The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-19
METHODS OF Mr.. WARNER
THE EMINENT WRITER'S SUCCESS
TIONs AS TO HANDLING CRIMINALS.
Father O'Donaghue's Address-A. II.
Hert Elected President of the
Wardens' Association.

of the Prison Congress consisted of music
by the st. PauPs Church choir and adj
dresses by Rev. Father O'Donaghue of this
city. and Charles Dudley Warner.
Father O'Donaghue devoted his remarks
chiefly TO the need of this country for the
work which is being carried on by the Ma
tionaI Prison Association. He said that so
very few know anything of the prisoner
life that almost nothing has been done for
his betterment, except by the Prison Con-
gress. What the prisoner needs is the con-
seriousness that some is willing to work
for him, to sacrifice for him. This does not
mean the sentimentality which carries
flowers to the brilliant criminal 1t does
not mean to laud crime. 1t means the
spirit which will labor untiringly to place
the spirit of truth in a corrupted mind.
In introducing the second speaker Presi-
dent q. r. Brockway said: For the prison
reforms which have been accomplished
within the past twenty-five years. there is
probably more credit due to Charles Dud-
ley Warner than to any man living"
Mr.. Warmers subject was 1.-The Treat
ment Of Prisoners" At the beginning OF
his address he said Prison reform is not
a question of sentiment. 1t is a practical
question. Perhaps no plea can be altogether
effective which does not appeal to self-in-
terest. Let us see. then, if prison reform
is not an economic and educational prob
lem, which has just two obstacles to its so
luton These are sentimentalism and public
Indifference Sentimentalism is the quality
which some people have who would apply
to the salvation of the criminal a nostrum
without the aid of mathematics Public in
difference is the more surprising when we
hot e.
ly connected with comfortable living than
prison reform
COST OF KEEPING CRIMINALS
Mr.. Warner said that a few citizens tyr
annie the rest of the country. Seventy
million people cheerfully pay the cost Of
living for forty thousand, the present num-
Der of prisoners in the United States. The
little robberies which occasionally excite
us are nothing to the tax list.
Here is your method. A successful GRIM
inal is apprehended. You hunt around and
find jury which has not formed or ex-
pressed an opinion and is not capable Of
doing either. Then the man is nicely taken
care of for four or five years. 1t would be
at IS a day. If you will stop from your
money making long enough to consider
does it pay TO run race with the criminal?
Does it pay you to try your best to make
money faster than he can steal 1t or swim
die you out of it?
You are making these criminals and you
who has committed some misdemeanor and
place him in jail. and there he is surrounded
by the vilest society: It is a place dead
in week. There are very few cases of
failure. indeed. l consider county Jail a
a step to the university up here on the lake
shore. You are manufacturing men to ter
rorizee over you. although it is possible there
would be few men, whose evil is inbred
who would be criminals if there were no
JailS at ALL
The speaker then said this is an age for
science. We have experts in law, medicine,
insanity, but to whom do we give the GRIM
inal for treatment? We hand him over to
the politician. We give to the politician a
man warped, twisted, diseased, and for this
expect to receive in return perfect man.
Il believe in the statement of Coleridge,
safe thing to say that any man is incorrigi
BILE. / believe there is divine spark in
every man. How can we develop 1t in the
criminal? We must make him do some
thing, we must educate him and l do not
mean by that to stuff him with facts as
we stuff sausage. Half of our motions are
expelling bad habit we must look to place
a good one in its stead. Discipline is neceS-
sary;. 1t don't matter if the criminal does
to prisoners. They would rather go to Sing
sing and nave Done with It. But Elmira
the man n is int IN the end given hal Of in
ITO treat successfully the cril Il we
must submit him TO the expert, and Or this
work we must train a class Of experts.
The expert will study the man and know
what to do with him. The. criminal is often
like the gambler, or the hunter who likes
to kill. He loves the excitement of the risk.
He has a passion for crime. But the expert
will, in the course of time, show him that
nothing lies for him in that direction. For
the first offense / believe a prisoner should
be sent to some institution which has been
founded to reform just such a person, an
institution which would change the in
stincts if not the nature of the person. In
the Elmira system there are three severe
tests, the school, the workshop and a line
Of conduct equal to the one at West Point
By these methods and by other methods it
may be possible for reformation to be
wrought in the criminal.
There is no education, no knowledge, no
power: which cannot be used in the solu-
ton of these problems. 1t requires experts
to deal with them. A training as severe
as that which destroyed Cerveras fleet is
necessary. But if we treat this question in
or moral problem, there is no need of fall
ure''
The meeting was closed by reports of
committees. Jan. p was decided upon as
congress at New Orleans The committee
on officers for the Wardens' Association re-
ported as follows:
President-A. T. Hert, Jacksonville Ind.
Vice Presidents-Gen. Nelson Wall. Rhode
Island; Otis Fuller, Michigan, and William
Hill, Pennsylvania.
Secretary-P. H. Dorm, Ohio
There will be meeting at Plymouth
Church at $50 o'clock this morning. At
O'Clock the congress will assemble at the
foot of the monument to have a picture
taken. An excursion to Jeffersonvile is
being arranged for tomorrow.
DISCHARGED CONvICTS.