Thursday, April 6, 1939
THE CAMPUS ECHO
Page Three
What Goes On In
An Area Meeting
The North Carolina Area
Leadership meeting was held
March 12 in Spencer Hall of
the Women’s College of the
University of North Carolina
in Greensboro. The purpose of
the meeting, which is an an
nual affair, was to discuss the
problems and new projects
which the various colleges had
been carrying on during the
year.
The meeting opened in the
morning at ten o’clock with
Misses Celestine Smith and
Mary Jane Willett, the national
student secretaries of the
southern region, in charge.
Miss Smith gave us a color
ful account of her trips during
the summer to India and Can
ada, and then the college prob
lems and new projects were dis
cussed. A very interesting but
pathetic incident was cited by a
student from Bennett. The
members of a Y. W. C. A. in a
little village in Nebraska were
so concerned and interested in
the race problem that they
wrote to the Bennett College Y.
W. C. A. asking for information
concerning the Negro and Ne
gro life, as they had never seen
or had any contact with our
race.
The evening was given over
to the business, and after the
discussion of the problems
which the two commissions sub
mitted to the group as a whole,
and the workable solutions
mapped out, the election of a
chairman of the leadership stu
dent council and two faculty ad
visers; a tentative meeting place
for the group next year; and
the possibility of a joint meet
ing with the Y. M. C. A. of
North and South Carolina was
taken up.
Miss Eunice King of the
Woman’s College, who has wide
experience in this type of work,
was elected chairman of the
committee; Miss Yergan of Shaw
University, Miss Vital of Guil
ford College, and Miss Rymer
of Woman’s College were sug
gested as faculty advisers, two
of whom would be appointed by
the chairman in the near future.
An impressive prayer service
in St. Mary’s House marked the
closing of this meeting, and the
group left there knowing full
well that they had experienced
and shared a genuine fellowship
with the opposite race, and of
which they are optimistic
enough to believe that it will
take on a deeper meaning time
on time.—Labry Ruth James.
Against Capital
Punishment
The Still Small Voice
There are silent depths in the
ocean which the storms that
lash the surface into fury never
reach. People who have learned
to control themselves, who do
not live on the surface of their
being, but who reach down into
the depths, where, in the still
ness the voice of God is heard;
where they absorb the great
principles of life, are not affect
ed by the thousand and one
storms and tempests—domes
tic, financial, social, political—
which cause so much suffering
and unhappiness, and mar so
many lives. In the depths of
their being they find the divine
stabilizing power which carries
them poised and serene even
through a hurricane of difficul
ties.
For a dozen years the grim
profession of executioner has
been the livelihood of Robert
G. Elliot. People naturally as
sume that he approves of capital
punishment, but the assumption
is wrong. Legal slaying has no
more bitter foe than the man
who throws the switch for six
states.
I have often wondered how
the man whose job it is to end
so many lives feels about capi
tal punishment. In Collier’s
Magazine issued October 22,
1938, Robert Elliot states clear
ly his opinion of capital punish
ment. In addition to that he
tells of several harrowing expe
riences in the death chamber.
Mr. and Mrs. Elliot were not
avid movie fans so they did not
frequently go to see a movie.
When they did go they seldom
knew the name or theme of the
picture until they had arrived
there. They avoided as much
as possible those dealing with
crime and capital punishment.
On one Friday night upon ar
riving at the theatre they found
that the picture was about
crime. The plot was as follows:
“A young man was convicted
of murder on circumstantial
evidence and was sentenced to
die. Five minutes after the
switch was thrown, after the
man had been pronounced dead,
the telephone rang. It was a
call from the executive mansion
ordering a reprieve for the con
sideration of new evidence. The
guilty person had confessed that
he had committed the crime,
but the call had come too late;
an innocent man had died.”
On leaving the movie, Mr.
Elliot remarked to his wife that
it wasn’t at all impossible that
such a thing could happen in
real life but he hoped he would
never have the experience of
learning he had killed an inno
cent man.
