The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-05

Col. Barber spoke to him and asked
him when he was going to yield to the
discipline and behave himself.
Il can't make good" said the little
chap. stubbornly. Il have tried and
can't"
Then you stay here until you do"
said Col. Barber. You cannot eX-
pect TO win out against the discipline
of the house"
This standing at ''attention." per-
forming physical exercises, and being
REFORMATORY Galley Two $500.
separated from his comrades all day
and all night long is not very easy
penance for a boy. yet this youngster
had been at it for fifty-two days and
still refused to give in. One could not
but wonder what such determination
might achieve if directed along proper
lines.
Col. Barber knows all his boys.
There are $40 of them. and he can
pick out any one of them. tell you his
complete record. what he is there for
and how long and he knows how to
handle each one.
NO "o LADS alike.
mo two boys are alike he said,
in character any more than they can
be exactly alike in features. Each
boy has TO be dealt with as a separate
individual, requiring individual care.
teaching and management What does
for one boy does not do for another,
and each character is case for sepa-
n;,,In
be applied to any number collectively.
1T is impossible not to be interest
ed in the boys. They are inclined to
think at first that they have the whole
world, and especially the officers of
the institution, against them, and they
imagine that if they repeatedly com
nit Offenses of misdemeanor here it is
impossible for the officers not to feel
sore against them.
But one becomes very fond of the
lads, and the very bad boy really Gre
ates no i'll feeling in the mind of any
, officer, because the atmosphere of the
place continually reminds one that
such warped products of civilization
are naturally bad and cannot help
their tendencies"
| asked Joseph ?. Byers, superinten-
dent of the House of Refuge, to what
degree the institution was able to
claim reliable percentages of actual
reform. Mr.. Byers admitted that their
system in this respect was not yet per
feet; it could not be under the present
regulations provided by law.
They had to let a boy go when he
| reached the age of 81 years, whether
his record in the institution was good
or bad and there was no provision
whereby if a boy were still refractory
\ he could be directly transferred to
| the Elmira state refOrmatOry, where
! they take men up to 80 years and
| keep them under supervision and re-
| straint.
Mr.. Byers admitted this was flaw
| in the system, for when the boy
reached the age Of 81 years, according
to records in haand, no matter how
| determinedly bad he might be, he had
to be let loose on society again and
could not be put under further re
straint until he had committed some
other offense while at large.
The boys who go to the House OF
Refuge are self-proved bad boys, for
as a rule, they are sent to that insti
tuition as a last resource.
When they reach Randall's Island
they already have been through var
ious other institutions of rather less
strictness and restraint. They are
boys with whom the Sunday schools
the churches. the charitable societies
and the courts have failed. and fol
whom the other and more lenien1
places of correction have been able tC
do nothing.
Mr. Byers does not favor the pres
ent system of the segregation Of {
large number of boys under one roof
so to speak, as the best of reformatory
organizations.
Prefers Country Cottage System.
He would prefer the country cot
tage system, where the boys could b.
classified and grouped and have NOR
individual attention, and a care tina
savored of the parental, as likely t
be more generally effective. H
agrees that the statistics put FORWARD
} as to the percentage of actual refor
mdtlOnS dlleSeQ 10 De eueCteu edCl
, year are not altogether reliable, a
= such statistics are in Germany, for in
; stance.
In Germany the system of Supervis
! ion suffers no break; it is cOntinuou
and rigid, and after a boy is dis
} charged from a reformatOry he i
| more or less on parole for severa
years afterward. Mr.. Byers has in
augurated an excellent parole system
, here. but he can maintain it only Il
to the boys age of u years. The
, the boy has to be discharged.
These institutions throughout the
, country form sort of national nurS
, cry. The boys work and play and ar
, subjected to rigid discipline. They ar
, taught to think and act along mora
. lines and are taught what many c
them never have knOwn-the simpl
J., I differences between right and wrong
The state, of course, will always hav
; need of such places until parental RI
sponsibility in the first instance |:
properly understood and appreciate
in every home in the community.
Nellie - the strict m rant o.;