Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-09-30
DISCIPLINE IN THE FAMILY.
An Interesting Address at the National
Prison Congress.

An Interesting Address at the National
Prison Congress.
CINCINNATI, Sept. 10 AT the national
prison congress yesterday Warden Brush,
of Sing Sing peniientiary, delivered an
address on the restraint of children. in
which he said: a large share of the men
and boys who are incarcerated in our
state prisons and penitentiaries are there
because they had no proper discipline in
the family and were allowed by over-in
diligence TO play truant instead of attend
ing school and therefore received no
school discipline Often when | have
been asked what are the causes or partic-
ular cause thar send most Of orr men to
prison | have of late years invariably an
swered, The want OF family discipline
As the TwiG Is Rent the Tree, Inclined.
"Ihe indulgence of the father aud
mother who allow the child 10 grow up
without any discipline TO form character
leads almost inevitably TO evil ways and
consequently 10 prison. The child even
Of tender years who is INDUCED in its
natural waywardness and who is allowed
to say 10 its father or mother, 1 will or
i won't Is in fair way to become an
inmate of our penal institutions Parents
of their children which leads them into
crime from a practice of deceiving them
The intelligent child, when deceived by
its parents in small things. is likely to
form evil habits which in its future life
will not be easily eradicated
Opposed to Indefinite Sentences
ut IL curious fact that many. If not
the most, of our worst criminals are our
best behaved prisoners This shows con-
clusively that il is nearly, if not quite
possible for our prison officers to Judge
from the conduct of a man in prison what
his conduct will be when released from
prison. This is the strongest argument
in my mind against the indefinite SEN
tence. For if "A man is to be released on
his good behavior in the prison and his
apparent reformation while there we
may, and very likely will, release many of
our worst criminals. while men of lesser
tact. who transgress the rules for want
of firmness and decision, would remain in
prison for long time, If not for life.
Hard Work n Necessity.
"The first thing necessary to form dis
cipline among prisoners is work-hard
woodwork just the same as is done out
side; work in which the prisoner can see
something grow in his hands and form a
perfect article rs production of hi, labor.
/ consider that work which will not do
this is no better than idleness No prison
discipline Is complete that does not give
the inmates n fair education. Every man
discharged should he able to read and
write. II the family discipline. the school
discipline and the discipline of our police
and courts could he certain and severe as
it can and should be made in our prisons
the character of the men would he so
formed that our prisons would soon be
come depopulated
Hardly Sufficient Explanation.
Commissioner Harris said he had inves-
tigated the causes of the now well recog-
nized fact that crime increases with edu-
cation, and his conclusion WAS that ar
rests for intemperance, brought about by
the zeal of the Prohibitionists, had swelled
the total of offenses