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 1^1 ISEl
 
 To Abolish Capital 
 Punishment 
 
 A Plea to the Citizens of Every Country 
 
 Extracts from Addresses by 
 
 KATHERINE TINGLE Y 
 
 Leader of the Theosophical Movement Throughout the World 
 
 I 1 
 
 Puhhshed by the 
 
 Men's and Women's International Theosophical 
 Leagues of Humanity 
 
 POINT LOIVIA, CALIFORNM, U. S. A. 
 
 I 1 
 
 Prpce, postpaid, 10 cents in the United States, 5d. in England 
 
 ' 1 
 
 Order from the Secretary "Woman's International Theosophical League, Point Loma, California 
 
 or from The Theosophical Book Co>, 18 Bartlett's Buildings 
 
 Holhom Circus, London, E C^ England
 
 
 i^^. 
 
 IMMENSE AUDIENCE ENDORSES 
 
 KATHERINE TINGLEY'S APPEAL TO ABOLISH 
 
 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 Extracts from the Theosophical Leader's Address 
 
 (From the San Diego Union, April 6, 1914) 
 
 AST night at Isis Theater, which was filled to its capacity, the whole 
 audience save six responded to Katherine Tingley's appeal for a 
 standing vote in support of resolutions for the abolishment of capital 
 punishment. 
 
 In a stirring and eloquent appeal Katherine Tingley spoke right 
 to the hearts of her audience and by the force of her arguments won 
 them over to complete sympathy with her. The meeting was opened by the sing- 
 ing of songs, exquisitely rendered by the Raja-Yoga international chorus of some 
 fifty voices, and the reading of appropriate quotations. 
 
 Following are extracts from Katherine Tingley's address : 
 
 " While we are in this atmosphere of music, of brotherly love, of com- 
 passion for all that lives, we are obliged to admit, if we think at all, that human 
 society is morally bankrupt. The sooner thinking people of the present genera- 
 tion admit this the sooner will they reach a point of discernment whereby they 
 can see things as they are and apply the remedy. 
 
 Society Morally Bankrupt 
 
 " How can you read your newspapers daily, as you do, and feel satisfied that 
 all is well? How can the so-called Christians of the present age go to their 
 prayers and to their homes satisfied? How can they do it? I ask this in love, 
 with all due consideration for their beliefs : but I say, how can they do it ? Is it 
 not true, if we think well, that we have missed the real meaning of the teachings 
 of Christ and of the sages of old? If we had them in their simplicity and clear- 
 ness and force of spiritual life, we should not have to admit that society morally 
 is bankrupt, and that the conditions of the world point to a degeneracy in human 
 nature that one scarcely dares to think about. 
 
 " So when we take up the subject of capital punishment, before we look at 
 it with unfriendly eyes, we must consider why it is^that witlT^all__the__ so-calle d 
 education, culture and the prospelTtT-trf-ttrejt wenHeth c entury^ there is thjs-great 
 ga: p be tw e en^ourserve?"alTd"ttre"^ Can you recaHjjiytliiiig-tbat-Christ 
 
 eAreTTaugritror~aTiy-TjfniTr'Oreat^^ you, or the people 
 
 at large, in taking a position that because a rrian2^ns_ jie i^s ^o bT'condemned ? 
 That because he has sinned h"eT$"t6 be punished Jjirauglijjie Taws of^man? I 
 find nothing in the teaching? of'C-hrtsl-tcr'snpport any such position. 
 
 890221 
 
 y 7<i
 
 4 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 What Is the; Remedy? 
 
 " You have a perfect right to feel that it would be a most unwise and injudi- 
 cious thing for us to attempt at this moment to open all the prison doors and to 
 let the unfortunates go free. You certainly might say to me: You have a theory 
 that capital punishment should be abolished, but where is your remedy? What 
 are we to do with these unfortunates? What is to become of them? Must they 
 be allowed to go at large? Must they be permitted to continue their vices and 
 their crimes? No, Theosophy answers, no; but Theosophy says: Treat them 
 as something more than mere mortals. . . . 
 
 " If you had studied your own lives you would long ago have reached the 
 causes of these things and then you would have been able to apply the remedy. 
 Your remedy would not be unbrotherly, it would be Christian-like ; because, if 
 you had knowledge of the Divine Law, the heart and mind would be illuminated 
 by its light, by that power of discernment that would bring about conditions so 
 that all humanity, knowing its responsibilities, would know how to treat the 
 unfortunates. 
 
 "All down these years that you have come, in your soul's experience, you would 
 have been teaching and working and serving, and today there would not be a 
 prison in the land, not a prison, not a man caged and bound and hunted down, 
 held in like a caged animal. No! Mercy, compassion, knowledge, wisdom and 
 discrimination would be in your lives ; you would have realized before this time 
 that those in prison and out of prison who have sinned — indeed, who has not 
 sinned j* — a re^gptitled to that kindo f treatment tha lJs-in-4iafmoayIIwitIi~1:he 
 Higher Law, with the Divine~Law7they would be treated as invalids. 
 
 The Eternal Self Forgotten 
 
 " You treat your bodies with such gentleness and consideration, but you forget 
 the eternal self, the soul, the Christos within you ; and so, forgetting it in your 
 own lives, you forget it in the lives of those who naturally look to you for help 
 and example. 
 
 " So you see I am not so far away from the truth when I tell you that human 
 society is bankrupt; that the moral and the spiritual life is not a living power 
 in our midst today, and only a very few men and women can be found who are 
 peally working unselfishly; only a few. 
 
 " If we are to discuss this subject of the abolishment of capital punishment, 
 we must be prepared to state what remedy to apply in its stead ; not asking for 
 the freedom of the prisoners, not presuming to interfere with the law of justice 
 in any sense, but declaring and demanding that every man and woman under the 
 sun shall have their spiritual rights. 
 
 Humanity Is Indifferent 
 
 " Last Friday a man of twenty-three years of age, with not a very bad record 
 in the past, was hanged in this state. Oh, when I think of it, when I think of it ! 
 And that any mortal, any human being can think of it and can look on the picture 
 for even a moment, and be at ease ! That is what alarms me — to find the human 
 family forgetful — worse, indiflFerent ! That is the horror of it ; and the hardest
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 5 
 
 work that a real helper of humanity has in carrying the spirit of reformation to 
 the world is with the public; it is with the minds of men; it is with the people 
 who support the laws. It is they who must be pleaded with and cared for and 
 also, in varying degree, treated as invalids. 
 
 A Daring Speech 
 
 " This is a daring speech of mine, but it is true. All humanity is in a state of 
 invalidism, and so again that statement supports the idea that human society 
 is bankrupt, morally and spiritually. And so with the different aspects that 
 are presented to me tonight, of humanity going along in a half-interested way, 
 some totally indifferent, some pretending that they are happy, satisfied as long 
 as their little squirrel cage is not interfered with, satisfied as long as their in- 
 terests are not touched. The picture is appalling — humanity in its unrest, ignor- 
 ance, despair and indifference, with its weaklings going down to degradation, and 
 then ending up in prison; and we humans, we^of_God^s^ reat family, ^uppoged 
 to have intellects keen enough to_discern right-aad— wrongv-perin it them to be -'' 
 sentenced to death_ — to be executed ! 
 
 " Think of it ! That we dare to support laws that will allow such brutal and 
 inhuman work ; that we dare to interfere with God's laws ; those wonderful, 
 divine laws that guide us in spite of ourselves. 
 
 " But to think of presuming to take those laws and to defy them and to let a 
 soul go out in the darkness, in the shadows, in the despair, feeling that all the 
 world is against it ; to take a life, the rope around the neck ; to cut down the body 
 to earth; but, oh, ye men and women of the twentieth century, what about that 
 soul? 
 
 Blame Yourselves 
 
 "Are you not, and is not the whole human family responsible for that act 
 that I am now referring to and for all acts of injustice? Should you blame 
 the governors and the law-makers? No, blame yourselves. Oh, be courageous 
 and blame yourselves ! May this blame sink so deeply into your hearts that your 
 consciences will take new life, that freedom of thought will come to you, enlighten- 
 ment, discernment, the power to see the injustice of things as they now are. 
 
 " When you reach that point, a new life will come to glorify, and the Christos 
 spirit will begin to work in your lives, and you will not have to sit down and discuss 
 and worry and be afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid that if capita l punishment 
 should be abolished we sh ould have more cr imes! Let some one^briaglSLClproof 
 fh^--rTrpiTnTj7i7T<;Virrient h?"^ ip^Qfnpd t^p'mp What evTdSiTCe' have you? 
 
 Tf we are to stem the tide of vice and degradation, •we_jTiust treat these un- 
 fortujiateSj, these weaklings, as souls ; not intimidate them, not arouse their 
 ~1ower natures, not create a larger revenge^'iriore^assion^lmore hate for the world 
 and the laws of men. But we must change these conditions through our spiritual 
 effort. You may think and talk, and you may strain your intellects to the utmost, 
 you may have your societies and your systems ; you may make laws and laws, 
 and yet not reach a solution of this problem. I tell you that I know this, and I 
 know it, because I am a Theosophist.
 
