706 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
while dying by inches. When this insidious disease gets a firm hold on people, science is able to do but little for them, except to prolong, for a few short years at the most, the years of suf- fering weakness of these victims of human ignorance. They suffer mentally and physically, while their friends and loved ones, numbering hundreds of thousands, daily feel the pangs of sym- pathetic woe ; and yet, in the face of all this suffering, a measure that gives every prospect of discovering certain relief is opposed because it is cruel. Yea, verily, there is nothing so cruel as ignorance, the self-satisfied ignorance that permits infinite pain. Cruelty is an evidence of weakness as well as of ignorance. The brave man and the strong man sees what needs to be done, and does it. He is not cruel. The coward sees what needs to be done, but does it not. He is cruel. We must take courage and be strong. We can conquer both crime and suffering, if we will. To conquer these is worthy of the best effort of statesmen and philanthropists ; and the punishment of the murderer should be made to contribute to the same great end.
SAMUEL H. RANCK. THE ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY, Baltimore, Md.
