Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-05-21
NEW PENAL METHOD.
Chicago WOman'S Plan to Shield
Families of Criminals.

4
Families of Criminals.
The speedy disappearance of wife
beaters. home deserters and tramps
and the alienation of some of the in
| justices of the present penal system
are the objects aimed at in an idea
being worked out by Mrs. Mary E.
Ide. 1858 Kenmore avenue. Chicago. a
member of the North End Womans
club and of the League of Cook Coun-
ty Clubs. who Is busily engaged in de-
veloping the details of her scheme and
enlisting others in it's support.
! Mrs. Ide has long seen great injus-
tice III the modern prison in that the
heaviest burden entuiled by the SEN
| fencing of Il criminal to a term be-
| hind the bars fails often not on the
culprit himself but on his family. The
man goes to Jail and may or may not
be put at hard labor. but his family is
| left out in the world and must shift
| for itself.
| why, | have even heard of criminal
husbands" said Mrs. lde in explaining
her plans. who held their wives in
submission by the threat that they
would go to Jail for a rest and leave
them without any support at ALL"
! But all this would be changed If
! Mrs. Ide could have her way. and Jail
| would be far too serious proposition
and too much like prosaic, everyday
| working for IL living to be considered
for moment by the leisurely inclined
| The gist of the proposed plan is this:
| Let the criminal. when sent to Jail. be
| put at his trade or labor and paid Il
regular union wage. Then let his
board and lodging be deducted and the
balance be sent to his family. so leav-
| ing the burdens of a Jail sentence to
fall where they are intended to fall
To carry out the plan Ii would be
necessary. according to the originator.
| to change the prisons about so as to
| give them less of the present day as
| pect of houses of correction and to
| give them more of the nature of houses
of trades" Mrs. Ide would prefer
that they be made in reality colonies
or virtual little. towns. with all sorts
Of factories and Industries and oppor-
tunities to put each man to work mt
the trade or labor for which he is
most fitted. If he is not fitted for any,
let him learn one and go to work.
There would be shoe factories, mat
tress factories. furniture shops. car
pentry shops. printing offices. stonecut-
turing plants. and the products of all
would be placed on the market and no
loss entailed to the state. for Mrs. Ide
sees in her plan the elimination of one
of the greatest objections to prison
made articles.
PAY is the keynote to my pan,'
said she. IF we can pay the prisoner
the regular union wage. | believe that
the greatest obstacle. the opposition
Of the trade unions, will be overcome
Now the prison made articles are man
ufactured by free labor. Let the men
be paid wages and their product put
on the market. / think that this wage
and the consequent justice to the pris-
oners' dependents should obviate the
objections of unions. though haven't
yet consulted labor leaders
1.-THE expressions of opinion which
have received have all been very IA
vorable TO my idea. Superintendent
Whitman of the house of correction
said that it is just the thing we are
coming to. and We may as well take
it up now as later. and Judge Cleland
said that the plan had many good
IDEAS. spoke to Judge Mack about
it also and asked him If my plan was
impracticable. He told me l was on
exactly the right track and urged me
to hold to it,
Mrs. Ide intends to enlist the aid of
prominent judges and lawyers through
expressions of opinion from each and
then start the work of raising popular
subscriptions through personal can
vassing for funds to carry on the cam
paign Of publicity. AS the club sea-
son Is over and the aid Of women's or
CARNATIONS cannot be enlisted. Mrs.
Ide intends to carry on her work pri-
vately through the summer and have
the plan well developed by the time
the women's clubs can take it up in
the fall. She has been promised the