Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 2.djvu/613

Rh —even the refinements and accomplishments of life—are used by offenders against law. Knowledge fights on both sides in the battle between right and wrong. At this age it lays siege to banks. It forces open vaults stronger than old castles. It forges and counterfeits. The most dangerous criminal is the educated, intellectual violator of the law, for he has all the resources of art at his command—the forces of mechanics, the subtlety of chemistry, the knowledge of men's ways and passions. Learning by itself only changes the aspect of immorality. Virtue is frequently found with the simple and uneducated, and vice with the educated. Surrounded by glittering objects within their reach, our servant-girls resist more temptations than any other class in society. We must look beyond the accidents of knowledge or ignorance if we wish to learn the springs of action. To check vice, there must be high moral standards in the public mind. The American mind must move upon a higher plane. To reform convicts, their hopes must be aroused and their better instincts worked upon. I never yet found a man so untamable that there was not something of good upon which to build a hope. I never yet found a man so good that he need not fear a fall. Through the warp and woof of the worst man's character there run some threads of gold. In the best there are base materials. It is this web of entwined good and evil in men's character which marks the problems and perplexities of the Legislature and judge, while there is no honest dealing with this subject unless the American people are charged with their share of guilt; and, while Christian charity leads us to take the kindest view we can of every man, it does not follow that crime should be dealt with in a feeble way. Let the laws be swift, stern, and certain in their action. What they say let them do, for more than severity carries a dread of punishment. Let the way of bringing offenders to justice be direct, clear, and untrammelled. The technicalities of pleading, proof, and proceedings, in many of our States, are painfully absurd. To the minds of most men a criminal trial is a mysterious jumble. The public have no confidence that the worst criminal will be punished. The worst criminal cherishes at all times a hope of escape. In every part of our country there is a vague idea that certain men of legal skill can extricate offenders without regard to the merits of their case. This is a fruitful cause of crime. There is not in the minds of the American people a clear, distinct conception of our penal laws, their actions, and their results. Not less hurtful to justice are those fluctuations of the public mind, which shakes off spasmodically its customary indifference and fiercely demands a conviction of those who happen at such times to be charged with crime, and thus make popular clamor take the place of judicial calmness and impartiality. No one feels that there is in this country a clear, strong, even flow of administration of criminal law. The mood of the popular mind has too much to do with judicial proceedings. The evils connected with the administration of justice in