Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-27
.IFAGIIF MAKFC
kEHUGG iWFVENLJ
GRAVE CHARGES
UGLY QUESTIONS RAISED BY
BOOK NOW ISSUED
TORTURE EMPHASIZED AND IN
HABlTUAL USE
"Crme and Criminals" Drags Entire
Administration of Justice Be-
fore the Bar of Public
Opinion
BY GEORGE B. HARRISON

BY GEORGE Is. HAkRlSON
Unless we greatly miss our guess
Los Angeles has produced a book that
will make stir. For Crime and
Criminals" now issued by the Prison
Reform league, is no dry, scientific
treatise, but something far more
thought-compelling ana Of infinitely
graVer import. 1t makes most damag-
ing charges, marshals them with logi-
cal severity and phrases them in Ian
guage that leaves no loophole for eva
sion. TO smother such accusations by
a conspiracy of silence, or cover them
up with the habitual coat of white
wash, will be no easy task for the So
ciety or individuals against whom they
are directed. A thorough probing
would seem to be i'm order, and we sus-
pect the public is in the mood to de-
mand the operation.
If the proofs brought forward in
Crime and Criminals" can stand in
vestigation we face the ugly fact that
not only is crime on the increase but
increasing in the very forms that
menace most seriously our national life.
For it is stated definitely that our
prisons are being recruited more and
more from among the young. and that
murder is today the national crime.
Those are most alarming charges, but
they are backed up with figures and
authoritative statements that seem to
defy contradiction.
Furthermore, if the allegations made
in this book are correct we have en-
deavored TO check the swelling flood OF
crime by resorting to practices worthy
only of the Dark Ages, torture having
become habitual in our penitentiaries
and reformatories, and men being done
to death with a heartlessness 1T would
be hard to match. Here again is a
most dsquieting charge, but here again
a mountain of proof is offered Three
chapters are devoted to that particular
question, two of them containing per
sonal records of life In San Quentin,
which is taken as a type. There fol-
lows a narrowing account of conditions
in southern convict camps, where all
laws of God and man seem for the
time being to be set at naught.
These, however, are but the first
counts in the indictment, which pur-
sues relentlessly the entire philosophy
of deterrence-the theory that men
can be frightened into being good. The
reader is given a detailed explanation
of the machinery whereby men are ar
rested and lodged in Jail, the frank con-
tention being that such machinery Is
worked not for the prevention but for
the manufacture of crime and crimi-
nails. Five chapters are set apart for
this phase of the problem, the attitude
of the police and other officers of the
law being subjected to ruthless criti-
cism. The corroding influence of poll
tics is especially emphasized, and the
fee system is handled without gloves.
In short, the tenor of the argument is
clearly that, both within and without
the prison walls, every effort is made
- mill Jnr rnlAx
virtually establishing, under specious
legal form, a reign of terror, defended
on the ground that 1t deters from
crime. Under this head Illegal arrests,
the third degree" and the growing
tendency to interfere with free speech
are considered. A tense strain of moral
Indignation marks all these chapters.
Brighter Day Dawns
The rise of a more scientific and
humaner philosophy, which takes into
account not only crime. but the causes
leading to its commission, occupies the
third portion of the book, throwing well
come light on the picture. The teach
ings of Tolstoy, to whom the work is
dedicated, are here exhibited as in
process of realization, and the book
closes on a hopeful note. But to the
last it is insisted that public opinion,
shocked and thoroughly awakened,
alone can force the changes required.
The idea that, as a class, wardens and
other officials will do other than op-
pose such changes is secuted in terms
that are most precise.
Should the public prove to be aroused
on this question, as we believe it Is,
the volume under consideration will
find a hearty and general reception,
for it furnishes a, wealth of facts and
we'll digested argument. Without
doubt, certain special classes-such as
editors, ministers, lawyers and public
speakers-will find it exceptionally use
full, and will appreciate the summary
of contents and full index appended.
To the thousands of women vitally
interested in the child labor problem
this work must make profound appeal,
since juvenile delinquency is treated ex-
haustively and most sympathetically.
The white slave traffic also is reviewed
at length.
All profits are to be placed in a fund
for the relief of prisoners entitled to
parole but too poor to raise the sum
required In saying this the publishers
evidently reckon on large sale, for
only with such can so low-priced book
be made to pay. One dollar for cloth
bound volume of 800 pages. illustrated
and got up in the best of style is
figure unusual nowadays.