Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-05-20

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Friday night in the Congregational
church, was won by Lorraine Wilson,
on the subject "War versus Peace :"
second place was given to Norton
Eversoll, whose grafton was entitled
Solving the Problem of Crime
The contest between these two was
exceedingly close, Miss Wilson hav-
ing the advantage in thought and
composition, while Mr.. Eversoll was
slightly better in delivery.
Here is Mr.. Eversoll's grafton:
SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF CRIME
We are living in time of progress.
Great advancements are being made in
every branch Of science, invention,
discovery, literature, art = all con-
tributing to the enlightenment of our
nation. But is it not possible, that in
this rapid rush of events, we may
overlook a defective condition in
work which is of vital Importance to
the welfare of our country? Amidst
all this advancement have we not
failed to give proper consideration to
the conditions which some of our I'M
fortunate fellow-men face to-day?
In this day of shallow thinking we
have come to look upon those who
have committed crime, as bad men,
treacherOus, dishonorable beings from
whom no good can possible come
Men who are dangerous elements to
society. AS a matter of fact, not all
those who have committed crime are
criminals. GA criminal is one who
has consciously adopted life Of crime
or else one who by reason of squalid
environment or lack Of moral training
in youth, has never been anything else
and does not realize its enOrmity." 1t
is conservative to say that only one in
every three persons in the penitenti-
airy today, is criminal. The major
ity are felOns, merely. A very small
percentage of the sO-called criminals
are not the black-hearted deliberate Off
enders they are thought to be. Often
they are warm hearted, with strong
religious tendencies but deficient in
Judgment or moral backbone. The
screw loose somewhere in the mental
and physical makeup of these men
make the tragedies of their lives.
Their crimes are the result of circum-
stances not of their own making.
The causes of crime are too many
to enumerate. On every hand, there
turks the germ of crime, which, should
it find a suitable breeding place, will
work to disastrous results. The con-
ditions in some of our large cities are
such as to invite crime in every way.
t.. 04o11 - IL IL
disease, poverty, and ignorance have
made themselves manifest; and these
are the factors that go hand in hand
with crime. But the city is not the
only place where crime is helped along
by circumstances. Almost any day
we can pick up newspaper and read
of some bank robbery or other loot
ing affair that has taken place and
invariably we are given detailed ex-
PLANTATION of just how the thief broke
the safe and all the instruments that
must have been used. Again, in the
moving picture show, we see all sorts
of gun plays, robberies, etc., which
like the newspaper tend to set forth
plans which the readers or onlookers
file away involuntarily in their mem
DRY, and though they may not be Grim
inally inclined, the time may come
when there is a strong temptation to
use such plans. The yellow journals
and dime novels are another means of
instruction in vice. And these are
only a few of the numerous schools
of crime that exist unnOticed, but turn
out criminals year after year. And the
lives of these men are often lives OF
black diShOnOr and torture
The Juvenile Court law of Illinois
extends to boys under seventeen and
girls under eighteen. So boy over
seventeen committing crime is class
ed as a regular criminal and identi-
fed with the worst in the country. He
is then, perhaps, taken to the police
station and locked up, where he comes
into contact with hardened criminals
and their influence can we'll be i'm
agined. Some of these police stations
are simply pest holes in disguise. The
abuse that the police subject some of
these prisoners to, in order to bring
about convictions, would astonish us
if brought to light. In fact the police
use and abuse these prisoners just
about as they see fit. The treatment
Of the prisoners by the court is fully
as unjust, there being slight, if any,
distinction made in the giving of SEN
fences to first offenders or offenders
for the third or fourth time.
And what is the fate of these I'M
fortunates that fall victims to circum-
stances and are convicted? They are
assigned to some prison in our land or
sentenced to death-and death is
denied privilege in comparison with
life in some of our U. S. prisons. And
how often an innocent man goes TO
prison! Too many men are often de
prived of all that God gave them, sim
ply because of the circumstantial evil
dence upon which they were convict
ed. After conviction, most Of them face
the death in life" of penal imprison-
ment.
If we could but have look into pris-
on life, we should be taken into the
heart of it at once. We should be
awe stricken at the very unnatural
ness of it. Those great gangs Of crea-
lures in stripes. moving in the lock