Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-03-07
TIL JuTR MILL VERSUS pRrsoN
REFORM.

ne s.fusele Oh the part Of States to
49aks prison self-sus:sining by tie indus
tries condae1ec therein. is a notion as crude
as TIE spinniag Wheel IN the production of
fabrics, or as me old stage coach is q means
OF rspid transit. The costliest prison svs-
ten IS that whsch debases tue criminal re.
duces penal term to abject slavery. sub
]ee1s convic. 10 the brutality of uuedu-
Gated Officers and 10 debasing association
within the prison walls The prison sys-
tenn which increases crime in a common
wealth Is The costiest which could possibly
ps devised. That system which reduces
crime is the cheapest; and OF ali the de-
vices which constitute departure from
what has been discovered to be true peno.
logical system, jute mill, run day and
night, is perhaps The most conspicuous.
The convict acquires by this means. nc use
fui employment by which he can be self
Is piul; he acquires no discipline of indus
Try by which the bsser propensities of his
81 I'D may be subdued. and State which
orsiberstely condemns manslaughterer. a
prison, and subjects him TO servitude in
Jula mill, has no reason in the world for
olscharging him at any time because his
bic in the prison does not afford the slight
esf guarantee that if he was a criminal
when be entered he is less criminal when
~ IS discharged. Unless penitentiaries are
II some measure reformatory in their
nA' ure; unless The general tendency of
p illogical system is in the direction of
eliminating criminality from the pro-
pens.ties ana dispositions of men. unless
II influences the character of the convict in
the direction Of energizing those faculties
OF The mind upon which good citizen
SHIP depends, then it becomes constantly
angmenting force for wrong a steady re-
enforcement Of criminal tendencies in
seeiety, thereby tending TO the increase of
crime rather than It's diminution. The
peairentiaries u California are simply
prison pens. They are places where the
convicted criminals are herded together.
Society herds It's criminals in masses and
SEEKS to wiring from their physical capaoi-
tbs for labor some profit to the people of
tie State, and, notwithstanding this miser-
abe primitiversss in the development Of
pTisnn system. there are those who boast of
the progress tRat mas been made, and cite
the production Of jute bags as an evidence
ths' the prisoners are serving in a measure
some good office to society. With the
ohild-tike faith that jute mill is the one
log sought and lately discovered industry
" ich will subdue the criminal propeusities
o men, it is Kept in operation BY double
sniff and run dsy and night. The criminal
Of twenty sentercsd to term which will
cobHne him, even after the subtractious of
communications, period of ten years. has
reached The age of thirty when his dis.
charge las matured. He entered the
prlson devoid Of mechanical skill. devoid
OF capacity for usefulness, devoid of per
senal requirements, utterly devoid of that
zoanly character which a discipline
OF apprenticeship in some useful oc-
cuPaiion necessarily confers. He stands
al iute mill for ten wears
either in the day or the night time, and is
res'9reG 20 society. His conduct proved
before his incarceration, the existence of
cialinal tendencies. What guarantee does
- PRISON history sfford that those tenden-
G have been suodued ? He has acquired
no skill which may be valuable to him in
ihe world at large he has ACQUIRED no dis
c2nne OF diligence; no handicraft no in.
Production 70 these aspirations of the mind
wren are associated with pride of personal
requirement. The industries of the world
cannot make him available. The found.
ries' the machine shops, the work shops,
greet him as stranger. He has not been
initiated into any bsndicraft useful to him
IN Eie. The prison has given birth to
f'il!-grown infant. helpless as infancy, and
yet With physical and mental maturity.
Deee.oDment u mental characteristics and
TIE formation Of character are processes
whiea are never arrested So long as 3
men 'iyes, his metal aspirations are pro-
oE'sas charaeter, forming motive, fashion
M tae soul. WHAT is there in jute mill
t. produce high ambitions, noble aspira-
tons, better Standards of human duty
'ing wha'evsT. The jute-mill grad
ns.r. after ten years of Incarceration. has
Undergone nocaange ofimpulse, OF concep-
tinn Of duty, or OF the attributes of
G. -raeier Re sRs existed for that time il
ate OF sentimental suspension. To The
ve. best of men, ciyiiizing and bumani5.
H. inhueaces are necessary the Influence
OF books, of eleyatlag association, of forces
Calculated to direct the aspirations into
worthy channe.s and even with all taese
int1snces-in1reaces of home, Of wife. of
chlidsen, of society, of religion, men fall
away from the risht path. II, therefore
IT, discharged convict who has been de-
ps'ved OF all thfse Influences, fails to he
cone good CT zar is he deserving of cen
sGie The greatest possible Ingenuity
conlc nor inveai d condition more certain
to saersizs a. rs evil propensities of "a
tnye than prison system with iute mill |
snamng day a1a night, as its great cepga |
reiaTmstory iussrumentality. Thoushttu
ard 2hiianihs9vic men, enthused with the
tsfYor Of phiianiaropic purposes. have de
yo.ei their lives % that highest realm of
beaevoiencs, the reformation of the GRIM
inai classes. Eae results of their observa-
tscn nave been given to the world, and the
assiss .tion Of iaCse results and the infer
eRees and conclusions flowing therefrorp,
constitute the iudpient BEGINNINGS OF
science known as peaoloey. The most
glaring retrogrsssion Of all that has been
knefG, all Shst has been discovered, ali
ths' hss been vonchsafed TO the world on
u subject, ! > .uie mill
No NE who hss observed tie course Of
IT, Nsw Yosk yfnss expected that jour
ma 70 tiad a@ylains 10 TIE inaugural of
President Harrison worthy of commenda-
ton. The Ti'aes POSSIBLY thinks, by this
tine, that i; IS iitsie singular that nearly
ali toe people 81 Tie Union differ from it
in IS estimate Of the idress. That paper
is a egnic; i, GAGS very little in this world
tast rises to is conception of what is