Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-02

and he proved faithful in all
things. But after many years of expert.
ence, after a probation sufficient to have
established any mans character, the sud-
den information that this long. trusted man
had once been convict instantly banished
all the memories of his fidelity and honesty,
and one of his employers was thrown into
perfect passion Of horror and fear by the
intelligence. Captain Lees played very
noble part in this story. He placed the
facts before the alarmed business man,
showed him how utterly unjust and shame
full his suspicious were, and by administer
ing to him sharp and seasonable rebuke
for his want Of faith and reason, succeeded
in dissipating his apprehensions. and bring
ing him to a sense of his obligations. In
this case the timely Interpolation of Cap
tain Lees undoubtedly saved the reformed
man from blow which must have gone far
towards robbing him OF all hope, and might
well have thrust him back into his old evil
courses.
But there are not many such instances Of
fortunate endings to cases of the kind. The
rule is that when an employer discovers
that some one of his employees is former
convict he waits for nothing more, but in
stantly and with anger discharges the I'M
fortunate. Not only this, but he is tolera-
bly, certain to reproach the ex-convict with
having obtained employment under false
pretenses, though he must be perfectly well
aware that to advertise his shame would be
to debar himself from employment COM
pletely. The fellow workmen of the ex-
convict are quite as intolerant as the en-
ployers. They have been known to threat
en- strike unless some such unhappy
wretch was discharged. And in addition
to the pitiless attitude of society, the con-
Wet who endeavors to reform is exposed to
the constant assaults of his former associ.
a!es in evil. These latter give him no
peace after they have once found him out.
They levy hush-money and blackmail upon
him. They threaten him with exposure.
And after draining his pockets and ruin.
ing his prospects, they often succeed in
dragging him back to perdition.
What is the liberated convict to do
under these circumstances? The fiction of
the law is to the effect that when he leaves
the prison he has expiated his offense.
But this is only a fiction. The grim fact
is that he "drags, at each remove, a
"lengthening chain p" that he goes forth
enveloped in prison atmosphere, which
isolates him from his fellows; that society
refuses to forgive him; that once a convict
he is always a convict; that no amount of
good conduct, no service to the State or
the nation, no evidence of thorough and
complete reformation, can secure him, SO
long as he lives, against the sudden resur-
rection of his past offense, and the conse.
quent fresh condemnation of the com.
munity. Society in fact, while clamoring
to have its criminals reformed, refuses to
believe that their reformation is possible.
Society, which possesses so elastic con-
science that the millionaire who has waded
through fraud and knavery up to his throat
is admitted TO its inmost circles with
enthusiastic welcome, is nevertheless so
prudish in other respects that it insists on
condemning the man who may have CON-
mitted but one serious offense in his life,
to eternal shame and exile. 1t has no pity,
no forgiveness, no humanity, for this
wretch, unless indeed he has amasssd
wealth, and then it becomes blind and
deaf to all the evidences of his criminal
past.
Is it not most unreasonable to wonder
why so many convicts return to their evil
courses, under the circumstances What
else can they do? Every door is closed
against them. Every brow is knit
against them. No one viii employ them if
they tell the truth about themselves and
no one viii keep them if the truth is found
out after they have been employed. The
world demands that they shall be reformed,
but refuses to assist in the work of reforma-
ton, or to evince any confidence in its re-
atty. The practical verdict of society is
that they must remain convicts to the end
of the chapter. Clearly it must be hope
less to expect any general elevation of the
character OF our criminals while this taboo
is kept up. And it is the more to be dep
recated because it is neither consistent nor
the effect Of superior morality. The peo.
pie who affect horror at convicts consort
freely with far worse men than often find
their way into the penitentiary, for it is
not the absolutely worst men who recruit
the criminal classes, by any means. The
convict has a right to the opportunity
of earning an honest living, so far as the
law goes; but society denies him that
right. In so doing it destroys his better
resolutions, drives him to despair, and
thrusts him back into crime And Just SO
long as society continues to do this it will
be impossible for the most earnest philan.
thropists to effect any extensive reform in
the criminal elasses