No Killing in Kansas

On the eve of the Kansas Legislature's adjournment last week, Governor Harry Woodring vetoed three bills to restore Death by electricity as the maximum Kansas punishment for first-degree murder or robbery with firearms. The last legal execution by the State was in 1870. Amid a chorus of praise and protest Governor Woodring explained: "My veto of these bills is not actuated by any maudlin sympathy for the criminal. It is axiomatic that it is not the severity but the certainty of punishment that deters the criminal. Public opinion is overwhelmingly against these bills."

Agreed Chief Justice William A. Johnstone of the Kansas Supreme Court: "I am strongly opposed to the State encouraging the killing business by setting an example for killers."

In Michigan next month voters will pass on a proposition to re-establish the death penalty, dead a century in that State.

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