HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Blyth Standard, 1930-01-16, Page 7Death Penalty Called Necessary
By Earl of Birkenhead in Reply
To Arguments for Its Abolition
Execution for Gravest Crimes Upheld as Right of Community
and as an Essential Deterrent; Experiments in Use
of Life Imprisonment as Maximum Punish
ment Termed Inconclusive
Ay the Earl of Birkenhead
There is an opinion, held by re-
sponsible people, that it is no longer
right to retain the death penalty 110 11
form Of criminal punishment, Prole
ably' it is impossible to couvineo
them that their opinion is erroneous,
but there is a danger that they may
by their Insistence impose that
opinion upon the community if noth•
hut; Is said on the other side.
It is to those (0110 have am open
mind, and are therefore ready to con-
sider carefully the arguments ou both
aides, Oust these observations are ad-
dressed,I do not desire to preach to
the converted or to persuade those
who are convinced that 1 must be
wrong.
1 think it nncontroverthlo that a
country can call 10011 118 men to die
in order that the community may
live. It does not matter whether the
soldiers are volunteers or emt0cripts,
Caneequeutiy, I doubt whether the
principle underlying the objection to
the death penalty le not really the
expression of unconscious paclflstn.
Case of Traitor Cited
Yet it may be objected, such a sac•
!like is for the life of the community.
The death penalty is a punishment
for an offence against Its laws. Is
there, then, 10) crime which is aimed
against the life of the community?
What, then, are wo to say of a for-
eign spy who is seeking to,discever
and betray our secrets to the enemy??
What as to that viler person, the
traitor who seeks to subvert the laws
and constitution of our country, who
lends his aid to the enemy which is
attacking our lives and liberty? If
It le lawful to resist ihe enemy and
kill him in open and manly cook! Is
It not also right to trample out the
life of the worm who Is a canker in
our midst?
What is the object of punishment?
I tette it that primarily the object is
to lnifiet upon the offehde' punish -
silent as to it'll tat that
silent for hie misdeeds, and also, if it found ane so baso
be possible, to cause hint (or others injury upon the cotmty or to give
similarly disposed) to reform!. It must such assistance to the enemy. If
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E GhighestMaire thrkee
t
The new 2300 class locomotives mud four wheels 111 the trailing ,each,
penalty has operated to sed resist- nov tieing placed to eesvie0 by the
sumo to temptation. Canadian Pacific Railway mark yet
Believes Fear Lessees Crime another forward step in the history
of motive power.
I am 'certain that in the case of dam•
germ"; crimes, such lis burglary and
housebreaking, the taut that detec-
tion and capture erlll, at worst, 1000
to Inlprlsonu0nl, but that the avoid-
ance of capture by minae!' will cause
his life to be foeteit, has operated,
and does operate, upon the 111111110 of
the 8)1011nate who spend thou' lives
in such pursuits, and that thereby
householders have gushed a rtee.nrhy
which would not otherwise be theirs,
There are four crimes for which the
penalty is (tenth: treason, 111'000, etc„
tnarseuale and dockyards; piracy
with violence, and reorder. 'there
are, I believe, no others. We must
remember that it is not 00Slcient to
dispute the justice of the death pen-
alty 111 the case of any particular
crime; it may well he that with re-
gard lo that offense the need for such
a punishment lute ceased though 1110
penalty Is retained, but that will not
show that the penalty should be hu•
014784 In other cases. It must be
that there is no crime so 01101'1110115
that the offender 10001 1110,
Now as to treason. We know that,
in days gone by, treason was tt charge
often made en inadequate facto and
melee barbaric laws, We d0 not al -I
ways hear In mind that those bar -
heroes laws have been repealed, and
that lite law of treason to now cone
putatively simple.
Penalty Sometimes Excessive.
I 001000 1,o that in some of the exist -
Ing CS 000 11 may well 11e that the
death penalty is excessive, but must
of them are so triable tinder the
l'reasomP'elony eels which were passe
0d so that the offense can be treated
as a felony without captlal punish•
(tell!..
