The Editor's Bag On the other hand, punishment is what the person craves, to add to her notor iety, and it makes no difference whether the punishment is mild or severe, for in either case it will only kindle a wide spread passion for cheaply bought "mar tyrdom" and stimulate rather than re press the evil. The Government is thus in a quandary, and because of the difficulty of finding any escape from the dilemma it pursues a faltering and uncertain course. The object of this article is too offer a tentative suggestion of a mode of escape. If love of notoriety is at the root of the evil, the ideal penal remedy would be one which adopts a mode of punish ment from which no advantage of per sonal notoriety can be derived by the prisoner. The simplest way to do that is to deal with the criminal suffragette not as an individual, but as one of a group. Instead of prosecuting the leaders of the movement, why not prosecute by wholesale indictments all who are in any way accessories to the unlawful acts? We do not suggest that the militant organization be indicted as a body, though that would perhaps be the ideal procedure if it were possible. Our idea is that if say one hundred militants were cast into jail at once, not necessarily including any of the more notorious agitators, there would be much less opportunity to make capital out of personal "martyrdom" than when Mrs. Pankhurst or some other arch-conspirator is given a prison sen tence. If a thousand cases were brought instead of merely a hundred, an even severer penalty of individual obscurity would be meted out, in lieu of the abor tive punishment which serves only to gratify the personal vanity of the prisoner. It seems that the common law of unlawful assembly and unlawful con
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spiracy would furnish principles which could readily be applied in drafting a penal statute expressly aimed at all asso ciations working with a program of un lawful violence. Whether the penalties should be mild or severe, in order most effectually to secure their purpose, is a question that would require careful con sideration. By dealing gently with a very large class of offenses the Govern ment could probably accomplish better results than by dealing severely with a smaller group. If there is any way in which the criminal suffragette can be stripped of her notoriety the problem presented by this class of crime can be met. Other wise it is hard to see how any measure can prove more than an unsatisfactory makeshift. THE MIRROR CURE An Atlantic City magistrate handed a mirror to a man brought before him for intoxication. The man gazed at himself for a full minute and asked for a pledge. He signed it and was released on his good behavior. — News Item. <«'T,0 Was see oursels RobbieasBurns's ithers see prayer; us." But should "some power the giftie gie us," To sit and gaze and stare Upon our own reflection From polished mirror's face With time for introspection, 'Twould throw us off our base And make us want to swear off And sign a good stiff pledge. If the effects don't wear off, Try it on others, Jedge. SlRIUS SlNNlCUS. A
LEARNED JUDGE
CHIEF Justice Richardson, of New Hampshire, supplemented his native capacity, which was extraordinary, by untiring mental industry. He studied the great works of the sages of the law, and that he might not be a mere lawyer, read the Latin and Greek classics, and the best French, Italian and Spanish