Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-10
PRISON REFORM
LEAGUE SUMS UP
Deterrent PRINCIPLE MAIN
SUBJECT OF ATTACK
Issues Final Letter and Will Engage
in New Literary Ventures with
Forthcoming Publication
of Book

cate letters furnished by the Prison
Reform league to the press through
out the country is brought to a close.
When the league was formed in May
last, it was decided that no better
method of bringing its principles 10
the notice of the public could be-
adopted than the discussion, week py
week. and in the largest number OIL
papers possible, of the entire admlnis-
tration of the criminal law. The nrst
letter was issued May IA, and since
then publication has been unihIer-
rupted.
The league believes that this por-
ton of the task it set itself has now
been accomplished, and Accomplished
we'll Others, of course, must pass
judgment on the value of It's Work'
but it confidently claims that 1t mas
set out, with unusual wealth of detail
the discussion between the old and inc
new schools OF crlnlnolosg isS,., o,,t
philosophy of vindictiVe punishment
as opposed to that of social protectloh
and individual reformation, to be at
tained by discovering and removing
the causes that call crime into eX
istence This distinction has not been
lost sight of for a moment, ana no
rains have been spared to show the
which maintains that people can be
frightened into being good-in all its
ramifcationS For this is precisely
the point about which the whole battle
turns. and it is our contention that
the crime problem can no more De
solved by prayers and so-called char-
ity than the unemployed question can
be settled by the bread line, or war
abolished by improving the facilities
for rendering first aid to the
wounded
Showing, in the face of the utterly
unreliable statements of chiefs of po-
lice and other intel ested officials. that
crime is on the increase, and estab-
lshing that all-important fact by ex-
tensive citations from government re-
ports, standard works by recognized
experts and the testimony of such
noted statisticians as Upton of the
Chicago Tribune, we laid the founda-
ton for a critical review of the actual
accomplishments of the deterrent
school,
Starting with it's crudest and most
savage manifestation, capital punish
ment, wherein the cry is admittedly,
Blood Iago, blood" we tracked it in
the penitentiary and reformatory, IN
the convict camps of the south and in
the lawless methods of the police. We
showed that these last habitually ar
rest without warrant or moral Justl-
fcation. and, in their admiration OF
the third degree" and in countless
other ways with which the American
public is only too familiar, put in
practice remorseless policies that
would not be tolerated for one instant
in England and are only tolerated
here because, as nation, we are still
under the delusion that by making
things sufficiently disagreeable to the
of
can check the flood of crime.
Victims of Draenet
We followed this deterrent principle
still farther by exposing, through eX-
tracts from court records and other
documentary evidence, the atrocities of
the fee system, whereby the officer of
the law is rewarded in proportion to
the number of victims he can bring
within his clutches. This indefensible
machinery for the creation of man
hunters has been condemned, as we
showed, in unmeasured language by ev-
crv reliable authority that has been at
the trouble of examining its operations.
We then gave our readers, at very con-
siderable length. the most reliable re-
view of conditions in our county and
CITY iails that has ever been published;
that prepared in 1907 by the American
Prison association. This also formed
an integral part of our examination, for
to the county and city jail go the VIC
Tins of the dragnet which the fee sys-
tenn sets untiringly day and night; ana
their scandalous condition is justified
by the plea that the way of the trans
gressor must be made hard.
In our articles on probation, parole.
the indeterminate sentence and the
treatment of juvenile delinquents, we
exhibited the new and scientific crimin-
ology at work, the aim being to reduce
oh n a and
d the prisoner a chance And since our
object is not merely to point out the
inefficiency of the methods that have
hitherto prevailed, and still dominate
almost exclusively the administration
of the criminal law, but also TO show
the results that are to be expected from
more modern and enlightened tactics,
we give here the remarkable account
with which we conclude the book we
are now about to publish. 1t shows
what can be done, because for some
years past it has been done, and gives
in concrete form just what the Prison
Reform league stands for
Prisoners Left Unguarded
In the outlook of January IS, 1908,
Mr. Frederic c. Howe described the
Cleveland Farm colony He begins with
the statement that three years preVi-
ously Mayor Johnson's rival for the
executive office twitted him in debate
with the fact that the WorkhOuse under
his administration had failed to mako
money, to which the mayo replied
I'VE are not trying to make money out
of prisoners; we are trying to make
men" He then proceeded to a detailed
account of the colony, which embraces
a 1900-acre tract of farm and quarry
land. At this extraordinary colony, de-
spite the fact that many of those sent
there have been guilty of comparative
lv serious offenses, there is no stockade,
no one wears a ball or chain, there are
no guards and, as the superintendent
told the writer, probably no one could
be found on the premises who carried a
revolver or even a stick. The colony
is under the management of DR.. Harris
r. Cooley, who was for seven years di-
rector of charities and corrections un-
der Mayor Johnson's administration.
DR.. Cooley explained the fact that
they had been able to dispense with
the usual safeguards by remarking
that the work to which the men were
set was interesting and healthy, and
added: "Even from a financial point
of view this experiment justifies it
self. But that is the least important
consideration. The principal thing is
that we restore the prisoners self-re-
spect. He grows strong by outdoor
work He goes back to life again
able to meet the temptations which
the city offers. And a very large per-
centage of these men never come
hack. But better even than that, we