Omaha daily bee., 1905-10-25

oficial. win deliver an address on the
parole system In Canada.
At the session this morning Judge @. s.
Robinson Of Iowa read the report OF the
committee on law reform. while Superin-
tendent Paddleford Of the Industrial school
at Golden, Colo, read the report Of the
committee on reformatory work and pre-
ventive. While both OF these reports at
tracted much debate and the former Sc
we're criticism from Martin Dewey Follett
OF Ohio, the talk by Catherine Bennett
Davis superintendent Of the State Re
formatory for Women OF New York. OF her
work in that institution, and the talk by
Superintendent Hayward OF the Nebraska
Industrial School for Boys seemed more
to interest the delegates than the reports
and the arguments.
Compares Men and Women.
Superintendent Davis, in comparing the
difference between the woman inmate of
the reformatory and the man prisoner
said:
While an immoral act OF a woman was
OF moment and Importance to her, It was
a mere incident to a man. The first wrong
of an immoral woman is an accident, but
it stamps her for life and she soon learns
that she had an easy way to earn her
living Men who go out of prisons go into
the world with a trade, while woman who
is released from the reformatory must
secure a position a domestic servant
Thus It is easy for her to fall back Into
her old life OF immortality and sin, the
woman must wash dishes or COOK, but u
is difficult for them to secure any other
/ released a girl once who was an expert
telephone operator and l went to the man
aKer of the company and asked that he
admit her again TO his office. lie refused
because he said he would not permit such
a woman to associate with the other girls.
And vet that woman had completely re-
formed. When the women tirst come 70 the
institution they are all broken down phy VS.
do is to look after their physical welfare.
Only u small per cent Of the inmates are
Keeps Them Mt Work.
DR.. Davis then said she kept the women
busy and advocated for such women much
outdoor work At the present time, she
said. she, with the help of the inmates, had
made over 700 feet of cement walks and
had mixed the cement themselves. They
had put in cement floors In the basement
| of the institution. The girls raised the
| garden and did all the work except the
| blowing. Until recently, she said, there
| had been a high embankment In front OF
the institution and she had requested the
| legislature to give her 1850 to grade the
| embankment. The legislature had refused
and the girls had torn down the embank-
ment and had graded 1t nicely. 1t had not
cost The state a cent. AS a result the
girls he'd taken an interest in the place
and there was nothing they would not do
| TO help improve 1t. She advocated the
establishment Of such reformatories IN
quiet. secluded places, where the public
| could not see the girls at work. The re-
suit of her outdoor work had been to create
| anpetttes and to bring the girls to con-
dition where they could sleep.
Results in Nebraska.
| In his talk regarding the Industrial school
and it's work. Superintendent Hayward OF
| Nebraska said his institution was merely
a school. and he did not teach the pupils
| that they were being punished out tha'
| they were being helped. These inmates ne
| satd were not criminals, but they were
| bovs who had brains too large ana VINO
were too large physically for the towns III
| which they lived 1t was the force IN therl
| that was breaking out and there was no
| one in the town competent to direct tn'A'
great force into the proper channels. inc
Rvs he said. would develop the greatest
minds on earth were they directed rlgh'
| while Young. The fault that they nave
cone wrong. he said, was not with the
child but with the parents and the puoIc
| school teachers, who, he said, were Sc
| Iactad from the field of incompetency NO
university graduate or high school graduate
I he said. was At to teach school without 2
| nroper and thorough training.
| We told of the work in the school ana
| u,ho+ the boys had accomplished, wheh
| fact he said was absolutely unknown W
| the Juvenile court officers and 10 otpels
who should know The school hao oeNei-
oped until now, he said that frequently
men who had been inmates Wheh ooys' hO''
,,,sit the institution with their wives and
shov, them around the workshops and are
nroud of having had the opportunity oil
| attending such a school. 1t should not DC
! considered a disgrace for boy to be an
inmate of such an institution because It Is
never the fault of the boy, but OF those
who should look after his early training
Report on Law Reform.
Judge Robinson of Iowa presented the
| ranort of the law reform committee and In
his preliminaries called attention to the
vast differences of sentences in the sew
eral states, and submitted statistics from
the census report OF 1900 as a corrooora-
tion He recommended uniform laws to
remedy this defect in the present system
The mental and physical condition OF the
trial Judge, he said. had much to do with
the length of the sentence Audiences
! which are SympdlneklC OI HuSAhC " NAS
prisoner also has much to do with the SEN
tence.
He recommended the indeterminate sen
tence together with a pardon board &c
pass upon all applications for pardon
or parole. When the prisoner has given
evidence of a change of heart and OF re-
form, he said, he should be released, but
when reform was not hoped for he should
be restrained.
The report was vigorously attacked by
Martin Dewey Foliett of Ohio. who was a
member OF the committee, but who refused
TO sign the report. Mr.. Follett attacked the
Board of Pardons and said such power
should be vested In the warden or those
who worked with the prisoner and who
knew him and knew whether he had ac-
tually reformed. He jumped on the stats
tics read by Judge Robinson and said they
had been before the congress in 1904 and
had been thoroughly discussed. The report
he said, was full of platitudes and should
not be signed by any member OF the COM
mittees
others Defend Report.
This attack brought other members of the
committee to their feet with protests and in
support of Judge Robinson. who had writ
ten the report. Judge Reese of Lincoln, a
| meunber of the committee said he stood