The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-09-27

| '~~~~' tuTt vi I'LL
ment. 1t was announced that Mr.
Straus would give a complete pasteur,
| izing plant to the city of Brussels. The
/ Straus plan, which was first put into
| operation In New York city fifteen
years ago, has now been adopted in
nearly 400 cities in all parts of the
world, and the United States govern
ment has Endorsed pasteurization as
the proper way to make milk safe and
to stop the spread Of tuberculosis.
Prison Congress at Chicago.
The annual congress Of the National
Prison association attracted many
prominent officials and students OF
criminology to Chicago. The report of
the committee of preventive and re-
formatory work advocated q complete
revision of our criminal code. 1t is held
that the system of fees charged in the
defense and prosecution of criminals
Is wrong. A wealthy criminal should
not be permitted to pay for his defense
| dollar more than the state pays in
defending criminal without financial
backing.
Throughout all the addresses at the
congress the prevailing tendency was
In favor of those methods which lead
toward the reformation and better
ment of criminals rather than those
which are actuated by a spirit of re.
vcnge, and much attention was paid to
the associations being formed through
out the country for the purpose of
helping eX-convicts to their feet.
Attorney General Bonaparte, address
Ing the Prison Wardens' association,
advocated the death penalty for habit
ual criminals and for attempts to com
NIT capital crimes. He argued that
the primary purpose Of punishment
was to assure obedience to the law
and that In infiicting punishment the
state looks not to the past and not to
the individual who now suffers, but to
all the individuals who may hereafter
fear to disobey by reason of the suf-
ferings of the one now punished The
habitual criminal, he said, was q prod
uct of modern civilization, as our an
cestors would have hanged him for his
first felony. He did not favor hanging
men for trifing offenses, but he would
have society cease to nourish and
shelter its proved and inveterate ene-
mics"
Cost of Living In 1906.
A summary of the report just sent
to the printer by the United States
bureau of labor, of which Charles 2.
NELL is the head covering the year
1906, shows that the prices of food
were generally higher during every
month of that year than in the CORE
spending month of 1905. The price in
December was AS per cent higher than
the average for the year 1906, and the
year as whole showed higher aver
age than any other since 1890, the
period covered by the bureaus inves-
tigation. The increase Of last year
applied unequally to twenty-five of the
thirty articles included in the investi-
cation. Those articles showing the
greatest advance were lard, evaporat-
ed apples, pork, bacon, ham, fish, NUT
ton and butter. The retail prices Of
food were 90 per cent higher than in
the previous year.
The report deals also with the ques-
ton Of wages for manual workers and
gives figures showing that the advance
in wages per hour over the preceding
year was greater than the advance In
the retail prices of food-that Is to
say, the purchasing power Of an hours
wages as measured by food was great
er last year than the year before The
Increase In this purchasing power was
Ia per cent. AS compared with the
ten years average from 1890 to 1899
the wages per hour were 24.2 per
cent higher, and the number of en-
ployees 400 per cent greater and the
average hours of labor week 4.6 per
cent lower. In the principal manu-
featuring industries Of the country the
average wages were As per cent high
er than in 1905. The greatest increase
was in the manufacture of cotton
goods. where the wages were 11.2 per
cent higher, and In only one industry.
that of paper and wood pulp was there