Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-04

lies, each occupying a aseparate building,
and each family mas a grade governed
according to their intellectual improye-
ment, the age and length of time they
have been in the institution.qsao s;ss,
There may be some of your readers
Mr.. Editor, who have not heard, and if
theyvhave heard of the Ohio Farm
School, do not know of its location to
such. i would say. that the farm is loca-
ted aba55& ssss s..ssi'es sssi'as south of Lancaster,
in Fairfield county, away up among the
hills that abound in that region of coun
try, and for natural scenery, and adapta-
tion to the purposes for which it was in
stituted, / doubt if its location could be
changed for the better. f d
Here the great author of nature, .un-
folds panorama of Landscape rarely
beheld, and well calculated to inspire
the young mind with the greatness and
the glory of the God that laid the foun
dations of these everlasting hills. To
us who have spent a life time in the val
ley of the. Miami, the richest and most
productive perhaps of any in the State,
the variegated scenery in and around the
Ohio Farm School is grateful to the
senses, from the7contrast it forms to our
own placid and everyday surroundings.
There, is one. drawback as you approach,
the Farm-the road from Lancaster is
much broken, and at some seasons of the
year is difficult to travel. This ought
not to be the case; a State institution,
and one among the very. best, and least
expensive of our public charities (for
the recent Reports of the Commissioners
show. the institution to be almost self
sustaining), ought to have good road
made and kept up at public expense.
We ore spending our thousands-I
might almost say millions, yearly-on
our, benevolent institutions, to provide
homes for the unfortunate classes, who,
from necessity, have to be placed there.
This is all right and proper, and no peo-
pie, laying any claims to Christian char
ity, could conscientiously dispense with
them. But there is one State institu-
tion, unfortunately also necessity, that
all good men would rejoice to see tenant
less--the Ohio Penitentiary. This latter
institution, heretofore, has been mainly
supplied with inmates from the very
class of offenders who have been suffered
to harden in crime, for the want of an
institution such as the Ohio Reform
Farm School. Now, that we have it,
dispensing its blessing all over our State
sending forth its inmates continuously,
clothed in their right mind, and fitted by
education and moral training, to gain
an honorable living, and move in good
society, every facility and means ought
to be afforded the Board of Commits
sioners, to extend is usefulness, for
such institutions are manifestly the
most speedy and sure plan now. known,
for reforming the unfortunate youth
who, from causes not necessary to men
tion here, are, early plunged into crime.
And in our judgment should the present,
or any future Legislative Assembly fail
to grant the means to foster this or like
institutions, they would fail in a duty
they owe to the enlightened public opin-
ion of the State.
o 1t is an old saying, and I believe a
true one, that "an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure" and in more
than one instance, both in the adoption
of hygienic or reformatory criminal
measures, have we seen most ample il
lustration of its truth.