The following Monday morn
ing he was at the prison where
a single execution was sched
uled. The youth walked firmly
toward the chair, he was
strapped in it, the head elec
trodes were placed on his shav
en head, the mask was put over
his face—the switch was
thrown. There a pause, a ten
sion hung in the air. At the
precise moment the switch
made its contact, as the current
sizzled, as the body stiffened
under a 2,200 volt shock—the
telephone rang. Mr. Elliot was
frozen stiff, his blood chilled, as
his mind flashed back to the
picture he had seen only three
days before. Was the same
thing happening in real life as
it had been produced on the
screen? Was he killing an inno
cent man, a man not guilty of
the crime for which he was con
victed? The current rippled
through the boy’s body, his
heart was torn beyond recall.
The switch was opened as Mr.
Elliott prayed that his fears
were not to be justified, that
there had been no mistake in
condemning this young man to
die. The principal keeper picked
up the telephone, he turned to
announce that the prison oper«
ator had called the wrong eX'
tension. Never in his life does
Mr. Elliot wish to experience
another such three minutes.
He says despite every human
effort to keep the death room
free from mishaps, accidents
have occurred that make the
deaths that men die there even
more horrible than they would
otherwise be.
How would it feel to have
electrocuted an innocent man?
Let me ask you how you would
have felt if you had played the
role of Mr. Elliot in the follow
ing incident?
Jerry Weeks had been con
victed for murder on circum
stantial evidence. He had been
friendless throughout his trial.
Even his wife had assisted to
convict him; his only friend was
a Salvation Army chaplain who
was convinced of his innocence
and was therefore very much
interested in him.
On November 21, 1921, the
day Jerry was to be executed,
the chaplain asked the ward
en’s permission to question
Weeks after he was placed in
the chair. Although this was
a peculiar and unusual request,
it was granted. After Weeks had
been strapped into the chair
the chaplain stepped before
him. “Jerry,” he said, “you
have only a few more minutes
to live. What you say now can
not save you. But I have been
your friend. Answer me truth
fully. Are you guilty of this
murder?”
The condemned man replied,
“You are my friend. I will not
lie to you. In the name of my
mother in heaven I am inno
cent.” The chaplain stepped
back with a bowed head. Mr.
Elliot’s right hand, not wholly
steady, threw the switch. Just
how would you have felt after
such a confession?
“The happiest day I’ll ever
experience,” Mr. Elliot states,
‘if I live long enough to see
it, will be the day capital pun
ishment is wiped from the
statute books.” When asked by
friends as to whether he thinks
capital punishment is necessary
and should be inflicted, his
answer is an emphatic “no.” He
firmly believes that the time is
coming in the United States
when capital punishment will
be a grisly memory in all states
as in Maine, Michigan, Minne
sota, North Dakota, South Da
kota, Rhode Island, and Wiscon
sin.
“Slowly but surely,” he says,
“the public’s attitude toward
the legal taking of life is
changing. Although I may not
live to see it, I hope my children
will see the day when legal
slayings, whether by electrocu
tion, hanging, lethal gas or any
other method, are outlawed by
the United States.”
How many of you are against
capital punishment? How many
think it is all right or necessary
to protect the lives and interests
of the people of our country? If
Maine, Minnesota, Michigan and
four other states can get along
without it, why not the entire
forty-eight states?
While some believe in “an
eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth,” I agree with Mr. El
liot. I do not think capital pun
ishment in any form or by any
method is necessary to safe
guard our homes and property.
I, too, am against capital pun
ishment.
—Mary Ruth Miller.
From Servants
To Dictators
As John M. Clark states:
“Man has brought upon the
face of the globe a new race,
one of machinery.” This race
has changed the lives and for
tunes of many. Some of these
changes have been favorable
while others have been destruc
tive; yet, man in his imagina
tive way of thinking has named
this change progress. So highly
has this race of machines been
exalted that once in a while the
nation stops on its way to cele
brate birthdays of some of the
members of this race.
When the first machine was
invented man declared it to be
his servant. Immediately he be
gan to improve and educate it
to do greater work. It is true
that at this point man looked
upon machinery as a controlla
ble monster.
About this time the Indus
trial Revolution was well on its
way: Man was carried so fast
by the influence of machinery
that he had no time to think
whether he was being carried
toward the starry skies of heav
en or toward death’s desert val
ley. Being intoxicated by the
sweet perfume of industrialism
man dedicated his life to the
improvement of machinery.
