The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-28
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER IS, 1899.
OUR CORRECTIVE INSTITUTIONS.

Among the great sociological ques-
tions of the day which are engaging
the attention of thinking people every
where, none has greater interest than
the work which the state is pursuing
at the corrective institutions at West
boro and Lancaster. Residents of
Worcester are especially interested in
the Lyman and industrial schools from
the fact that Prof. Edmund C. San
ford of Clark university is one of the
board of trustees of those institutions
The problem before those in charge
of the schools is to take half a hun
dred boys annually committed to the
institutions and after a period of train
ing and control, return them again to
the community so much improved in
character and conduct that they may
be safely trusted without unusual re-
straints. The boys committed to these
institutions come under sentence of the
of those punishable by death or i'm
prisonment for life, must be fifteen
years of age when committed, and
may be retained under supervision I'M
til they are twenty-one. The means
of reformation at the disposal of the
trustees are the school at Westboro,
with it's diversified system of manual
and other training, the branch school
on a farm in Berlin, for the younger
and more susceptible boys, and the
nf hyr
which boys after a period of observa-
ton and control at the schools, are
gradually restored under expert super
vision to normal conditions in the com
munity.
Modern studies both in and out of
reformatories have shown emphatical
ly that good physical condition is one
of the most important preliminaries
and aids to moral improvement. The
question is frequently asked whether
it would not be desirable to train boys
for special trades, seeing how much
depends on their being able to earn an
honest living after leaving the school,
but the answer of years of experience
is that the difficulty of placing a boy
in any particular trade is so great and
the likelihood that he can follow it
continuously during the years of his
probation is so small, that a general
training, calculated to make him eff
cient in any hand employment that he
may undertake, is very much more to
his advantage. The short time during
which boys are kept in these institu-
tions is also a serious obstacle to full
trade teaching; also the young age at
which most of them leave the school
would prevent many of them from
By the methods now employed in these
schools the managers attempt to re-
form and restore to the community the
boys committed to their charge. So far
as they are able to measure success in
figures, they succeeded this past year
in the cases of 81 per cent of those who
on the attainment of their majority
passed out of the care of the school.
The state appropriated the past year
about $67, 600 for the support of these
schools a per capita cost of each boy
of about $439, and this sum will have
been we'll expended if it shall serve in
restoring to the community boys who,
on account no doubt in many instances
of improper parental influence and
control, were allowed to drift into evil
ways. 1t is to the credit Of the state
that it can enlist into this service such
educators and experts as at present
compose the board of trustees of our
corrective institutions.