Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-06

WHAT THEY ARE
TALKING ABOUT.

much newspaper comment The senate
! appears to be in earnest when he sug
/ gests that a mid-ccean island be Sc
| apart by the nations for the deportation
/ or anarchists. On Dec. he introduced
| a resolution instructing the president t
enter into negotiations with other pow.
ers for the purpose of securing a Pacifi,
island under joint control. The Chi
cago Journal says that the proposition
is most excellent. "The island should b.
uninhabited, SO that neither laws no,
customs of any kind would be in opera.
ton. Then there would be a free field
for anarchy, and its votaries would be
able to experiment upon themselves
without let or hindrance from law OF
the rules of organized society. If tn,
anarchists We're deported to an unin
habited island, they would at least b,
| removed from the concentrating inf1u
ences of organized communities anc
consequently ought not to complain. The
experiment is well worth the trial"
| The Springfield (Mass.) Republican
| says that an anarchy island would teach
no new lesson--not even to an anarchist
of any intelligence. THE first thing that
would happen on the arrival Of any con-
| siderable number of those preaching the
destruction and superfiuous nature of
government would be the development
of an organized society under a rule
| more or less despotic according as the
number of desperate characters landed
should be great or small. The later ar
| rivals would enter community as thor
oughly organized and governed as those
| they left-or they would enter place
where everybody had been killed off save
a few banded men of exceptional quick
ness or power in the use Of guns OF
clubs.
According to the Philadelphia Record
the catching of the anarchist would not
be an easy matter. THE police of the
different countries could without doubt
corral number of the mouthy enemies
Of society, but the really dangerous
characters would be left behind to work
their mischief. The policy would COM
pei the propagandists of anarchy to
work more secretly, and thus deny to
the police the little knowledge they now
have of the movements of anarchist So
cieties." The Chicago Evening Post
doubts whether the measure would be
reasonable or expedient from the stand
point of social protection. 1T would
hardly be a remedy; it would breed vio-
lence and hatred; 1t would intensity and
rpread the evil instead of Graduating
it." The New York Evening Post de-.
clares: Men who try to overthrow all
governments are really either criminals
or lunatics, and should be treated as
such. The public opinion Of no civilized
nation would justify the treatment OF
criminals or lunatics in any such
fashion as putting thenAon an island by
themselves" The Burlington (Vt.) Free
Press answers the Post as follows:
Johann Most is not lunatic. Emma
Goldman, whose teachings inspired the
assassination of President Mckinley, is
not a lunatic; and there are many 9TH
ers like them, who glory in their anarch-
ism, but who can not be silenced or shut
up under any laws now on the statute
books. Why should not civil govern
ment and organized society protect 1T
self by placing them where they can do
10 harm? 2"
Cumulative sentences and juvenile
proba baton, i. e., the MASSACHUSETTS
plan attracts attention abroad. LONDON
correspondents in the Times-Heralo Is
to the effect that believing one or the
chief needs of the twentieth century Is
penal reform, the Howard Association
for Prison Reform has decided to pros
ecute a vigorous parliamentary cam
Daien to secure the introduction OF the
Massa chusetts plan for the supervisor
of Juvenile offenders by probation OIL
GERS and the adoption OF cumulative
Sentences. The Massachusetts expert
nept has attracted great attention IN
Great Britain and its colonies. TWO OF
the Austrian states have definitely
adopted the principle with modified de-
tails. William Tallack, secretary OF the
Howard Association. favors the extern
sion of the plan so as to include adults.
Speaking to the Record-Herald cor
respondent recently, Mr.. Taiiack said:
.4,rhe excellent results obtained IN
America by placing neglected children
under the care of special officers instead
of sending them to prison clearly prove
that the experiment has been success.
The association is anxious to secure the
adoption of the American plan here, not
only the case of children, but also TOT
adults. We see no reason why the plan
should not be equally satisfactory on
the case of adults. Prisons under the
most favorable management are blots
on civilization. Any method that VIII
effect their disappearance deserves serl-
GUS consideration.
"Our present system of dealing with
daily habitual offenders is deplorably
useless and foolish. We learn from the
prison commissioners of England anu
Wales that $1,000 offenders We're recon-
victed last year. Eleven thousand OF
these had been previously convicted
more than ten times; another 11,O0o
more than twenty times. and some
scores even hundreds of times. The
Howard Association advocates gradual
but certain additions to previous SEN
fences on each recommittal. For the
offense of habitual drunkenness the In
crease might be an additional week or
month each time; for graver crimes an
increase of two years-never more.
such increases would soon guaran-
tee the country against even the most
habitual depredator. We believe this
would be preferable to the vague Amer
lean system OF indeterminate sentences,
where prisoners are presumed to be re-
formed merely on the evidence OF their
behavior inside prison during a conaf-
atively limited time"
The association is in close touch with
the penal system of the Uniteo states
and maintains a constant interchahse
of letters with General BrinkerhoH OF
Ohio, Major McClaughry, Booker L.