The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-11-07

in prison after they are reformed.
When they have the purpose and the
power to fill their proper place in the
world, they should be given chance to
do so. We would have little confidence
in a physician, nor long employ him,
who would keep his patients in bed,
plying them with pills and powders
long after they had sufficiently recov-
cred from their ailments to go out into
the open air and sunshine. What the
criminal needs is constitutional
treatment, continuing only sufficient
length of time to insure his recovery.
Sending criminals to county jails and
work houses is illogical and inexcusa-
BILE. Criminals that are sent to these
places are the most thoroughly crimi-
nal of all offenders against the law and
stand most in need of reformation. In
no way has society shown such an utter
disregard for results, as it has in send
J ing men who are filled with criminal
, disease, to places that offer them no
hope of improvement, and every oppor-
tunitv for deterioration. 1t is here re-
tributive punishment bears its legiti-
) mate fruit. Over these doors might
Justly be written, 'HE WHO ENTERS
HERE SHOULD LEAVE ALL HOPE Be
| HIND" If it was the purpose of So
ciety to deny to the criminal the right
to become an honest man and place in
t his way every obstacle in its power; to
4 make retributive punishment thorough
f and lasting to the end of life, and the
? life of his posterity-if the world be
n cursed with posterity from such asource
t then Jail sentences and wOrk-hOuse
d commitments would be reasonable and
Ii effective.
1t has been suggested that mans nor
5, NAL condition is to be a willing men,
d Der of society. When he, from any
n cause, becomes detached, it is both to
k his interest and to the best interest of
It society, that he be restored to his nor.
s. NAL condition at the earliest date he is
Is competent to assume the responsibility
le such restoration carries with it. The
S, parole system, which is the logical and
9r efficient companion of the indetermi
st nate sentence, enables society to take
I'd back it's detached member on proba
at ton and it he serves the probationar!
period satisfactorily, to receive him in
ly to full fellowship.
le 1t has been suggested that we stud.
IT, the criminal instead of the crime, AM
10 believe in no direction have we mad
st such slow progress as in their analyst
of and classification, nor will we max
as progress in classifying them until w
is pay less attention to what they hav
10 done and give more attention to wha
or. they are, and what it is possible TO
ng them to become. The man who com
rk mits highway robbery or burglary, ha
al the elements in him, if they were proI
&c. erly cultivated and directed. to make
lie man, but the sneak thief and pickpocke
nd have little manhood to cultivate or d
TX. rect-he is a weakling, physically, me1
ge, tally and morally. We send the one
,m prison ten years and destroy his mai
nj hood and the other to the work-hous
ize and increase his criminal qualitie
lb- The class to which a criminal shOul
of be assigned should be determined
ep- the kind of treatment he will requil
;he and the length of time it will probab
nj take to reform him. These class
as should be kept separate so as to adm
till of difference in treatment and disc
ur- pline. The means employed to refor
md the class of criminals committed to tt
ses. Reformatory. readily suggest ther
ed, selves. The Reformatory is an educ
ual tional institution. The conditions u
flu der which it works differ somewh
its, from the ordinary school, but it's pu
End pose and underlying principles are t
ETY. same.
ira One of the most eminent authoriti
lim on school education. (Rosenkrans, t
rye German philosepher,} has stated t'
be principles that are worthy of the atte
tely ton of all those interested in reform
ain tory work, namely:-"Punishme
ion; should, before all things, impress up
nen him, the pupil, the recognition of t