The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-06
TO SECURE WORK
FOR EX-CONV|CTS,
Mrs. Booth Addresses a Pa
thetic Appeal to Cali
fornianS.
GOVERNOR BUDD'S GIFT.
The Executive Makes a Per.
Sonal Donation for the
Cause.
SEVENTY AGENCIES STARTED
A Well.Formed Plan for Finding EN-
ployment for Convicts Who
Really Want Work.

When Mrs. BalIington Booth, the Saliva
zionist, was on this coast some months
ago, the lady gave the State prisons q
great deal of attention with the view to ar
ranging for employment for discharged
convicts who were anxious and ready to
retrieve their names and become desirable
and respected citizens of the community.
Mrs. Booth visited Governor Budd, and
had long conference with him bearing
on the proposed work, with the result that
the Governor became quite interested in
the proposition, and offered to give the
Army all the support and assistance in
his power so that something could be &C.
complished on the lines laid down by her.
Since Mrs. Booths departure from San
Francisco she has been in constant COM
munication with the Governor and repre-
sentatives of the Army here, and issues
over her signature the following righteous
and sincere appeal to the people of this
State:
To the People of California;; During my late
trip to California no meeting so thoroughly
stirred my heart as that which took place in
the San Quentin penitentiary. l have always
felt special interest in those whose lives
have come under the keenest degradation of
sin and who have been placed away from their
walls OF prison. think, however, that in
terest has been more fixed and brought home
TO my own heart, and l have more longed to
put 1t into practical form IN the helping OF
prisoners, through my visiting san Quentin,
than by any other experience have so far had
in my public life for God.
only wish | could burn in upon the hearts
of the fortunate the terrible need and sorrow
and cry for help that reaches my heart from
the imprisoned ones all over this our country.
II seems 10 me that the general public, COM
posed OF fortunate ones upon whose lfe the
blight of shame and imprisonment has never
fallen, cannot avoid facing the facts and &C.
knowledging that great responsibility lies
somewhere for the dealing with and effectually
helping of this class. We cannot take great
herds OF our fellow-men, however far they may
have gone in wrongdoing and lawlessness,
brand them malefactors and then turn from
them, giving them no way of removing the
brand from their foreheads and the disgrace
from their life, without realizing that some
where, from some source, human help and
sympathy must be given them or else they Ia
Dor under cruel wrong and bitter injustice
that will find its way back like a boomerang of
misfortune upon society ut large
In trying 10 bring this matter before your
htarts, there are one or two Things to which
wish to call your attention. First-It must be
remembered that many OF the men who are to-
day serving terms in the penitentiaries have
never had chance in life; that under the
same circumstances those who, from their
honest and upright position to-day, are con-
demning them might themselves have fallen.
II you were to-day to talk TO the criminals who
are suffering the just punishment of heinous
crimes you would find that many of them have
had the world against them since the day they
started in it. No home influences to hell
them, no Christian hand to point them to
Christ, no honest, upright friend to stir their
dormant consciences, but hands on every side
10 drag them down, to teach them crime and
to make them what they have become to-day
The words of murderer hanged in San Quentin
whilst was on the coast still finger in my
mind, 81 never had a home" and So do the
words of poor thief whom we reached by our
slum work in New York, who told us that the
nearest approach TO a home he had ever known
was the warmth and comfort of a jail kitchen.
Should this not arouse our pity for the pris.
oner instead OF making US look upon him as
some wild outlaw, who has willingly turned
his back upon goodness and RICH teousness and
chosen the paths OF wrong doing?
Then 1t should be remembered that many
many, during their term in Jail or penitentiary
resolve TO do better. They have time 10 think
They are separated from the temptations which
have surrounded them to a certain extent and
they are feeling the consequence of crime
When the iron doorsFswing open and they pass
out into free air, bearing their own name once
more instead of being known only as a num-
Der, what faces them? Why the cruel fact that
they are marked men, surrounded by tempta-
lions and with the world against them.
The criminal records of this country, or any
other for the matter OF that, will show the
great number who, having once become erimi-
nails continue in crime, being arrested again
and again. Some would have you believe that
this is because they are criminals born and
their natures turn always to the perpetra ton
TO be, butt should never be taken as an existing
TACT in any criminals life till he has had every
chance TO reform: In most cases, it is not from
the criminals yolition, but from the stress of
over-mastering circumstances. Why do they
steal, lie, deceive, scheme, plot and murder :?
Because they enjoy it? mol Because thew
must live, and because in many instances they
have no alternative. Because the bitterness
of their cruel lot and the hardness of the
worlds heart toward them has entered into
their very soul with poison that makes them
feel they are veritable Gains, with every mans
hand against them. Hence, they declare in
response: "And our hands shall be against
every man.
Prison life reforms very few. There the
young offender, the old hardened. vicious ma.
ture and the sensitive, educated and refined
natures are, by force OF circumstances, brought
together in the one awful leveling influence OF
disgrace. / believe there are many noble
hearts and beautiful natures within the con-
fines of the prison, as truly as know there are
scoundrels outside, who, through money, OF
name. or influence, have been more fortunate
and have kept their freedom. Think of the
terrible modification. Think of the awful
heart-burning. Think of the terrible bitter
ness that must be borne home upon them,
when their efforts of honesty and their deter
limitations to do better are thwarted by the
suspicious and GOODNESS with which they are
met on the new and difficult path on which
they hope to push their way TO the point OF
once more becoming honest and useful citi-
Zens.
These men should be redeemed. For land
tell you as one who knows them) within their
poor cTuS1eQ anu WOuDueQ uehTlSp luSIe are
bright possibilities and noble traits of charac-
ter, which, if helped to develop and brought
forward by the touch of tender love and divine
pity, shall yet triumph ever all the tendencies
that have dragged them downward.
1t should again be remembered that in many
cases drink was the curse that brought the
criminal 10 where he is to-day. There are
those outside the prison walls who are slaves
TO drink, and only by good fortune have re-
tanned their place in the world: who are just
as much in danger at any moment, while un-
der this terrible sense-robbing, conscience
drowning power, to commit similar offenses.
Both the drink-slave outside the jail and the
one within 1t need our help and call forth our
pity. But cannot see why one class should
be born with, and given chances, and looked
upon as not yet beyond hope, while the other
Is forever stigmatiZed because punishment
and the shame ofimprisonment have overtaken
him.
1t seems to me in all conscience that impris-
onment with all IL means, is punishment
enough, and that when the law and State say
10 man, "f our term is up; justice is salts
fed; your punishment is over" society should
echo earnestly and practically the words once
spoken 10 disgraced outcast by the pure lips
OF the loving Savior, go and sin no more
AS 1t is the sentiment of the world generally
shouts after him, There he goesl Watch him
He Is DANGEROUS man. He is sure to be up to
his old tricks again"
Is there anything more calculated to force q