19

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

Rabbi Opposes Capital Punishment

Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf Tells Pennsylvania Legislature Death
Penalty Is Obsolete

Rev. Dr. Joseph Krauskopf made
a most telling and effective address
before the sub-committee on Judiciary
General of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives. Mr. Isidore Stern
and Mr. Herman Hecht were members
of the committee. Dr. Krauskopf
said he came simply to listen, but
when asked to speak he said that he
was with them and that behind him
stood the largest Hebrew congrega-
tion in the United States.
He flayed the doctrine of "an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"
as of the most ancient and obsolete
sentences of the Bible, and declared
that it was adopted by the Jews not
as a command from God, but as a
practical method of disposing of crim-
inals when the race was in a nomadic
state, and had no means of removing
criminals from contact with society.
"They were not settled, they had
no prisons," the rabbi said, "but just
as soon as they came to. Palestine they
.ceased executing criminals and con-
ined them in jails. During the sec-
ond Commonwealth and for a period
of 500 years we have no record of a
single execution in the entire Hebrew
dispensation.
Not Hebrew Doctrine.
"The Hebrew was not the advocate
of capital punishment as a sacred mat-
ter and he did not execute it when it
became possible to avoid it. Rather
does he regard the command in the
thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel, which
says:
"I do not want the death of the
wicked man. I want him to turn, to
reform and to live.'
"I might say that we clergymen
know more about the lives of these"
people who arc dragged into court
and go to jail for crime are compelled
to lead than some of the justices in
our courts. I know that men have
been put to death who were irrespon-
sible for their acts. And I cannot for-
get the jurist at Old Bailey, in Lon-
don, who, seeing a man on his way to
the gallows, exclaimed, 'There, but to
the grace of God, goes myself,' mean-
ing that had he been born in the en-
vironment into which the condemned
man was born he might have been go-
ing to the gallows himself.
"And you remember the case of
the young man condemned of murder
in his father's court, who, when asked
if he had anything to say before sen-
tence should be pronounced, looked at
his father and cried: 'If you had done
as you should have done I would not
now be here before you.'
"Many men who arc in jail should
be in a morals hospital instead. Many
others should be sitting in a church
pew instead of the electric chair.
Crime Prevention Is Remedy.
"We have prison walls. We have
iron bars. There is no justification
for the infliction of death upon so-
ciety's victims and unfortunates. Mur-
der has always been committed. Did
the unspeakable tortures of the past
prevent them? Does capital pun-

.

ishment today prevent them? Have
they done away with murder after
long centuries of retribution?
"If capital punishment is a deterrent
why do they make of it such a secret
affair? It it is a sacred institution
and a deterrent, why don't they con-
duct it in City Hall square, where
thousands and tens of thousands of
our people may look on and be de-
terred from murder?
"Statistics have been referred to by
the gentleman who spoke in favor of
this antiquated institution. I have
my own statistics, just as reliable as
the others arc, and they prove to me
that the abolition of capital punish-
ment has not increased murder.
"Instead of continuing to put men
to death, let us enact laws that shall
prevent vice and crime and we will
have no more need for hearings such
as this."
Rabbi Krauskopf was enthusiastical-
ly applauded when he concluded.

J. B. MANSFIELD DECLARES
SCHOOLS SHOULD BE RUN
ON BUSINESS BASIS.
The new seven-man school board
will have to do with the business man-
agement of the schools as well as
matters educational and it is impor-
tant therefore that the men elected
be business men of experience. Among
the candidates the name of J. B.

Mansfield represents a man who ful-
fills every requirement of this im-
portant board. In his declaration of
his platform Mr. Mansfield states that
the teachers should be placed on the
merit and not on the pull system, the
prevalent evil of politics in the
schools, and he is in favor of in-
creased pay for teachers on the
ground that an efficient profession
demands at least the common com-
forts of life to enable the teachers to
give their best efforts to their work.
He believes that the board should sit
as a board of directors and that the
school affairs be run as a corporation,
eliminating the many sub-committees.
"If elected a member of the School
Board," states Mr. Mansfield, "I shall
put forth my best efforts to make the
Detroit Public School system prac-
tical and efficient, to eradicate abso-
lutely all political influence, and to
run the department as efficiently as
any smooth working corporation in
private hands.

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WEIL

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Ohio

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Candidate For

-

SCHOOL BOARD

6-Year Term

A vote cast for him for the 6-year term will guaran-
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