St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-07-20


tionably preferred that everybody live by his
own honest endeayors, and had the prisoner
refrained from crime, it would have been
true in his case. Such prisoners as are capa-
BILE support themselves, and this is sought OF
prison labor as reformatory means. The
present difficulties of the present prison
labor will disappear when the question OF
treating prisoners is understood. The
report explained the. progress made in
the peace price system in the different
states. We need to know each prisoners
proper place in the world to properly en-
ploy him. Whoever takes up the problem of
reforming prisoners will find it difficult, but
the sense of the prisoners ability to honest
work must be ascertained. His proper work
should be given him and he should be paid
for what he does. After all there will proba-
bly, be a remnant of incorrigibles for whom
penal labor may be the best If there be any
Legislative restriction on prison labor 1t
should be that the labor of incorrigibes
should not compete with honest labor, but no
valid objection can be urged to the pursuing
of any occupation in prison.
FEDERAL PRISONS.
Gen. Brinkerhoff of Ohio then read a re-
port On Federal prisons and prisoners"
prepared by committee of the National
Prison association, Of which he is chair
man. He said:
According to the attorney general there
were 1884 federal prisoners in confinement
July l, 1885, and $3.50 were received every ten
years. These are part from military prison
ers, 500 in number, confined in the prison at
Leavenworth, Kan. Two-thirds of them are
confined in the penitentiaries of twenty-three
States the other third in over 400 jails. The
prisoners of the Southern states go to Illinois,
New York and Detroit. From other sources
than the attorney general we know these are
kept without expense to the government.
Usually they go where their labor pays their
keeping. In some instances so or 10 cents
per day is paid by the government. The only
connection they have with the government
these prisoners have is an annual inspection
by an officer for that purpose. Other prison
ers are kept in jails, the cost being certified
by the United States marshal quarterly and
paid by the department. The military prison
at Leavenworth is well constructed and Or
gained institution. What is needed is the
revolution and reconstruction Of the entire
system, that the government care for its own
prisoners Congress, however, will do moth
ing until there is a public sentiment, and
whatever we do towards informing the public
will be for gOoe. Gen. arland, attorney
general, said the subject had received careful
attention by his department, and recommends
the construction. of prison-as had
his predecessor-for United States pris-
oners, and his arguments in favor
OF it unanswerable. He goes
further and recommends the construction Of
jaIlS for United States prisoners awiting trial,
wherever United States court is held in the
congress. which. if passed would make the
Improvement. 1t authorizes the president to
appoint commission Of five men to examine
the whole subject and procure places for
prison to accommodate 900 prisoners and 600
Juveniles, with all modern improvements at
an expense of not less than $1,000, 600 This
is now before the committee on public build
Jugs, and will not be reported this session.
Another bill is also before congress, with the
committee on labor, authorizing the collection
of statistics, and it is to be hoped that this
bill will pass.
PRISON LABOR.
DR.. r. G. Buckner of Texas read a short
paper on prison labor, when the discussion
was opened by eX5President Hayes, who
thought he could Say without going beyond
truth that this visit to Minneapolis was an
entirely pleasant one. The delegates saw
these two cities as one. Their opportuni-
ties were great, as also were their response
bilities.
The conference had principally discussed
how best to deal with prisoners as it would be
treated by them. An ounce of prevention
was worth pound of cure, and treatment of
the question should go beyond mere crimi-
nails, and study how to prevent the young
from becoming criminals. One of the speak
ers Saturday evening had said, what all be-
lieved, that education was the great prevent
i've of crime. and education is not neglected
in this country. He wished to protest against
| the fact that ne would disparage the public
schools. No dollar was paid into the treasury
by the taxpayer which yielded such results
as that for the public schools. No education
in this country was complete and perfect
which did not give the child the
capacity to earn an honest living
by his hands. Industrial training should
occupy one or two hours of each day in the
school life of all children. With proper phys
ical training the hope of a healthy manhood
ored all legitimate sports, but only the few
got the benefit of it. and it was often over
done. 1t was better to put the boys to the
anvil and the workbench. Everywhere this
one fact has struck me. that one or two men
in a meeting OF eight or ten can remember
exactly what was said at the last meeting,
spoke with a few words exactly to the point.
His history showed in early life he had been q
mechanic. The proper training of the mind
was not in Greek and Latin or mathematics,
but in the jack plane, the saw and the pillow.
These were better training to the judgment
and the memory than found in any book of
school or college. Teach every boy in the
country a trade by which he could make an
honest living, and the number of convicts
would be reduced. The weakness of the pres
ent system was that pupils left school with
out respect or habit or ability to labor. This
would cost but little, little less expended in
the decorations of architecture would enable
ST. Paul and Minneapolis to cover the expense
easily.
FURTHER DISCUSSION.
W. NJ. f. Round of New York, secretary
of the National Prison association. spoke
briefly on the subject of United States pris-
Oners:
Whenever he visited prison where the
convicts were slaves to the contract system,
he found large number of United States
prisoners. The one in his state that bid
highest for labor was considered the worst in
the state, so bad that u county judge de-
nounced it from the bench, saying that he
had been approached with money to induce
| him to send prisoners there, that money
| could be made out of them. At the Interna-
| tional Prison congress last fall, he was asked
! to say something of United States prisoners,
| and was compelled to fall back on the mill
| tary prison in LeaVenworth, and he deter
mined to do what he could to remove this
| stigma from the country, for he is proud to
| be an American. Gen. Brinkerhoff had lief t
| him little to say on the subject. The Ma
| tional Prison association desired to unity all
| the prison systems of the United States, and
| it needed the help OF Minnesota. If anything
| in the whole country was disgrace, it was
| the old county Jail, and he did not
want Minnesota to let it get too strong hold
| In the Elmira reformatory 81 per cent. of all
| prisoners were returned to the world honest
| and upright citizens. This showed the work
| ings of the Intermediate sentence. If heaven
would only send cyclone to sweep away the
| county jails and then infuse into all the
| spirit of enterprise which had built these two
cities, then these meetings would bear fruit
Rev. Robert W. Hill of Oregon thought
there might be some question of how far
the state should go in dealing with law
breakers, but certainly there must be reform
of the prisons and prisoners. In the
reformation of prisoners competent prison
officials must be had, who understand hui
man nature, not the creatures of political
opinions. Hon. F. II. Wines of Illinois
made the closing speech of the evening.
| He said he felt like saying ditto to Mr..
| Hayes, for the industrial question in the
| schools was vital one. If there were more
labor out of prisons there would be less cause
| for discussing labor in prisons. He was
| fIll hat tha <,f