Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-07-11
CARE OF CONNECTS
APPS Attention is Now Directed to
States Prisoners.
He IS VERY DEEPLY CONCERNED.
Reports of the Officials at the Camps
Have Been Read By the Barlow
Philosopher.

Of the children of the state comes the
care of the convicts. the lunatics and
the deaf and the blind. These are
charges fixed charges that rest every
where upon the citizens and taxpayers
and cannot be avoided. A careful per-
usal Of the last reports OF the onlcers
Of these institutions given us deep con-
Germ for their inmates are increasing
faster than population and this in
crease indicates a growing degeneracy
in mental, physical or moral Condltloa
of our people. These reports give mucn
interesting matter for there is haruly
a state in the u.ion where similar IL
stitutions are so ably and faithfully
officered We are especially fortunate
in having such a capable ana expert
enced man as DIR. Powell at the aead
of orr sanitarium. The apprehension
Is that when he dies we cannot Nil MIS-
nlace for We cannot find a man VINO mas
both his ability and his long expert
ence. The same can be SAID OF froles-
sor Conner, in charge Of the scnool ZOE
the deaf. These two are veterans III the
service and have by their long anu
faithful work allayed all puDhc anAle'y
about those institutions.
Put WHY should so many more chill
dren be born deaf and dumb than lot
merlv. and why should 50 many more
people become insane? only lew
wears ago Profess Or Conner fepolteu
1O5 and now he has 2l0 IN charge Do
folks keep on marrying their COUSINS
and will the law keep on allowing IL
"A tn the sanitarium. there seems 70
he no limit. no diminution OF the rap"
increase and as fast as more rom 10
nroyided more still is wanted
DR.. Powell reports that on OctoDel
| 1oo0 thore were 700 whites and az
colored on hand, and the new appllca-
| tions now average about six per DAY
| Of course many die and II is a comfort
| m know that many recover their rea-
| con and are discharged. Two hundTe1
| ond fPtv-nine whites and nlnety-louF
| nooroes were discharged last year. IN
| hundred and fifty-siX whites ana 100
neeroes died. The doctor gives pleasant
| and easy employment to all VINO can
| .,d arc willing to work. He is pnli-
| osonher of my own kind, for he says
| that he has found that work. manual
| labor is-more conducive to restorat on
and contentment than any other medl-
| cine Gardening, sewing, washing. can
| ming fruits. etc, is done on a large
| scale Much more of this is done than
! fc-merly and the report shows an I'M
| mensa business. Just think OF last
wears work. 600 aprons. 1000 ped
ticks. 3 coo chemise, 1900 calico dresses
| zoo homespun dresses. 4,70O pair draw
ers 500 pillow cases, 5000 pair pants,
2 300 shirts. 500 undershirts. ana
Quilts nv the score-crazy quilts | sup
tnto L
| ticles made by crazy women. Geo
gracious. what an industrious female
family the doctor has got. In this way
ha has greatly reduced the cost OF
maintenance and brought down the
nor canita to Silt. But on the Other
hand he had to be continually repair
ing or Teolacing something, for he says
.insanity means destruction and tha'
tho tendency of a large number of pa
TENTS is to destroy furniture, crockery
| bedding clothing. lights. sash. anf
sometimes tear their rooms to pieces.
Now just imagine what an army .
1unatics we have artersyilIe is quit
q large little country town OF 3,oO0 PEG
nle but three-fourths Of them are chi
dren under age. We have only az ~
800 growa-up people who are fit to C.
|
are three times as many ana the hahi
Der increasing every year.
But the report of the prison co1nmlS
sion gives us most anxiety, Tor ina
concerns crime and involves the satet.
of orr people from the lawles3. VIII
fear not God nor regard man. -
maintenance of the sanitarium cost
the State $275,000 annually, but theF
is one good thing, and only one apo.
the convicts. They cost >-e state no'h
ing after the trial, but on the contlai
, | they bring in considerable reVehu
. and under the new system TINS reVenu
is RAPIDLY increasing. General EVANS
Mr.. Eason and Mr.. Turner inaugarate
,, this system only two years ago ana
has already proved signal success
The State now has the absolute coz
troll of all it's convicts and has pul
| chased a large farm near MilledgeV Ii
! where the old men and the boys and a
> the women are kept. Under the ski
full management of Mr.. roster the far1
pad we'll the first year and the con
victs are nearly as happy as they wer
in old slavery times. Most of the able
bodied convicts are leased to farmer
at good prices, but the State provide
guards and medical attention.
Here is f-other army of $500 to loo
3 after, but these are not all. There ar
1850 more at work in the count
chaingangs, making total of 1850, c
whom 35S are white, ten are white an
= 215 are negro women.
$ Of the State convicts for felony sc
> are guilty of murder or manslaughte
915 for burglary or robbery or larcen.
y 237 for the usual crime. The rest al
e for most any other crime in the cats
logue Most Of them were laboreI
l. | but | note that tWenty-seVen did notf
It ing and eighteen were preacher
Ninety per cent. of the negroes are b'
h tween the ages of fifteen and fort
and knew nothing of slavery. Only
Der cent. are the old slaves who a;
y over sixty years old. Two hundre
and forty four Of them are serving
y second term. Thirty are serving
third term and few fourth and fiji
Ig term. They seem to like 1t. Oh
thousand and twenty Of these conv.c
" are from three countles-fu1to
Chatham and Bib. AS Thomas Je
ferson said, THE influence Of cities
~ pestilential to good morals" 1t is e
pecially so with negroes. The lar:
III | majority of the negro conv.cts a
from the cities and large towns.
rs Twenty years ago there were IL
negro convicts and 80 per cent.
l. them were wholly illiterate, cou
neither read nor write. Now we ha7
-, three thousand negro convicts and
per cent. can read and write. How
that? Does education lesson crime
u increas it? Mr.. Stetson, the Sta
statistician of Massachusetts, says
a increases crime not a little but in
mensely," and he proves 1t. 1t &C
re tainly does among the negro race
Georgia, - ---------
II is curios to note that we have tv