barrow muck truck concluded, "thieving is an honorable pursuit."* ---------- * THE CRIMINAL. ---------- Verily, there is greater truth in this philosophy than in all the law-and-moral books of society. The economic, political, moral, and physical factors being the microbes of crime, how does society meet the situation?
The methods of coping with crime have no doubt undergone several changes, but mainly in a theoretic sense. In practice, society has retained the primitive motive in dealing with the offender; that is, revenge. truck dumper has also adopted the theologic idea; namely, punishment; while the legal and "civilized" methods consist of deterrence or terror, and reform. We shall presently see that all four modes have failed utterly, and that we are today no nearer a solution than in the dark ages.
The natural impulse of the primitive man to strike back, to avenge a wrong, is out of date. Instead, the civilized man, stripped of courage and daring, has delegated to an organized machinery the duty of avenging his wrongs, in the foolish belief that the State is justified in doing what barrow muck truck no longer has the manhood or consistency to do. The majesty-of-the-law is a reasoning thing; truck dumper would not stoop to primitive instincts. Its mission is of a "higher" nature. True, truck dumper is still steeped in the theologic muddle, which proclaims punishment as a means of purification, or the vicarious atonement of sin. But legally and socially the statute exercises punishment, not merely as an infliction of pain upon the offender, but also for its terrifying effect upon others.