Of the second offense 1 believe that
there is no modern instance In this
country, During the war there 10110
also not be forgotten that It acts as a there had been, the olfouder would
deterrent to others, and further by have been atmleg 41'. Oho life of the
punishing an offender after a duo ex- community, lie welds( have forfeited
amivatlon 11110 Ills guilt, it p00vents tits right to continue among 00, I as.
both the comunity and individuals seek that it 10otihl not b0 tight. that
from taking the law into their Own such a man should live.
1The third offence is piracy with vio-
lence. We think that piracy' is an
obsolete crime. Mier()Mier()are no pirates
now tday0, and GmGmhag confused in
Due golden haze the exploits of those
mariners of England who exacted re.
tribution 1n 1he day's when private
veng00nce 1(110 still arguably lawful,
and the misdeeds or the truculent
ruffians who disgraced the high seas
ted a crime, it is a mere platitude. 1f before the British Navy drove them
punishment were an effective deter-.ront in all cases, there would be no
crime,
A. criminal is a man who has not
been deterred, whether he he a pick-
pocket, a burglar, a bigamist or a
murderer. In his case the deterrent
has failed. But 13 argue from the ex-
ceptions that changing is no deterrent
to a neat who may be telepted to
conu011 murder is to advance a very
grave error of reasoning. We should
require to know all the cases In
-which that temptation has arisen and
has been resleted, and in what 111nm-
ber or proportion of cases the death
sands to exaet ref.t button, We hat
e
no desire to introduce lynch law into
England.
Penalty as a Deterrent
I antu
t umnved by Oho argument
that the death penalty 4000 not deter
nu1140)0rs. In the sense that no pmts
ishment has eve' been an effective
deterrent to a man who has commit..
Ed8e•Hoiding
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But lilslory proves that piracy 00'
vives whoever government is weals,
and at the presort time we aro =inn-
ing the loss of two gallant met who
died defending their ship from. the
pirates whom lately we dislodged
front Rias Bay,
lu the olden times the pirate was
described as "1Iostis Militant generis"
and he alone of all criminals could be
limited down and tried by tiny nation,
0o matter what 1110 allegiance or
where he preyed. The rule applies to
this (10y
But when people talk of tutu death
penalty they usually have in muni the
fourth offense., murder. 'Ilia offender
los not considered the right of tate
victim to levo, That victim 1s now
(lead and burled. Sometimes we are
tempted to think, .when W0 read of
hysterical interest in murderers, that
the ei(tim 1s forgotten,
Experiments field Inconclusive
It Is said the experience in other
countries has shown that the aboli•
Lion of the death penalty has not In-
creased the number of murders. It
may lie the 1000 in partc1110)' area0,
but the experiment has not been tried
for a sutllctent period or over a suf-
0ENU5000
—PHILLIPS
,y4,00 MAG/803,`
sn n
For Trouble®'
due to Acid
INDIGESTION
ACID s10)4ACH
HEARTBURN
HEADACHE
GASES•NAUSEA
When Pain
Comes
Wlmt 1nany people call indigestion
`very often means excess acid in the
stomach, The stomach nerves have
been over -stimulated, and food sours.
The corrective 1s an alkali, which
neutralizes acids instantly. And the
best 1011ta11 known to 100dlcal science
is Phillips' b111k of Magnesia, It has
remained the standard with physi-
Diane In the 50 years sine() its imven-
Oen,
One spoonful of this harms: 1's, taste-
less alkali in water will neutralize in-
stantly many times as much acid, and
thio symptoms disappear at ounce. You
will never use crude methods when
ones you learn the elliclency,of this.
G0 get a shall bottle t0 try,
Be sure to get the genuine Phillips'
Milk of Magnesia pre0cribed•bY physi-
cians for 60 years in correcting ex-
cess acids. Each bottle contains full
directions—any drugstore.
These locomotives, ten of whirls
aro 'being built for fast passenger
schedules, are of the Hudson type
and in their speed, power, and effici-
ency, represent the result of year's of
) '
e.Yl s elana o in
designing and const'ua)
plot on the part of the Company's en-
gineers.