 6 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 Must Have; Courage 
 
 " I know, largely from my association with criminals, in trying to help them, 
 that we never can restore society to its dignity, we never can restore the un- 
 fortunate to his rights, until we have reached that point of spiritual attainment, 
 where we shall know right from wrong, and have the courage to declare the 
 right, to sustain it and to uphold only those laws that make for the betterment 
 of human kind. And when we say the betterment of human kind, we must in- 
 clude something more than the physical life, or our worldly interests, or our 
 society aims, or our pride. 
 
 " So now to go back to our unfortunate and the type he represents : Let us 
 think, at the present time when our prisons are overrun with criminals, when our 
 youth are going to the dogs so fast that we cannot count them, and so many appal- 
 ling things are happening in our own state and other states, let us see, what 
 can we do? 
 
 Work on Middle Lines 
 
 " It will take time, because as humanity has been going on the downward path 
 so long, we cannot get back to the old position of soul-life in a day. So we must 
 be wise and work on middle lines, on lines of least resistance, endeavor to do 
 the best we can, according to our opportunities; but we must grasp every op- 
 portunity, and we must have the courage born of the Gods, to work out our 
 opportunities in the direction of true reform. 
 
 To Arouse the World 
 
 " So in my opinion the first thing is to arouse the whole world, this great 
 family of humans that we are associated with, with the idea that it is savagery 
 for us to support capital punishment ; we must take a stand and make the first 
 step, remove the first stone, so to speak, and arise in our righteous wrath and 
 in the dignity of our manhood and womanhood and declare: No capital punish- 
 ment in the state of California ! Let us not take up the question of other states 
 tonight, because we cannot make the world over in a minute, but what a glorious 
 thing it would be if California, under the pressure of just our efforts here — this 
 united body of people — would abolish capital punishment ; if we could arise to 
 that point of discernment of knowing what is our duty at this moment, not to- 
 morrow — not to think it out or work it out by the brain mind — but let us find 
 our consciences now ! 
 
 " Let us get right down to that point, and stop and think a moment ! Think 
 just how we should feel if our children were in prison today, or if our children 
 were to be executed ! This is the way to get home to the truth ! This is the way 
 to arouse the hearts of men ; to bring the sorrows of others into our lives, feel 
 them, understand them. 
 
 Capital Punishment Is Savagery 
 
 " When that power comes, that knowledge, that love, that compassion, that 
 the Nazarene and others taught ages ago — when that comes — well, there will 
 be no questioning. Your minds would repudiate the necessity of discussing the 
 question. You would declare that it is savagery, that it is brutality, that it is
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 7 
 
 a great disgrace to the human race today — that any man or woman would sup- 
 port such unjust measures. It is your duty ; it is the duty of all humans to come 
 closer to the realization of what human responsibility is. 
 
 " I have said it over and over again, and these words are always singing in 
 my heart like a beautiful mantra: ' I am my brother's keeper. I am my brother's 
 keeper,' and surely if we are our brothers' keepers, then we can very quickly 
 see how we have failed and how our dear ancestors have failed in doing justice 
 to humanity, and particularly in doing justice to those who are condemned to be 
 hanged or electrocuted. 
 
 " I could conceive, and I always try to control my imagination when I am 
 meeting a mixed audience, but I could conceive the psychological influence of a 
 body like this, agreeing with me that capital punishment was wrong — it would 
 affect others, and before long we should take another step in helping to change 
 unjust laws. 
 
 A New Picture 
 
 " It would be our heart work, the voices of our souls speaking, we might 
 think ahead ten years or fifteen and see the picture of some of our hills and our 
 valleys presenting a new feature in the twentieth century civilization. A some- 
 thing so splendidly remedial — and that is, that we should have our hospitals for 
 the weaklings, for the more unfortunate, whose unbridled passions have carried 
 them so far beyond the pale of society — we should have institutions of reform- 
 ation with the name unprinted — hospitals with the name unprinted — unlabeled. 
 
 " There would be the gardens and the fields. There would be the houses and 
 the homes. Do you know that I dare conceive and have written it all out, that 
 those prisoners should not be separated from their families ! That they should 
 be placed in these Institutions of Brotherhood that I speak of, and cared for in 
 such a way that they would understand quite well that they were under a certain 
 amount of restraint, but no more, perhaps — if we are very thoughtful — than 
 that we give to invalids. They would feel that they were in a hospital, in a school, 
 with everything so helpful that there would be no inducement to rebel. 
 
 " If we can now send out from the prisons on parole a certain number of 
 men, put them on their honor, send them out with only five dollars, some of them 
 with no understanding, with no friends — if we can send these out on parole and 
 trust them to society, surely we can take our unfortunates and give them the 
 advantages of reformation in the helpful environments I have described to you. 
 They would be self-supporting, and in the end there would be less cost to the 
 state — and less crime. 
 
 Human Possibilities 
 
 "And I know that in such environments it would be possible that most of these 
 unfortunates, through the sufiFering that they had endured that you know nothing 
 about, would arouse the strength of their higher natures and become in the course 
 of time valuable citizens, and some ultimately law-makers, teachers, and reformers. 
 How dare we stultify the possibilities of the soul of man? Can we not let our 
 imagination soar so far into this broad arena of spiritual life and picture the 
 future ?
 
 8 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 "Is my picture so far-fetched ? If you can take men and let them out on parole 
 now, with everything to contend with, striving for the dollar and their bread and 
 butter, with no end of difficulties, everything to discourage them — if you can do 
 this now, surely you could support a scheme of brotherhood reformatories, leaving 
 out all creeds, making them a universal expression of the hearts of the people, 
 held down by no special system, except that of the laws of the state; but those 
 laws would have been made by you, and so you would have become a part of them. 
 
 No More Capitai, Punishment 
 
 " I can feel your hearts pulsating with the thought of this picture. There are 
 only a few here who are so held in and limited and prejudiced, who cannot break 
 the bars and look out, who will ever advocate capital punishment after this. 
 You can't do it. My hez^i't, the persuasion of my heart and my voice, my love 
 for humanity and my hopes for the unfortunate, certainly will be enough to move 
 you to concerted action; and concerted action, when hearts are united, is like one 
 great throbbing ocean of spiritual force. 
 
 " When hearts and minds are united, then the soul speaks, and then my prayer, 
 my earnest prayer, is that ye men and women of San Diego will arise to the 
 occasion and that you will find yourselves in a new way, that you will study your 
 duties in a new way, that you will realize your responsibilities in a new way, 
 that you may feel the touch of that divine life, the divine law, that you may feel 
 so truly, so splendidly, so fully, so generously, so divinely, that you will declare 
 that California must take the lead. California can no longer support capital 
 punishment." 
 
 Resolutions Accepted 
 
 At the close of Madame Tingley's address the following resolutions were read, 
 and were received with hearty applause. Katherine Tingley then said : 
 
 " I wish to thank all present for their splendid attention, and the spirit of sym- 
 pathy which I have felt in your presence tonight. But I cannot let you go until 
 I have made just one more plea. May I not ask you that there shall be a standing 
 vote in support of these resolutions, that Capital Punishment may be eliminated 
 from the statutes of the State of California? " 
 
 In response, the whole audience, with the exception of but half a dozen out of 
 the twelve hundred and fifty present, arose and gave their enthusiastic assent with 
 loud applause. While the audience were still on their feet, Katherine Tingley said : 
 " It is the desire of the Raja- Yoga students who come here almost every week to 
 entertain and to help you, that you join with them in singing that beautiful hymn, 
 Lead Kindly Light." To this request the audience enthusiastically responded, and 
 at the conclusion, the Raja- Yoga International Chorus sang, There is Music by 
 the River.
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 9 
 
 HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY CLUB 
 RAJA-YOGA ACADEMY, POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA 
 
 " Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged." 
 
 The members of the Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Club, a representative body 
 of the students of the Raja-Yoga Academy, a department of the School of Anti- 
 quity, of which Katherine Tingley is Foundress-Directress, on hearing of the death 
 sentences of J. Allen, Ralph Fariss, and others, to be executed during this month of 
 April, 1914, have unanimously adopted the following resolutions, to protest against 
 this infringement of the Divine Laws of Justice and Mercy. 
 
 Whereas: The Raja-Yoga School was established to educate the youth in ac- 
 cordance with the spiritual laws of life, and one of the essential teachings 
 of Raja-Yoga is the duality of human nature, and the continual warfare 
 between the Lower and the Higher Self; and 
 
 Whereas: This knowledge has been lost to the world, and these men were not 
 taught to rule the Lower by the Higher Self, and therefore cannot be con- 
 demned for their mistakes; and 
 
 Whereas : We are our Brothers' Keepers, and are responsible for their welfare, 
 and the death penalty destroys all chance in this life of a man's squaring him- 
 self with the world ; and crime has not been lessened by capital punish- 
 ment; and the death penalty creates misery and poverty in many homes; 
 and 
 
 Whereas: The psychological effect of the fear of death adds to the despair 
 which may lead others to crime; and such a death liberates evil influences 
 beyond human power to control, which could be held in check if the man 
 were given another chance; and 
 
 Whereas: Capital Punishment makes Death a horrible nightmare instead of 
 the entrance into the Larger Life, as it is under the workings of the Higher 
 Law ; and 
 
 Whereas: Life is heaven-given, and man cannot give it, and so has no right 
 to take it away: Therefore be it 
 
 Resoeved : That not only should the present sentences be removed, but the death 
 penalty should be forever blotted from the records of our civilization. 
 
