The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-05

board or corrections and charities, and has
who are interested in the uplifting and re-
claiming Of incorrigible girls and women Grim
inals.
W. H. Houlton, of the state reformatory,
spoke in part as follows
The subject given me is what the Re-
formatory Thinks" and l will say at the
the start the reformatory thinks, and strong
Iy believes that there should somewhere in
this state be reformatory for women.
When we note that of the almost 700 per-
sons in the prison and reformatory, there are
but five females, or but one woman to 1870
men, it is SO startling a fact that we are i'm
mediately led to question: why 1T is so. is
it possible that our mothers are so much
better than our fathers, our sisters so su-
per1Or to our brothers, our daughters so much
less faulty than sons, as this condition.
would seem to indicate? Is nearly all the
evil in our race confined to one sex?
AS superintendent for twenty-six years OF
union Sunday school, much Of the time the
only Sunday school in town, and with per-
sonal acquaintance with almost every chllo
in town, my experience leads me to conclude
that girls are more shielded from temptations
that lead to crime than boys are. Boys have
so many more resources for excitement and
recreation than girls that it harder to hold
them in Sabbath school, especially after
twelve to fourteen years of age. This leads
me to conclude that, excluding our girls from
many Of the privileges o-called-of our
boys, is not an unmixed evil, and does largely
account for the disparity Of the sexes in our
prisons.
But all this still leaves the large reason why
there are not many women receiving the
counted for by the fact that the state has
failed to provide the proper and necessary OPP
portunities for It, / was told by the matron
Of the woman's department Of Joliet prison
that about One-third of the women were there
for murder, about two thirds of the whole
were negro wenches, which race seems to be
much given to violent Of knives and
other dangerous weapons in passionate re-
Of or
were from Chicago and other large cities.
Happily the field for such harvest as this
in our state is as yet limited, and our wom-
ans department at Saltwater is small; but
both my experience and information lead me
to believe that the class Of young women
from sixteen to twenty-five, who either
through, misfortune or willfulness' are DRIFT
ing into lawless or evil lives, and who very
greatly need the discipline, education and pro-
lection Of a reformatory is much larger than
is generally supposed. Our courts Will not
send such to O state prison, and as the state
has failed to furnish suitable conditions else
where, some have until forbidden, been sent
to private or sectarian reformatories, while
most have served short sentences in work
houses, paid fines, or been turned loose, and
so been deprived Of those reformatory inhu-
ences which they so much needed.
Now we know that there are about as many
girls as boys in families, and II have cor
rectly described the needs Of the hundreds
of boys who go to reformatOries what can
have become of the girls, who started IN lie
we remember the helpless and almost hopeless
condition of an untaught, inexperienced,
friendless young girl, can we question that
there should have been some haven or refuge
in trouble short of prison or brothel?
Ten years ago as a member of the senate, |
helped to pass law for a Minnesota state
reformatory for both sexes. The legislature
made appropriations for starting the men,
department, but though repeatedly urged to do
so, failed to provide for woman's building.
In 1890, in his report, my predecessor, Mr..
Myers, we'll said: "There is a great need for
a female reformatory. In other states where
they have been established the most salts
factory results have been obtained. 1t would
be great saving to the state to have such
an institution under the same MANAGEMENT
as this reformatory. There could be no
lovlier site than ours, If the state wishes to
construct one. With our limited means it has
been impossible to provide for separate wo-
mems building, which all prison authorities
agree is essential-hence, although the law
makes no distinction as to sex, unable
to properly provide for women
Again, this year ssr O our board is urging the
To provide temporarily for the young women
now there and who may be sent us, l have
rented nearby tenement house, appointed
a kindly, sensible woman as matron, and shall
try in that way to care for SUCH until some
thing better can be done.
The site and water supply is excellent
and healthful. There has not been a single
inmate in our hospital for nine months. The
same sewerage, steam, electric and pumping
plants could permanently supply both, and at
a very small additional cost. Male inmates,
under the direction of the present foreman,
can do all the labor for maintaining a wo-
mems department. which would have to be
hired elsewhere, and without coming in con-
tact or association with the female inmates.
Our seven hundred acre farm can supply
fresh milk, fruit vegetables and largely the
meat for both, raised by the male inmates,
while the women can do the laundrying, tail
oring, ETC.. for both. We can if sustained by
the state, produce with the labor of these
young people of both sexes, a large supply Of
good food, for both summer and winter use,
and at the same time make this labor the
means of health, instruction and reforma-
ton to both. While remote from the infu-
enceS Of large cities, we are near the center of
the state, and its two great railroad lines
have depot in our grounds. Undoubtedly
the cost to the state Of constructing and
permanently maintaining a woman's depart
ment at the Minnesota state reformatory, as
originally planned, would be small as COM
pared with a new institution, and we think
the same matron who would have to be en-
plOyed elsewhere would be much helped and
thetic and experienced aid Of the reforma-
tory officers.
Many prisoners come to us illiterate and
most with but little education. Few who stay
year, but can read, write respectable letters
keep their own accounts, and some make re-
markable progress.
Most come lawless and uncontrolled, If not
vicious. Many yield Immediately and most
finally, to firm but kindly discipline, reauir-
ing order, obedience and self control.
Most come untruthful, dishonest, immoral.
BY religious services, ethical lectures, and
line upon line and precept upon precent we
seek to develop higher knowledge Of right
and wrong, strong sense Of the truth, the
naturalness, the reasonableness Of and the
necessity for those great laws, which, whether
we will or no, govern our lives and our des-
TIMES, and above all, we try to secure the
consent of the mind Of each to his personal
obligation and responsbility-and the willing
IF oh in ofo To-
Of character and life.
To take this social reSiduum, including those
ignorant idle, lawless, thriftless, untruthful,
dishonest licentious criminal and apply re-
formatory discipline for only about year and
then place them at work on the outside, as
best you can, often not you would wish,
and have four out of five sustain themselves
as good citizens, for from six to twenty months
until honorably discharged, seems to me a
great success.
DR.. Helen w. Bissell spoke upon the re-
formatory from a physicians standpoint
Among other thing she said:
Seventeen years ago last June I stood in the
main corridor Of the Massachusetts reforma-
tory for women, and watched the prisoners
go past me in single fle and up the stairs
to the chapel. By ffties and hundreds they
marched in step, the varying plaids of their
dresses showing to which grade they belonged
until was almost dizzy with the sight Many
were young or middle-aged women, with a
sprinkling Of girls from Is to IS years of age
Dissipation Of some kind had stamped its
of sadness impressed upon them. Bad
heredity, worse surroundings and yielding to
every temptation, had taken all that was at
tractive from the faces that might under
other circumstances have been bright and
winrinG.
In the large proportion bad heredity makes
their manner Of life excitement followed by
depression, makes casual dealing with them
like writing on the sand, and yet there was
no untruthfulness in this, for I believe that
F,11Ix Ah0
bad. 1t was only because the force was 50
transitory that little impression was made