HUMAN REFUSE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12585, 21 August 1901, Page 7

HUMAN REFUSE.

• TO THE EDITOR;' ' Sir,—We keep our; refuse heaps as far as possible out of sight, and.out of mind'; but now arid'again they are forced upon our notice* -by-'mew accumulation, ;or through their barring attracted the sharp official nose of the Inspector of• Nuisances; then forthwith we carb. therrt, away, glad to be rid.of the' rubbish. <- But anon«the scientific'•chemist; comeis along and-disr closes the fact that what we ■ d>eem our' refuse and wast© has stored up within it oertain valuaible properti'Eis.' which can, with knowledge,. ba applied in ways and to purposes of which, in our ignorance we little dreamed. "Human refuse " follows much the same course, only that our ignorance is mora'dens©'and persistent, and fraught with 'more serious cOTseqtieinices;" for this human rubbish is of a piece ; with ourselves so that defect or blemish cf the part, -by aji -unalterable law, affects the* welfare, of the whole. ■ '■ - - ■ •

;: As. the-muck-hsap iii .mir,,yaffd ..provides a hot-bed for disease g. Ims so in tie refuse of humanity is prorogated moral iniquity; and both science and gospel are dailypreaching to us on the same text, ''lf on© member suffer all 'the members suffer with "it."' , , But,' so . far, neither -gospel nor science has raised us to the height of seeing the vital truth of such a. statement. The " Owners of• Humanity," the "solidarity of the race,"'the'" organic nature of society," are still mere expressions which to most minds set-forth something-far beyond the range of " practical-politics." . And here, too, the refuse sometimes be-comes-a nuisance to ; b© abated as. soon sis possible. The hangman's rope provides quick, despatch, and we congratulate ourselves on the cleanness of- the outside of our; social platter.' ' the Eyreton murderer, provides a case in point. The chief" law officers have recommended that the fl liaw. shall take its course," and the ghastly' farce of. our execution will, no doubt, be repeated. I ask-, for a little space, in- your, columns wherein to enter another protest against the continuance of a law which has never been aj'nytning : but the expression of a blind and stupid vengeancje, bolstered up by superstitious revereoj'co for barbaa-io Hebrew kgiskition, "a life 'for'a life," without "even fying she'lt-er of a City of Refuge. - - ; " Maudlin sentiment," say some who cannot conceivo of sentiment' that is root •'maudlin." I can plead against the death penalty the evidence of the words of some of .the, most robust minds, and 1 biggest hearta the world has ever known. Cicero, Voltaire, Berithuw,. Berkeley, Broughato, Guizot, V. Hugo, liavoquette, John Bright, Mawini, Thackeray, Bulwer Lytton, Howells, Horace Greely, " Charles Kingsleyj Ingersoll, and a host of others of lesser note have- all borne witness, against. the stupid vengeance of the death penalty. The only reasonable, argument in it 3 support—that it. deters- men; from crime—has been proved by history to have no foundation;. Two centuries! ago death was imposed for other: crimes besides murder. With its removal .these other offences diminished." At one time, when 'the death penalty Was ait the height of fashion the executioner was a public official; now, in 1 England, the hangman is paid by the, job, and, in-order to avoid popular vituperation, has constantly to change his name or his abode. How strange! How significant, a commentary on judicial murder. \Ve v 'slay the slayer, but repudiate the. poor wretch who actually performs our, bloody,work.for us. I do not plead tor any leniency for the criminal; the light sentence is often a very mistaken kindness. The prisoner leaves prison untaught, unhelped, unreformed, often better equipped to prey on the society to wliich he owes the very defects, inioraiLand physical, which have been so largely the causes of his- crime. ' The " Humaii refuse" is no more an accident than our. backyard, rubbish heap. 'The criminal igV result, a result of. the. temper, methods and mind of the society of which he forms part, the product of individualism/ a perfect specimen. We are ready enough to regard the great niKin, of every sorb, as the product of the age in which they live, and' we plume ourselves accordingly with some credit for their greatness, By the same logio we are bound to recognise our responsibility, for the criminal. 18 ob only is criminology ai neglected branch of science'but incentives to crime are scattered broadcast, permitted by custom;licensed by law, upheld by vested interest. Most truly has it been said "Society baa the criminals that it deserves;" .

When, in our vengeance' w 'lravo hung our social product, the murderer, we have added to the' volume of the; very temper that led hira to his crime, and stamped it with tho justification of the law. Till We grow wiser our human "refuse heap" will be a big one; but Nature knows no waste. If science has found a use for the muckheap it may find a use for the criminal, something better than hanging, or, better still, it may accomplish tue birth of the fit. Meanwhile, that highest wisdom, " common sense " demands that for the welfare of the whole, special care should be bestowed on the offending member. Amputation is no remedy, and in the case of the body social the strangulation'of the offender increases the original disease. How long shall we attempt "to unlock-tho portals of the future with the past's bloodrusited key?"—l am, etc., O'BRYEN HOAKB.