South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-02
IS THIS TIE ANSW Err?

OF liberty never to live under the warning suns or
breathe ;he air OF freedom
re RfIiee woman who had hefrended him and
towards whom ne should have shown sentiments Of
o-. and gratitude instead of the mu-derous impulse
~ destruction
VIVA, happens 20 this particular boy does not
matter much IT. a nation which has one hundred
and ten millions OF citizens
What happens 10 the state and TO people who
condemn a boy 90 this age TO life term is very
important
This lad was am orphan. coming from an uncharted
ancestry. abandoned in his early childhood to fend
for himself until tbe land-hearted woman who fell
before his bullet gave him home.
The law does not know what iron Of hate entered
hs ISOLATED his DAYS Of negligence. II only
knows that hc killed
The law did not stop four or five years ago. to
inquire what seeds Of kindness were being inn
planted i'm his heart Tt only looked this boy after
hc destroyed another human being.
IIc win be sent shortly TO The Michigan City
prison that place where hardened criminals Sc
clustered a rlace nned with revolt against society
with hate poisoning the air Of every cell
lie viii DE there when other boys whistng
their way TO school so.emny debating what to
do with their lives are eagerly Interested in radio
or electricity mechanics.
Tic viii have no such thoushts-for life will be
spent among the hopeless who Will recall when to-
gether their exploits ion crime, their triumphs in the
underworld. their victories over the law.
Tic viii gain a post graduate degree in the use OF
nitro gycerinc for yeggman purposes of the best
way 90 lick a lock OF the most effective wav
burgarizc a bank or steal pocketbook.
This boy under life sentence is IS years old
II you have a boy of that age in your home
there IS one In our block think for a moment Of
what it means at IS to be condemned to live your
years among the shifting crops Of major criminals
who come and go.
This Hfor stiu i'm knee pants
But ne will if the sentence be carried out live
normally for half century behind prison bars each
:ear becoming a trinc more hardened little more
hopeless. shade more callous and tremendously
more ignorant OF what life means
The by conviction of this boy
that every boy in The state has reached not only
maturity I'm knowledge where he knows right from
wrong but must take full responsibility for his own
acts
This boy could NOT legally draw wages for any
work he does But ne must lay in fun the penalty
Of the law which would be exacted from Of
70. with an the wisdom of "a Hfe's experience
This hoy coud not contract debt that could be
coHected.-but the law collects his life as "a toll for
single act.
This boy could contract legal mdrriage-
but the state WEEDS him to life of contact with
criminality
II the state demands from boys Of Is fun re-
sponsibility for their acts what should not every
boy or IS I'm This state demand from the state?
They should have primarily the right of pro-
lection Of care Tf some latent disease some in
herited faint unused this tragedy. other boys have
the risht demand that the sources OF disease he
wiped away. disease and poverty the soil i'm which
disease breeds most rapidly
Tho, have right 90 protection against tempta-
selling oI guns OF reviewers of irfrsn,inc