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Show I THROWING MEN INTO PRISON ndignanl because Presidenl Wilson commuted the sentence of John Dorsej from eight years to four years in prison Judge K. M. Lam l is- lias scored the president. ' I wonder what frame of mind he must have been in," said Ju'dge Landis, "to em suc h a sentence.',' Judge Landis is one of bur besl federal judges. He is a man ol' hinh ideals, hni ln is h. -artless on the In-ndi. Lie first came prominently prom-inently before the public as tin- judge who penalized the standard ii company $29,000,000 for violation t the (Sherman' anti-trust law-Tin- penalty was declarod i scessive by the higher court and the big monopoly escaped Bn1 iliis ac t of Judge Landifc Had a salutary effect and. from that da standard Oil and other powerful enncerns indulging in destructive tactics have had more respect for the law. Bu1 Judge Landis. in their particular ease, ntaj err in severity. More and more the thoughtful and sympathetic men on the bench art Kfttins nway from the idi a "i a justice which knows iuir pity or compassion, com-passion, The old prompting was w ipe out crime by remorseless pun islrment. Then grLeat men, with hearts and sonls. discovered thai throwing offenders into prison, there to spend endless days caged h.s are wild animals in captivity, Mid then- to sliriv.-l in mind ami waste in body, neither made men better nor lowered the percentage of crime They diseovercd that the bighesl BerviKe fco Tunnanin was to save rather than destroy and tln-y proceeded to ryvArse the old order of tiimga and deal with the criminal as a human being who. iii part, is the victim f influences over, which he has no control They began to tie vis.- ways and means to reform tb lift up. to remake ttie wrongdoer Judge Landis, we take it would have none of this softness of heart He belongs t, the school that preaches against compassion and iii caating Hie lawbreaker into prison, says; "There! Let bun rot, if he may. I now dismiss this criminal i from my mind The inexorable law oi an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth must prevail I have done m dtffcj Whal care I for brainstorms, heartaches regrets repentance remorse' Math em at ic-1 ally, 1 prescribe Hp minutes, tin- hours, the days, the years One max fatten on the sentence, Another may die in anguish. The law knows no discrimination, considers no variation iii temperament, has no fine sensibilities with which to weigh the aouls of men, and, having ytreseribed the punishment. I am as relentless 1" |