Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-01-05

ty-three orphans OF soldiers and seamen are
now kindly cared for in the Home !oI soioie,s
orphans in Bath; all of these children who
are old enough, attend the public schools In
the CITY. Since the opening OF this institution
In 1866. one hundred and fifteen orphans have
received ;ts benefits The institution appears
20 he well managed rejecting much credit
mon those who have the direction of its af-
fairs.
Thirteen orphans of soldiers are now in
the Orphans Home in Bangor. This institu-
ton is also under excellent management. and
the children are well provided for.
Three hundred and eighty orphans have
been aided outside in such sums as their con-
dition seemed to require. The money appro-
priated for this purpose has enabled the
Board to dispense many blessings, for which
the State has received the benedctions OF
hundreds whose natural protectors gave
their lives for their country.
Statements in detail of the disbursements
made by the Board may be found with the
records of the Executive Council.
INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL STATISTICS.
We have in this State no means for the coll
lection of statistics pertaining to our indus
trial or other interests. Oar taralers are busy
raising their stock, producing their crops aud
improving their farms our mechanics and man
ufacturers are turning out in great variety the
products of their skill our quarries OF granite,
lime rock and slate are being extensively
worked, and their products are sent into all
parts of the country; our lumbermen are
busy in the forests and at the mills; our ice
is being stored and shipped away in large
Quantities our fishermen line our coasts and
that of our neighbors' in the Provinces with
their white sails; our railroads are being ex-
tended, and their business is rapidly increas-
ing; our exports and imports are being made
as usual; our shipbuilding and commerce,
though depressed, are still of great impor-
lance, and yet, when we are asked to state
the product of these industries or the amount
of this business, we are compelled to confess
that we know very little in regard to them.
As individuals, it is necessary to know our
selves and our capabilities. AS guardians OF
the State it is important that we know its re-
sources, that we may be able to direct its
energies and campass it's possibilities Esery
business man finds it necessary to keep an
account of his operations to take account of
stock every year, and strike the balance be-
tween his receipts and expenditures, so that
he may know from year to year just what he
is doing and whether he is gaining or losing
So with the State. We need to know just
what complete statistics Of all the different
kinds of business, and the more important
facts connected with our social life, would
furnish. 1t would enable US to know whether
we are going forward or backward, and to ap-
ply such corrections to our failures and
take such advantages of our successes as cir
cumstances and a wise forecast demand. The
publication and circulation of such facts
would attract attention to our resources, and
bring capital and labor to the State. :,
Could we now present reliable statistics
of the progress the State has made during
the past year, in manufactures and other in
dustrial enterprises, it would be of great val
ne to our own citizens, as well as those in
other States who are seeking favorable OPP
portunities for investment in these enterprises.
Besides the collection and dissemination of
facts and general statistics, competent man
would be able, by correspondence and per-
sonal attention, to turn capital and labor to
u.s. that would otherwise 90 in other direc-
tons.
The service of one man, competent for,
and adapted to the performance of these du-
ties, acting under the direction of one of the
State officers or independently, would, it is
believed, be sufficient to accomplish this whole
work.
deem this subject of sufficient Importance
to claim your attention, and refer to it in the
hope that you will provide for the perform
ance of the work suggested.
OUR JAIL SYSTEM.
Our methods of treating criminals are notyet
entirely free from the old idea that imprison-
ment is to be regarded solely as punishment
for crime, a given amount of punishment
to be determined by the law or the court, for
definite degree of crime, without regard to
the reformation of the criminal or the protec-
ton of the community. While it is the duty
of the State to con6ne persons convicted of
crime, both as a means of punishment and
for the protection of the innocent, its obliga-
ton is but poorly performed, unless it applies
all the means that have been found useful in
the reformation of criminals. The public good
should be the chief object of criminal law; and
criminals should suffer the penalty of the law
in the manner best adapted to subserve this
important end. Too many of our jails are
hot beds of crime, where the young boy or
girl, who has taken but single step in crime,
is in a brief time dragged down to the degree
degree of depravity that has been reached by
the older and viler criminals with whom the
youth has been forced to associate. What
should be the means of reformation is made
the fundamentally through which young Of
tenders sink to lower depths of degradation
and crime.
The Commissioners on the Jail system OF
the State of Maine, in an able report made
to the last Legislature, suggested plan which
appears in the main practicable, and which, in
its essential features, l would be glad to sec
adopted. The bill which accompanies the
report, provides that the jails in Bangor, Au.
gusta, Portland, and Auburn, be provided
with suitable accommodations for the employ
ment of the inmates in some productive la.
Dor, and for additional means of intellectual
and moral improvement. 1t also provides
that persons convicted of crime or waiting
for trial in any county in the State, may be
sentenced or sent to either of these jails, az
may be found most convenient or advisable
reasonable compensation for board and other
expenses to be paid by the county, that woulc
be liable under the present practice. o
course it is not expected that trade could b,
so well learned, or the labor made so profta
bic as in the States Prison where the terms
of Imprisonment are longer; but it is believed
that the net proceeds of the labor would ali
very much in the payment of expenses. This
however, is but minor consideration, whe,
compared with the benefit Of steady employ
ment and some useful trade, and the bette
facilities for intellectual and moral improve
ment that would be afforded.