The Washington herald., 1920-07-14
PAarNERs IN GUILT.

The Chinese, who are the most
logical people on earth. have COM
/ lpfehensive way of dealing out JUS
tice. When q crime is committed
they not only punish the wrongdoer
but every one who could. orlshould.
have prevented 1t.
Thus, not long ago, In Q report In
a Shanghai newspaper Of the court
proceedings, there was an account
Of q crazy man. who had suddenly
DEVELOPED a homicidal mania and
killed two people. The maniac was
put In an asylum and every mem
ber of his family, even TO remote
cousins. and the entire population
of the village In which he lived
were fped because they knew the
man to be mentally unbalanced, yet
had taken no measure to protect
the public against him.
In another case q youth was con-
victed of having robbed his em-
ployer. He was sent to jail. and his
father sentenced to a severe nog-
eing for having reared a thief, and
for having neglected to instill the
principles OF honor and honesty in
his son
We Of the Western world might
we'll adopt this Chinese system oh
administering justice. For no man
sins by himself alone, and we are
all more or less responsible for the
evil done by those around us.
No one will deny, for example,
that we are all accessory before the
crime OF the political corruption
that curses our country. We pay
taxes that should make every road
a
ward and every city spotless town.
Then we sit supinely down and
watch road commissioners and al
dermen steal millions. while we
bump along over the ruts and un-
mended highways, and have our
children sicken and die OF city filth.
We make our politicians grafters
because we make II perfectly safe
for them to loot the public treasury
md we are just as much their part
ners in guilt as Is the servant girl
who leaves the door unlocked so
that burglars may come in and help
themselves to the family silver.
We deserve. to have to pay the
taxes under which we grosn. We
deserve more. We deserve 10 serve
a term in stripes by the side of the
thievery by our neglect OF our duty
as citizens. For we could prevent
the plundering of the public funds
II we would take the trouble 10 do
! so.
In domestic life the Chinese sys-
tenn of justice even more adequate
ly makes the punishment mt the
! crime, and fastens the guilt on the
or woman goes wrong. or fails in
| life. nine times out of ten he or she
could truthfully say: This is my
more than L.
in a felon's dock without thinking
/ that his father and mother should
| be standing beside him. and that
was.
They let him grow up with an
ungoverned temper and in some mo-
ment of rage he committed murder.
| Or they nevertaught him to control
! his appetite. or deny himself any
thing he wanted. and so when he
I lacked the money to indulge himself
! in what he desired, he stole to get il.
The father was absorbed in bust
ness. The mother in society or
clubs, and they left the boy TO grow
Up on the streets and learn his code
of conduct from hoodlums. Neither
father or mother ever took the trou-
BILE to get acquainted with the boy.
TO be his friend and confidant and
to instill In his youthful soul those
kign ideals of principle that keep a
lad straight through the tempta-
items Of life, and so he became a
criminal.
never see a drab Of the streets
without thinking that it is her
mother from whom he should draw