'Elle new engines have a 1011001 ar-
raegoufeut not previously used In
Canada, with four wh0018 iu the lead-
ing truck, six 75 inch driving wheels
The weight. of the eugtno 10 751,000
meinds and of the tender 203,000
pounds, while 1110 overall lough! of
, the two is 01 feet 1 5.3 incites. Like
the "fifty-nine hundred's" (01(1011 were
built for the freight 011d passenger
service of 111e C.P.R. in the •Rocky
mountains, they are 04017110d with
the type "le" suoerhea1e'; are slolter-
11red, and hnvo cylinders and under -
frames cast in oto solid piece, weigh-
ing
eig -Ing about 50,000 pounds. The nickel
steel boiler is designed to withstand
a working pressure of 275 pounds,
and the engines' tractive effort will
be in the neighborhood or 45,300
pounds.
1}eieully wide area to forst an acme
rate opinion for our quidamlco.
We need also to examine the fate
of the murderers who have been re -
]gated to 1110 -long Imprisonment. It
has been said that in some cases at
least the various conditions imposed
have constituted in themselves a
dearth sentence far 1110x0 terrible than
one which is expressed to bo a death
seafeuce. And while linpris0umleht
is metioned, cannot it 1)0 contended
with at least as much force that the
state has no right to deprive a man
of his liberty? •
And, lastly, there is the lingering
fear that the penally of death may be
exacted In a case (chem s1 101010110
'1110 been made. if the accused is
alive, such a mistake can, though i1•
perfectly, bo put right, but if he is
dead, life cannot he recalled.
The public can rest assured that
the 11011001 cafe Is taken not le axe-
cite the prisoner unless his guilt is
00111(010 1(11(1 in many cases not oven
then. But the feat of a possible mis-
take has no bearing or the problem
svhethot' the state ought, or can, In
na1111111 justice, deprive a murderer
of his lite, We are all ;greed that a
man charged with murder should not
suffer She penalty, 3wat(erer It •muuj'
be, unless he to gulag.
1 111100 considered 011 Ma 0r1.11 -
S10110 with sympathy an (livid' c'n'oful
attention the a gumee10 brought for-
ward against capital punishment.
They hate not convinced ate.
DO NOT NEGLECT
YOUR EJTfLE ONES
It 10) time of life is del iy or neg-
lect more serious than at childhood.
The ills of little once come quickly
and unless the mother is premet fu
administering t'ealmeet a precious
little life may he snuffed out almost
before the mother realizes Oho baby
is III. The prudent mother always
keeps something in the 1000hine
chest as a 00feguard against the sud-
den illness of her little ones, Thous-
ands of m011101 have found through
experience that there is no other
medicine to equalBaby's Own 'Pale
lets and that is why they always keep
a box of the Tablets on hand --why
they always feel safe with the Tab-
lets,
llahy''s Own Tnllets aro a. mild but
thorough laxative w'11(eh by regulats
ing the bowels and stomach banish
constipation and indigestion; break
up colds and simple fevers and pro-
mote healthy, natural 010010 Con-
cerning them, Airs. Isaac Sonia, St.
Eugene, 001., writes:—"1 have been
using Bab7'0 Own Tablets ever since
baby, was a 111011 ill old and 10100 found
that they reach the spot and do more
good than any other medicine I have
ever tried, 1 always keep the Tab-
lets in the house and would advise
all other mothers to do 00,'' The
Tablets are sold by medicine dealers
or by mail at 25 cents a box from The
The Williams' Medicine Co„ Brock-
ville, Ont.
Crisis in Russia
Paul Scbeffer it the London Ob-
serve' (end,): (The article, written
by the ablest of all Moscow 00(000-
poudents, and published in The Ob-
server, by courtesy of the Berliner ,
Tagehlat I, states that the fate of Bol-
0hevisnl is finally stalled o1 10 gigan-
tic hazard). Events in the Soviet
Union are steadily moving towards 0
crisis. Gradually that fact has come
to the surface and is plain to 0ny 03'0.
The decisive symptom is the increas-
ing shortage of food supplies riot duly
throughout the countryside, but in
towns, For the hist two years the
Soviet Government has concentrated
its efforts ret provision in the towns
at any cost, particularly the large'
cities with their industrialized popu-
lation, Now, however, 1t itas found
itself compelled to introduce ration
boobs for maty of the necessities et
life, Queues 0! women, many or
whom have got up at three in the
morning, so as to get their rations bo-
rer the shops are sold out, are to be
seen in every town In Russia. Bread
1s short, and so are pleat, sugar and
tea,
"I am not a gentleman, I ant far
beyond that"—George Bernard Shaw,
Falling Hair—Just try Minard's.