Rapidly he improved and ad
vanced the growth of this ma
chine race. Finally, in speaking
of machines in 1928, Mr. Milli-
kan made this statement: “We
ourselves may be vital agents in
the march of things.” It is this
idea which has caused man to
forget the individuals and has
forced him to turn his mind to
the improvement of machines.
Thus, machines have become
his masters. When we look on
the bright side of the situation
we see nothing but man har
nessing the forces of nature
making them slaves to him in
the form of machines. But if
we would only look beneath the
surface of things we should see
that machines are influencing
man’s life and directing his des
tiny. Thus man finds himself in
a terrible situation that he can
not account for, and facing
problems of which he can find
no solutions.
He has become the victim of
a “machine age” in which over
production and unemployment
prevail. Why? Because of being
led and influenced by the ma
chine race which is not leading
him toward the starry skies of
heaven but toward death’s des
ert valley. Machines which were
once known as the servants of
men have become their dicta
tors. They are directing the des
tiny of nations.
—Isaac J. Avent.
The Delta Jabberwock will
be presented by the Alpha
Lambda Chapter of the Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority Friday
night, April 14, 1939, at 8:15
o’clock in the Benjamin N.
Duke auditorium. The Jabber
wock is for the purpose of giv
ing a scholarship to some out
standing young woman of this
school. It is a series of dramatic
skits given by the Greek-letter
organizations of the city and
promises to be very entertain
ing. Don’t fail to see it. The ad
mission is twenty-five cents for
adults and fifteen cents for stu
dents.
Current Quotations:
Harold W. Dodds, President
of Princeton University: “No
nation has placed such a value
on formal education as the
United States, but the emphasis
has been on the word formal,
not on education. We have put
too much trust in diplomas. By
attaching to the diplomas un
merited monetary and social
importance we have created an
artificial bull market in educa
tion which is endangering the
true values of the liberal arts
idea.”
Alexander Meiklejohn, facul
ty member of the San Francisco
School for Social Studies: “The
deepest question in ^^^merican
life today is not economic nor
political, it is educational. It is
the question of the thinking
power of a democracy.”
Charles F. Kettering, Presi
dent, General Motors Research
Corporation: “From my own
experience, I have no objection
to our present educational sys
tem and the way in which the
teaching of facts is handled.
The only thing that we don’t tell
the children is how little we
know. We should tell them that
what we teach them is the best
we know, but that we know
very little. I know no educators
who will admit that. Conse
quently these young people
take entirely too seriously what
they have learned in school.
They know everything there is
to be known and therefore they
won’t try to experiment.”
*Historical Back
ground of Kappa
Guide Right Week
Kappa Alpha Psi adopted the
Guide-right movement as a
national program of th'? frater
nity at the Grand Chapter in
session at Louisville, Ky., in De
cember, 1922, and the spring of
1923 marked its first year of
actual promotion.
Prior thereto the idea had
originated with the St. Louis
Alumni Chapter as a local pro
gram upon the suggestion of
Brother Leon W. Steward, a
former national director of the
movement. Through his con
tacts with Negro boys in the
Y. M. C. A. activities in St.
Louis and other cities. Brother
Stewart caught a picture of
Negro youth coming up to high
school graduation virtually
stranded by indecision as to
their vocational objectives in
life and was able to convince his
fellow brothers in St. Louis that
providing a vocational guidance
service for such youth would
constitute a worthwhile venture
for their chapter.
The St. Louis brothers find
ing that idea a good one, sug
gested it as a national service
program for the fraternity as a
whole at the Louisville conclave
through Brother J. Jerome
Peters, one of our past grand
polemarchs. The idea was adopt
ed and we are now in our six
teenth year of development with
the movement. Truly, it has
come to be looked upon, both
within and without the frater
nity as Kappa Alpha Psi’s most
outstanding contribution to the
progress of the race.
* Taken from Kappa Alpha
Psi Journal, March 1, 1939, un
der the caption “Marked Guide
Right Interest Seen” by R. J.
Reynolds.