The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-09-18
FEW WOMENINPRI
DOES THAT PROVE THAT THEY ARE
BETTER THAN MENl

"
eating the suhject-A Penhenhary
Warden Tells Her That the Courts Are
I.n,.n,. lint She p,fotes Him Easily,
| have been studying prison statistics,
and ! find the average proportion is 20
women to 200 men. In the case OF the |
Columbus (O.) penitentiary there are only |
2S women to nearly 1000 men. At the
Western penitentiary in this state there
are 10 women to over 600 men. Talking
with the courteous warden OF this latter
institution few days since, ! asked him
for his theory and got 1t with readiness
1t was with a mind made up that he an
swered, at IL largely owing to the lenien-
cy Of the court that more women are not
convicted"
But" said ], people must be ar,
raigned before they can he convicted ana
there are proportionately so few women
brought to trial. Elther they 90 not Nio-
late the law, or they are more clever in Gov
ering up their tracks, and this with clev-
erness that amounts TO talent, ana even II
this last he true does there not sun remain
something 10 he shlu Tor them from
worldly point OF View Inc Sptptans
taught their youth the sin was not IN
stealing, but in being found out, you
know" Aud the warden agreed that the
Spartans were not all dead yet, or at least
that their teachings had lived after them,
but would concede nothing TO women on
the ground of morality.
Women are something or bother 10
most men, but To wardens IN particular,
have concluded, ana having known them
both wisely and well suppose when one
such custodian insists that women oil
low grade are worse than men OF the same
| grade we should accept MS Judgment
without question But what want To ma
out is why there are not as many women
| as men OF this same grader warden
Wright goes further and is especially posi-
tive that women in general are not better
than men, and that once bad they are more
incorrigible, and it Is his experience that
there are not so many reformations among
women convicts as among the men, by
which we may infer that women love
wrongdOing.
out of the fullness of his knowledge MIR.
Wright argues that by the time women
land in the pcnitentiary they are so stepped
in sin as to be quite past redemption here,
and got the impression he had not much
hope of them hereafter.
But let us see about the iniquity OF wo-
men. In the first place, there are more
women than men in the world. Therefore
IL women are more immoral than men
ought they not to commit ut least an equal
number of crimesg
.. But they have not equal opportunity
They are not in the world as men are,
therefore are not so beset by temptations,
Is the reply. But we may deny this, since
there are now over 500 occupations for
women and all crowded until there is
scarcely any room, even at the top, where
as in 1850 there were but 40 employments
in which women earned living.
They are now by the hundreds working
shoulder to shoulder with men in all the
professions and majority of the trades.
And are they not subjected to the same
temptations 1t is now quite the exception
to fnd man on the cashiers STOOL III
stores and restaurants, etc, and could
there be better card TO woman honestly
And yet 1t has been SAID women are only
given TINS place ana ike places OF respoh'
sihility because they can he hired for less
money. 80 more the temptation 10 steal
r then. II women are so prone TO <" 10 such
lengths To gratiiy their love Tor uress, as
has been asserted, would they not, unless
morally better be more likely to steal than
, men VINO are PAID living salary ana nave
less provocationE
But VINO ever heard OF woman running
away with funds ihtrusted TO herF Iher'
Is no such curiosity on eNhlDltloh IN th'
human menagerle at the western pehiteh
tiary at least, though, to tell the truth
there Is greater one-that OF horst
thlefl The mention OF TINS freak iehlhih'
suggests one more manly pursuit as Tree
to women as to men. why do not mor'
women steal horsesf They admire them
and surely a stolen horse Is worth as mucl
owned or sold to woman who would stea
as to a mann
And are not women as clever with thu
penn Then why not Jane the penman a
well ms Jimt Yet how seldom we hear o
women forging
Prison reports the country over TO
1912 show an alarming increase in tn
population OF such institutions, but suci
statistics do not show proportionate IN
crease III crime among women. one OF IN
propelling forces leading TO crilninall'!
/. upon which the authorities are quit
agreed Is the desire 10 i've beyond legiti
mate means, and ever since women begaI
wearing store clothes they have beer
accused of this very thing. Why, then