The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1925-12-31
FORCE
Bv THOMAS ARKLE CLARK
Dean of Men, University of
Illinois.
FRIEND of mine who had beer

a FRIEND Of mine who had been
"a spending the summer in the Far
Northwest, knowing my interest in
Indian workmanship, brought me not
long ago a wife beaten" which he
had obtained from an old Blackfeet
chief with whom he had become &C
Quafnted. There was no suggestion
on his part, he said, that l should be
called upon to put it to any practical
use, for Nancy is, on the whole, q
rather docile companion, but it might
stimulate my Imagination and please
me with it's caretl construction.
The old chief whose wife had need
ed correction, had combined beauty
with utility when he made the "beat-
er. The rawhide with which the
little oak stick, a foot or so long, per-
haps, was covered, was carefully
seWed on and beautifully Ornamented
with coIored beads. There was stone
skillfully attached to the end of the
stick and covered with rawhide with
which the wife could be gently tapped
on the head if she hung back or loi-
tered in the performance of any duty.
bright red cow tail dangled from the
end of the stick opposite the stone.
The weapon was neat, artistic, and
efficient. 1t was an emblem Of force
and not of moral suasion.
The president of college national
Greek letter fraternity, eager for adj
vice and suggestion, came to me not
long ago to ask me how often and
under what circumstances thought
it advantageous and helpful to pad
die" freshmen
1t seems that when he was himself
freshman In college it was the
custom every Monday evening as part
Of the routine of the business meet
ing Of the organization to give the
freshmen vigorous beating up, upon
the superstition, suppose, that If they
had not been doing something objec
tiOnable they very likely would be
soon. He had begun to doubt that
physical force was the best method
Of enforcing and developing moral
principles. I shared with him the
same doubt, unless, as suggested to
him, his freshmen might be below nor
NAL mentally, or were hopelessly ILL.,
bred.
Behind the teachers desk in the
old log structure In which I began my
formal education there was always a
hazel switch or supple rawhide
whip. He was like Charlemagne max
ing Christians at the point of the
sword. II boy was delinquent, he
was beaten. Beating was quite the
recognized panacea for all intellectual
and moral ills. 1t was thought to be
q great innovation, If not an indica-
ton of lack of moral backbone, when
a teacher came along who announced
that he was not going to resort to
corporal punishment
doubt very much if force has ever
wrought any permanent influence
upon character. 1t may possibly for
the time change conduct but only for
the sake of expediency.
The old squaw, beaten by her lord
and master, went back to her old ways
when the smart of. the blow from the
pebble eased a little. The padding Of
the freshman was palliative only and
helped usually to develop the uncon-
trollable sophomore. The hazel switch
did not change the character Of the
youthful bully, it simply put fear into
his heart and kept him quiet. It is not
likely that Charlemagne's Christians
ever became devout
e. 1925. Western Newspaper Union.)