The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-07-15

standard of honor and prepare him to
lead an upright life when he reached
manhood. Were these objects faith
fully carried out, all would be well,
but say positively, they are not Out
of school of five hundred boys, 1 am
safe in saying large number are now
or have been, confined in state prisons.
Only eight of the number that l knew,
improved their time for self better
ment and are today useful members
of society.
The fault does not lie so much with
the officers; experience has taught me
that they do take real interest in
their wards; but in the fact that the
boys from the rural districts come in
contact with the worst element from
our large cities when at an age in
which they are easily influenced. A
boy from the country or from the
smaller cities and villages receives
more harm than all his boyish pranks
would ever have done to the commu-
nifty in which he lived. The boys from
the large cities who constitute perhaps
two-thirds of the total population of a
reform school, find this an excellent
opportunity to 'show off" their pro-
ficiency in the use of slang and their
supreme knowledge of "ways that are
dark"
The boys are divided off into what
are known as families" Each family
consists of from seventy-fve to eighty
boys, in charge of a man and his wife
who act as family managers" Upon
them devolves the duty of keeping
this number of boys in order, but as
the boys are in yard of an acre or
more they fail to know quite all that
is going on among them. My expert
ence has taught me that the boys have
more genuine theory and system in
their youthful villany than some older
and more experienced heads. In those
yards. in groups of six or eight, (they
nearly always form in groups) are
evolved the criminal habits which
follow them through life.
1 expect that very many deluded
persons will stand by the "things that
be- and say that my theory is all bosh;
but will stake my very life that six
out of every ten professional crooks
throughout the country, telling the
truth, will admit such to be their case.
The boys receive some training
! which if utilized might serve them a
good purpose. Most of them can nei-
ther read or write when they are re-
ceived and slang and vulgarity make
up about all the language they know.
| Under able teachers they acquire the
ability to read and to express them
selves correctly in conversation, so
that the most dissipated vagrant that
ever stole a chicken or blacked a shoe
will, when released, have the appear
ance of gentleman. But it will soon
be discovered that his seeming gentil-
ity is not backed up by true desire
for self betterment, and when the iron
hand of authority is removed he will
retrograde and either become tramp
or end his days in some prison.
1t seems that there might be some
system of grading devised to keep the
boys of different classes in families by
themselves. Such system could work
no harm to the most degraded boys
and would prevent gross injustice
being done to boys of a better class.
The subject is at least worth the ear
nest consideration of those in authority
and those interested in the betterment
of institutions wherein boys are incar-
cerated for trivial offenses or at the
request of parents who deem it too
much trouble to raise their children
morally, and so fall upon the charity
of the state for what the parent should
be compelled to do in ordinary cases.
| D. T. S.
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