The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-08-09
THE MANNL

wealthy man, or one with political in
uence, the machinery is set In motion
to obtain pardon or mitigation Of
sentence. The poor man stays in pri-
son, forgotten by all except perhaps
his immediate family. The penalty Of
poverty is also felt in the administra-
tion of the alternative of fine or im-
prisonment. The rich man pays his
fine without suffering even temporary
Inconvenience. The poor man pays
his debt to society with his body, by
the sacrifice of his liberty.
The fourth reason given for the
crime wave places the -blace for it
squarely on the shoulders of the bar
itself. 1t should rest not only on
those crooked members specified but
also upon the other members whose
lack of initiative and moral courage
allows, surh conditions to exist.
Ocraionally there is a lawyer who
| dares to speak out. Thomas Lee
Woolwine is district attorney for Los
Angeles County, which embraces a
! people and Mr.. Woowine is in posi-
| tion to knoll whereof he speaks.
In statement to The Dearborn In
| dependent, Mr. Woolwine says:
81 am convinced after many years
of experience that I am justified in
the assertion that fully rs per cent of
the attorneys who make it their bhsi-
ness to defend persons charged with
| crime are subirners of perjury and
| should be in the penitcntiary them
selves.
There is no single force in the
United States today that so menaces
the lives and property of the people of
fthis lountry as these crooked criminal
ln Nl,n e,fN
vultures is to suborn perjury by the
| wholesale, to terrify witnesses and by
every villanious trick and device to
discredit, if possible, the prosecution.
AS IT this were not enough they glory
in cheap tricks to create atmosphere
by all kinds of false pretenses and
baselcss arguments and motions. They
90 not hesitate to corrupt and terri
fly witnesses and in many instances
to drive them from the jurisdiction
of the courts of the state. In my
own experience it has often been nee
essary to have armed guards accom-
pany the witnesses for the people, to
protect them night and day from the
Vaccinations of these scoundrels.
Sentimcntalizing Over Criminals
Also aiming the worst enemies of
the people in the orderly administra-
ton of the criminal law is the lying,
unscrupulous press.
During the progress fthe prose-
cution of notorious cases the repres-
entatives of these evil institutions are
busy molding public sentiment to the
belief that assassins and murderer are
being terribly oppressed and, in fact,
are heroes and heroines of the most
admirable type. ding, slushy, oozing
sob stories by sentimental misguided
females envelope these criminals inI
an atmosphere of false romance and
maudlin pity. These stories aided bf
innuendo defy the murderer and
dead"
This attitude Of the bar, aided by
the yelliw press, the stage and the
motion pictures, as Mr.. Woolwine
points out, has created false senti-
mentality among the general public
that handicaps and almost nullifes
the efforts of those public officials who
are consclentiously attempting to
protect society from its enemies.
A few years ago novelists and play
Wrights, by harping upon certain an
doubted abuses of their position by
public prosecutors and police officers,
were greatly instrumental in forming
prejudice in the public mind against
officers of the law. This prejudice has
never entirely died out and recently
it has been awakened and famed into
flame by clever, unscrupulous lawyers,
by the yellow press and by the motion
pictures. A large alien element in
our population, and element that is.
quick to cash in on sickly sentiment
that disguises the acquisition of dirty
dollars, ts also contributing factor.
There has been a great deal of nv
stery hedged about the law. The av-
erage citizen is prone to regard it as
an intricate affair, something stand
ing al0of and apart from him. Law
yers have done much to encourage this
idea as it trebles their Importance and
enables the1n to collect fees not COM
mensurate with the value of their SER
vices.
Yet law is or should be one of the
simplest things in our daily exper-
ience. Law in its general sense is
nothing but rule of conduct. A few
persons living off by themselves can
get. along without any laws except
perhaps certain oral agreements. A
person living entirely apart from his
kind needs no law whatever. But os
the size of community increases
rules of conduct are necessary until,
IN the present complex stage of our
civilization with nearly one-half of
our population crowded into cities, so
many rules. or laws are required that
one-tenth Of the citizens are utilized
to draw up, interpret and enforce Che
legislation laid down for our guidance.
The Producers of Law
The politicians who make our laws.
the lawyers who interpret them, and
the peace officers who enforce them