The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1910-02-21
NEW PENAL METHOD
'chIoagS Woman's Plan e Shield
NEamiIies of Criminals.
INDUSTRY mt PRISONS

fHtohS tWb6S nv |FHiSONS
FyN .DjiE3A@ .II5W|o4
MrsE Mary Eide Mould Make h Con-
viet Earn Enough to Save Kin From
the Burden of His crim-Fa~ers
Paying For Work at the Union
Wage. m
The speedy disappearance OF wife
beaters. home deserters and tramps
and the alienation OF some of the ip
Justices of the present penal system
are the objects aimed at In an idea
being worked ont by Mrs. Mary E
Ide. 1898 Kenmore avenue. Chicago. a
member of the North End Woman's
club and of the League of Cook Coun
ty Clubs. who is busiiy engaged in de-
~veioping the details of her scheme and
enlisting others in its support.
Mrs. Ide has long seen a great injus-
tice in the modern prison in that the
heaviest burden entailed by the sem
fencing of a crimina to a term be-
hind the bars falls 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. I have even heard of criminal
husbands" said Mrs. Ide 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 a proposition
and too much k prosaic. everyday
working for a living to he considered
for a moment by the leisureiy 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 u
regular union wage. Then let his
board and lodging be deducted and the
balance be sent to his family. SO leav-
ing the BURDEN 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 al
the trade or labor for which he l.
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
| ting sheds, brickyards. tile manufac-
turing plants. and the products of all
would be placed on the market and no
loss entailed to the state. for Mrs. lde
sees In her plan the elimination of one
Of the greatest objections to prison
| made articles.
PAY. Is the keynote to my plan."
said she. IF We can pay the prisoner
the regular union wage. 1 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. l hin that this wag,
and the consequent justice to the pris
oners' dependents should obviate the
objections of unions. though | haven't
yet consulted labor leaders
THE expressions of opinion which !
hav received have all been very fla
vorable to my idea. Superintendent
whitman of the house of correction
said that it is just the thing we are
coming to. and we ms as well take
Ii up now as later. and Judge Cleland
a that the plan had many good
ideas. j spoke to Judge Mack about
1t also and asked him IL 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 la wyers through
expressions of opinion from ZACH 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 n the aid of women's or
CARNATIONS cannot be enlisted. Mrs.
lde 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 IL up In
the fall. She has been promised the
ioor at the first meeting of the League |
Of Cook County Clubs.
MAKE the criminal dread the jail
sentence less Inc GROVE the prisons: |
Not In the least!" "a Mrs. Ide In de !
Tending her plan. .'The criminal Is not
the man who will look on the oppor- |
tunity to support his family under |
compulsion as an inducement to 60 TO
JAIL.
81 have had the Idea in my mind for |
many years and hope to see Ii in prac- |
tice. ! believe there Is a remedy for |
every evil IL we can only ind it,
Chicago Post
Ed Mcdaniel returned Sunday |
night from a two weeks trim to Poor