The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-06-10

been intempeI8te, 200 whose mothers
had been SO. and 1sO whose parents, both
father and mother. had been intemper-
ate. 800 Of the boys had used strong
drink. 24OO used tobacco, 800 had been
convicted Of crime, while 1173 had
been simply homeless and neglected
Four ugly facts glare at us from this
statement: 1st--220O drunken parents;
2d-2200 wretched homes with their
baneful Influences; 3d-as many vicious
boys as there had been drunken fathers;
4;h and finally-a cruel mingling Of the
pure with the corrupt. These facts bring
out irresistibly the chief subject for con-
sideration in the warfare against evil,
viz: "The regulation of influences"
Humanity and Christianity do all that
they can: but they can only persuade.
There are cases where compulsion is
necessary, and there can be no compul-
sion without law. We concede to the
law the right to interfere in the sanitary
conditions of our homes. We ask her
to 60 farther and compel certain de-
gree of moral purity-compel 1t by re-
quiring labor from the idle, education
for the children, and Imprisonment for
the drunken in institutions that are re-
formstory and Industrial. We ask pro-
vision for the 1173 homeless, neglected.
but as yet pure boys, and all the others
that are to come; for homeless girls who
have not yet commenced . vicious ca
reer, and suggest that system Of labor
be connected with the jails, that they
be only places of detention, and that the
time for OBTAINING inmates be as short as
possible. We ask for penal institutions,
midway between the jsils and States
prisons, which shall be fer adults what
the Reform Schools are for boys. That
is, as many work-houses as the State
needs and can support, which shall have
a sy stem of labor. means for education,
and inducements for reform and praise
worthy efforts. Such institutions would
alleviate three evils: A work.house
would effect all the punishment some
crimes deserve, and infict q disgrace
sooner recovered from. The second evil
to be allevisted is the corrupting and ex-
pensive idleness Of the jails. II q man
must lie imprisoned out of the peniten-
tiary it is better for him and more eco
nomical for the state to have HIM work
II the law would put the drunkard in
Jail 90 days for one offence, 1S0 for two,
and 1 year for the Sd, finally his term
would be long enough to check his ap-
petite, and give him control over it.
But it would be far better to put his
time and strength and whatever genius
he may have, into labor that will pay
bis board and clothing and leave a trifle
every week to place in the town treasury
for the support of his family. Some of
Us have come to look upon o reformatory
work-house, upon some such plan rs
this as the only way the majority of
drunkards can be compelled to take care
of their own and work out their own sal
walton. Drunkenness is crime that
cannot be hid; it can be proved and
should be punished, and we believe the
law has right to hold and control this
class Of criminals. The influence of the
certainty of a long imprisonment follow
ing spree would prevent in many cas-
es any spree at all; and the law would
keep more men from drunkenness than
it does from stealing did it visit it with
as severe punishments."
We have given not more than third
of this very thoughtful and logical paper
and was obliged to condense what we
have used, the whole filling nearly three
columns of the Huron County Chronicle.