 Resolved: That in order to accomplish this, we appeal to the Divine in Man 
 to arouse itself in protest against this inhuman act 
 
 Resolved : That to follow Christ's teaching, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," 
 it is our duty to help these men, not put them beyond the reach of help. 
 
 Resolved : That we appeal to His Excellency Governor Johnson to commute the 
 death sentences of J. Allen, Ralph Fariss, and the other condemned men, in
 
 10 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 accordance with the spirit of the Higher Law, and thus be a helper in 
 the work of placing California in the ranks of our most enlightened States. 
 
 In behalf of all the members of the Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Club, founded 
 July 1913, among whom are represented six nations. 
 
 Karin Hedlund 
 Approved: Kj\the;rine TinglEy President 
 
 Foundress-Directress Margaret Hanson 
 
 Secretary 
 Raja-Yoga Academy, Point Loma, California, April 2, 1914. 
 
 WILLIAM QUAN JUDGE CLUB 
 
 RAJA-YOGA COLLEGE, POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA 
 
 " Fortune's Favored Soldiers, Loyal and Alert." 
 Primary Objects: 
 
 1. To form a nucleus of dependable Raja-Yoga workers for Brotherhood, under 
 the guidance of our Teacher, Katherine Tingley. 
 
 2. To aid in raising the standard of our Raja-Yoga College, by the example of 
 our daily life. 
 
 3. To put into practice at all times, the highest id'eals of manhood, and the 
 teachings of Raj a- Yoga. 
 
 Secondary Objects: 
 
 1. To acquire a greater knowledge of, and facility in, public speaking. 
 
 2. To gain a more thorough mastery of the English language. 
 
 3. To study and practice Parliamentary Law. 
 
 " Thou Shalt Not Kill." 
 
 To His Exceli^Ency, Governor Hiram Johnson, 
 State House, Sacramento, California. 
 
 Honorable Sir: 
 
 The William Quan Judge Club was organized in June, 1906, by the students 
 of the Boys' Department of the Raja-Yoga College, Point Eoma, California, which 
 college is a Department of the School of Antiquity (Incorporated), and of which 
 college Katherine Tingley is the Foundress-Directress. This Club is the central 
 one of many Boys' Brotherhood Clubs that have been established by Katherine 
 Tingley throughout the world since 1898.
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 11 
 
 At a special meeting of this Club, held on this, the Second Day of April, 1914, 
 the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: 
 
 Whereas: J. Allen, Ralph Fariss, and others, have been legally condemned to 
 be hanged during this month of April, 1914, and they are, in the sense that 
 we are all essentially divine, our brothers ; and moreover, they have probably 
 been deprived of the opportunities that ive have had of learning the invalu- 
 able lessons of self-control; and had we not been afforded such opportunities, 
 we do not know to what temptations we ourselves might have succumbed ; and 
 
 Whereas: It is the aim of the members of this Club honorably to meet life's 
 responsibilities, and thus prepare themselves to better serve humanity; and 
 we believe in putting into practice the Golden Rule : " Do unto others as ye 
 would that they should do unto you " ; and in our opinion, every man worthy 
 of the name, must instinctively throttle the voice of conscience and human- 
 ity, in order to permit a fellow-being to be hanged or otherwise executed; 
 and 
 
 Whereas : The William Ouan Judge Club has been given the opportunity of 
 co-operating with Katherine Tingley in her efforts to abolish Capital Punish- 
 ment in general, and in her protest against the execution of these men in par- 
 ticular; and has also been given the opportunity of co-operating with the 
 Men's International Theosophical League of Humanity, in the Resolutions 
 unanimously adopted by that Body on March 31, 1914: Therefore be it 
 
 Resolved: That the William Quan Judge Club appeal to His Excellency, 
 Governor Hiram Johnson, to commute the sentence of our condemned 
 brothers, and thereby give them another chance to learn their lessons from 
 their serious mistakes, and thus possibly become in time worthy citizens; 
 and that in no sense do we presume to ask that our condemned brothers 
 be set free; but that we repeat the words of our Teacher, Katherine Ting- 
 ley : " They should have another chance in the most humane environments." 
 
 Resolved: That His Excellency, Governor Johnson, be reminded that we are 
 to make the future citizens of this State; and that we — and we feel all 
 the people of our State, who have the true Christian Spirit — will ever 
 cherish his memory for any act of clemency he may show to erring fellow- 
 beings. 
 
 Resolved: That the following words from Shakespeare fittingly express our 
 own sentiments : 
 
 The quality of mercy is not strain' d; 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest; 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 
 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
 The throned monarch better than his crown; 
 His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 
 The attribute to azve and majesty,
 
 12 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
 
 But mercy is above this sceptered sway; 
 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; 
 
 It is an attribute to God himself ; 
 
 And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
 
 When mercy seasons justice. — Th^ Merchant oF Venice, iv. 1- 
 
 In behalf of all the members of the William Quan Judge Club, among whom 
 are represented nine different nations. 
 
 Hubert Dunn 
 
 Censor 
 Approved: Katherine Tingley Montague A. Machell 
 
 Foundress-Directress President 
 
 IvERSON L. Harris, Jr. 
 
 Secretary 
 Raja- Yoga College, Point Loma, California, April 2, 1914.
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 13 
 
 AN APPEAL 
 
 To His Exce;lle:ncy, the Governor, 
 Sacramento, California. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 The members of the Woman's International Theosophical League (unsecta- 
 rian, humanitarian) of Point Loma, California, associated with other Leagues 
 throughout the world under the Leadership of Madame Katherine Tingley, their 
 Foundress-Directress, and organized to protect the homes and to safeguard the 
 interests of civic and national life and harmonious international relations, at a 
 meeting of the Council of said League on this date, March 31, 1914, do hereby 
 adopt the following resolutions : 
 
 Whereas : We learn that the fate of J. Allen and Ralph Fariss and others now 
 in San Quentin penitentiary legally condemned to death, is in your hands and 
 their cry for mercy is in your heart; and know that the influence of your 
 decision is a responsibility that will react upon many lives and that it will 
 be far-reaching and potent in its effects for good or ill; and 
 
 Whereas : We hold that, in view of the tie of human brotherhood as a fact in 
 Nature, we, as intrinsic parts of the body politic, enjoying its rights, also 
 share in the responsibility of its wrongs ; and that, in the eyes of the Higher 
 Law, we also share in the guilt of evil-doers who may be more blindly led 
 and more sorely tempted than we ourselves, through the influence of environ- 
 ing conditions for which we hold that we are, in part, responsible; and 
 
 Whereas : We believe that nothing which is morally wrong should be considered 
 legally right; that the common law should be an instrument not of rff'struc- 
 tion but of instruction and that its mission should be not to destroy but to 
 fulfil ; that no beneficent purpose can be served, either for the men now con- 
 demned or for others in like case or for Society, by thus cutting short the 
 lives of these unfortunate men and removing them by force from the School 
 in which Nature has placed them, but that, on the contrary, in so doing we 
 miserably shirk a sacred responsibility and cruelly deprive them of whatever 
 opportunities for improvement this life might otherwise have to offer ; and 
 
 "Whereas : We hold that all men have the God-given right to correct their mis- 
 takes and do what they can to restore the harmony their acts have violated, 
 no less than the harmony within their own natures; that this, in short, is 
 the Divine End towards which all are struggling, and that the greater the 
 sin the greater the need for help and opportunity for readjustment; and 
 
 Whereas : We believe that in every man, even in those who temporarily lose all 
 control of their passions, there resides an inner Divine Power which, if ap- 
 pealed to in the spirit of true brotherliness and strengthened by discipline 
 and co-operation, enables even those who have failed many times to conquer 
 the evil impulses which impelled them, and transmute the evil into good ; and
 
 14 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT" 
 
 Whereas: It is our conviction and belief that if he who has done the evil deed 
 does not himself atone by transmuting the evil in his nature into good, these 
 wicked impulses live on after the man's body is dead and constitute a menace 
 to weak and innocent persons, poisoning the atmosphere of thought and 
 feeling in which we all live and breeding crime by their unseen influence — 
 thus accounting for many of those sporadic outbursts of crime which are as 
 yet neither controlled nor understood ; and that a living man, guarded with- 
 in prison walls, is better than a disembodied evil passion seeking a victim to 
 satisfy its desires; and 
 
 Whereas: As law-abiding citizens, we believe in restraint and correction for 
 wrong-doers, but believe that our beloved commonwealth of California is 
 powerful enough to impose the necessary restraint upon those who are dan- 
 gerous to Society; and that fearless mercy will lead to an intuitive under- 
 standing of even the criminal's nature, to the end of true reform, while 
 his death warrant must ever bear, when challenged, the stamp of social ig- 
 norance and weakness; and 
 
