Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1910 — Editorals [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Editorals

Opinions of Great Paper* on Important Subject*.

DRAINING THE YAZOO BASIN. HNE of the greatest undertakings ever entered upon by the United States Geological Survey Is the draining of the famous Yazoo basin—that portion of the State of Mississippi lying between the Mississippi and the Yazoo rivers, and commonly known as the delta. The first project surveyed contains 800 square miles, and State and nation are co-operating in the work. During the last twenty* four years 19,700,000 has been expended for the building and maintenance Of the levees of the delta region, about one-seventh of this amount being contributed by the Federal government and the balance by the State. These levees are supposed, at last, to be fairly durable, though the Levee Commission dpes not trust the lordly Mississippi for ,a second, and UrSver on the watch. \ - This reclamation work is a tremendously difficult task, however, and the least of the troubles of the engineers now at work there is battling with snakes, mosquitoes and malaria. It is generally believed by those living remote ffcm the delta that its land 1s of a swampy character. The belief is unfounded. There are few, if any, swamps, in the general acceptance of the term, to be found. It is an area of narrow lakes, bayous and rivers with deep banks and tortuous courses.—Van Norden Magazine. WOMEN AND THE GALLOWS. gMM HE reluctance of Juries to arrive at verT diets which place women under the shadow of the gallows has long been a problem confronting Jurists. The innate ohivalry of mankind has an irradlcable prejudice against deliberately doing a woman to death, no matter what crime she may have committed. This amounts to a statement that the woman is the "weaker vessel,” and that we cannot quite lay upon her shoulders the full responsibility which a man must bear. Women cannot, though they wish it ever so hard, share all the responsibilities of man. They must forever be the'protected sex; and every man and most w«seH— will be glad of this Irrevocable decree. Evqn in the awful hall of Justice when murdered blood calls out for vengeance and the safety of the community is at stake, man will remember the weakness of ht« helpmeet and feel a profound reluctance to hand her over to the common hangman to be strangled to death. It is idle to deny this feeling; and it becomes the part of statesmanship to recognize it and provide for It If juries will not send murderesses to the gallows, and If executive clemency is practically certain to be extended to any whom a Jury is coerced into bringing in guilty, we should provide by law for the proper treatment of women who -do murdgr. The expedient of Ending them guilty of some other crime, that they may get a lighter sentence, is a dangerous one. It interferes with' straight thinking on the part of the community on the subject of crime; and it may lead to very in-

adequate punishment of the criminal through a wrong classification of her offense. Murder should be called murder, even when feminine hands commit it; but it tries and Cabinets will not hang in such cases, then law should provide a punishment which will not only punish but deter.—Montreal Star. - 1 THE'LAWYER'S FUNCTION. BN THE realm of advice a lawyer may choose between counseling his client how to uphold the rights secured to him by the Justice of his cause, or how to obtain benefits from the application of technicalities and the use- of weaknesses of the particular statute or precedents under consideration, whereby he may attain advantages inconsistent with flair play between man and man. Every tlme*a lawyer encourages such an application of the law as, resulting in injustice, casts disrepute upon the law, or its administration, he is plainly promoting dtk cord either in the present or the future. Every time a lawyer counsels controversy for the establishment of a right as recognized by existing law, or for the promulgation of new law beneficial to the majority of Society, he is exercising his true function, and the charge _ which he lays upon his individual client and, through' him, upon industry and progress in tnr mass, if reasonable in amount, is well earned and should be cheerfully paid. When, however, a lawyer gives the other kind of advice, the expense, perhaps cheerfully borne by the client who profits personally therefrom, must be finally laid upon society as a whole, which is thereby paying for its own injury, and naturally resents the charge.—Donald R. Rlchberg, in the Atlantic. EACH STATE ITS OWN 'Law. iwmwsm N NO other direction is the free agency ▼ of the States shown more than in the atI tention given the public schools. The average yearly expenditure per pupil fWNWj throughout the country is f 28.25, run--EoVaaCl ning from |6.37 in South Carolina u> 872.15 in Nevada. New York, next to Nevada, spends more per pupil than any other State, making an appropriation of $51.50 per pupib Montana allows $49.40 and California $49.29. West Virginia leads the South with a yearly expenditure of $20.36, and yet is under the average of one-third of the .States, which spend from $25 to S4O a pupil. That one-fourth of the States spend more than $35 upon each ohild and one-fourth less than sl6 should be evidence that, in this field, at least, each commonwealth does very much as it pleases. The Commissioner of Education may make recommendations, but none is compelled to pay any attention to him whatever. His duty is prihclpally that of compiling figures. All of which should be balm to those who have* been worrying about the loss of State rights.—Toledo Blade.