The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-28
cellent
carpenter,
StOne-maSOn,

cellent carpenter, stone-mason, plumber, or other skilled worker. he is disbarred from working at his trade while serving his sentence. It partakes of the same spirit of intoler- ance which women, as whole, ex- hibit-toward one of their number who has made a misstep on hfe's jour ney It is to be hoped that this op- position will vanish with a. better un- derstanding of what Sheriff Tracy and his family are doing, and that a larger spirit of charity and co-op- eration may be shown their erring brothers.
 It complicates Tracy's task of find ing sufficient work to keep all his force" busy. One bright young fel- low, a mere boy. who was sentenc- ed to six months imprisonment for petty larceny is now the Sheriff 8 trusted office assistant. How pario- doxical it seems that when Governor West and Sheriff Tracy figuratively take off the chains, and open wide the prison doors, these men make no effort to run away. What state of mind is developed in that appeal to the latent good in every man, no matter how degraded he may seem. or how low he may have fallen, that when he is put Ion his honor some attribute of a God, tho in the germ" is aroused, he squares his shoulders, looks you frankly in the eye, and hesitates not to grasp your hand firmly. It's splendid. One feels thrill as though emerging from some dark tremendous sea of clouds'--he suddenly finds himself upon a high plateau. with the bright sun beating warmly, and the ozone laden air breathing life and vigor and vigor and hope for humanity. What a contrast in methods, what 8 trans figuration.
 Consider Gen. Bridges prison at Charlestown, Mass, and other insti- tutions where the stereotyped penal system is enforced. The Warden and his deputies are as gentle and considerate as their system will al- low them to be, no doubt, but the hopeless. abject, melancholy-the check, the 1ack-1ustre eye. the pathetic droop of the shoul- ders, the weltschmerz; which op- presses as tho under a pall The i'll concealed hate, the feline crouch, the shifty glance of mistrust Iti is all so different. It is the difference between the rule of the club and gun and the Golden Rule carried into practical application.
 In the first instance one feels the spirit of "bon comerarderie'' that trust and faith in man which puts him on his metal, and resurrects the one solitary grain of probity in his soul, and fans it into bright burn Ing flame; in the other, its the mer- ,iless visiting of the Mosaic Law, the ,pirit which exacts revenge and res- .itution, with no thought for its al- 1 innate effect upon the character of he prisoner.
 The phychology of suggestion is l totally ignored After all. there | s nc good or bad, but thinking makes l 1t so". We think they are bad, | when perhaps they have only been weak. or sick, or unfortunate. And | he attitude we adopt toward them | will determine, as certainly as the | avs of suggestion are immutably | operative, their subsequent behavior | oward the society which makes or mars them.
 Gov. West and Sheriff Tracy have l ound that "a mans man for a' hat" and that it pays in dollars | md cents, and in that greatest as- ct in the world-the conservation of | luman beings.-to Treat Criminals as Human Beings.
 DIR. EDWIN F. BOWERS.