Europe or Empire?
L. S. Amery in the National Review
(London): Joining any European
economic group would mean tying
ourselves up with an ab'eady over -in-
dustrialized lotvwage area. Our ex -
pension would be continually 110)1100
by the eonpetttiot of great, efficient,
and under -paid wo'khug popelatlons.
Even to hold our ova we should he
continually having to lower, or at any
rate hold back, our standard of living
until the European 810311ard slowly
teen) towards ours. Most serious ole
;lection of all to any such proposal
from ou' point of view is that ft
would inevitably close the door to the
far greater prospects which are of-
fered us by the expansion of Empire
t.ratle on dune development of Empire
1'0000)'1'01. , , , 135'eu to -day, from the
point of view of this, country, the PJn1-
pire, nlarket is by for the most !in-
pe'tant element in our whole econ-
omic system. . . , If the Empire
trade is already the most important
factor in one whole external trade
system, it is no less important to the
other units of the Lhupire, ()eel' 40
per cent. of the exports of everycon-
side'alile portion of the Empire find
their market in the Empire, and 10000
particularly in the United Riugdont,
Something like 84 per cent. or the
total of Inter -Imperial trade is focus-
sed on the United Kingdom either
converging upon it or radiating from
its
Compulsory Insurance
11. 13, 'Davidson iu the New States-
man (London): In nanny cases there
IS 110 Valid ohjectlol to making a eau
envy n Y t11e co' st of. any risk which he
creates. But the body or motorists
include many thousand persons who
are not at ples:00t 10sured because of
their poverty, such as uninsured
drivers ranging from artisan !nota"
cyclist to struggling owners of a
single taxicab, They ought to be le-
isured, and it is the duty of any Gov-
erImemt to see that they are insured,
and of a Labor Government.ln par-
ticular to facilitate they insurance at
the Lowest practicable premium. But
the inevitable effect of compulsory
insurance is to raise preminius which
are already high towards i>roilf0!tho
figures, At present, opinion in the
house' tends to consider that no real
solution of this formidable problem Is
in sight,
CONCLUSIONS
Our conclusions are deternuned lar.
gely by our predispositions; and our
prejudices or prejudgments In gloat.
pleasure monopolize: our facuttlee,
Wo aro not so much ignorant as per-
verted.—Gelide.
Mloard's for the Ideal Rubdown.
NATURE
Nature is just towards men. 11 vee
conpenses then for tibio Miff
ft renders them laborious, because lu
the greatest tolls it attaches the great-
est rewards,—iitonteseulen.
CONSCIENCE
Hearken to the warning of con-
science if you would not feel its
0Onnde.
ac
We have paid 'or eggs for
the week end'teg January
0th.
EXTRAS 60c dozen
FIRSTS 55c dozen
PULLETS 50c dozen
SECONDS 30c dozen
Deal with an old reliable base•
nese house with a reputation of
more than sixty'five years for
square dealing. Best prices
paid, Prompt payments, Cases
returned quickly. Cases sup-
plied, 60c each, complete, deliv-
ered, payment 110 advance.
Reference:—Your Own Banker.
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HON, PETER 11EENAN, Minister Namn......................_......._.............................._
Print Clearly
BACKED AY THE WHOLE DOMINION Addr "x -_.... .... ......... ........
_—__---- JOY
"There is not one normal woman
Theo are souls in the world who who, If 0110 lives long slough, dines not
have the gift of finding joy every- regret decpl3 the fact that she rte
mal1111 stogie,"_.laizabcl1) Jlarbury.
where, and loavh)g it behind them
when they go. Their influence is an
inevitable gladdening 1'f the heart swn.
They give light without mooing to
shine. Their bright hearts have a
great work to do for Cod. ----la. \N.
Faber.
"Consider how nitwit more often
you suffer 11000 yeti' anger and grief
than you do front those very things
for which you are angry and grieved."
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And 1f only people knew they would not offend
the money they do on otter materials when
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—flirt) J. 0. 1'.
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ISSUE No. 2—'30
"1 think Lydia 13. Pittkham's
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111:.1 had six children of which four
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who reig 5 3 pooh is, I have taken
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—Mrs, Milton McMullen, Vanessa,
Ontario,