Omaha daily bee., 1905-10-26

ington Booth. New York; F. Emory Lyons,
Conn.
Crimes: J. Barrows New York; Charles
| r. Henderson, Chicago; F.. H. Wines,
Springfield III; John Koren, United States
| census, Washington; Amos w. Butler. In
Wardens Neutrality-suspicious. IN, N.
presidents, Charles s. Hart, superintendent
state reformatory, Concord Junction Mass
| Joseph p. Byers, Randalls Island, N. j.;
Frank l.. Randall, st. Cloud, MINI.
Discusses Negro Criminal.
The morning session was given over to
the physicians department and number
of interesting papers we're read, while this
afternoon the association met at the state
penitentiary where, after the session, War
den Beemer served lunch and the entire
delegation inspected the institution.
4 In discussing the negro criminal, Presi7
| dent S. H. Bitch of the physicians de-
partmept of the National association pre-
dlcted the extinction of the negro race
through disease, principally tuberculosis
and syphilis.
The negro is growing weaker every day
time will soon come when he will be ex-
| tinct. He cannot mix with any other race.
for him except death. The people OF my
| state, Florida, are doing what they can
to help him, but It is impossible TO save
/ him. We build him a school wherever we
build white school and he has assimilated
| all the education that It is possible for
GRAFTON rait of negroes that is sffiicted with
these diseases and that bespeaks the utter
ruin of the race.
DR.. Bitch then contrasted the condition
OF the negro before the civil war and at
the present time, making the point that
he was in a much worse condition now than
then.
Before the war the negro was well fed,
| well clothed and given plenty of outside
work; 1t was to. the interest OF his mas.
ter that he be healthy and that he in
crease. Since the rebellion the negro has
left the farm and fiocked to the thickly
settled cities. There he lives as best he
| may living in tdleness and want, crowded
into tenement houses Astounding with filth.
and he sleeps where he can. He does not
get wholesome food and the outdoor work
pitiful.
In Florida. DR.. Bitch explained, the negro
prisoner was leased to contractors and
worked constantly out OF doors. This he
said had proven the best system that the
south had ever tried because the negro was
of an outdoor race and could not survive II
locked in the prison by day and by night.
How many of them do the guards
shoot?' asked a delegate.
Very few" replied DR.. Bitch, but I
have not the statistics with me. I will say,
however that the death rate among the
negroes in our prisons is less than in any
state in the union"
In Florida there are thirty prisons and
they contain about 1400 convicts OF whom
80 per cent are negroes It is not the white
race that is treating the negro unfairly,
DIR. Bitch said. but the negro was treating
himself unfairly. Other than offering the
outdoor air treatment for the negro Grim
fpu mr. frt, da
improving his condition.
Tuberculosis in Prisons.
DR.. Walter NJ. Thayer read a paper pre-
pared by DR.. Ransom OF the clinic prison,
Dannemora, N. Y, on the Necessity for a
More Rigid Entrance Examination for Con-
victs With Reference to tuberculosis. 4"
DIR. Thayer said replies to inquiries on this
subject had been received from seventy
nine institutions and from nearly every in
stitution had come the information that
tuberculosis was prevalent Dr. Thayer
furnished considerable statistics on the
) death rate from tuberculosis which he used
to prove the necessity for quick and heroic
action at once. He prescribed the open air
treatment and insisted that every prisoner
brought to an institution be thoroughly ex-
amined for symptoms of the disease.
Surgery a Cure for Crime.
DR.. Kolmer, with charts to illustrate
spoke of the good of surgery for a cure OF
criminals. DIR. Kolmer cited a number OF
cases where children who were addicted
TO crime had been cured by an operation on
the brain. He had only been doing this
kind Of work for a few years, however, he
. said, and he was unwilling TO say the
practice would results in permanent cures
because OF the short time it had been in
vogue.
= Or. H. C. Sharp Of the state reformator,
, of Jeftersonville, Ind, spoke OF the needed
improvements necessary TO the physician
department of a prison.
At noon the association adjourned to meet
at the penitentiary At 2 o'cock, where
Major Archibald. the patrol onicer OF
Canada. delivered an addresses.
The Prisoners Aid society OF Canada
with headquarters in Toronto. was the
Oldest society Of the kind In Canada, SAID