt that no two
living beings are exactly alike, il
hardly stands TO reason that the
countless thousands of weak willed
individuals have come by their lack
of wili-power through inheritance.
Let us see what environment and
other coutributary causes have tn dc
with the matter. In order to do
this we must 90 back to childhood
days and review conditions and sur
roundings of that period up to the
present day.