New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-12
wHAr MAKES US RADf

+" Original SIM say some; Necessity say
Others Opportunity" say third set. What
ever the cause may De, it is certain there are
many bad folk among us IN prisons as well as
out of them. Let us consult table In the last
'Prison Report" Here we find that OF the lS,490
prisoners recorded for the year 1867, twenty-five
per cent of all could not read, torty-seVen per
cent. were incorporate, and serenty-seuen per
cent. had not learned trade. Want OF book
education, intemperance, want of occupation, are
the three great causes Of crime, leaving original
sin, &C., out of the question and OF all these
the ignorance of an occupation is by far the
most fertile. We can hardly question that OF
these twenty-five out Of every hundred GRIM
inals who could not read, portion, ana
we believe o large portion, might have
been saved FROM vice and crime, if they could
have amused and entertained themselves with
good books and newspapers, in those leisure
hours when the grog-shOps hold open their
doors so inyitingly. In referring to the Report,
we find, as sustaining us in this belief, that in
the Pennsylvania Penitentiary :" the Library as
"a reformatory agent is OF tRcatcuIdoIe edt@e''
We find in Missouri the same; and that IN one
year II ,243 books were taken out-an average OF
thirty eight per man. Now, whatever wall re-
store men to virtue must avail to keep them
virtuous. Therefore, some education men must
be made to have. rao..i 80
Intemperance we have so often preached
against, that nothing new can be said; and
indeed nothing new need be said: for all admit
its evils. The real question is hoW can they
be suppressed
Want of occupation :-seventy-seyen out Of
every hundred of these criminals had never
been put to any trade, had not been taught
when young how to work, and 80 when hun
| ger came they begged and when that failed
| tbey stole; and when that was found to sup
ply the great craving, they became "crim-
inals,p and henceforth were not only useless,
but evil positively. One cause for this we sug-
gest, we urge, we demand, attention to. When
ever a human being comes into the street to
beq. it is proof that he Is not where he ought
to be. That is, there is no work to be had
there. or the person is unwilling or unable to
do it. We ask that by ali great cities provision
DO mado for public farms and workshops, so
that the instant man becomes beggar he
may at once be placed where he can work for
the benefit Of the community as well as
| himself before he becomes criminal.
! So fully persuaded are we that large share
| of our criminals are the direct product oil
! beggary, that we cannot too strongly urge
upon our fellow men that this is one most
effective way, if not the only one, to put an
end to pauperism and its consequent crime
London is nigh swamped by these two giant
evils, and she does nothing but patch the sore
| 1t breaks out again, and worse and worse
Great as England Is, and able as her men are
she does not grasp the evil MS If she meant Il
| crush it. Let her establish somewhere, any
where, great farms and workshops. and this
vast army Of paupers and criminals may b'
made not only self-supporting, but also profit
able.
| AS London Is doing, so are we doing. We
are allowing our paupers TO grow up criminals
and they are increasing. " Let everything co.
"Free trade and sailors rights" "No inter
ference with the individual until he commits
ga crime" won't keep us out of the mire into
which London and nearly every great city Of
England have sunk. We advocate no inter
ference with individual rights we only ash
that when by public beggary man confesse'
his inability to take care Of himself, we shall
provide place where he may be taken care Of
and well, toO--uutil he can earn enough to
start again as an individual, self-supporting
citizen. Not only is there no hardship in this,
but a vast blessing. Already we find that
many, very many, at the approach of Winter,
commit some small crime, so that they may
secure the food and warmth Of our prisons.
We would provide for these q better place
than prison we would save these and thou
sands more from such terrible temptation.
Already our Board of Charities and Correction
has organized many valuable reforms we appeal
to it to consider this thing, and to devise
homes and workshops for the young, the needy,
| the incompetent, and thus to stop the CONVEX
sion of paupers into criminals.
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| When the Democrats of Ohio astonished