Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-10-27

10 De n?Ore SPECIFIC, let me suggest the
.hree following means of awakening a
more general interest and dffusing wild
er information in respect to the social
questions and philanthropic interests Of
our State:
First an energentic and efficient MAIN
tenance of this Conference making it's
work every year of such immediate appli-
cation and practical utility that it will be
sure to attract the attention and COM
nand the approval of all our citizens.
Secondly, every city in the State should
associate all of it's charitable societies
into one single organization and hire a
general secretary who has had special
raining and actual experience in charita-
BILE work, and make this secretary the
chief executive officer of the organization
md let all donations be dispensed through
his office.
And thirdly, the creation by our legis-
lature, Of q State Board of Charities and
Corrections, whose members should be
non sala.ied. non-partisan, and made up
of men of the very highest character and
widest experience, whose very reputa-
tons would be all assurance of conscien-
tiOus service and an earnest of universal
confidence. TO this board should be at
tached scientifically trained and broadly
experienced secretary with adequate sal
airy. who should give his entire time to
the work of his Office
"If time pernitted it would be inter-
esting and informing to trace the history
of the development of sociological thought
from the earliest periods of history
down through the ages to the present
time. We must. however. content our
selves tonight with catching only casual
and occasional glimpses of a few of the
subjects about which modern sociology
concerns itself. Listen to this schedule
rlease:-0' State board of charities; (2)
the caro- Of the insane: CD public build
ings: D pauperism Gncludine settlement
laws. out door relief. and almshouses,: 60
city charlie les; &c, statistics of crime and
pauperism. 90 medical charities Gnclud-
ing hospitalsl: CS) care of dependent chill
dren; Co. care of delinquent children: 0O)
immigration I'D tramps; 02) prison re-
form Gnclnding convict labor; Q3) char
ity organization: 40 epiieptics: 15) edu-
cation Of the deaf and blind; 16) provi-
sion for the fecblemirded; 90 the In
dian quest ion; and 1S women's work In
philanthrophy. These topics either eX-
pressy include, Or are expanded so as to
do so, the following subjects: a The adj
| ministration of public institutions: (2)
| free kinderearteEs: 90 orphan asylums
| and children's homes; "a placing-out sys-
TENS. g, probation laws; 80 intersti. te
migration. % adult refornatoi lies; 81
womcn's prisons: co. registration of pau
pers and criminals, and many other sub
| divisions. Most assuredly here arc wide
and variant fields for the charity worker
and the student of sociology.
Complying with ray promise. let me
! social life and conditions to which modern
sociology has applied it's principles
AS The first Illustration, permit me to
speak of the purposes and achievements
of what is known as charity organiza
| ton.
There is no city in this country of any
considerable magnitude that has no,
scores. more or less. of charitable oil
| benevolent Zations,-many Of then,
| simiIar,-others varying and special il
their purposes. Without the combination
coordination ard proper disposition OF
| these agencies. If each is left to go its
| own way regardless of the others, mis-.
chief is sure to arise and the results OF
| their effects will be multiplication OF
paupers and their increase degradation
| CHARITY organization. then, means sim.
play bringing all these agencies. whether
| be nevoient persons or institutions into q
scheme of concerted action. or division
| nf 1aI,n tn, p,Ia tn, 1T,
well-defined plan to elevated the whole
life of the poor
| The speaker outlined organized charity
work in Portland. and drew many valua
BILE Illustrations from the labors of Gen.
eral Secretary Fl. S. Braucher
| Let us take cursory survey of an
Other heli. namely. that of pr son re-
form. for further illustration of the doc
trines and purposes propounded by mod
ern thinkers upon tits question.
I'm the first place. it is asserted by mod
ern penologists, and in the light of many
years Of Elost unsatisfactory experience
their contentious seem unanswerable. -
| that our whole system Of criminal Juris-
prudence so far as it attempts to inf1ict
punishment. rests upon wrong and mis-
chievous theories. which when historical
| ly traced are readily seen to have been
conceived and adopted when civilization
was. as compared with the the present, at
Il low state ard the ideas of markind
crude and unenlightened.
"Al these elements Of the old system
the new penolosy rejects and condemns
1t SAWS that the theory of retributivc pun
ishment cannot be recGncied with any
true conception of the function of civil
government; that the state exists mainly
for the protection of its people: That de-
Tense OF The public and not Vengeance on
the criminal is the only legitimate aim of
the state in dealing with crime; that the
idea Of revenge is wholly foreign to the
majesty of the state: that the state imrris-
ons a criminal for precisely the same rea-
sons that it holds in quarantine
ship bearing contagiop or con-
fines in an asylum a lunatic af-
fected with homicdal mania. that
the amount of his guilt. a psy Geological
problem which Omniscience alone can
possibly solve. has no bearing at all on
the practical question. how long he shall
he kept in prison: and that the sarne mo-
tive of public protection which first sent
him to prison demands that he should re-
main there until his release becomes con-
Sistent with public safety. that .;uch re-