The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-01-11
President Calls Attention of
Congress to Them in Special
Message.
Recites Conditions Existing in
Washington Jails.
SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE
Omitted Press.)

Washington, Jan. lin a vigor-
Gus message sent to congress today
President Roosevelt declares the con-
dition of the penal and reformatory
Institutions of the national capital to
be about as bad as can be, and recon
mends immediate and generous legis-
lation TO correct the crying evils.
The message is based upon the re-
port handed him by a commission,
consisting of Judge Wendell p. Stat
ford, John Joy Edison and Robert-V.
La Dow. the appointment OF which
was recommended by congress, and
which. after a thorough examination
of the various institutions of the Dis
trict of Columbia, made a tour of in
spection of some of the principal
cities OF the country for the purpose
Of finding the most approved meth
DDS of caring for the wards of the
public. The result of the commits
sion's labors is the recommendation
Of radical change in the system now
in vogue, and includes the conversion
of the present jail into a house of
detention; the establishment of a
reformatory and a work house, each
upon a thousand acres farm, where
The inmates can be employed in shops
and upon agricultural work; and the
adoption Of parole law and a proba-
tionary system.
The president comments upon the
fact that the Jail and work house
now in use are frightfully overcrowd-
ed. ''In most cases." he says, ''twt
or three prisoners are confined in a
single cell not large enough for
one" and, in regard 10, the fact that
all the prisoners OF the jail are MAIN
tanned in idleness. he says, They be-
long, moreover. to a class of prison.
ers that specially need and dread to
be put to work"
Discussing the overcrowding of
prisoners and the compulsory associa-
ton Of the innocent with the guilty,
the commission says: "That men and
women should be sent to these mar
row and crowded cells. the innocent
with the guilty. the first offende,
with the hardened criminal, in one
promiscuous assembly, to corrupt and
be corrupted by each other. the lazy
to be humored and fostered in their
laziness, the Industrious to be de-
prived of every form OF employment.
to be fed like beasts and maintained
at the public charge, not only with
no prospect of Improvement in their
condition but with the moral GER
tainty that they will come out far
worse than they went in. is a fact
that has become a stencil in the nos
trils OF the whole community and
ought to be felt as a shame and dis
grace to the whole nation whose rep
resentatives are responsible for its
existence"
In spite Of the progress made by
civilization, the commission finds the
general situation gloomy in the ex-
IRENE. "The confession must be
made that society is stu in a state OF
SIEGE" says the report. ''If We doubt
II we have only to notice the bars
and bolts on every hand, the watch
man, the policeman, everywhere.
After four thousand years Of social
order OF one sort or another. after
two thousand years of Christianity, II
is still the fact that those who have
must maintain their possession by
force Of the threat Of force. The
mailed hand OF government is over
every house and shop and bank vault
in the civilized world, and appaarent-
" II must be SO for centuries to
come. The criminal problem must
be looked upon as practically perma-