 Whereas: It has been our good fortune to assist Katherine Tingley for many 
 years in her efforts to reform and to uplift the discouraged and the fallen, 
 in and out of prisons and among both men and women ; and 
 
 Whereas: We have observed the effect of her teachings of Man's essential 
 Divinity and the Brotherhood of Mankind upon erring men and women — 
 in particular upon the unfortunates in our prisons — and have seen many 
 a hardened criminal reformed through the knowledge that there were those 
 who believed in his Divine power to redeem himself and who, while not 
 condoning his guilt, still looked upon him as a brother; therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved : That, whatever the guilt of these condemned men may be, or of othei 
 condemned men in other States or nations, they are human, like ourselves, 
 and are our brothers, with like need of merciful judgment; that shameful 
 death will not undo their crime while it will act to prevent them from 
 learning needed lessons in Life's great School of Experience; that their 
 execution serves no purpose of reform in their embittered fellow-prisoners 
 or in the ranks of hardened criminals at large, while the shadow of the scaf- 
 fold that ever darkens the saddened lives of a wide circle of innocent ties 
 would, in some measure, surely fall with deepened horror upon us all, 
 since no man can sin or suffer the effects of sin alone; that the signs of 
 the times point to an awakening of the public conscience regarding the un- 
 realized horror of Capital Punishment, and that it were well for the fair 
 name of sunny California that it early abolish the outgrown barbarity 
 which our children will be embarrassed to explain; and, be it also 
 
 Resolved: That, in the name of thousands of humanitarian women throughout 
 the world, who are united in seeking to understand better their own respon- 
 sibilities to their homes and to the world, we earnestly entreat you to use 
 the power of your honorable position in staying the executioner's hand in 
 the case of these condemned men, that you may give to human brothers what
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 15 
 
 is yours alone to give ; that you may make your act a signal response to the 
 cry for another chance that pleads in every human heart; 
 
 That, as Women, many of us mothers of sons, we plead for the con- 
 demned; as workers for humanity, we plead for the good name and the 
 protection of Society; that, as members of God's great family, we plead 
 for all those who, in spite of their mistakes, are still our Brothers ; and 
 that, in addition, we declare it our conviction that Your Excellency, as the 
 First Citizen of our fair State, by resolute courage in stepping out in de- 
 fense of the Higher Law of Compassion, would invoke its protection in 
 a new and Divine expression that would benefit all the world. 
 
 In behalf of the members of the Woman's International Theosophical League, 
 (unsectarian, humanitarian) among whom are represented twenty-five different 
 nations. 
 
 (Mrs.) Euzabeth C. Spalding 
 Kathe;rine TinglSy President 
 
 Foundress-Directress (Mrs.) Este;li.e; C. Hanson 
 
 Secretary 
 
 Dated March 31, 1914, at the Headquarters of the Women's International Theosophical 
 League (unsectarian, humanitarian), Point Loma, California.
 
 16 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 A PROTEST AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 AND 
 AN APPEAL FOR ITS ABOLISHMENT 
 
 The quality of mercy is not strain' d; 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath; it is tzvice blest; 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 
 
 The Merchant oe Venice, iv. 1. 
 
 Every man who errs, no matter how seriously he errs, deserves another chance. 
 
 Katherine TiNGIvEY 
 
 The Men's International Theosophical League of Humanity is a world-wide 
 body, unsectarian and non-political, established in New York in 1897 by Katherine 
 Tingley, Leader and Official Head of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical 
 Society throughout the world, for the purpose of aiding and uplifting Humanity 
 along practical lines ; in which work it has been actively engaged since its founda- 
 tion. 
 
 Among its objects are the following: 
 
 " To abolish Capital Punishment." 
 
 " To assist those who are or have been in prison to establish themselves in 
 honorable positions in life." 
 
 In pursuance of these objects and to make an appeal to the public of Cali- 
 fornia and of other States of America which still retain the death penalty among 
 their statutes, and to the enlightened public throughout the world; and in par- 
 ticular to appeal to the Governor of the State of California mercifully to exercise 
 his power of clemency and to commute the death sentences in all cases that may 
 come before him, a special meeting of the Men's International Theosophical 
 League of Humanity was held at its headquarters at Point Loma, California, 
 this day, March 31st, 1914, at which the following resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 Whereas : Among the enlightened and seriously thinking people of all civilized 
 countries there is a growing recognition of human solidarity and the Bro- 
 therhood and mutual interdependence of all men, and a recognition that 
 Society as a whole is responsible for the conditions that result in crime ; 
 and further, that being responsible it is the duty of Society and the State 
 to reform and not merely to punish the criminal — which responsibility is 
 virtually denied by the execution of the death sentence; and 
 
 Whereas: Society as a whole, represented by the State, has an equal responsi- 
 bility with the individual to display those attributes which distinguish man 
 .. from the brute, and to follow the highest dictates of virtue and of human- 
 ity as well as those of divine law ; and hence the divine command, re-echoed 
 by Jesus, " Thou shalt not kill," applies to and is equally binding on the 
 State as on the individual, the State being equally bound with the indi- 
 vidual to respect the laws of the State, and not to commit an offense against 
 any of its laws, such as the taking of life; and
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 17 
 
 Whereas: In retaining the death penalty among its statutes the State virtually 
 arrogates to itself supreme right which belongs to Deity alone; viz., the 
 taking of life, man's sacred possession and inalienable right; and 
 
 Whereas: There is a growing distrust of the efficacy, humanity and common- 
 sense of Capital Punishment, and a growing revolt of thinking people against 
 this method of dealing with the heinous offense of murder by repeating 
 it judicially, in cold blood; and 
 
 Whereas : By executing the sentence of Capital Punishment the State commits an 
 act which, committed by an individual, it condemns, which act is irrevocable 
 and in many instances has been inflicted upon persons who have afterwards 
 been found innocent, in which instances the State stands convicted of crime, 
 not merely of blunder ; and 
 
 Whereas: The protection of Society can be assured and safeguarded by the 
 proper restraint — by incarceration — of the criminal, permitting the exer- 
 cise of humane, remedial and educative measures for his reform and possible 
 restoration as a useful and honorable member of Society; Now, therefore, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved : That, and we do hereby most earnestly protest against the infliction 
 of the death penalty, and make this appeal for the Abolishment of Capital 
 Punishment, which violates the sacredness of human life ; 
 
 RESOEvEd: That we appeal to and call upon every enlightened citizen of the State 
 of California, of the United States of America, and of the whole world, to 
 unite in a solemn protest against the enforcement of Capital Punishment; 
 and to abolish from the statutes of all States and Countries the death penalty ; 
 
 Resolved: That we call upon the humanity of the Twentieth Century to arise 
 and proclaim itself in recognition of the duty and obligation of man to man, 
 and brother to brother ; 
 
 Resolved: That we call upon the people of the State of CaHfomia to support 
 this appeal to His Excellency, the Governor of California, to mercifully exer- 
 cise his prerogative of clemency and commute the death sentences of those 
 men in San Quentin penitentiary now awaiting execution; 
 
 Resolved : That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Governor of the State 
 of California and other officials, and that the same be printed and sent to 
 the Governors of every State of the United States of America, and to the 
 Heads of Governments and their Ministers throughout the world, and be 
 published broadcast among the peoples of the earth. 
 
 On behalf of all the members throughout the world of the Men's International 
 Theosophical League of Humanity, among whom are representatives of twenty- 
 five nations, resident at the International Headquarters at Point Loma, 
 
 C. Thurston 
 KathERINE TinglEy President 
 
 Foundress-Directress Fred J. Dick 
 
 Secretary 
 
 Dated March 31, 1914, at the Headquarters of the Men's International Theosophical 
 League of Humanity (unsectarian and non-political), Point Loma, California.
 
 18 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 A Summary of Argume;nts presented at a Meeting of 
 
 The Men's International Theosophical, League of Humanity 
 
 March 31, 1914, at which the Resolutions above given were drafted 
 
 AND unanimously PASSED 
 
 Capital Punishment is a barbarous survival from a less enlightened and 
 refined age; it is incongruous and incompatible with our present standard of 
 civilization and humanity. It has been abolished by many states and countries, 
 and we must look forward to the day when the other governments will follow suit. 
 
 The arguments against capital punishment are many and cogent, but the pleas 
 advanced in its favor are few and specious. 
 
