The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-05-07
The National Conference of Charities
and Corrections.

Inc N0tOn0l conference OF Cn0f1t10S
and Corrections.
Now that altruism in one or another of
its manifestations has come to occupy so
much OF the public mind. and the study of
social questions may be said to be almost
the fad of the hour, it is rather singular
that the annual meetings OF a body which is
doubtless best entitled to speak with author
ity on subjects of philanthropy and pencil
Ogy have commanded very little of public
attention. Still more singularly the news.
papers. usually so quick to apprehend the
drift of events and to foresee, if they do not
form. the public interest. have entirely
failed to perceive the significance of these
meetings. and seem to be totally unaware
that their proceedings have been potent in
influencing legislation, and that they are,
though indirectly and without observation,
an important factor in the formation of pub
lie opinion on the subjects which come
within their scope.
This body. the National Conference of
Charities and Corrections. has issued call
to it's eighteenth annual meeting, to be held
in indianapolis from the 18th to the goth of
May.
1t will doubtless surprise our readers to
be told that large number of them are in
all probability members eX OfficiO of this
conference. There are, indeed. few intel
ligent men and women of. our day who are
not connected with some charitable or re-
fOrmatory or other philanthrOpic institution
as managers or trustees or members of COM
mitteeS. or who are not active workers in
some organized form of benevOlence, and
all such. though they be as little aware of
it as M. Jourdain that he was talking prose,
are in fact entitled to a seat in this confer
ence and to voice in its discussions.
The great task OF the sociological refOrmer
is to educate public opinion and to inform
the public mind. AS Bishop Gillespie said
at one of these conferences, Public abuses
do not exist where there is public knowl-
edge" and that public abuses do exist in
such large numbers show how much the
community needs such a fountain of illu-
mination as these conferences are. Many
public abuses of long standing have indeed
been abated as the direct result of the light
| shed abroad from these meetings. For in
stance, it was reported at the Boston Con-
| ference. several years ago. that there was
boy in Jail; and within year, through the
exertiOns of members of that conference,
law had been passed making it impossible
that there should ever be boy in Jail in
Massachusetts,. And very much of the wis
est legislation in several States, especially
with reference to the care and the reforma-
ton OF dependent and delinquent children,
is to be traced directly to this source.
| 1t is evident that the knowledge to which
Bishop Gillespie referred is the knowledge
not only of facts but of theories and of
methods; it is that sociological culture
which. like culture in its larger sense, con-
sists. as Matthew Arnold has told us, in
knowing the best that has been thought and
said. And it is precisely here that these
conferences are of value. The papers pre-
Sented reports of committees and Others)
embOdy the results of wide research con-
trOlled by large practical experience. and in
the discussions which follow may often be
heard some of 1.-The best" which has ever
''been said" on these subjects. In the COM
ing conference. for example, in the reports
of committees OH public indoor and outdoor
relief, prison reform. the commitment and
detention of the insane, the public cafe of
children. and other subjects. there will
doubtless be brought forward such advanced
and well-reasOned views, supported by such
evidence of practical knowledge. as. would
secure, were the meetings attended by the
| great body OF legislators and workers, that
our entire system of charities and cOrrec-
tiOns would be placed upon a new basis of
enlightened and efficient treatment. In
these conferences the scientist and the hu-
manitarian meet, and here at least it has
long since become an axiom that there is no
true science which is not humane.
But for the present. and perhaps for
long time to come, the best results of these
conferences are to be seen in the improved
work of officials who have to do with pencil
Ogy and charity. through the illumination
and inspiration which they here receive. 1t
is of course, only the best class of these Of
ficials who attend these meetings. but
through the knowledge and the enthusiasm
which they thus gain the standard for all
officials is being surely. if very gradually.
raised. To look at the men and women,
wardens and matrOns of public institutions,
who attend these conferences, to hear their
utterances. and to note their devotion to
their work. is to gain new hope for the
future of our dependent and criminal
classes. The Century.
When we expect of any individual more
hon no Of foa <hot