The Springdale news., 1888-12-14
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

1 Attorney General Garland, In His Annual Report. Makes an Urgent Appeal for the Esta biishment of National Pentten- tiaries and Reforma ories for United States CoDvfcts.
 1 WASHINGTON, Dec. 5.-AttOrney- -General Garland, in his annual report, makes an earnest appeal to Congress to provide for the construction of Government peniten- l tiaries and reformatories. Recent laws
 that have been enacted by States with re- spect to the labor of prisoners prove more conclusively than ever, he says, the abso- lute need of such institutions. Provisions should at once be made looking to the erection of at least one United States
 penitentiary, and, if possible, reform- atOry. The objection in the minds of many that the cost of conducting such an institution would be so much greater than the existing arrangement Is | being almost overcome by the fact that the favorable contracts which the depart ment has heretofore been able to enter in-
 to can no longer be made. This arises from the fact that laws passed recently by several of the States and by Congress prevent the employment of prisoners on contract labor. This necessitates a resort to experiments in other systems as pro-
 vison must necessarily be made for the
 working of conyicts, if discipline is to be maintained and the prisoners health and comfort considered. A large number of prisoners convicted in United States courts are those who have committed but
 a single offense, and who have but con- menced career of crime. If they could
 be prevented from associating with hard- ened criminals and not confined i'll an in
 stitution which in every way suggests a criminal life, many, perhaps, could be re- formed. Besides, many are young men
 who have had positions of trust and re-
 sponsibility, and who, through tempta-
 tion, have committed some crime against the laws Of the country. These, and the
 class referred to above, should not
 be confined in prison, but the Government should provide a suitable reformatory where proper
 influences could be thrown around
 them and their reformation effected, as is done now in several States. In addition to all this, he says, it would seem that the
 United States should have model prisons
 and reformatories of it's own in which to i eonfne its criminals, and provisions could be made for the employment of the inmates at some suitable industries on system of labor which would not violate the recent act of Congress, nor be incon- sistent with the laws passed by the sever al States and the prevailing opinions rela- tive to the subject of contract labor. 1 The Attorney General recommends a spe- eial appropriation of s315, 900 for fees and expenses of United States deputy mar shals, and a readjustment Of the marshals' fee bill, which has not been revised for thirty years. He also suggests the reor- ganiZation of the official force of the de- partment and an increase of the force to correspond with the increased amount of work done during the last four years. On this subject the Attorney General says: ''The work of the department during the past year was a continuation of what has been it's policy during the whole of the present Administration: strict and vigorous enforcement of the laws. For nearly four years the department has kept this object in view, and the results of its action are very apparent. Because Of
 the diligent prosecution of suits for the
 cancellation of fraudulent patents and against timber trespassers and plunder- CTS of the public domain, it has come to be understood that the laws enacted for the regulation of the public lands, both as to their general disposition and manage
 ment, and as granted to railroads and other corporations, are of binding force, and are to be rigidly and impqrtially exe- cutcd.p