Sunday Washington globe., 1901-12-29

says;
1T is to be hoped that the period Of self
examination upon which we have entered
will lead to a true appreciation of other
social menaces than that threatening from
the anarchists camp. If the suppression
of those who incite to violence against gov
ernment be a necessity what shall be said
of measures to prevent the multiplication
of the brood of ordinary criminals who
threaten the life and property of the com-
mon man throughout the land. Our toler-
alton of anarchistic propaganda is hardly
more culpable than the general indifference
to conditions which directly foster crimi-
nality in the ordinary sense of the word.
We are reminded Of this by the severe con
demnation of our prison system by the
Howard association of England in its latest
utterances. After a thorough examination
of reports from majority of our states the
experts Of this association pronounce our
county jails the worst institutions Of the
kind in the world, and the conclusion is
based upon studies at first hand by men
qualified for the work"
The English authority quoted gives
among other reasons the one of IDLE
NESS Precisely So Idleness is the fruit
full mother or generator of crime and idle
ness accompanied by the grossest and most
inexcusable degradation of the prisoners
develops 6ends and brutes in human form.
When human beings are compelled to lap
their food as qeing too beastly treacherous
aud inhuman to be entrusted with knives,
forks or spoons with which to eat it society
must be prepared to pay the penalty of such
inhumauity when such prisoners are set at
liberty. These are the conditions under
which men serve sentences varying from
thirty days to two years in the Jail of this,
the Capital of the most advanced Nation of
people on the face of the earth-IDLENEss
and purposed, deliberate DEGRADATION
IDLENEss--in being locked up in tOmb-like
cells day after day in an insalubriOus dis
trict of the city where malaria is notably
prevalent Degradation-in being denied
knife, fork or spoon with which to eat
their food like Christians, but compelledto to
use their fingers and dive into tin recep-
tacles for the bits of meat, vegetables ETC.,
swimming in the soup or lap the whole
compound like dogs.
Now this Is not the fault Of the warden or
prison officers as might be naturally sup
posed, for prison officers are generally but
mistakenly held to be notNover sensitive or
humane in the treatmel. Of prisoners.
Warden Harris of the District jail is a
who as far as in him lies, or to the extent
Of his authority, has done everything in his
power to alleviate the condition of the Jail
inmates There is no cleaner, or more scrup-
ulously swept and secured jail in the coun-
try, but this is as far as 1t goes There is not
provision enough made for the personal
cleanliness Of the prisoners, nor is such con-
sidered by the responsible authorities who
make them lap their food or use their fin
gers instead of a knife, fork or spoon. If,
as we have been informed, the District
| judges and the attorney general are respon-
sible for these conditions exact justice
would seem to require that they should be
subjected to censure and instructed to have
an immediate reformation Of the things
complained of effected. And these orders
and censure should be issued by the Presi-
dent, who jumped with both feet so promptly
on the libellous wretch Maclay.
In the matter of engineers employed at
/ the Jail, it appears that the head engineer
| is required to look after the locks, the
| plumbing and a multiplicity of other
things which occupy him ten or twelve
/ hours out of every day instead of the eight
| hours, legal days work. His two assistants
divide the time between them, and neither
/ one of them is as overworked as the head
]
the Jail Is short handed and is being run on
the penny wise pound foolish" plan of
economy without any reference to the
humanities involved.
That the immediate officials or prison
officers appear to be more humane than the
authorities quoted as being responsible for
the shocking degradation of the prisoners,
is evidenced by the efforts put forth from
| Warden Harris down to the outside guard
| (Ream), who. to employ at least some of
the prisoners in the fine weather and give
| them a breath of fresh air, filled in semi
cave near the Jail and made a vegetable
garden out of it. Here last summer Ream,
an experienced prison keeper and instructor
las we personally know, taught many of
the shiftless prisoners the use of the hoe
and actually inspired them with taste for
gardening.
The trouble-the real nigger in the wood
pile-is that the prisoners in the county
Jail are negroes largely, and it appears to be
the set policy in this District form Of gov
ernment that where negroes are concerned
any policy is permissible. The police
court buildings, the station houses, until
the police themselves, on their own initia-
tive improved them, the Jail and the work
house are all of piece-a disgrace to the
CITY anu 10 the Dlsulcl OF Nolumpla'
The GLOBE will keep up this agitation
and continue to inform penologists, criui-
ologists, philanthropists and the humane
abroad and at home of the infamous com
pulsion, enforced by the high Federal au-
thorities, of degrading men into brutes be-
cause they are largely negroes in the Capi-
tai of this Nation.
The slave progenitors Of these CITIZEN
negroes were not compelled by their South
ern masters to lap their food like dogs and
just so long as we have white paper and a
pencil we will continue calling attention to
the hypocritical canting pnarisees who are
responsible for the, brutalizing discipline
enforced at the District Jail.
Secretary Wilson is thinking up the
material for his resignation papers.