Sunday Washington globe., 1902-03-16

InOnANM0b
ped for the battle Of life By prison schools
and prison workshops. Hence i am not
suggesting experimental penology, but
demonstrated and practced happenings
and possibilities along the line Of prison
management And only claim for these
views their more persistent and universal
application to reduce the numbers Of that
division of the criminal class which under
goes imprisonmentiu in our penal institutions.
There are many other aids TO the building
up Of the degraded character OF the GRIM
inal which should be utilized 10 their full
est and most generous extent believe IN
identifying the criminals in our prisons
as American citizens, deprived for the
period of their incarceration Of their privi-
ieges as such ,:by all the contributing factors
al our disposal such as the observance OF
national holidays lectures IN school and
chapel on the dignity OF citizenship and the
equality. before the law, of all who sacredly
observe it's mandates. And while am in
disposed TO borrow from OF initiate the
European treatment Of criminals, admit
that their practice of extending pardons
and clemency to the deserving OF. days OF
great reioicings and celebrations might be
adopted with beneficial effects in this coun-
try. 1t is but few years ago THAI, on the
6ftieth anniversary Of the ascension to the
Austrian throne by the ruler Of that coun-
trv. he pardoned 54S criminals, besides
numerous military and political offenders,
in honor of his Jubilee. The observance OF
such customs identifies in a striking II not
a picturesque manner, the inmate OF a
prison with his country. How much more
nertiuent this identification becomes IN
republic--in a government of the people,
by the people and for the people-where
our former fellow citizens are restored 10
liberty by such acts of grace. And yet we
all have thsilled 10 our finger tips when
Manila and Santiago illuminated the page
of our martial triumphs on land and sea,
while coldly repressing any manifestation
of gladness or rejoicings among those OF
our former political equals immured BEHIND
stone walls, as IT, in fact, they were not
our countrymen, our fellow citizens; ana
MANY of them who risked their lives on the
battlefield for the preservation Of the Union.
In Ohio Governor Bushnell, for the first
time in the history Of its observance, alone
of all the governors OF the states IN TINS
Union. recognized Memorial Day by the
pardon of a life prisoner who had served
his country in the field. Not even the
President of the United States, and the
| Commander in Chief of its army and navy,
then in war with Spain, paid this tribute to
/ the fallen and ,erring men who fought IN
the very army of which he was then a
subalteru officer. / only mention these
/ things to illustrate the many as yet untried
! aids which might be iudiciously utilized IN
softening and reclaiming the erring and the
| degraded. Object lessons like these would
NOT be lost upon the criminal class, and !
must believe they would operate bene"
6cially, as every humane advance so lar
made has resulted in elevating and improV-
! ing the tone and morale of immured Grim
iuals and in permanently reforming large
and ever increasing per cent Of them no
matter what reactionaries in the press, or
out of it, may allege to the contrary AT all
| events. enough has been shown by this one
European reference to demonstrate that we
have mot vet exhausted or applied all Of the
humanities in our modern and reformed q
treatment of prisoners. Perhaps when we
do the showing will be as CERTIFYING TO the
friends and advocates Of humane penology
as the advancement so far made is to the
savage and semi barbarian methods form
erly in vogue
And now let me pass 70 the re entrance
of the reformed criminal into that society
upon which he waged blind and senseless
warfare. The prison authorities, having
conscientiously labored with and given
health TO his mental and moral faculties as
we'll as equipped him with the salutary les
sons Of daily toll as a necessity to his
moral and physical existence he enters the
outer world full of hope, yet timid III his
advance to recognition and good fellow
ship We who know what great hustling
- . /, 80 fa 4 1vrrIfn
requires of the best of us to keep on ouI
feet and not get thrown down in the rush
and scramble for existence can easily
realize the obstacles confronting the re-
leased convict, and which he must sur
mount 10 finG place and an honest living
among US. Handicapped as he is with The
record of his fall, he joins the great indus
trial army of honest toilers. Frieudless
and penniless, without local habitation or a
name. he stands appalled, at the battle oi
life and his timidity is increased and toc
often degenerates into hopelessness and de
spair at the problem confronting him. The
great big, busy and unsympathetic worlc
has neither time nor inclination to make
provision for his advent or assign him 9
place in the caravan DO we wonder If he
falls bv the wayside7 Would II not be
miraculous If, alone and unaided, he wins q
place--a right to honestly existe Need
picture or paint any further the forlorr
condition and the next to hopeless pros
poets of the ex-convict? What then, is the
remedy Is there a remedy where all is
against him? Collectively aud individually
the average man cares nothing for the sue
cess or failure, the reform OF the relapse Of
the criminal He is too much preoccupieo
with himself Is it not plain to the mos
benighted intelligence, that society itseli
is organized in hostility against this un
fortunate member, who now more than evel
needs its sympathy and carer But he re-
ceives neither. Isolated and lshmaelite
like he is expected TO trudge the desert
hungry and thirsty, forlorn and an outcast
If the Christian Church, and if individual
associations do not succor him, he is lost
Society has provided a refuge for him--the
prison whence he came. But the Church
and philanthropic Christian men and
women must provide home. or the oppor
tuuities for the exconvict TO acquire one.
There are many plans and many method;
to accomplish this desideratum They are
e