 Punishment is supposed to be for the protection of society, and for the reform- 
 ation of the wrongdoer. It purports to protect society by preventing the same 
 criminals from repeating their crimes, and by acting as a deterrent to other pros- 
 pective criminals. Capital punishment is a notorious failure in these respects. 
 It does indeed remove the particular culprit from the possibility of repeating his 
 crime ; but this is of very small account in view of the fact that murder is seldom 
 if ever a career of repeated acts, but consists of single acts perpetrated by differ- 
 ent individuals. The man whom we remove from the scene, therefore, is not the 
 man who-,-4f--&u.flere d to live^ _wouLd4"iav£-Jbeen likely_ to endangerour^ safety 
 
 As a deterrent to other murderers, likewise, the death-penalty has proved a 
 signal failure, as may be seen by comparing the criminal statistics of those coun- 
 tries where the punishment is in force with those of countries where it has been 
 abolished. Nor is the reason of this failure far to seek. Murders are nearly always 
 committed in sudden fits of passion or temporary insanity, when no consideration 
 of reason or self-interest can appeal to the doer. Further, such uncertainty attends 
 the consummation of the death-sentence — due to the natural hesitation and in- 
 clination to mercy of judge and jury, to the chances of reprieve and commutation 
 — that this penalty is far less deterrent than are those penalties which, though 
 less severe, are also more certain. Finally, under this head, it remains to be said 
 that even though we should allow that the death-penalty is deterrent, we have not 
 answered the question whether there are not other and more effectual deterrents ; 
 and, as will appear later, there are such deterrents, in comparison with which 
 capital punishment is seen to be clumsy and ineffectual in the extreme. 
 
 As to the reformative character of punishment — the character in which the 
 present age chiefly regards it — it is scarcely necessary to point out that capital 
 punishment effectually removes all possibility of this by cutting short the life of 
 the wrongdoer and thus taking away both his chance of reform and our golden 
 opportunity of discharging the duty of reforming him. 
 
 Capital punishment is irrevocable, and the errors of justice cannot be rectified. 
 All possibility of reconsideration is taken away. Innocent persons have been 
 hanged, and judge, jury, and the whole legal machinery involved, have thereby 
 been made privy to the very crime they sought to punish. In view of the very 
 uncertain and unequal character of our merely human endeavors to mete out jus- 
 tice, no proceedings of ours should be of this irrevocable character. So complex
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 19 
 
 and uncertain is the process of sifting whereby finally a few individuals are sorted 
 out from the mass and consigned to punishment, that the selection seems largely 
 arbitrary, and we find that the actual convicts are no worse, and some perhaps even 
 better, than many whom the hand of the law never reaches. What principle of 
 equity or reason can justify us in singling out for our harshest treatment, by so 
 hap-hazard a method, a few individuals who for the most part manifest no par- 
 ticular reasons why they, and they alone, should be so treated? 
 
 Capital punishment sins most by depriving the culprit of his chances of reform- 
 ation. As a weaker brother, who has fallen into ways of woe through causes that 
 are inherent in our social structure, and for which we are all more or less respon- 
 sible, he should claim our care and protection. Our duty to society is fulfilled 
 by isolating the dangerous man for so long as he may continue to be dangerous. 
 As for deterrent action, this should be compassed, not by fear, but by reformative 
 
 .'-^ and protective measures in our social policy. The only way to destroy a criminal 
 ! is by reforming the man who is a criminal. To destroy his bodily life is nothing 
 
 \j^but a stupid blunder. 
 
 When the physical life of a criminal is cut short by this summary and unnatural 
 means, we do not bring to an end thereby the evil passions which prompted the 
 crime. They are not slain ; they continue to exist. And, having no longer a bodily 
 tenement, they must wander abroad to prey upon the community and inspire fresh 
 deeds of horror in weak and unbalanced natures whom they obsess. Thus are 
 accounted for those mysterious outbursts of crime which so puzzle the alienist, 
 and which are distinguished by the frequent confession, " I do not know why I 
 did it, but something came over me." In view of this fact, the folly of capital 
 punishment is more glaring than ever. 
 
 Capital punishment is tantamount to a repudiation of the divine nature of man. 
 It is possible to justify the killing of a noxious animal on the ground that its 
 nature does not admit of reform; and to treat a man in the same way is to liken 
 him to an animal. On what principles of religion or philosophy can we justify 
 the policy of depriving a human being like ourselves of all possibility of reform? 
 If we profess to revere a God of mercy and justice, and if we ourselves supplicate 
 and rely on that Divine mercy and justice, how can we reconcile it with our duty, 
 as men created in the Divine image, to dismiss thus roughly a fellow human being 
 from our midst and send him into the presence of the Deity whom we have out- 
 raged? Surely it is our duty and our privilege to be the agents of the Divine 
 justice and mercy, and to exert to the utmost our God-given powers in the endeavor 
 to assist our fallen brother to his feet. 
 
 It is well within the power of existing governments to provide means whereby 
 murderers, as w^ell as other criminals, can be isolated in institutions where they 
 can be humanely treated as patients or people of unsound mind. And this must 
 be made part of a general campaign of educative and remedial treatment of crime 
 outside prison walls. Otherwise prisons will be — what they too often are — 
 places for disposing of the materials which we manufacture outside. This process 
 of first carefully manufacturing criminals and then killing them is an insult to our 
 intelligence and culture. We must stop making them; and, if made, we must 
 reform them. 
 
 Members of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, under the
 
 20 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 direction of Katherine Tingley, have had large experience in prison work, and this 
 experience has shown them that the most apparently hopeless cases will respond 
 to the right treatment. The only reason why such cases have not responded before 
 is that they have never met with the right treatment. All too frequently their self- 
 respect, already so diminished, has been altogether taken away by the reiterated 
 assurance that they are wicked and hopeless. Sinfulness has been preached to 
 them, and thus prison has become a place for the destruction of character. Theoso- 
 phy begins by insisting upon the fact that all men are divine, and that no case 
 is hopeless. The culprit is told that he possesses within himself a divine power of 
 self-reform, and is shown how to invoke it. His lost self-respect is restored, and 
 from that time on he is encouraged to pull himself together and overcome his 
 weaknesses. Many are the tales which Katherine Tingley and those who have 
 worked with her in the prisons, can tell of reconstituted characters which, from 
 being the worst of the worst, have become sources of wonder to their keepers, 
 and powers of help to their fellow-prisoners. It is the earnest desire of these 
 prison-workers to demonstrate to as many people as possible the efficacy of this 
 way of handling prisoners, so that there may no longer be any excuse for resorting 
 to stupid and barbarous punishments, and so that civilization at large may have a 
 criminal policy worthy of the present status of culture. 
 
 The world is passing through a crucial stage and the newborn spirit of a 
 kindly intelligence is struggling for manifestation. A new law of human life has 
 been impressed upon us and is superseding the old ideas that served us provision- 
 ally in the past. The essence of this law is mercy, brotherhood. But humanity 
 needs help and light in its endeavors to readjust its practices to its new and broader 
 principles, its finer feelings. This help Theosophy can give. By abolishing capital 
 punishment in those places where it still prevails, society at large can register in 
 telling form its protest against all that is unbrotherly, craven in spirit, ruthless, 
 unintelligent. The new law which we all recognize allows no scope for punish- 
 ment at all — except in the reformative sense. 
 
 Anger and fear are passions, and retribution may be left to the eternal justice. 
 Why then should we continue to justify by legal sanction a procedure which, if 
 committed privately, would be murder pure and simple? Why should the state, 
 which represents the people, continue to do in cold calculation deeds which the 
 mere criminal only perpetrates in the heat of passion and madness? In truth no 
 reason can be urged in justification except such reasons as rest on a repudiation 
 of our divinity and our responsibility as divine beings to our fellow-man. Theoso- 
 phists therefore appeal to humanity to lay aside its fears, its prejudices, and its 
 anger, and to replace them by a large-hearted intelligence ; and to gain new con- 
 fidence in the irresistible power of a strong and pure motive. Instead of resorting 
 to clumsy and inefficacious methods of obviating the evils which we permit to grow, 
 let us grapple with the whole question patiently and manfully, assisting our fallen 
 brother in every way, instead of heaping fresh woes and disabilities upon him.
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 21 
 
 KATHERINE TINGLEY ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 Extracts from an Address at Isis Theater, December 31, 1911 
 
 KathErine TI^XLE;Y's address on this occasion was given to a crowded 
 house, under the auspices of the Woman's International Theosophical League of 
 Humanity (unsectarian-humanitarian). The Theosophical Leader took for her 
 theme some of the objects of the Woman's League, viz: 
 
 " To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their 
 true position in life-" 
 
 " To abolish capital punishment." 
 " To abolish vivisection." 
 
 Every one of the audience was presented with a petition, with a request to 
 sign the same, for the Abolishment of Capital Punishment. With but few 
 exceptions the whole of the audience signed the petitions, and several thousand 
 signatures were afterwards secured from other citizens of San Diego and for- 
 warded to the Governor of the State of California. 
 
 A Great Lesson 
 
 " Let me give an illustration which has its application here. Only yesterday 
 one of our citizens went out in the morning sunlight of this beautiful land of 
 ours, probably with no crime in his heart. He doubtless intended to do his duty 
 by himself and his family and those who loved him, but he allowed his lower 
 nature to get control. He was tempted, he took one drink, then another, and 
 tonight he is behind the bars, a murderer ! and in a home in this city there sits 
 an unhappy wife and mother with her children in great sorrow. There is a 
 lesson, and a very great one, in this. It has come home to us more closely than 
 many others, for we know that crimes are being committed every day in almost 
 every city, many of them of a kind that cannot be talked about. 
 
