El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-07-10
Does 1t Pay to kip
By FREDERIC J. HAsKIN


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HITASHINGTON. D. C. July - A
w comparatively new angle TO the
question OF capital punishment
IS brought up apropos OF a murder
case being tried in this city
A boy 20 years Of age shot and
killed two men in a burglary esca-
pade. By the laws Of the District OF
Columbia hanging is the penalty for
murder. Consideration for the youth
OF the slayer may cause the judge 10
commute the sentence to life impris-
onment, but the district is as sa rule
not overly sentimental about such
matters. 4 negro woman is now
awaiting death in the city jail here,
though most courts viii not pro-
nounce a death sentence on a woman,
and It is entirely possible that the
boy. II he is not proved insane, may
go to the galloWs.
The national committee on prisons
takes this case TO show the ineffi-
cheney Of capital punishment from an
economic standpoint This murderer,
IL points out. is the son OF an ex-
prize fighter. When the child was
two years old the father put gloves
on him and taught him to box By
the time he was 10 years old he was
the terror Of the neighbOrhood, until
he landed in a reformatory- There
he proved 10 be the best worker in
adept that the contractor who han
died the prison labor put him on his
pay roll at 81 day after he was re-
leased
Now. this skilled workman has
killed two heads Of families. and the
state Is very likely, going 70 kill him
as the easiest way OF getting rid OF
him. The committee on prisons says
that this is economically wrong. and
that what the district should do Is to
put the boy to work in prison, and
send his earnings to help support the
Two families he has made destitute
This. it is claimed. would be a nearer
approach to Justice, and at the same
time the boy would have chance to
reform The committee logically re-
minds you that you cannot reform q
man after he IS dead
Cost Of Killing a Man.
Improving the economies Of pencil
ogy is not altogether a new proposal,
but it is only lately being seriously
stressed II is now shown that it
costs a state from one thousand to
eight thousand dollars to kill a pris-
oner- New York prison officials have
estimated that Il viii take prac-
tically 500 a month 10 maintain a
condemned woman now at Sing Sing.
because there must be three keepers
and three matrons as death watch,
and usually the prisoner is kept in
the death house some 10 months be-
fore execution
On the other hand. It costs less than
one dollar day 10 maintain regu-
lar convict, and the convict's earning
power is considerably more than this
In recent years. contractors have been
given the use OF prison labor, usually
at great profit to themselves, and lit
tie or no profit to either the laborsrs
OF the state. To give two cents day
70 tee Tlni- nnN D
has left a dependent family OF his
own or made a family dependent b.
his crime, is obvious exploitation and
does not tend TO increase the con
vict's confidence IN the states intel
ngence.
But progress IN prison administra-
zion Is more difficult TO achieve than
in almost any other line OF govern
ment Any proposed advance from
barbar0us TO rational methods Is
cried down as sentimental You've
got to make prison life hard and use
the gibbet to keep crime down." is
the objection to any change. So deep
rooted IS this idea that in Oregon the
death penalty was restored after
having been abolished for several
years by constitutional amendment.
Popular sentiment. more or less en-
gineered. demanded this. in spite OF
the fact that fewer murders occurred
without the death penalty than when
It was enforced
Fear OF Death No Deterrent.
II the prospect OF death was as
strong a deterrent from crime as peo-
pie think, then hanging would be
both effective and ethical. But sta
uctics show that there is less murder
where the government considers life
sacred than where the state sets the
example OF dealing lightly with It
Capital punishment is most strongly
supported by the honest citizen who
prides himself on the record that he
knows nothing about crime and
never spoke TO a "jailbird" in his
life. Persons familiar with actual
prison conditions are practically
unanimous in denouncing execution
as unworthy OF any civilized state.
Prison executions, they say. are al
ways brutal We think OF hanging
with shudder. but most OF US regard
the electric chair as the product OF
a refined civilization and an iustru-
ment OF instant death As a matter
OF fact, II is impossible to tell how
strong a current viii be needed to
XIII an individual Some prisoners
have to have the current put through
them five or six times, with the re-
SUIT that they are practically burned
to death.
We are further told by persons who
know that an execution always has
a disastrous effect on the morale Of
a prison. Earl budding, president OF
the Prisoners Relief association. who
was -FOUR years in a state penitentiary,
says that Il hangings occurred dur
ing MS TERM and that instead OF