The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-08-25
mtttees can make will not remove that


been greatly modified, or absolutely
abrogated within years very recent,
the assertion of DR.. Mussigbrod that
there is no secresy about the asylum
will not stand the test. Although sup
posedly a public institution. main
tain at public expense, the interior OF
the buildings forming the asylum are
as strange to the people Of the state
of Montana as they are to the cannibal
of the South Sea islands. Nobody was
ever known to be permitted to pass
through their doors, unless the gov
ernor Of the state and several other
officers specifically mentioned by law,
and the biennial Legislative commit
tees who go there for good time" at
the expense of the contractors, be ex-
cepted. In return for the hospitality
of the contractors enjoyed at such
times the committees are unstinted
with their application of whitewash,
and the public is assured with all the
solemnity possible by men whose
heads still ache from the lavish enter
tainment of the contractors that the
asylum is a model institution and the
guards, keepers and all others con-
nected with 1t the personifcation OF
gentleness, kindness and tear-compell-
ing consideration.
| Ac OF a
in that particular respect have been
completely changed, DR.. Mussigbrod
knows that no one is permitted to visit
the asylum, except the men whom the
law says may go there in their official
capacity This the writer OF this ar
ticle knows from personal experience.
Neither entreaty nor good, honest re-
quest has ever availed when the wish
was to pass through the doors AOf bed
lam and Sc what was occurring inside.
Firmly all such requests are denied,
and if insisted upon, curt answer
often follows that ends further discus
sion of the subject or recurrence OF
the request. "Eot that we are afraid
of letting anybody Sc how we manage
the people committed to our care, and
not because the place is not clean and
well kept do we refuse to admit Wis
itors, but it is one of our rules and we
never deviate from it, is about the
usual reply when a visitor asks per
mission to go through the place.
Like many others, The Gazette is
of the opinion that the contract sys-
tenn of management of public institu-
tions is wrong and believes that all
should be under state administration,
thereby lessening the likelihood Of
abuse of inmates and decreasing the
possibility of graft" The contract
system has long been abolished in all
progressive states and wherever con-
tinued stand as reproach. The hor-
rors of Southern prison life, with it's
tales of cruelty and inhumanity are
theme for many writer's and speakers.
There the contract system obtains and
the unfortunates compelled to exp1-
ate offenses against he law are treated
worse than brutes by the monsters
who are their custodians. There are
notable exceptions, fortunately, but so
rare are they that they are made all
the more conspicuous when they do oc-
cur. One of these exceptions seems
to be the state prison of Montana, al
most within gunshot of the asylum
The men who for consid care
for the states criminals are either
more favored in respect to having as
their charges persons easier satisfied
than those whom Mitchell & Mussig-
brod receive, or else their system OF
treating those committed to their Gus
tody has more to commend 1T. While
necessarily strict, as such government
must be, no complaint of unnecessar-
lily harsh treatment has ever been
heard from any of the many who have
been discharged from that institution.
Certain it is that no such tales OF
cruelty are told by ex-convicts as are
told by those discharged from the asy-
lum. Neither is the penitentiary con-
Quoted on the method of a secret So
ciety. Visitors are welcome at all
times and it is not necessary for the
one applying for the privilege of vis-
iting to be one of those whom the law
says shall be admitted.
The Gazette has complied with DR..
Mussigbrod's request and publishes
his letter, but with all due Difference
to him, it reserves the right of doubt
ing much that he says is true, and in