FALSE SYMPATHY WITH CRIMINALS.
That Sham Humanitarianism Has Become
a Stench Is the Declaration
of a Leading Humanitarian.
Andrew D. White, ex-president of Cornell University, ex-ambassador to Germany—scholar, publicist, humanitarian—said wholesome words to the Cornell students a few weeks ago on the problem of "High Crime in the United States." The basis of his address was the fact that more murders are committed every year in the United States than in any other country. His attitude in regard to lynch-law is rather startling:
The number of homicides that are punished by lynching exceeds the number punished by due process of law. There is nothing more nonsensical or ridiculous than the goody-goody talk about lynching. Much may be said in favor of Goldwin Smith's quotation, "that there are communities in which lynch-law is better than any other."
From this he proceeded to decry over-wrought sentiment in favor of criminals:
Germs of maudlin sentimentality are widespread. On every hand we hear slimy, mushy, gushy expressions of sympathy, the criminal called "plucky," "nervy," "fighting against fearful odds for his life."
It is said that society has no right to put murderers to death. In my opinion, society must fall back on the law of self-preservation. It should cut through and make war, in my opinion, for its life. Life imprisonment is not possible, because there is no life imprisonment.
In the next year nine thousand people will be murdered. As I stand here to-day I tell you that nine thousand are doomed to death with all the cruelty of the criminal heart, and with no regard for home and families, and two-thirds of those murders will be due to the maudlin sentiment sometimes called mercy.
I have no sympathy for the criminal. My sympathy is for those who will be murdered, for their families and for their children.
This sham humanitarianism has become a stench. The cry now is for righteousness. The past generation has abolished human slavery. It is for the present to deal with the problems of the future and among them this problem of crime. Young men, like Jerome, like Folk and Hughes, resolve never to be servants of criminals, but to do your best to punish crime as it should be punished.