Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1921-03-09
CR|MINOLOGY
SUBJECT OF
BACKUS TALK
Best Address In Years
Given Here Last
Wednesday.

Owing to the hurried announcement
the audience that greeted Judge A. c.
Backus, Milwaukee criminal jurist and
humanitarian, last Wednesday night
was small. Those present made up
for a lack of numbers by being deep
ly appreciative.
In his opening remarks Judge
Backus paid his respects to the
memory of Judge Clementson stating
that the community loss was also a
loss for the whole state. In his
opinion Judge Clementson was one of
the leading jurists of the northwest
and loved and reverenced by the bar
and his associates on the bench in this
state
The judge launched his address,
THE Duties We Owe to Others and
Ourselves" by stating as first pre-
mise that 100000 persons passed be-
fore the bar Of justice in this country
every year. He deplored this enor-
nous loss in citizenship and begged
the question, what if the ratio CON
tinues for twenty years?"
what is wrOng?" was the next
question. Assuming that the home
church and school are factors for
moral development the judge said that
but five per cent Of the boys and
but twenty per cent OF the girls in the
country were attending church.
He next spoke of the relation and
duty of the father toward the boy
saying truthfully that many men were
building their businesses and neglect
ing their sons until it was too late.
The Judge, as an expert criminolo-
gist, stated that all criminals had a
starting point and that wrong environ
ment was chiefly to blame. "Remem-
her," he said, "the boys of today are
the citizens Of tomorrow"
The Judge related the parable of
the Good Samaritan and the second
comm lndment, Love Thy Neighbor as
Thyself" as the key to the whole
solution. He said that crime would
keep on Indefinitely and the horde
of criminals would constantly stream
before the bar of justice unless duty
was recognized. He insisted that to
get joy out of life it was necessary to
give joy to others He said that filial
respect was necessary in the youth
and that the parents must deserve
this respect
The judge then told a story of his
first day in court Four boys were
brought in from the country charged
with a serious Offense. The court
(under the old rule of indicating the
law gave them twenty years in Wau-
Pun. The boys, under eighteen were
hurried away to prison without even
having a lawyer to represent them.
The horror of this thing remained
with him for years. When in 1909 he
became judge of the same court he
asked Governor Davidson to reopen
the case. Two boys dead, one was
hopelessly tubercular and the fourth
insane. The families of the lads, all
respectable farming people, had either
moved away or broken up over the
disgrace. One father drank himself
to DEATH a mother went to an early
grave through worry and a brother
committed suicide. 1t also developed
that the original testimony was per-
jured and that the woman complain
ant was dissolute The boys thought
they were pleading guilty to a mis-
! demeanor.
To prove the severity with which
criminals were dealt until recently
he said that during Henry VII in
England 10000 persons were executed.
206 crimes were punishable by death.
During Geo. III the average Of eX-
ecutions was 81 day. In 1916 George
Barnett, aged 10, was executed in
Newgate prison for the theft of small
articles from a shop. Punishment was
| barbarOus.
(Turn to page 2, col. 81
(