Radical Legislation
the Order of the Day. . . Hard on Promiscuous Fathers and the Venereally
Diseased. . . Saunders Answers Main Objection to Abolition of the Electric
Chair
By W.C. Saunders
Women will be allowed to vote in primary elections in North
Carolina if a bill introduced in the Senate Tuesday by Senator Scales of
Guilford becomes law. This is a long way from granting full suffrage to women,
but it is legislation in the right direction and may get more favorable
consideration at this session of the General Assembly than an unqualified
suffrage bill.
Two radical and timely measures, both of which were
suggested by Governor Bickett in his biennial message, are now before the
General Assembly. One of them, by Senator Burns of Moore, would give to every
child born out of lawful wedlock in North Carolina ample protection through the
assistance of the State, and the father will be charged with its maintenance
and education. Senator Burns would go further and require the child to bear the
surname of the father.
The other not less radical social measure by Representative
Nichols would prohibit the register of deeds in any county issuing a marriage
license to any person with a venereal disease. A clean health certificate would
be required of every applicant for a marriage license.
Here’s A Hot One
The passage of the Nichols bill would create an interesting
situation for Elizabeth City. Elizabeth City is now the Gretna Green of
hundreds of Virginia couples. Virginians come to Elizabeth City, obtain a
marriage license from Register of Deeds J.W. Munden, and without leaving the
Register of Deeds office, are quickly joined in wedlock by Justice of the Peace
J.W. Munden. It takes about 15 minutes to get a license and get the knot tied
in Elizabeth City. Such little time is consumed in the marriage transaction
here that no time is left to forestall an undesirable wedding. Bigamy is
greatly facilitated under the arrangement by which our Register of Deeds is
permitted to unite his own licenses in matrimony.
But there will be some delays when couples applying here for
marriage licenses are required to show health certificates. It will be
interesting to see these Virginia couples come in on the morning train and look
for a doctor’s office before going to the court house. This procedure is
calculated to cause delays and will mean that many a couple will miss the
afternoon train back to Norfolk and will have to stay in Elizabeth City over
night. That will help the hotel men. Doctors and hotel men should endorse the
Nichols bill.
The Saunders Bill
The bill reproduced by your representative, W.O. Saunders,
to abolish capital punishment in North Carolina, was reported out of the
committee on the Judiciary without prejudice Wednesday morning. This is father
than any previous bill of this nature ever got in the North Carolina General
Assembly. But your representative is in earnest about this measure and this
General Assembly is too far committed to a program of progressiveness to deny
this bill a hearing.
A great obstacle in the path of the passage of this bill is
the inherent notion that some form of punishment other than life imprisonment
should be provided in rape cases. Your representative will introduce a bill
providing for the sterilization of persons convicted of rape, provided the bill
abolishing capital punishment becomes a law. Your representative has such a
sterilization bill drafted and is ready to present it if the General Assembly
will abolish capital punishment.
Your representative was delighted with the interest
manifested in his bill by the House Judiciary Committee which had it under
consideration. The committee heard his arguments at length. When one member of
the committee suggested that mobs would surely take the life of any persons
guilty of rape, if the state did not do it, your representative replied:
“Better than a mob should take such a life than the state
should do it. A mob is a beastly, reasonless, ravenous thing and you can not
restrain it even with your capital punishment. You certainly can not expect to
secure the respect of the mob for human life so long as the state itself sets
the example of killing. The only argument you can now present to a mob is a
promise to do exactly what the mob would do. You say to the mob, “Don’t you
kill the criminal. Give him to us and we’ll kill him.” And the answer of the
mob is, “To hell with your arguments. We can kill as horribly as the state can
and with less expense.”
To argue in defense of capital punishment is like trying to
argue that two rights make a wrong.
Notes of Interest
The General Assembly was deeply moved by the death of Marvin
H. Stacy of the University of North Carolina who died at the University Tuesday
morning following an attack of Influenza.
The state lost another powerful and valuable figure Monday
night in the death of Thos. H. Settle of Asheville, one of the most
distinguished lawyers and Republican leaders in the state.
George H. Bellamy of Wilmington will be U.S. Marshal for the
Eastern District of North Carolina, succeeding the late W.T. Dortch. Senators
Simmons and Overman recommended Mr. Bellamy’s appointment Tuesday. They will
recommend that he retain as deputy marshal W.T. Woodley of Bertie County.
The dull routine of life at the capital is enlivened this
week by the meeting of the North Carolina grand lodge of Masons and the North
Carolina Good Roads Association.
The price of liquor in Raleigh is reported at $20 a quart.
Representative B.G. Crisp of Dare has not been seen with one
or more fingers to his lips since he arrived at the capitol.
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Saunders Bill Passes
the House . . . Will Partially Abolish Use of the Electric Chair
The House of Representatives adopted Thursday the Saunders
Bill by a vote of 80 to 18. This bill was adopted with an amendment which
abolished capital punishment in arson and burglary and retained it in murder
and rape.
When the Saunders Bill was brought up for debate Thursday
morning it occasioned much spirited discussion and warm debate. The leading
orators of the House took much time in expressing their views on the bill and
its amendment. Representative Saunders himself, though an amateur debater, made
a splendid showing and conducted a fight which has put capital punishment in
this state on the defense.
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