Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-08-27
DEATH SENTENCE
FOUGHT BY dunno
Illinois Executive Tells Governors
Conference IT is Net . Crime
Deterrent

Boston. Mass, aug q ~ The duty
Of the state IN dealing with the in~
mates Of its prisons vas the general
topic Of discussion at todays session
Of the governors conference. Two Of
the governors, l.. II. Dunno Of Illinois
and W J.. Hunt Of Arizona. gave ad-
dresses on the abolition Of capital
punishment and former Governor
Cole Z. Blease Of South Carolina was
70 speak on the duty and responsible
q Of the governor IN dealing with the
prisoners.
A review Of She state militia 1000
strong, was the feature OF the after
noon
Governor Dunno said the prin-
cipal argument advanced by the sup
porters Of capital punishment was
that it acted a. a crime deterrent, bat
he doubted that it ever had deferred
or that it now deferred. lie cited "a
number Of incidents from history 10
show that even ia the days when pen
alties inflicted for crime was most
severe the extreme measures taken
failed to suppress crime. Coming
down to the present day, he said
Il am not going to attempt 20 sup
port my arguments by elaborate quo
tatioBs from statistics. There are
certain figures. however. which are
rather significant. IF rot conclusive
] refer 10 the statistics OF the federal
census bureau of 1910, with reference
TO the effect of the death penalty upon
the commission 0t murder These
statistics Show that ia Ell of the states
having the highest number of homi-
cides per capita in the population,
there is not q single state that has
abolished capital punishment These
q are those which have enforced the
death penalty from the time 81 their
organization Following these u
states come three states, Illinois.
Maryland and Kansas. all having the
same number per capita OF homicides
Of these states. Kansas has abolished
the death penalty Illinois and Mary
land have retained IL.
Let us now consider the 20 states
lowest number Of homicides per cap
tia. Among these 20 are all the states
but one kansas that have abolished
capital punishment The federal sta
tistlcs, to nay mind show that capital
punishment has failed to act as @ de-
terrent. and that in the states where
it has been abolished there is a less
per capita OF homicides than in the
states where it has been retained
Up to 1913, six states had abolish
ed capital punishment Washington
followed in that year The United
States statistics of 1910 show that 1--WE
Of these are among the 20 with the
lowest per capita OF homicides, each
with a percentage less than 0S ia
each 10000 of population. The other
non-capital punishment state-kan- !
6as- had the same per capita OF hon.
icides as Illinois and Maryland, both /
capital punishment states.
Illinois was disgraCed by 65L hon. /
icides in 1910, after a century of en-
forcement Of capital punishment, while I
IN Wisconsin, where st had been abol- /
ished, the homicides have not been /
much over 80 per cent, per capita, of
those committed In Illinois.
Christianity long ago revoked the /
doctrine Of tooth for a tooth and an
eye for an eye. Christ prayed the
Father, as He saw the thief hanging
by His side, Forgive them. for they
know not what they do Christ him
self was suffering the lingering tor
lures of death a. the hands OF pas
sion and fury He did not seek the
destruction Of those who were muir
dering Him and the thief by His side,
but He prayed that they should see
and know Gods truth. Verify. God
himself has reserved 20 himself the
final penalty for the sins Of His chill
1ran.
Society becomes criminal when It
seelSs. by violence and the blood Of its
to right wrong committed
against It By such product of its own
1eglsct- For this class we cannot con-
lsiFs Of execution performing any
junction. The hanging of hundreds
n thousands Of them, even the mas
Iacre of their young, would not de-
,Feaae the crime that springs from the
'iums and the tenements, SO long as
he Sims remain under the tolerance
II an Intelligent society.
Another evidence that execution is
act effective Is afforded In the REQ
sTds OF lyDchings and mob violence,
these have occurred In the
I