 " Now the cause, the first cause of this man's crime, must have begun years 
 ago. The impulse to the deed could not have all come about in so short a time. 
 The seed was sown through lack of self-control in childhood, and throughout his 
 life in much that this unfortunate man did the soul had no part. He might still 
 have gone on for years believing in right action, but his will weakened and his 
 lower nature gaining power, brought about the tragedy. Now, under the common 
 law, he may be hanged or electrocuted. And I have no question that there are 
 many in the city today who, in reading of the tragedy, and considering it, will 
 feel that his life should be taken — that's the pity of it ! 
 
 " My plea is that tonight we shall make a strenuous effort through signing 
 the papers which have been presented to you by me, to show that by destroying 
 life it is utterly impossible to lessen crime, or to reform the criminal. This un- 
 fortunate man behind the bars needs our help and our sympathy. The character 
 of the man needs refashioning. He should have a chance as every criminal 
 should have, to begin over again, in just the same way that you, who have made 
 lesser mistakes, have your chance to begin over again. . . . 
 
 " How can we expect to build up humanity if we allow the thoughts that come
 
 22 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 from the disposition to kill to remain in our minds? Consider for a moment the 
 brutality of such thoughts. Consider what other thoughts are invoked by such 
 thoughts! Realize that the mind is an instrument that is played upon by good 
 and evil, and that if the mind can turn av^ay from the soul urge, the soul know- 
 ledge, which every man should have, and permit the thought, the desire, to have 
 a man executed, right then and there is a beginning of thought currents on planes 
 that we cannot see — currents that we cannot control, that cannot be caught up 
 with. 
 
 Conditions Surrounding Us 
 
 " We must admit, if we think at all, that there are invisible conditions sur- 
 rounding us which we know nothing about, which we cannot control, but they 
 are potent. Sometimes when we are in the Light for a moment our hearts tell 
 us that around us and above us is this great law of hope, potent, persuasive, 
 seeking to lift the minds of men to that knowledge which should make them 
 realize the importance of recognizing that they are their brothers' keepers. We 
 are failing, absolutely failing, we are retrograding, we are losing some of the 
 best opportunities of our lives, when we listen for one moment to any plea, any 
 persuasion, any argument that may stand or that could stand for capital punish- 
 ment. We are cultivating something in our minds that may not be easily elimin- 
 ated; we are encouraging brutaHty in human life. 
 
 " Fancy for a moment a woman, you who have read of the tragedy that I am 
 speaking of, soon to be a mother, fancy, under the psychological influence of 
 one in the family, that she should feel that this man should be killed ; that 
 she should think so forcefully as to formulate the words, ' I would be glad to 
 see him hanged.' What an awful thing! Consider for a moment a thought of 
 that kind, stimulated by feeling, resting in the mind and tainting the blood of 
 a mother. Consider how far it may go in the making or marring of her child's 
 character. That child, from the results of the psychological influence seeming 
 merely to pass through the mother's brain, may have implanted in his nature 
 the seed of resentment, revenge, and unbrotherliness, so that maybe when he 
 grows older and reaches the path of temptation, where he feels his resentment 
 must act, and his impulse must hold sway, he too may become a criminal, and 
 he too may be condemned to death. These are the things that we must think 
 about. Not just what we see and feel, but the invisible forces that we know do 
 exist if the sun shines, and the flowers bloom, and we live. 
 
 Theosophy Gives the Key 
 
 " Theosophy teaches much regarding these influences. To the honest faith- 
 ful student it gives the key that will open his eyes to revelations almost un- 
 believable. But there are students and students. These subjects have been 
 studied from many standpoints, but they cannot be fully understood until Theo- 
 sophy is understood and applied to daily life. I hold that no man or woman is 
 sufficiently in the light to interpret tlie principles of Theosophy rightly, clearly, 
 definitely, until Theosophy has been made a living power in his or her life. 
 
 " We cannot advance the best interests of humanity by mere intellect, nor by 
 mere preaching, nor by all the sophistries in the world. We must stand on
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 23 
 
 the foundation of truth. We must have a basis of positive knowledge of our- 
 selves, of who we are, why we are here, what life means, and what are the 
 laws that govern life — laws so sacred, so profound, so persuasive, so com- 
 passionate, so enlightening, right at the door of every human mind. 
 
 " And yet, many of the human family go through life, placing stumbling- 
 blocks not only in their own way, but in the way of their neighbors — not with 
 evil intent, but simply because they cannot find time to search for the Truth. 
 These things are too far-fetched, they say. But we cannot bring God, so to 
 speak, right down here and have him manifest just according to our mental 
 measurement, our intellectual yard-stick, can we? 
 
 " We, the thinkers of this present generation, the supposed protectors of our 
 brothers, have not reached the point of understanding where we can stand up 
 and face these conditions, and meet them understandingly — the deplorable con- 
 ditions referred to — we cannot face our own weaknesses as bravely and steadily 
 and soulfully as we should ; we are unable to do it, we think. We begin at forty 
 to grow old ; at fifty we have one foot in the grave ; at sixty we are almost 
 over the border, according to the accepted way of thinking. 
 
 Working on Wrong Lines 
 
 " Under such a regime of thought we are working on the wrong lines; we are 
 wasting our energy, losing our opportunities, failing in the truest sense. We cling 
 to our puny personalities as though we were to have them for all time. And 
 there are many of us who look at life so lightly that time is not counted. Every- 
 thing is in a rush, a mad rush ; many are in the great vortex of money-grabbing, 
 money-grinding and pleasure-seeking to such a degree that the soul life cannot 
 shine. Many are hypocrites, and many of the women and men today who 
 stand before the world with all the appearance of being just and true and 
 strong, are the opposite, and the reason all humanity does not know it, is because 
 we have educated ourselves to judge from appearances, to accept profession 
 and preaching, rather than the life. It is the life, the life that must be lived 
 if we are to reach that point that is necessary for man to realize the nobility of 
 his calling. 
 
 " It must be a true, sweet, strong, unselfish life ; it must be based on the 
 knowledge of the true. When this is done we shall begin to refashion not only 
 our lives in a new way, but to refashion the lives of our brothers. It is absolutely 
 impossible for a man to lead a true, strenuous, unselfish life and live separate 
 from his neighbor. He must necessarily affect those about him for good. He 
 must stimulate their thoughts to better action; he must be a splendid example 
 of soulful, upright manhood all along the way. 
 
 Face; the Facts 
 " But now let us be courageous. Let us face the facts. Let us face ourselves. 
 Let us look at the real conditions of human life as they are today. Let us 
 declare in justice to the law and in justice to ourselves that most of us have 
 missed the mark ; that where there is one man standing out strong and true and 
 living up to his ideals, unselfishly and trustingly, endeavoring to perform in all his 
 acts his whole duty — where there is one such, there are hundreds who are going 
 the other w^ay; and with the women it is the same.
 
 24 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 " Why not acknowledge this ? Why not declare that it is so ? Why cannot 
 women find this power that I speak of, this knowledge that is at hand. Why 
 cannot they, in the truest and fullest and most sacred sense, realize the nobility 
 of their calling and their true position in life. Why cannot they? 
 
 " We should not have to wait for the appearance of a new planet or for 
 new laws or for a new land to rise out of the sea, to give us more opportunities. 
 No, we have the power right at hand. We hold the key. The power is here 
 in the heart, in the soul — that divine power that never will fail us if we will only 
 take time to think more seriously, more profoundly, realize more and more 
 what life is and what our responsibilities are. . . . 
 
 A New Time for Humanity 
 
 " Before many years a new time shall dawn for humanity. We shall then 
 know that men and women have begun to find their true position in life and 
 that a beginning has been made of something so splendid, so inspiring, so true, 
 that those who have faltered before will come under its influence. In no long 
 time we shall hear of humanity beginning really to be refashioned on higher lines. 
 
 " I am not talking about something far away in the future. My simple pleading 
 certainly need not strain your mentality or your imagination. There is some logic 
 in my argument. If I could — oh, if I had the power to touch your hearts with- 
 out a word, and awaken you and all humanity to the opportunity of the NOW of 
 the coming year, of that time which in a few moments shall be ours and which 
 will never come again. Yes, I say, if I had the power; but since I have not, 
 I must do my best in simple words to plead and urge, and to try to evoke a new 
 spirit among men, an awakening of the Christos spirit. If it could be awakened ! 
 Oh! if we could lift the hearts and minds of men above their limitations, what 
 joy would be ours ! 
 
 A Daring Prophecy 
 
 " I am looking forward to the possibility, and I believe it is coming, because 
 I have faith in humanity in spite of all its weaknesses, that before I leave this 
 life the prisons will be closed. 
 
 " A daring prophecy, you say — that many of these distressing restrictions 
 that we have about us in our daily commercial life, to protect ourselves against 
 each other will not exist; because men and women, having found the nobility 
 of their calling, their true positions in life, must necessarily evoke that new 
 quality of honor, that finer sense of honor, that lies sleeping in the hearts of all. 
 
 " I had a glimpse of it yesterday in looking over a paper — and I can imagine 
 that some of my unfriendly critics will smile — a picture of something of this 
 kind, where the sense of honor, the spirit of honor, had developed to a degree 
 in a man who was condemned to life imprisonment for murder in Oregon. To 
 the Oregon state prison our workers have for many years been going regularly 
 — before Governor West became Governor — and Governor West has done some 
 splendid things in trying to evoke this spirit of brotherhood and to encourage the 
 prisoners to better thought and action. 
 
