Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-01
Does Mo-
Who Wishes T~W Prospect of EvnGra rPnnbmen

consider this beyond their jurisdiction
However. with most punshments law
makers and eNecutioners do the heSt
they can even to accomplish this emf
The people of to-day deny that they
punish from vengeance. They admit
| that they have Indignation againS
! the criminal, but their Indignation /,
| righteous" Indignation, The wore
| righteous" only confesSes hypocrisy
Hatred is hatred, prefNing the wort
! righteous" makes il in no wayAiiffer
ent. People punish those whom they
| hate. No one can intlict pain or tor
ture upon an individual without hat
/ ing him.
| In the preparation for war, when
nations begin to mobilize, the first
unit in the field is the liar. These are
called into this pleasant service to
| make soldiers hate the enemy. so that
/ they Will Kill them. In punishment
every effort is made all down the line
To magnify the ferocity of the act and
the moral delinquency of the con.
! demned, so that the punishment will
he fixed in hatred and anger and Ger.
RED out in the same spirit This care.
fully created emotion is called "riyh,
eous" indignation.
Every one nowadays has given un
defending capital punishment on any
theory except that hanging or other.
wise Killing one man keeps others
from committing a capital offense. M
one who considers this question be.
ieves il, but still il is repeated over
and over again by those who either dc
not know or do not care
Are men kept from killing theif
fellows because they are afraid to kill
Every one who kills, excepting those
who Kill in the heat of passion. IRE.
pares a way OF escape. The killer
never intends to be caught. and often
he is not. In the crimes of profound
feeling and passion consequences are
thrown to the wind and the certainty
of the punishment of death does not
prevent the act.
IL people are really kept from pun
ishment through fear. then the more
terrible the punishment provided the
greater the fear. The old forms of
torture should be brought back. For
instance, boiling in oil. which was once
a favorite means of putting TO death.
should once more be established. The
old rack. which tore victims limb from
limb. should again he called into sery
ice. These measures would have -
" St1NiPI 1edT ali over the
place. The public has grown so sof
that present methods no lonce,
terrify. They forget the injunctio
of Nietsche. BE hard.'' Our effem.
nate lawmakers even seek to mai;
death by the state as painless a
possible. and thus take away most O.,
the fear that is supposed to prevent
the weak from committing crime
~
F one should take the pains to ask
a dozen men and women which
they would prefer. life Imprisonment,
or death. almost all of them would say
that they preferred death. True.
when the time came to die they might
wish TO live under almost any circum-
stances, But. as a theoretical propo.
sition, without the imminence OF
death, most men and women prefer
death to long Imprisonment. There
is certainly much less fear of death
than Of long Imprisonment i'm the mind
Of one who is about TO kill.
This can practically he proven.
Many persons make burglary pro-
fession. The cause of this is not in
our province TO discuss at this time.
but the fact is plain that their pro-
fession is burglary. The last thing
they wish TO do is to kill. The bur-
giar takes every possible precaution
against killing. He uses all care in
turning the knob of the door He
takes OFF his shoes when he goes in
side the house. He uses every precau.
ton not TO awaken any one in the
room, but If perchance a sleeper In
awakened and shows resistance, then
the burglar shoots and shoots to kill.
While he never wishes to destroy life,
he almost always carries a gun. that
he may be prepared to prevent arrest.
The burglar knows that il ne Is con.
vlcted OF burglary he viii probably
spend five years in the penitentiary.
III he is convicted of murder he will
likely be killed by hanging or other
wise. or at least be imprisoned for life.
Yet 10 prevent an arrest which would