Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-05

this free meat quite acceptable ana no
doubt conscientiously felt that he was en-
titled TO the same and earned much more
by the daily enlargement Of his life ~
the midst Of murderers and outlaws.
That a civilized state should expect 70
secure for sixty dollars per month men Of
probity and fair morals to daily enter
convict prison and remain for ten or twelve
hours in the midst Of cut throats, murderers,
thieves and outlaws is TO say the least an-
surd, but that the state assumes these
guards, appointed as they are and taken
from the class Of heelers and FOUNDERS to
be examples Of honesty and morality TO the
prisoners and interested in their reforma-
ton, to which they are supposedly dedicat-
ing their best energies is simply outrag
eously hypocritical and shamfully inhunan
Society knows better, but il shuts its eyes.
shrugs its shoulders and practically says:
Whats the use--we will always have con-
victs more or less, we have always had
them What difference does it make any
how whether any OF them reform OF not,
there are plenty Of others to take the places
OF the dead, the reformed and the dis
charged conyictsp"
And then this same society, with assumed
horror OF orastonishment, wonders at crime"
and rediCevsts
There is such palpable insincerity in the
whole fabric Of the administration Of crimi-
nal law from the perfunctory prosecution,
conviction and consignment Of the offender
to the penal institution, his prescribed
mode of ife while ami inmate, and the pre-
tended or hypocritical attempt at his refor-
nation according TO set rule or program
that il is not only painful to the humani-
tartan, but farciai to the sincere student Of
modern criminology For as rule, those
charged with his refoTmation equally with
those who prosecuted and convicted this
viOlator of law are as absolutely indifferent
whether he become saint or devil, reformed
redicevist, life criminal OF industrious citi-
zen as they are in the social development Of
a South African Hottentot The convict
realizes this more keenly than is generally
supposed However ignorant unlettered
OF degraded, the American criminal may be,
he is possessed Of a fair proportion Of
natural shrewdness OF intelligence which
Qualities and enables him to correctly gauge
human nature and, to use his own expires
sive and epigrammatical style size II up
for what il is worth. Hence the injurious
results Of incincerity and pretense in pre-
tentious humanity towards these outcasts
and criminals
1t will be understood that ! am not un-
mindful of the fact that honest hard work
ing people VINO nave never been convicted
of crime are more entitled OF, at least FIRST
entitled to the amelioration which philan-
trophy and humanity alike suggest in their
behalf The honest struggling poor from
whose ranks so many criminals find their
way through force Of circumstance to the
penitentiary and the Jail calls for the first
and best efforts Of the humanitarian.
A fraction of the expenditures in the
maintenance Of prisoners and the elaborate
and expensive machinery for their manu-
facture if judiciously and generously ap-
piled to the class from whence the greatest
number of them, per force, come would
have decided and apparent effect in the
diminution Of crime.
Therefore in speaking for OF advocating
the application of real christian and COM
mon sense methods In the treatment and
discipline Of convicts il Is far from my
intention to distinguish them for the pre-
ferental notice and favors Of the humani-
tartan and the philanthropist. / intend my
observations to have the application only
of governing or managing peniientiaries
and iails with some real intention Of reform
ing the inmates thereof and teaching them
by object lesson and otherwise that lives Of
honesty and industry are preferable to
careers OF idleness and crime. This is not
being done by any improvements along the
lines of softening the hitherto harsh DIS
cipline of prisons, although / cheerfully
acknowledge that such reformation is a
step in the right direction.
Reformation in our jails and Peniten-
tiaries, however, 10 be beneficial to society
in the diminution of crime and the rehabil-
itation Of the fallen or erring inmates must
commence at what am prepared to estab-
lish is the fountain source Of at least, the
redicevists and the more thorough de-
pravity of the youth sent to prison on his
first conviction for crime. From the warden
to the guard the utmost efforts should be
put forth by the appointing powers to select
conscientious, humane guardians, men of
known probity and good morals. They
should have sufficient compensation for
their services TO place them beyond temp
tation to either pilfer themselves or en-
courage convicts to do so. They should be
men Of clean speech and cleaner morals,
not the average heeler or rOunder compen-
stated for his political services and who has
more variety of oaths than the army in
Flanders" and more smutty stories than the
pimp Of bagniol They should be scrupu-
lously honest instead Of valuing the posi-.
ton for the rake of OF perquisites at
tached
Is it impossible 10 find such officials and
guardsl Yes-at the present compensation
and by the present methods Of selection.
Then. IL such be the fact how is reforma-
ton among prisoners to be expected and
why will society hypocrihcally insist or
expect a diminution in crime or in redice-
visits.
The Ohio penitentiary had a chaplain and
a warden whose lives in act and profession
approached the standards herein set forth.
Notwithstanding that all the other demoral-
izing tendencies existed in the prison,
these two officials, by their example and
the practical demonstrations of the virtues
admired even by couvicts and the degraded,
were removed to make room for inexperi-
euced successors, whose only qualifications
for the task they assumed were their pull"
with the appointing powers and the polit-
ical service they had rendered the same
The warden, r G. Coffin, never had his
equal as a humane, intelligent and sue
cessful disciplinarian Of prisoners. He
neither drank liquors nor smoked tobacco.
He was never heard 10 use a prOfane word