Show flf fI SIT DOWN ON IT Ill i Every time an incident like the late attempt to rob the Central Pacific train occurs the public acting 1 1 act-ing the part of a superannuated old 1 I r man rubs its eyes groans and I wonders where and when this kind f f f of thing is going to stop Give usa i t us-a lull it says and there the matter rests The information desired is Ii easily furnished and correspond r tj ingly briefthat kind of thing isnt + I going to end at all at least not in I 1 the present generation Solong as 11 I q there is wealth in the land there I will be cupidity the desire to possess I f i I I pos-sess it by the most abbreviated i 11 means and herein lies the secret if i II such it can be called The age is t I > t hungry for spoils from the time I the child is old enough to realize a what is going on around it make n Ii i comparisons and draw the distinct i II 1 i I ions between the different conditions I t t con-ditions in life the grasping I II for gain begins The passion grows j with the victims growth and i i strengthens with his strength and I when the unhealthful appetite cannot i I can-not be satisfied by proper means I i others are resorted to The human i animal is not prone to sitting 1 down contentedly to a meal of such crumbs as may fall from the table k of his more fortunate neIghbor he 1 would prefer to be in a position to J drop the crumbs himself and his i unrequited eagerness leads him to j the commission of crime The only thing society can do IB circumscribe j the sphere in which i i criminals act so far as it can be done This is not always accomplished a accom-plished by means of mere punishment j pun-ishment which if we may I i a judge by the records is simply i f sim-ply an expiation not a I i I preventive The question then I arlsesWhat means shall we I adopt Without desiring to assume i as-sume even the appearance of sug I I i gestiveness in this connection we venture the assertion that the II proper thing to do is not to do 1 I many of the things so prevalent in I I this age prominent among which is t I J the aristocratic distinction between < parties accused of crime this has I j J become so prevalent that it is almost I 1 al-most recognized as a rule that the I j I probabilities of the punishment of a I man on tidal for crime fluctuate in Jlt j a ratio exactly corresponding with tai I i his social position and influence j I Nothing more foreign to the theory i of our government and institutions J I rl 1 could well be imagined yet nowhere among civilized people ff peo-ple is the fact of this J < most fatal rule of conduct being anY an-Y 1 unwritten entity in our legal practice i J f i prac-tice apparent than in the United I f States A poor devil who steals through real or fancied necessity i Ii and thus imparts to his offence the f only color of justification of which 1 the case admits is rigorously excluded 1 g 1 exclu-ded from sympathy and all the bot I f J tIedup indignity of the community it I poured out upon his erring head f 1 j Yet why is he so much more depraved I I de-praved than the Dorseys Bradys i 1 f Malleys Belknaps Shepherds and Stokes The offender in humble t J j life is treated as such people ought to be he is scourged by public A s 1 opinion and consigned by law to a 1 1 i place of strong detention pending trial because as a rule I he has not friends influential f r I fluential enough nor sufficient P i means to procure even a temporary I release but the hightoned rascal is ° J more of a lion by reason of the 1 charge against him than if he had I 9 t r i l I I gone through life unscathed by even a suspicion If he be detained at a11a most unlikely circumstance his cell is carpeted well aired nicely furnished and always accessible acces-sible to his friends who make the trifling inconvenience hang as lightly about him as possible Is this entirely right I Should we not exclusively deal with the crime and lose all sight of the person No crime cannot be stopped not always even stayed but it can be reduced to its proper sphere and a more fitting regard for law and order established by treating all offenders in accordance with the grade of their respective offenses not as at present in accordance with the social status which they previously occupied Let no guilty man escape is all very well let there be no distinctions before or after trial is better |