The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 1), January, 1914 — John Shaqi
The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 1), January, 1914Various
History
The Delinquent (Vol. IV, No. 1), January, 1914
Various
Prisons -- Periodicals
Delaware houses one-half of her population in the city of Wilmington.
All the rest of the State is strictly rural. Our people are of the
soil. They are typical farmers—plain, wholesome, God-fearing people
who obey the law and who punish crime with severity. We have neither
the means nor the machinery with which to patrol our rural districts
with armed officers. It follows, then, that we must have laws carrying
severe penalties and rigidly enforce them.
Half the people in Delaware south of Wilmington never lock their doors
at night, window fasteners are uncommon, and thought of burglars is
totally absent from the minds of our people. Once in a long while some
half-drunken loon will enter a house at night. When he is not kicked
out as a mere intruder he is locked up, tried, convicted and whipped
according to law, and then locked up long enough to think it over
himself and to deter all others from a like offense.
Those who criticise the whipping post adversely overlook the fact that
Delaware is the broad highway between four chief American cities.
Our unthinking critics include those who do not know that time or
the loss of time means nothing at all to a very large proportion of
our population. A day, or a week, or a month, more or less, costs a
low-grade negro nothing at all in opportunity or in money. The native
negroes of Delaware know their place and make no trouble. They are far
above the average in habits and in intelligence, but we have a floating
negro population which is definitely bad, and we must safeguard our
people, white and black, against those who come from all parts of the
Shore country to the canneries, work a few weeks or months and then
pass on, only to give place to another lot just as bad, or even worse.
The negro with city habits is a worse proposition than the farm trained
hand, who is usually law-abiding and useful. Delaware can handle her
own negroes with little or no force, but the passing throng of bad
men needs attention, and they file by with eyes front on the whipping
posts. Cells mean nothing at all to such men, white or black.
Delaware is absolutely free from all forms of white slavery. This
particular form of crime is punished here without recourse to the
Mann Act or aid from the Federal authorities. Did the whipping post do
naught else but keep cadets out of Delaware it proves its eternal value
here. In every other State in the Union in which there is a large city
the white slave problem comes up with a degree of regularity. The same
people who condemn the whipping post wring their hands and wonder what
to do about the cadets and their wretched victims. Delaware answers,
“Whip the cadet!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account