The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-18
W|CKERSHAM TALKS l. ON PRISON REFORM Punishment in Some Form
 Still Necessary HE DISCUSSES PAROLE Mir. Wickersham Favors the Exten- sion of the Parole Law to Include
 Life Prisoners-Wants
 Boards Enlarged
HE DISCUSSES PAROLE

omaha, Neb., october 17-In the bat Hes of economic forces for supremacy, the law must be obeyed, even though It
 seems to favor one class as against an- other This view was expressed by At torney General Wickersham in speech iefore the American Prison association nere tonight
 Punishment in some form, declared the Attorney General, is still necessary to prevent crime This is especially the case" he added. "in a community and at a time when divers economic forces are struggling with each other for the mas terv in the state, and where laws are en- acted through the influence of one class
 or classes to control the action of another
 class who are unwilling to accept them as rules of action, because unconvinced of the wisdom or justice of the lesisla- l tive policy which they embody. Yet consideration of the nature of social or ganization will demonstrate the absolute necessity of all classes of society con l forming to requirements prescribed by the duly constituted authorities-howeVer
 wise or unwise those regulations may ap- pear to those whose conduct is sought 10 be controlled by them But within us constitutional scope the acts of the legis- lature stand until repealed as the man date of organized society, and the con- tinued effectiveness of organized society requires that obedience to such laws be compelled
 The Attorney General lengthily dis cussed the broad question of punishment for crime and the administration of the federal parole law. < Modern penal legislation, he said, IS based on a recognition of the expediency Of endeavoring to reform the criminal,
 ana so great a stress has been laid on
 that feature in dealing with criminals
 that we sometimes forget that in order
 that punishment may act as a deterrent
 upon others it must appear as a badge of disgrace, and not simply the bestowal of
 benevolence."
 MT. Wickersham favored the eXten sion of the parole law to include life prisoners. He regarded it as an in- congruity that prisoners sentenced to long terms for vicious crimes should be eligible for parole when the man convicted of second degree murder must remain III pTlSoH lOr llle.
 If the law making power" continued Mir Wickersham considers reforma tion. conditional liberation and rein statement to a normal position in so- ciety possible in these cases, 1t is diff fcult to say on what principle the same possibility and hope of reformation, liberation and forgiveness should not be extended to one guilty of murder
 under circumstances not punishable by death. While there is life there should be hope It may be far off, delayed, a dim. distant possibility, but it would seem that that hope should be held out las a possible attainment to the mean est wretch who is allowed to live. Tho justice of man should aim at the per lection of divine justice, and though finite wisdom not knowing the hearts of men may not always deal justly with offenders yet it should not shut the gates of mercy against the mean est of Gods creatures"
 Since the parole law was placed in operation last autumn, the Attorney General said, but one prisoner had vio- lated his parole. The 200 prisoners who were paroled from the time the law was put into effect in the autumn of 1910 to June 30, earned nearly s22,- 900, whereas, if they had remained in prison, the Attorney General pointed ont, they would have been a charge on the government.
 Mir. Wickersham expressed the be- lief that the parole boards should be enlanged by adding two unofficial per sons selected from among prominent citizens of the locality in which the prison is situated