 " A few months ago — about six or seven — he became acquainted with the 
 history of one of the men there condemned for life. It seems that in the attempt
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 25 
 
 to save this man's life his father-in-law had mortgaged his house and used all 
 his money, and the family was left destitute. When the condemned man heard 
 of it his grief was very great — he had murdered, that was true, but his soul 
 was speaking, his conscience, and when he found that while he, although wretched 
 and miserable, was cared for to a degree in prison, outside his family was suffer- 
 ing, and an old man, his father-in-law, who had sacrificed his all for him. He 
 asked Governor West to let him out on his word of honor. Think of it! A few 
 years ago the people of Oregon would have said Governor West was mad, crazy, 
 unfit to be Governor to think of such nonsense as letting a prisoner free even 
 for an hour — a menace to the public ! Well, Governor West permitted this man 
 to go, on his honor, to his home. He went home, worked six months, cleared off 
 the mortgage, and then walked back into the prison to take up his life sentence 
 and the routine of the prison. Is not this something to think about? Is this 
 not encouraging? 
 
 Helpful Influence 
 
 " Now, do you suppose that this poor fellow found his conscience and his 
 sense of honor all by himself? Do you not believe that the helpful influence of 
 the members of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society who visited 
 the prison from time to time and worked there as the opportunities oflFered, and 
 who had the hearty, splendid, unselfish co-operation of the Governor — do you 
 not believe that the helpful influence of the lives of these members, their example, 
 their pleadings, their urging, their teachings touched this man and awoke his 
 conscience, and that then was born the sense of honor which he may never have 
 known anything about before? 
 
 " I could tell you of hundreds of similar cases in my own experience of the 
 evoking of the sense of honor in human nature, for I have met men and women 
 who found themselves at the tag end of things — who had lost all hope in life — 
 some of whom had committed crimes — and in my simple pleadings, my friendli- 
 ness, my trust in the divinity of man — I challenged those whom I was helping to 
 a new sense of honor, to a new way of thinking and living, thus I urged them to 
 a higher state of consciousness and they reformed. 
 
 " Oh, that indescribable, glorious power that can come to men and women 
 and make all trials seem as naught : that they can reach to a path along which 
 they can walk understandingly, in the light, knowing the law, believing its power, 
 living soulfully and righteously, and in that spirit of honor that we must evoke 
 among men before we can expect humanity to find its true position in life. 
 
 " The small beginnings, the sowing of a few seeds here and there in a right 
 spirit — these are the things that count. But one who professes to have the truth 
 must live the truth as best he can, and his life must stand out in conformity with 
 his teachings if he would have power. The only way this can come is by doing 
 the right thing at the right time in that spirit of brotherhood that can be ours if 
 we will. . . . 
 
 Knowledge of the Laws of Life 
 "The knowledge of the laws of life brings compassion, creates mercy and 
 makes one ready always to forgive even one's traducers and one's persecutors. 
 It gives one strength and love and courage; fear is unknown. That is what
 
 26 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 men and women need — to be so sure of their position in life, their true position, 
 that they know not fear. 
 
 " Then the human mind would grasp the joy of Hving. No matter how old 
 they may be, they would begin to live with no fear of the morrow, no fear of 
 death, or of sickness, no fear of anything except the fear of failing in their 
 duty to others. 
 
 " That is the new life ; that is the true position in life ; where the conscience 
 and the soul work in consonance, and the power evoked from within works out 
 on practical lines and turns the tide of human life for better things. 
 
 Greater than We Dream 
 
 " We mortals are greater than we dream. Man is a potent power in the 
 universe, and if we can only touch the minds of men, make them dare to do 
 something new at this splendid time — what can we not hope for ? Let me talk 
 to you, because I am deeply in earnest. Face yourselves. Think, think! Study 
 your lives. Study your past. Shut out fear of everything that has not brought 
 you to the highest. Seek a new path; but begin understandingly ; let my per- 
 suasion touch your hearts so that you may feel within yourselves what I know 
 exists. To find knowledge and feel the impulse of the silent flow of soul-life is 
 what humanity most needs. 
 
 " If humanity had lived up to what its own conscience had taught, we should 
 all be greater than we are today, we should all be workers for humanity. There 
 would not be this old hard strain of merely a few working for mankind. The 
 moment that human life is readjusted, the victory is won. But, as we know, 
 most unselfish workers have fallen under the hand of the critic or the persecutor. 
 We have been destroying our teachers and reformers all down the ages; so that 
 but few have fulfilled their mission. Look at history. See how we have per- 
 secuted the unselfish helpers of humanity who came to work with us at different 
 periods to evoke in us the true and to bring out this royal and splendid life. 
 
 " My hope is that my pleadings tonight for the criminal, the condemned, may 
 touch you so that you cannot sleep until you have signed the papers that I have 
 presented to you for your signature. I would like San Diego to have the honor 
 of approaching the New Year in a new spirit of brotherly love, with that quality 
 that must exist if we are to live in any sense righteously. 
 
 By a Stroke of the Pen 
 " The influence of such an action would not only touch and affect in a very 
 remarkable way those who are condemned, but have you thought of what it 
 would do for those at home who are not conscious of having had any part in the 
 crimes of those who are condemned? Have you thought of the old mothers and 
 fathers and the wives and the little children? Have you ever thought how much 
 by a stroke of your pen, written from conviction, how much sorrow you could 
 lift and how much happiness you could send forth into the world tonight? Think 
 of it! The mother who sits tonight expecting every day to hear that her son 
 whom she loves and whom she cannot believe is guilty, even though he were 
 convicted, and may be hanged, and then later hears that by the mercy, the gener- 
 osity, the spirit of brotherliness, evoked by the citizens of San Diego, the State 
 of California shall not have the power to take a human life! . . .
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 27 
 
 " But we ought to do more than this. Think of the influence such a splendid 
 effort would have on the human family at large. Now I hold that of those who 
 commit crimes there are only a few who are so lost and dead to life that they 
 never think and work on right lines ; but I try to feel that the majority are trying. 
 Can you not imagine the act of a united force like yourselves in signing this paper 
 for the abolishment of Capital Punishment, what an effect it would have in pre- 
 venting crime? Now some of you may call that a false argument, but it is not. 
 Wherever I have read the statistics of states in this country and in other countries 
 that have abolished capital punishment, with but few exceptions, they have had 
 fewer crimes, less murders, than in the preceding years. I tell you, you cannot 
 realize how far a few good seeds sown by you will go. You have no idea of what 
 you will accomplish by this act which I am pleading for. 
 
 A Personal Appeal 
 
 " Now let me bring it home to you. Do you not know that if, from the convic- 
 tion of your conscience you can do your part in eliminating Capital Punishment 
 from the statutes of our State, that some blessing will come to you? After this, 
 you will begin to study the common and the higher law differently, more sym- 
 pathetically. You will better understand yourselves. You will have opened a 
 door by that protest against a wrong to a brother, no matter what his crime, and 
 other doors of your hearts and minds will open; then an overwhelming sense 
 of peace will be yours — the peace that passeth all understanding. I know it ; 
 I know it from my own experience. I know what it is. Yet we must not work 
 for reward, says Theosophy, but if it comes it is a very delightful thing to re- 
 cognize; to feel its sweet inspiring touch in the life; to have it as an incentive 
 to push us on to more humane endeavor ; to bring us closer to the suffering of 
 our fellows and to lead us to such a point of understanding that many of the 
 things that we mistakenly thought were best, nearest to our hearts, but which 
 never satisfied, will pass away and in place we shall have fuller knowledge. We 
 shall find that we are stronger in our true positions in life. This influence is 
 so ennobling, so uplifting, so like a baptism of the spirit of the Christos that the 
 Nazarene spoke of ! Just try it. You will never talk about it because it will 
 be so true and deep and sacred; you will have something in your lives that 
 you have never had before. 
 
 " To carry on a work of this kind, to work in sympathy with our fellows so 
 that they do not lose their chances, so to speak, will bring us to a point of under- 
 standing life in a new way and of solving many of the problems and mysteries 
 in our own natures that have helped to confuse and mislead and discourage us. 
 
 "Oh! there is no limit to these possibilities; there is no limit. It cannot 
 be fully realized in words. One has to find the light through knowledge and 
 experience. 
 
 To Abolish Vivisection 
 
 " There is another object : to abolish vivisection. I believe that we arc educat- 
 ing murderers ; we are making them by encouraging vivisection. I have respect 
 for the medical profession. I know that we are in this world to help and serve 
 each other. We should be very miserable and have a great deal of difficulty were
 
 28 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 it not for the medical fraternity. I think the doctors do marvelous things under 
 the conditions they have to contend with in treating their patients. They cannot, 
 as a rule, control their environment; they cannot ingrain into their minds the 
 necessary knowledge that should work in consonance with the treatment. They 
 have much against them. So I am in sympathy with them. But I am not with 
 them so far that I can believe that in order to save human life we must sacrifice 
 life. It is wrong, against the law of justice, and never will it bring a right result. 
 
