Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-01-05

4
STEESRoO, on q Resolution to inquire into the
erpeeiieacY9f establishing a HOUSE. ofPtfuge
at the City Of lFheaing, dc.
The Select Committee, to whom was referred
the resolution to inquire into the expediency of
establishing House of Refuge in the city of
Wheeling, in Ohio county, have had the subject
under consideration, and directed me to
REPORT:
At theslast session of the General Assembly
the subject was submitted to the Senate for
which bill and favorable report was made,
but it was not acted nsand some additional
facts and statistics are now submitted to the
consideration of the Senate.
The establishment OF educational and indus
trial institutional for juvenile delinquents, has
of late excited the interest of the friends Of hui
manity on both sides of the Atlantic, and en-
listed the advocacy of the purest aud wisest men
in both hemiSpheres. The immense number of
youthful Offenders without parents or protectors,
with the pressing wants of the needy and desti-
tute, ignorant and uneducated, and the very many
who were consigned to the jails and State pris-
ons to be pupils of old conyicts; presented such
a revolving picture of moral desolatiOn that it
suggested the necessity of these refornatory in
situations. They are of recent origin. They
originated in the private enterprise and the vol
untary contributions of the benevolent and hui
IlhIlS uc EapIGlLy Nlltl WHICH IIlSS nave Illtl
| 6phed and their eminent adaptation to the end
to be accomplished, havc-been recognised and
sanctioned by the Legislative Interference of most
! of the enlightened governments of the age
The first establishment III Germany was that of
Drussell on the Rhine 1t was founded by
Count bon Der Richie, who had before entering
upon this establishment, opened similar one
on MS own estate IN Westphalia, as carly 1916.
The second was at Benggen, in 1920. In 1925,
or fhuXx yl-1fE Last
and most distinguished, is the one at Rawhe
Hans in 1888.
But the great impulse WIS given to these insti-
tutions in Germany, about the year 1S49.
Their efficacy had been satisfactorily demonstra-
ted. The hidden dcpravity ola large portion of
| the youthful population was broughtto the pub
lie attention, and the best men of the country
became interested and engaged in sustaining and
advocating this great practically tested scheme
for correcting it and arresting il. AZ this time
| the number ofref0rmatOry Establishments, inclU-
ding orally destitute children rs well as crimi-
nal ones, and including those Provinces of Rus.
STA and that part of Europe which usually fol-
lows the reforms of Germany, the whole number
lof refurmatory institutions would amount to
about one hundred. -
In France there are now. seventeen of these
institutions under government control, and thir-
~ five under private management.
| The English government within the last four
teen years has been aroused to the importance of
these institutions, although its legislation has not
been distinguished by that character which has
secured the confidence of their friends, as those
which are best calculated to attain the end in
view, still the parliamentary acts of lS40-'4T
and 81, is complete acknowledgement of the
adequaey and utility of the system, and the
| great statesmen BIOugham and Palmeston have
publicly approved oft, by their efforts to srls-
tain and forward it.
| The Crown has been in the habit recently of
granting conditional par1ons to such Juvenile Of
tenders as was recommended by the inspectors,
on condition of their remaining at the Philan-
thropic Society's Farm School, at Red Hill.
This institution was founded in 1888; it was re-
moved from, London to Red Hill in 1919. The
society has two great obiectS-.the reformation
| the children it receives and ihe amelioration
Of their condition generally. About one hun
dred are sent thither annually, aud for these the
government pays e.25 a head. The establish
ment of Parkhurst has existed about fourteen
years. 1t is intended to accommodate about 626
inmates. They are all boys. They are sent to
| Parkhurst, by order Of the Secretary Of State,
from Mili-Bank Prison, where they are collected
from all the prisons of the country. They are
all boys under sentence of transportatiOns. They
are selected by the directors Of the convict-pIis
ons at Mill-bank. Any boy under eighteen years
ofage who may be sentenced to transportation
is eligible for Parkhurst. When their conduct
| is good at Parkhurst, the Governor recommends
them 10 the Secretary of State for the indulgence
of leave ticket that they shall be embarked for
Australia, there to receive their tickets of leave.
The Scotch act extends the provision of the
law to Migrants as well as convicted children,
and empower the Edcaion Committee of the
Privy Council to aid in the establishment of re-
formatory schools
In the United States the system has met a very
general legislative endorsement and popular APP
| proval. The State of Connecticut at the Session
of the Assembly in 1851 appropriated $4,000
for State Reform School. Rhode Island estab-
| lished the Providence Reform School in 1850
New Jersey authorised the establishment of a
House of Refuge, February %, 1850. There
are two of these institutions in the State of New
York; two in Pennsylvania; one in Ohio; one
in Maryland; and Zone in Louisiana. Yer
mont, in 1852, passed an act allthorising the Sc
lection and to obtain the refusal of a lot of land
not less than fifty acres for Manual Labor
School. New Hampshire, alta Session of the
Legislature Of 1854, authorised the selection and
to obtain the refusal of lot Of land not less than
fifty acres for site for Manual Labor School.
Massachusetts, also authorised the establish
ment of asimilar institution. The training in
these institutions are to give habits of industry
and tleVctope the powers OF the chlld, Two OF the
great ends to be obtained in these refOrmatory
institutions.
The utility of these Institutions has been tri-
| umphantly demonstrated, Seyenty-fiye per
cent of the criminal population may be said to
originate from the neglect Of juvenile offenders
| It IS the pliancyof youth that most frequently
commits the first offence, and in the history Of
crime it is rarely found that the first transgres
sion is committed by the adult. 1t is the.young
offenders that augments the number of criminals
aud are the feeders,of the dungeons and the pri-
sons. have seen it stated:-'rhat the report
of the Warden of the New Hampshire State Pri-
son shows one melancholy and startling fact,
and that is, that one half of the conyicts now in
prison have not yet reached the fifteenth year of
their age, and that nearly onc-third of the whole
number are less than twenty years Of age. Du-
ring the past year boy only nine years of age
! has been confined within the prison,
Retributive justice has failed to stay the
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