The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1901-09-12
SOME LESSONS FROM JAIL
y. Y. souraaL

citis--, ssnfD~ god f~opl~ arrange Tor
oSa.ional mr.-ting- in th- cssanty
jail. At which . sT.Akcs di-~sar- Ia
the prisoners IN ih-ir situaiion. aud
no1iiEs- for their ins;rtsct ion. IL
ls . pleasant event for the sJ-zkcr.
At any nate, since the sudicou- cHa-
not gct away. and the plsiiiod..
which propri.,y dcmands on such
orcasions require no thought, bu'
may Indeed be cullcd from any uid
copy book or volume of mufai
maxims.
The ether day the comIniIts~ hAN.
ing this function In charge made =
mistake. They asked . man who
actually thought to talk.
Now q man Who actually thIuks
Is rather . dangerous character any
where, but Ii he gos= into q jail. Ia
the present state OF society. and ~
fleets on what he ses- there and then
speaks frankly what l. In his mind
he Is apt To say things more pleasing
To those inside the walls than to
those who put them therc.
So IL was with this Chicago man
. lawyer named barrow, who has a
bit of 4 reputation for plain sI-Ak
ing. DE wasn't particularly com
plimentary To his audience, for he
remarked that II he me, some of
them on the street he would be- pret-
ty apt TO get his pocket picked or bs.
held up, but, said he, "When l get
out outside pretty nearly everybody
holds me up"
This rather startling description
of the prils of daily life in Chicags
to people unfortunate enough to be-
without the protection of Il cell Ia
Jail he supported by saying that the
gas company holds him up by charg-
ing dollar for something worth
twenty-five cents. If TO escape this
highwayman he turns to burning
Oil Mr.. Rockefeller holds him up,
''and then uses a certain portion of
his money to build universities aud
support churches who are engaged In
telling us how To he good" Nor
are these spoliatioDs all. As The In
structor in Jail ethics truly ssid:
"When i ride on the street CARS I
am held up-I pay five cents for a
ride that Is worth two and half
cents, or three cents, simply because
a body # men have bribed the City
Council and the Legislature 30 that
all the rest Of them have To pay
tribute 10 them and cannot help IL ~
People outside of Chicago will
sympathize with this view of the
daily robberies TO which the citizens
are subj ct. From Philadelphis, for
example, there should come quite a
chorus of approval for Mr.. Darrow's
teachings, and We Of New York are
not wholly without vacancies iu our
pockets that testify elOquently ia
his truths. But, like good logician,
he reasons from the particular 10 the
general and shows how these spolia-
tions Of the many by the few help
to fill the jails-but not with big
robbers:
"LOng ago Mr.. Buckle, who was q
great philosopher and historian. col.
lected facts, and he showed that In,
number Of people who were arrested
increased just as the price Of food
increased. Now when they put uI
the price Of gas 10 cents thousanC
/ do not know who will 90 to Jail
but / do know that a certain number
of people will 20. When the mes
combine raises the price Of beef d,
not know who is going to Jail, but
know that large number Of people
are bound to go.
The speaker called attention to
very significant truth taught by th'
history Of Australia. That countr,
was for years the dumping groun'
for English criminals. These out
casts, finding there opportunitie
open to them which at home wer'
denied, reformed i'm great numbers
AS Mr.. Darrow says, "they had tn
whole continent to run over, and -
thax, onulI ra ;oa u,ha.& ,ha,.oatya-
sheep, and furnish their own meat
which is cheaper than stealing il
they became decent, respectable pee
pie where they had a chance to live
l. In the second generation
the descendants of these criminal
were as good and respectable q clas
of people as there were on the fac
of the earth. But finall,
the descendants of the British aristo
cracy VINO sent the people over (
: Australia found they We're gettinI
rich, and so they went over to ge
possession of the earth, as they al
ways do, and they organized Ian
syndicates over there and got contro
, Of the ores, and then they had jus
, as many criminals as they had |
England"
Mr.. Dsrrow has been solemnly n
buked for saying these things in ia
,, where his auditors might constru
them as justification of their cour'
IN adopting the carer of petit
criminals. But really there doesn
seem to have been any other plal
" here he could have talked that wa
3 with any prospect OF getting h
audience to listen TO him. On Il
!. Lake Shore drive or Fifth avenI
a such hearers as he might have caugl
for a moment would have been
e little likely to stand still as a ms
p on whose biggest and most protube
ant corn he trOd with an unfeeliI