 " A man who can sit and vivisect from day to day is sowing seeds in his 
 nature the harvest of which he will have to reap some day under conditions that 
 he does not dream of. The law is direct — this higher law ; you cannot play 
 with it; you cannot abuse it without paying the penalty. What about the little 
 child that may come into the family of that doctor ? I am not saying that all the 
 children of doctors, if they are vivisectors, are going to do something wrong, or 
 commit crimes ; but there is the danger, a very great one, very great — a psycho- 
 logical study, this! 
 
 " I hold that those men, all those who in their interest uphold vivisection — 
 though honest people, well-meaning, anxious to save human life, intent in their 
 practice, even their motives they may think are pure — are blind to the results 
 that they are bringing about. I declare that the vivisector is planting seeds be- 
 yond his control, and is working against the higher law of justice by taking life 
 to save life. But it is contrary to the higher law. The vivisector may be so self- 
 hypnotized that he thinks he is right; but he will go wrong on some line; in 
 surgery, perhaps ; becoming so accustomed to using the knife that when he comes 
 to a human being, the desire to do a little more cutting may go beyond his control. 
 The psychological power of these things is tremendous. We must study them not 
 only as to the influence on the vivisector himself, but on those whom he contacts 
 — the influence of even the idea of the act of vivisection is brutalizing. One who 
 can take part in the vivisection and torture of a helpless animal is hardening his 
 finer sensibilities. He is destroying a part of the finer structure of his being; 
 he is cultivating cruelty, though he may not admit it ; becoming hardened ; losing 
 something of the finer sensibility that he will never find again; misusing the 
 higher qualities of his nature. So I must stand out against vivisection. 
 
 " We know that dogs especially have given us evidence all along the line of 
 a rare quality of fidelity, self-sacrifice and instinct that is a great study. Some- 
 times a man will think that he has many friends who will stand by him; but 
 when trouble comes they leave him ; but you will find his dog stays. History 
 repeats itself right along in this way. 
 
 " Life for a life — never ! Eye for an eye — never ! according to the ordinary 
 acceptance of the term. These words must be interpreted Theosophically if we 
 are to understand their meaning. Vivisection must go, says Theosophy. Wars 
 must go ; capital punishment must go ; vice must go ; and men and women must 
 find the nobility of their calling ere it is too late. It is coming some day. Oh, it 
 is my prayer, my urge, that when light comes in the morning time of the new 
 year we shall find ourselves readjusted to the higher convictions, to the ennobling 
 part of our nature to such a degree that we cannot turn away from the companion- 
 ship of our divine natures. We shall then realize the necessity of being our 
 brothers' keepers."
 
 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 29 
 
 Extracts from other Lectures, Speeches, etc., by Katherine Tingley 
 
 on Capital Punishment 
 
 " Widespread evils are eating out the heart of humanity, capital punishment 
 is but one of the signs of the appalHng conditions that threaten our present-day 
 civilization. 
 
 " Man is his brother's keeper. Society as a whole, and not merely the indi- 
 vidual, is responsible for the wrong social conditions of which the criminal is the 
 outcome. 
 
 " What are the characteristic marks of the social conditions of the present day? 
 Do we not find prominent among them self-indulgence, gratification of lower 
 passions, secret vice, eating away the moral stamina of our youth, and general 
 lack of self-control beginning in childhood, unobserved even by many of those who 
 have the greatest desire to protect their children? 
 
 " Society has no right to make a scapegoat of one who is a product of its 
 own follies, its own weaknesses, its unbrotherliness. 
 
 " Capital punishment is inhuman, barbarous, and entirely out of keeping with 
 the most enlightened and progressive views of today in regard to the duty of 
 society and of the State to criminals, namely, that it is the State's duty to reform 
 and not to punish. 
 
 " The removal of this blot, of capital punishment, from our twentieth century 
 civilization must come from an enlightened public sentiment, and a recognition 
 of the fact that we are our brother's keeper. 
 
 " The criminal is a human being like ourselves, who in the vast majority of 
 cases has had little or no opportunity of education or helpful home influence, and 
 therefore demands our assistance and encouragement, and not our condemnation. 
 Who of you men and women can say that if you had been in like circumstances 
 as your brother now under sentence of death, you might not have given way as he 
 to the impulse of anger and passion and hate ? Who of you is there that has not 
 at some time in his life felt the impulse to passion and revenge for some real or 
 fancied wrong ? Who has not at some time given way to passion or hatred, or had 
 the temptation to do so, and had it not been for some restraining influence, whether 
 of early training and education, or some power of self-control and force of char- 
 acter on ennobling lines, or perhaps some outer restraining circumstance, might 
 have committed the irrevocable deed of taking life? And shall you separate your- 
 self from your weaker brother and say like the Pharisee, ' Lord, I thank thee that 
 I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican ' 
 — or this murderer — and draw the robe of your self-righteousness about you and 
 refuse help to your weaker brother? 
 
 " O ye men and women, fathers and mothers, were that poor unfortunate who 
 is now in the shadow of the gallows — were he indeed your son, or your brother, 
 would you leave a stone unturned to save him, to recall him to the nobler, better 
 side of his nature, that he might once more strive in the upward path ? Or would 
 you deny that he is your brother, and thrust him out into the darkness like a thing 
 accursed? If the latter, dare you then call yourself a Christian, one of God's great 
 family ?
 
 30 TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 
 
 " It is not sentiment, it is the divine law of our being that makes all men 
 brothers. The reasoning that argues for condemning and hanging a brother is false 
 reasoning, springing from a false conception of justice. True justice, the highest 
 reasoning, and the strictest logic take into account the laws of life and proclaim 
 mercy, compassion, and mutual responsibility. If you condemn your brother to 
 death, or acquiesce in his condemnation under man-made laws, do you not thereby 
 condemn yourselves as murderers equally with him — nay worse than he, because 
 you have not the excuse that your deed is the outcome of uncontrolled passion 
 and hate, but is deliberate and in cold blood? That is the cold logic of it, that is 
 the true reasoning. 
 
 " But let your heart speak, recognize the man as your brother — a weaker, err- 
 ing brother — realize your responsibility in common with the whole human race 
 for the conditions that make the criminal, and the logic of it, the true reasoning, 
 will point the way to the fulfilment of that responsibility by seeking to reform 
 him, to educate him, to encourage and help him, that he may awake to his respon- 
 sibility as a member of society, just as in degree you have awakened to your 
 responsibility. 
 
 " By so doing can you alone do justice, justice to the criminal, justice to society, 
 and justice to yourself. 
 
 " The solution of this problem, which is to be found in Theosophy alone, lies 
 in the recognition of the dual nature of every man, that every man is a divine soul, 
 inhabiting a body with animal instincts and passions. The only way for society 
 to safeguard itself is to fulfil its duty to the criminal, which is also its duty to itself, 
 by seeking the proper means to reform him. To execute him is only to shirk the 
 responsibility, and I boldly say that the only system that affords a solution to the 
 problem and can effectively reform and transform the criminal is Theosophy."
 
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 LOS ANGELES
 
 To Abolish Capital Punishment 
 
 A Plea to the Citizens of Every Country 
 
 To Those who Receive this Pamphlet: 
 
 Will you help in this worldwide effort to abolish capital punishment in all states and countries 
 where it is still enforced, and thus remove this blot from our civilization? 
 
 You are earnestly requested to bring this pamphlet to the attention of your friends, and secure 
 as many names as possible, with full postal addresses, to the following petition, sending the same in the 
 U. S. A. to the Governor of your State, and to your Representative in the State Legislature ; in England, 
 to the Home Secretary, and to the Member representing you in Parliament; or to the proper minister or 
 official in the country in which you reside. You are also requested to send a duplicate list of such 
 names and addresses to the Secretary, Woman's International Theosophical League, (unsectarian-human- 
 itarian) Point Loma, California, thus aiding us by your encouragement and co-operation. 
 
 A very large number of single copies of these pamphlets are being distributed free ; further copies 
 may be obtained, post-paid, as follows ; tON S i- 
 
 Per copy W in U. S. A. 5d in England .,,„ -R.A. pEli''^ 
 10 copies 
 50 " 
 
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 Order from The Secretary, Woman's International Theosophical League, Point Loma, California, or 
 from The Theosophical Book Co., 18, Bartlett's Bldgs., Holbom Circus, London, E. C. England. 
 
 A Petition for the Abolition of Capital Punishment 
 
 Whereas the death penalty is barbarous, ineffective in checking crime, contrary to the dictates of 
 humanity, and violates the sacredness of human life; 
 
 We, the undersigned protest against the infliction of this penalty, and make this appeal for the 
 abolishment of Capital Punishment. 
 
 We respectfully call upon you as ( Governor, Representative, Senator, Member of Parliament, or 
 - ) to use the influence of your honorable position to introduce 
 
 and support such measures as may result in removing this blot from the statutes of our state and country. 
 Name Number, Street City and State
 
 The Aryan Theosophical Press 
 Point Loma, California • 
 
 THI9 LimiARY 
 
 IJNIVMtSlTY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
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