Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1908-12-16
GIVEN CHANCE TO
MAKE HONEST LIVING
Detective Chief Has Work
able Reform Plan.

New York, Dec. 15.-People all
over the coutry are watching with in
terest the experiment which is being
made by Capt. James F. Larkins, chief
of the Jersey City detective bureau
He is trying to find out whether it is
possible to conduct an employment
agency for ex-conyicts. Since an ac-
count of this project appeared in a
paper on Nov. 13, Capt. Larkins has
received letters from Pittsburg, Cleve-
land, Chicago, St Louis and many
other cities in the Middle West from
business men as well as police ofie-
ials asking for more information
about it and wishing him success in
his undertaking.
| The plan has been in operation only
| about month. In that time the de-
| tective chief has been able 10 secure
| employment for six men with prison
/ records.
The employers who have given
/ these men jobs know all about them,
and are willing to give them another
/ start in life The men themselves
know that their bosses have their
| records, they realize that they are
I having another chance, and every
/ one of them seems to be eager to
/ prove that he can make good
4 Most of them are working in fac
/ tories doing manual labor, where they
receive on an average from So to
| $40 a week All that the detective
bureau asks of the employers is that
the other employees shall be kept
in ignorance of the fact that the
newcomers are ex-eonvicts.
The idea was originated when Capt
| Larkins and some other officers were
sitting at police headquarters one
Knight discussing the best means OF
dealing with the great number OF
petty criminals in Jersey City There
were great many boys between
the ages of Is and q who had lost
/ their jobs, had fallen into bad habits
and were giving the police trouble
Many of them had been arrested for
trivial offenses, and when they were
4 found lettering about the streets late
at night, often they We're locked W
just on suspicion
Hard to Get Start
Capt Larkins goes on the as
assumption that very few of these
young criminals are really bad al
heart and that most of them would be
glad to start over again if they saw
their way clear He declared that
there was very little chance for an
ex-conyict to hold a job unless he
had some recommendation AS soor
as it was whispered in factory thai
a certain man had been in prison his
fellow workers would brand him as q
thief and before long the report would
reach the superintendent. Then, with
no one to speak for him, the boy us
uaily would find himself without Z
4 job
To make the plan work successful
4 ly the detectives had to have the co.
operation Of number of reputable
employers, who were broad minded
enough to be willing to give the
scheme trial in their own factories
No Complaint Made
Although four weeks is not long
enough to form positive estimate o.
how the pla mis- succeeding, still it Il
encouraging to know that there has
not been single complaint up tt
the present time regarding any 81
the six men for whom employment
has been found. The success of tn,
uAAstSA eiANOA 1lllE " Sdpl. l1dl
kins, depends solely upon the meY
who can give employment if the,
are SO disposed, for at the presen
rate the demand for jobs soon viii
be far in excess of the available op-
poftunities
The detective chief was asked
whether he would try to secure EN-
!, ployment for women who came on
of prison. With them, he said, the
case was somewhat different Mos
of the arrests of women were made
on the complaints of persons l.
whose houses the girls worked anC
from whom they had stolen thing.
about the house. AS soon as the los
property wa srecovered these persons
We're unwilling to press charges
against the thieves. This was tht
only type of female criminal cores
, ponding to the kind of men for whom
I he is securing employment