New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-05-15

among The Reports retd on W ednesua! NJ NV
Convention of delegates from the v,rious Reforma-
tory Institutions, one Of the most interesting WAS
that from the Chicago Reform School. Many OF
other similar Institutions in various parts oil the
country have evidently fallen into-what Is tue
especial danger Of such establishments-a too penal
mode Of administration. Men Of hard disposition
are occasionally placed at the head Of them; or IL
is found TO require much less effort and thought 10
punish difficult subject than to plan for his re-
formation. A contracted economy puts in inferior
Suerintendents; and, in charitable institutions
as elsewhere, the narrowm minded and dull are
most often cruel. In many cities, the
House Of Refuge is really house oil
punishment, and differs from prison only IN the
somewhat better order and method. 1t has all the
hardness, all the disgrace, of a prison. and the
courts come finally to commit to lis charge only
the convicted and not the unfortunate or yagrant,
liable to crime, as was the original purpose.
TIE Chicago Reform School is illustrious as hav-
ing applied principle in its government new to
most of our American ReformatOries-the appeal
to the sense Of honor and to the emulation OF Its
subjects All the world knows what wonderful
eff, CITE have been wrought at Mettrai on the French
gam;ns and convict boys By the free application OF
this principle. Mr.. Nichols, the Superintendent OF
the Chicago School, has the credit of having initiated
t.in America. His Inst tuition, supported by city
tax at an annual expense Of only $500, has been
in operation now some eighteen months, for the
treatment Of vsgabOnds and criminals, who are al
ready gathering in that young city-a class as idle,
filthy and ungoyerned, probably, as in any Of our
larger towns There have been under its charge
10i BOYS and one girl During all this time, no cor
poreal punshment has been used; 20 bars or bolts
have been necessary; everything has been thrown
open, the boys being even sometimes permitted TO
visit the city; and though the Institution has been,
during some of the time, through want of funds,
placed in the same building with slaughterhou
only very small number of the boys have run
away.
Mr. Nichols has established grades Of honor
which draw after them substantial benefits. The
School is divided into SOME FIVE classes, each class
having five grades. The fifth grade in the first
class il tie highest, and the name of the lad who
gains il is reg stered ia Il peculiar book Of honor
the "Red Book" He sits, with his class at
separate table; they have more choice diet, II
there happen to be luxuries in the house; and they
alone are allowed to visit the city. 1t needs at
least fifteen weeks of exemplary conduct and of in
dustry to reach any place in this class. Each class
has its own table. If a boy is degraded to the
fourth Glass; be loses his play. If he be the lowest
on the fifth, bis diet is bread and water; the next
higher gives him everything except meat and
~naee; the next Above him coffee, and SO on.
m a." Deualties is thus to be found in
=, - po"'' A. Them, and in the
fact that the substantial goods and evils of eve.
day are so directly connected with conduct
The vsgaboDd boy, whom blows could not infu-
cree nor curses drive, feels new impulse in this
appeal to bis pride. He conceives that idea which
is at the bottom of many Of the graDdest move
ments-the idea of b, nOr-not certainly the highest
motive but good basis on which to elevate the
character. He sttains to certain degree of self
government; be feels at least higher sentiment
appealed to than fear, and he comes soon to have
certain esprit du corps for his class and pleasure
in keeping up its credit The motto over the door
of the building is ave are one family" and Mr..
Nichols laboriously seeks also TO carry out that
idea He aud his family eat with the boys; they
90 together on excursions; they mineralize to-
gether, and at table he either tells a story or
one of them with good voice gives song. The
greatest and most disgraceful punishment, as he
quietly states which the hardest of the boys most
breads, is for " the Superintendent to take the
"bread and water as substitute for a hardened
"culprit" This, however is enly employed in
extreme cases.
The whole institution has hardly been long
enough at work to judge of its final effects, but
we do not believe there is another Reformatory in
the United States which could let dozen of its
large boys 90 off for a visit to city, and ever
expect to see them all again. 1.-The more we give
chem, trusting to their honor, the more honor
" they show" writes the Superintendent. During
the last six months, in which they have had the
least restraint there have been the ewest escapes
What a step in advance does this method show
over the usual means of dlscipline-the bolts aud
cells and whippings1 Improves what enlightened
beneyolence has SO long been laboring to make
manifest, that the characters most under debasing
influences are si susceptible Of an appeal to the
higher sentiments. 1t seems hard for the world to
be convinced that the outcast vagabOnd has yet bis
tender and generous eide. Higher principles are
forever being preached, and forever the
guardians Of these institutions fall back
into the old mistake of treating man like brute.
We DO not suppose we do Mr. Nichols's institu-
len certain service by thus csling attention to it.
As SOM az il becomes eminent il may possibly be-