The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-08-29

him, to not only work diligently and
willingly, but to learn all he can of the la
Dor you place him at? Don't you suppose
it would have tendency to teach him the
true value of money, and instill in his mind
the desire to save? l could go on pro-
pounding question upon question that would
be difficult to answer in an impartial man
ner, without approving such plan. but
there is no need of so doing. DR.. T. d.
ScOuller, superintendent of the Illinois state
reform school. in abiding to public opinion
regarding criminals, says: 1--WE must have
the sympathy of the criminal in the efforts
we make in his behalf. 1t is easier to
change criminals behavior than his pur-
poses, and the most important point in his
career is when he is discharged from the
prison, and here there needs to be much
more done than at present, whether by state
aid or private philanthropy. Politicians
never will do this. sectarianism never can
do it, and it can never be accomplished till
the lever is lifted by PUBLIC OPINION"
Undoubtedly the greatest obstacle in the
reformation of the criminal is public Opin-
ion. A gentleman who is we'll known to
every inmate of this prison, and l may say,
universally admired by them. said to me
some time since: 1T is beyond my cOmpre-
hensiOn why the religious people as class,
doubt the professions of the convict, when
he claims lie has reformed. Let man be
ever SO bad and have escaped Imprisonment,
and they will welcome him into their
churches with open arms. but let him be an
eX-cOnvict. while they may proffer good
advice and kind Words they will not place
half as much confidence in him as they
would in a man who, i'll all probabilities,
had committed far more serious crimes
against society than the eX-cOnviet has in
his whole life."
They tell us the term ''ex-convct" is fast
becoming obsolete, but doubt it very much,
for the simple reason that public opinion
regarding the convict. has as yet undergone
very little change. You must first under
take to change human nature before you
can expect the convict to reform. so long
as you look upon him as you do at the pres
ent day. This is somewhat of a depression
from the subject before us, still l alluded
to it in order to more fOrcibly demonstrate
the importance of enabling the convict to
obtain means wherewith to support himself
upon his discharge. There is not a man
within these walls to-day, but who would
exert every faculty to learn all he possibly
could, and would realize that the more pro-
ficient he became the greater his earnings
would be. A few years ago cOOperage was
part Of the work carried on in this prison.
and many of the men were enabled to make
over time money. There was but one shop,
employing but a small percentage of the
inmates, and the requests to be put to work
in that shop. aud the dissatisfied feeling
among those who were deprived of the
opportunity to earn money, became so gen.
eral that the officials finally discontinued
the work in order to stop the strong feeling
OF discomfort. Scarcely Sabbath passes
but that we are eXhOrted to earn an honest
living. PhilanthrOpists come to us and tell
us to ''Have a Purpose" and Hurry Up"
My misguided friends. we have purpose
already, and if you who picture to Us in
such glowing colors. the innumerable adj
vantages of earning honest money, will
only put your preceptS into practice by CIV
ing us the opportunity to do so. we will
hurry up' fast enough to satisfy the most
exacting. Calmly study the matter over.
and endeavor to see the fallacy of placing
man at hard labor in prison, with the
expectation that he will willingly exert
himself to perform it faithfully, without
the least incentive to do SO, and then ask
yourself, if in your honest opinion. it would
not only be practicable and advisable, but
one of the strongest refOrmatOry methods,
to pay the convict a fair proportion OF his
earnings If you really want to reform
him, you must necessarily meet him half
way, but if you are not willing to do so. and
leave him to struggle alone against the strong
influence OF public opinion, you had best
cease hurting at him precepts that the pub.
lie fail to practice. Pay the convict and
reform the man. INGOMAR.
A year ago experiment was tried in journal
mn