Mexico weekly ledger., 1903-10-15
K IN KENTUCKY.
]. '. Williams Addresses the Prison
Wardens of the United States

States at Louisville, KY, Oct Sth:
Mr., Chairman and Gentlemen Of the Warden
Congress.
You have requested tonight tina
the business men Ia this large audi
ence OF ladies and gentlemen expires!
their opinion Of the prison reform
movement and criminal treatment,
and offer suggestions thereon. SeyeraI
gentlemen from Kentucky and othei
states have made eloquent and In
stractiye addresses In answer TO youl
request AS the only representative
present from the Imperial State OF
Missouri, / confess that Ia addressing
this honorable body OF Past Masters II
prison management that l feel like
the boy must have looked who lit
match at high noon on q cloudles'
summer day to help the sur shine. ]
have been a member OF your organiEa
tion for several years, and a regulal
attendant as a business nan at many
OF your annual meetings, which have
been a great source OF pleasure and In
s~truction TO me. | have visited a greai
many prisons and jails In the United
States in a Business capacity, and have
been a close observer Of many things
that the prison walls shut out from
many citizens of the state. 1 must
candidly say that / am not in full sym
pathy with the profuse sentimental
expressions made on this floor, during
the sitting of this great convention
of prison experts by several speakers,
/ have noticed, however, that very
few of the many wardens present who
have addressed this congress have
manifested much sentimentality In
their addresses. The nature and re-
sponsibility of your high position
teaches you to be practical. There are
just two periods in life where the cit
lien as such, has an opportunity to
perform an important duty, which the
welfare of the state and society fas-
tens upon him with reference to re-
forming those who may live, or who
have lived, criminal lives. One Pc
Rod land the one where the most ef-
fective work can be done) is that OF
childhood before criminality is fully
developed. In this period Of life is
where the good citizen, the Sunday
School teacher, the Christian Endeay-
orer can do the most affective work for
the state by gathering up these dirty,
ragged, neglected children, boys and
girls, and bringing them under moral
influence, and teaching them of a
higher, purer and better life. One
years work on a boy at the age OF ten
by these agencies for good, is worth
rmore than twenty-five years Of the
warden's work with the prisoner be-
hind the bars. So many homes Of
America are nov conducted on the
Incubator plan that 1t is necessary for
the state to step forward and see TO
the education, training and reforma-
tion Of children, who are turned loose
by the fashionable unnatural mothers
OF society, or else the state is certain
TO be forced TO care for them in later
years In the state prison. When a man
or woman has been sentenced 10 the
penitentiary for some awful crime, or
the death sentence has been pro-
nounced, then the sentimental ele-
ment OF society gushes over and COW
ers them with flowers and sweet tokens
of sympathy before they leave the
county jail. The time for that was
when the boy was ten years old. But
when a man has hardened his heart
against home, wife, children and good
neighbors, 1t is too late to throw bou-
quets at him. He then should be made
to feel In prison, or at the end of a
rope, the power, majesty and dignity
of the law.
said there were two periods for the
citizen to protect the state and help
the criminal. have spoken of one of
these most important periods. The
next one is to meet the unfortunate
ex-convict at the depot on bis dis
charge from prison and tell him you
will try to find work for him and will
do all you can to help him regain the
good name he has lost, and plead with
him to not go back to his old haunts Of
vice so that he will not have to be sent
back to your prison again. The ex-
convict cannot stand alone. Good peo-l
must put their religion and philan-
thropy into practical use. Some Of the
addresses l have heard here would
seem to want to make a Sunday School
superintendent out of every prison
in the United States. That
won't work. l have seen but few, IL
my wardens, in the various peniten-
'iaries that l have visited, who would
nakea model Sunday School superln-
'endent. l am not much In favor of
lifetime sentences. II you can't re-
'orm a mar and break his stubborn
VIII and punish him sufficiently In
'wenty years, you had better hang him
ND make room for the long procession
which is knocking at your prison doors
or admission. If you can't reform
lin In twenty years you cannot do 1t
n sixty. The question has been asked
n this floor, is the world getting bet
er? answer, have not criminals null.
lplied much faster than our popula-
Ion? Is there a prison In our country
'hich Is not crowded to Its utmost !
apacityY II there is, l have not Wis., !
'ed such a one. l close, gentlemen.
'ithout Offering you any suggestion. :
o home and do the best you can with
material you have to work on for :
leir reformation and the protection
! society. Nobody but you and the
BOD Lord viii ever know what means :
may have to resort to TO accom-
ish the end desired, and l do not
now that any but you, two, should
'er know, so long as you keep within
lie limits OF the law.