Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-23

the eve nor a curl of the lip betraying any
emotion he feels. His physiognomy is in
scrutable. his self-command is phenomenal,
and in precisely the same tone Of voice in
which he orders the discipline of the re.
fractory, he grants favors to the deserving.
Criminals are at fault who design an assault
on his weak points, as they are unable to
and them, and IL has passed into proverb
among the professionals" that their cum
ming is no match for his knowledge of their
characteristics, he reads the most astute
among them like an open book and they
soon realize that both by intuition and
study Mr. Coffin is their moral master, as
he is their physical iailor, and that he is as
impervious to deceit as he is infallible in
his analyses of their characters and the
depths 20 which they have descended.
In the warden's essays and addresses the
intelligent reader can correctly gauge his
practical Christianity, as contradistin-
guished from his non-observance of the
forms or tenets of any particular denomi-
nation. His Christianity is of the broad
gauge, early brand. before The ostentatious
observance Of rules and conflicting theo-
logical isms we're accepted as the standard
or complement Of an orthodox Christian.
A member of no particular denomination,
he is not only tolerant, but a respecter Of
all, and both in act aud exhortation, pro-
claims his unalterable belief that in the
Christian religion alone can society find
safety aud perpetnity. His most impress
sive discourses at the prison chapel have
emphasized the conviction that the greatest
reforming influence and the surest harbor
of safety for the discharged prisoner is the
Christian Church; and their most unselfsh
4 a.. t1taC vi,.fc
Modest unassuming, and making neither
a display of Christian piety nor profane
learning, Mr.. Coffin is a sincere, practical
| Christian, aud unusually we'll read in both
profane and sacred history. He is thor
ough familiar with the great events, ancient
and modern, in his own and foreign lands,
and while he has made a special study Of
crime and criminals, he is a lover of and
proficient in the general and polite htera-
ture Of his day and generation. Epigram.
matte in utterance, oral and written in
telligently shrewd, and habituated to analyt
ically fathom motives and actions, he is an
ideal prison officer, invaluable to the society
he has served so faithfully aud we'll for
more than half century, and beHeiactor
and friend to the fallen and the Outcasts
whom he has reclaimed by the thousands
from sin aud crime.
The learned specialists, who are known
as criminologists, on account OF the studies
of criminal life, in all its phases, and the
means adopted and adapted to regulate It,
have assured as for years that crime is on
the increase; not growing gradually. but by
leaps and bounds; and men who compile
statistics upon the subject corroborate their
conclusions with startling figures that com
pei the attention and concern of the
thoughtful humanitarian. This is a poor
outcome Of the efforts, organized and indi
vidual that have been put forth for centu-
ries to reduce crime It is poor COM
mentary upon our boasted civilization
when the world is advancing so rapidly
along other lines Of philanthropy to the
amelioration of social conditions, giving us
organized charities and other systems for
the relief of the lower strata of the people.
In view Of the widespread attention that
has been given to the subject, and the inn
meuse sums Of money that have been ex-
pended for the maintenance of police jails,
reformatories aud industrial schools for
young offenders of both sexes peniten-
tiaries, refugees warehouses; and bridewells,
the result is far from gratifying or encour-
aging. The same complaint comes from
across the waters Crime in Europe is in
creasing in a ratio corresponding to that of
this country.
To take the most dangerous crimes-those
directed against human life-for an ex-
ample statistics show that, in the year 1886,
44o murders and homicides we're com
mitted in the United States; while nine
years later, in 1895. not less than 1900 were
committed between January and Novem-
Der 49, more than five times as many, in ten
and one-half months, as were committed
during the twelve months of the year first
noted It will be found that crimes against
property have also multiplied at an equal
rate
Unfortunately, a very large proportion of
the laws violations are committed with inn
punity If all were punished, it might
bankrupt the state to build and maintain
the iails and penitentiaries that would be
necessary TO accommodate the offenders.
This impunity indicates that the police
state nothing but the truth when they assert
that the majority of these unpunished
crimes are committed by old offenders;
men who have served sentences in Jail or
prison; who have become skillful in their
uefarious callings and in means of evading
the clutches Of the law-uureformed and
professional criminals, the most dangerous
class of men In existence. Imprisonment
has not protected society against them but
seems rather to have confirmed them in
their evil ways
If these facts and figures prove anything
and it Is said that figures cannot lie-it is a
question that however effectual the prison
systems heretofore prevailing may have
been in restraining and furnishing the Of
fender while he has been safely confined
behind stone walls. they have failed to re-
claim him and set his feet upon the rock of
honest usefulness, which is generally adj
mitted, nowadays, to be the object of prison
restraint Their influence for the protec-
ton of society has stopped at the prison
portal; has been left behind with the priso-
ner's garb, as he has doffed it to resume the
raiment Of freedom, at the expiration Of his
sentence; going out with his thoughts
turned crime-ward. with a ranking sense Of
hardships endured at the hands of society's
agents, vicious and hardened
Il Is evident that the time has arrived for
a change of plan, when after tramping in
the same old ways and moving along in the