The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-22
PEOPLES FORUM
"Great Cry and Little woolY

"Great Cry and Little WooID To the Editor of The Age-Hera1d: III fares the land to hastening ills
 a prey
 When maudlin sentiment accumu-
 lates and men decay.
 Your this mornings cartoon pie turing the governor of Alabama astride the convict lease system hog, shearing 1t, him or her, hog tied and under much squealing and torture, of it's few remaining bris- ties for the scanty revenue to De obtained, while the favorite sheep of untaxed property and escaped taxes feed secure in nearby pas ture green, and the further asser- tion in another column that the whipping system of convicts is a relic of barbarian no civilized government should sanction and no. enlightened people should toll crate. is indeed a matter of a great cry and little wool.
 The whipping and leasing of conVicts, being relic of barbar- ism no civilized government should sanction and no enlightened peo- pie should tolerate, I presume the more civilized and enlightened plan would be the alleged prac- tice of another state to promptly release all murdeTers, rapists, lynchers and bandits upon convic- ton, and to furnish the higher up bootlegger, embezzler and swim dler with pardons or paroles signed in advance. It Is stated there are twenty times as many murders in New York City every year than in all England, Scotland and Wales, and ten times as many murders Tn Chicago every yeSr than in France, the principal reason be- ing attributed to the political as- pect of American justice, the hoped for thrift that follows fawning in coddling criminals, or an ex- cess accumulation of maudlin sentiment. The laws of the state should be made to obey, not to break. If the criminal is not sat isfied with the convict lease and the lash, he should behave him self and remain a good citizen at home. If he continues to defy the constituted authorities and the law, he should be given a prompt courtmartial and a few Whiffs of smoke, otherwise America will soon be among the things that were, the grandeur that was Greece, the glory that was Rome.
 JERE c. DENNIS.
 Dadeville, Ala, Sept. 20, 1923.
 The protest against system in which, for the sake of private profit. human beings are underfed, overworked and inhumanely treated is hardly to be described as "maudlin sentiment Those who have protested against the lease system as barbarous and disgrace to Alabama, have as strongly urged more strict law enforcement and the faithful car rying out of sentences imposed by the courts. Brutality to prisoners does not halt crime. and in Eng land the fine crime situation mem toned by MT. Dennis is not ob- tafned by humanity towards con victs. but by prompt trial and sen- tence of the guilty without resort to those technicalities and delays by means of which even the worst offenders may delay and even en- tirely escape justice. America's future is more safely founded upon principles of civilization and hu- man1ty than upon the summary and harsh measures suggested by our correspondent. Modern penol- ogy seeks to restore the prisoner to right thinking, if possible. moi to brutalize his and turn him loose with still greater grudge against society.-Editor.