Turning from the examples everywhere present of the naturalness of order and system to what we observe of the daily acts of men, the thought that right conduct has little relation to penal laws is still further confirmed. In the myriad acts of men it is only rarely that one is done directly because of law. To turn to the right when you meet your neighbor on the street; to imperil your happiness and even your life to help in dire need; to protect the helpless; to defend the weak; to tell the truth; in fact, to obey all that natural morality or right conduct requires, is the first instinct of man, and ever prevails, not only regardless of human law but in spite of human law, and this, too, for the best and most abiding reason that can influence the life of man. Nature provides that certain conduct makes for life, and in the sweep of time, those who conform to this conduct live and their offspring populate the earth when they are gone; those who violate the laws of communal life will die or leave no descendants or weak offspring to be the last survivors of their line. The unschooled child and the uncivilized race alike tell the truth; they obey the laws of nature and the laws of life. It is only after the exploiter appears with his rules for enslaving man that he must needs build jails in which to pen those who defy or ignore their power. CHAPTER V THEORY OF CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Those who believe in the beneficence of force have never yet agreed upon the crimes that should be forbidden, the method and extent of punishment, the purpose of punishment, nor even its result. They simply agree that without force and violence social life cannot be maintained. All conceivable human actions have fallen under the disfavor of the law and found their place in penal codes: Blasphemy, witchcraft, heresy, insanity, idiocy, methods of eating and drinking, the manner of worshiping the Supreme Being, the observance of fast days and holy days, the giving of medicine and the withholding of medicine, the relation of the sexes, the right to labor and not to labor, the method of acquiring and dispensing property, its purchase and sale, the forms of dress and manner of deportment, in fact almost every conceivable act of man. On the other hand, murder, robbery, pillage, rapine, have often been commended by the ruling powers, not only permitted, but under certain conditions that seemed to work to the advantage of the ruler, this conduct has been deemed worthy of the greatest praise. The punishment for illegal acts have been as various as the crimes. Death has always been a favorite visitation for the criminal, but the means of death have varied with time and place: Boiling in oil, boiling in water, burning at the stake, breaking on the wheel, strangulation, poison, feeding to wild beasts, beheading, and in fact every conceivable way down to the humane method of electrocution and hanging by the neck until dead. Death, too, has been