River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-01-22
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an persuaded that the advantages of
this school are not sufficiently known
or appreciated throughout the state.
Magistrates and others who are clothed
w IN authority and with responsibilities
in such matters, should see to it that
girls who ought to be in that school are
sent there, as they see to it that boys
are sent to the school in Waukesha.
Woman's influence and example, for
evil, as we'll as for good, are far more
potent than mans, and hence it is
vitality important that girls whose sur
roundings or habits are leading them
into the paths of shame, and sin, ard
crime, should be rescued-rescued not
alone for themselves but for the public
good.
The building and tho site oc, u2jed
by the Industrial School for Girl, arc
the property of the state. There is
some necessary grading to be done upon
and around the grounds, and s0metuii e
also should be done in the way OF orni
lnentation. by planting trees, construct
ing walks ana otherwise. The man.
ayers nave no fgnds with which to do
this work or means Of securing them,
except by voluntary benefactions, and
all that can be secured ia this way are
needed to meet current expenses. j
therefore recommend an appropriate n
to the managers to enable them To
make these necessary mprovemonts.
DEPENDENT CHILDREN
l cannot forJear in this connection
calling attention to the unsatisfactory
provision made by the state for the care
of dependent children who are simply
poor and without homes. The author
tiles are by law wisely prohibited from
sending them to the poor-house,
and with equal reason ought to be pro-
hibited from sending them to the indus
trial schools. They ought not to be
brought into association or contact with
paupers or with children who are in
corrigible or have begun criminal prac-
tees. Their true places are In the thou
sands of homes where they are needed
and would be welcome, where they
could confer as we'll as receive benefits.
Institution life at best is but a poor sub
stitute for home, and in the case OF
these children should be only hating
place and distributing station. The
more I reflect upon this subject the
more positive become my convictions,
that the next public ENTERPRISE to be
undertaken in Wisconsin should be
school for dependent children, separate
and distinct from the industrial schools.
STATE PRISON.
The number of convicts confined in
the state prison, september 80, 1879,
was 309-thirty-seven less than were
there the year previous. The average
number in confinement was 320-nine
less than the average for the preceding
year. There were only $50 commit
ments during the year, as against 2l3
for the year ending September 80, 1873.
has peen a decrease IN CRIME, as unosr
he change i'll the law relating to larcc
ny, many are now sentenced to county
lails who were formerly sent to state
prison. / am very reluctant TO EcOm-
mend return to the law as it was pri-
or to the revision of the statutes,
and yet it must be concod-
ed that Incarceration in the
average jail is not conducive to refor-
nation of character. However unfor-
tunate it may be for this class of offend
ers, it certainly is creditable to the state,
that our criminal population is not nu-
merous enough to justify the erection OF
an intermediate prison. A temporary
and tentative solution of the problem
may possibly be found in utilizing the
north wing of the prison at Waupun as
an Intermediate prison, under some ap-
propriate name other than State Prs
on. This would obviate the necessity
of erecting new and expensive buildings
and providing an extra corps of superln-
;endents and officers, and measurably
remove the odium attaching to sem
tence to State Prison.
OF the $50 convicts committed to the
State Prison during the last fiscal yes r,
only twenty had heretofore been IN
prison and but seventeen were without
the rudiments OF an education. The
total cost to feed, warm, clothe, guard +,
instruct and discharge the prisoners was
$40,27008, or s. So each per week. The
principal items OF d sbursements were,
for salaries and wages SIS. 1875, and
for subsistence, $14.367 .02. The total
receipts from all sources were SAC 619 20,
the disbursements $47;1S3 Il, and the
cash balance at the close of the year
was $11, 09044. The expenses for the
current fiscal year are estimated at
$40, $500, of which the prisoners
elrnings are not expected to pay to ex-
coed three-fourths. 1t seems almost
impossible to correct the false impress
ion, that because the prison authorities
do not ask for appropriations the pris-
on has become self.supporting. The
time is apparently not far distant when
the accumulated capital will be ex-
hausted, and moderate appropriations
he required to meet deficiencies; and in
Justice to all concerned this fact should
not be forgotten. 1t has been the aim
of the directors and warden, first of all,
to place the prison upon the highest
ground as reformatory, and this, from
considerations of wise economy as we'll
as utility. The great cost of crime is
not in prison expenses, but in the eZ.
penditures looking to the protection of
life and property, and the arrest, de-
tention and conviction of criminals.
The directors renew their recon-
mendations of last year in regard TO
the good time law and extra provision
in extreme cases for discharged prison
ers, and l commend these recommends
tons to your favorable consideration.
| also renew the recommendation con-
tanned in my previous message in re-
gard to the substitution Of indetermin-
ate for fixed sentences.
RENFVOI EMIT TNSTTTTTTIONS
The trustees of the Wisconsin Sol
diers' Orphans Home have submitted
their fourteenth annual report, and
therein give brief resume of the work
done and the expenses incurred in the
prosecution of this charity since the
31st day of March, 1866, when the
Home was adopted by the state. Six
hundred and eighty-three children have
shared IN the benefits OF the Nome,
and the total cost TO the state has been
S342 800. From the Ward and Smith
fund, originally amounting to $25 ,554.-
81, and It's Accommodations, there has
been paid to former inmates of the
Home the sum of $16,71699, and there
remains on hand, in cash and bonds,
the sum of $15, 552.77.
At the Northern Hospital for the In
zane 757 patients have receiy ed treat
ment, of whom 65 were discharged re-
covered and So improved. The daily
average of patients was sos. The total
expenditures were 1882, 352 81, of which
$2l, 9S5 Sc were for additions, repairs