Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-02-09
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT


There are some folks innocent
enough to think that crime may
be lessened by establishing capt.
tai punishment. History and sta
tistics do not bear out that con-
tention. Environment, the bring
ing up of children, the home,
school. church, and community
life, and the general economic
conditions are factors in the maxi
ing or breaking of all individuals.
An excellent editorial against go
ing back to the barbaric practice
of taking life in an effort to sup
press crime was published re-
Gently in The Minnesota Union
Advocate. 1t follows:
The perennial demand for capital
punishment is again being voiced in
Minnesota. No doubt several meas
ures will be proposed at the present
session of the state legislature to
bring back the hangman's moose, the
electric chair or whatever new means
of snuffing out human lives science
has devised.
Capital punishment is a relic of
those barbarious days when the
Mosaic law. based Oh retaliation, was
the dominant law of absolute mOnar-
chies. Less than a hundred and fifty
years ago there were 100 capital Of
lenses in Great Britain punishab by
death. Executions were public cele-
brations of the triumph of law over
crime. While hordes stood about to
witness the laws vindication, pick
pockets worked their trade in the
crowd assembled to see some hapless
pickpocket pay the extreme penalty.
And it is a matter of record that
crime is more prevalent in the states
where capital punishment still re-
mains the penalty for capital crimes
than in those states where it has been
abolished.
Illinois still electrocuteS. New York
inflicts the extreme penalty. Penn
sylvania is another. Missouri is an
other. One needs but follow the daily
press to realize how impotent is the
law against crime and criminals in
riots have all occurred in states
where death may be melted out for
extreme offenses.
There are sane arguments in favor
of capital punishment. There would
seem to be little sense in the state
supporting a convicted killer for the
rest of his or her natural life during
1ryhn dc Of fnc
citizens are unable to earn a liveli-
hood even comparable with that af-
forded prisoners. Yet the same argu-
ment holds for the insane, the cpl
leptic, the Northumberland the
blind. Humanity dictates that these
unfortunates be given food, clothing,
shelter and medical care despite the
fact that they will never contribute
anything to the betterment of the
human race.
The cry for capital punishment al
ways wells from the mob Immediately
following the commission of some
heinOus crime such as the killing of
the two police officers in Minneapolis
and the wanton murder of an unof-
Tending citizen in st. Paul. Yet there
are countless economic crimes, sane
toned by law and upheld by the high
est courts in the land, more devas-
tating than the ruthless killing of
peace officers. Crimes have been
committed in this depression by the
master minds" of industry a hun
dredfold more narrowing than the
taking of lives by gunfire. The bank
lords have authored economic in
famies which have shattered more
lives than all the gangs and gang
sters of the past hundred years. The
insult collapse brought more heart
aches, more suicides and more misery
than any hangman's knot could ever
expiate. insult was but one of many.
He will never serve a day in Jail. He
will never know the pangs of hunger
and want.
Capital punishment is not a crime
deterrent, but it is an excellent sub
ject to discuss at time when mill
lions are out of employment and the
brainiest captains of industry admit
they do not know how to put the ener-
gies of these millions back to work
for the common good of all. 1t is
also a fine vehicle for district attor-
neys, Indifferent to the lesser abuses
of law, to ride into places of political
power at the expense of some accused