The Calumet news., 1911-04-17
that Prison INQUIRY.

| Concerning the Marquette prison In
vestigation, and the adoption 10y the
| House Of the minority report con-
demning Warden Russell. Governor
Osborn says;
Il have been through both Of War
den RusselTs Investigations. have
heard much Of the testimony and read
most Of the rest. have visited and
Investigated the prison on my own
account many other times. II is my
opinion that Marquette prison is the
best conducted In the state. II not I'm
the whole nation. Nothing has hap
pened TO change my mind. have
known Warden Russell and the mem-
bers Of the Marquette board Of con.
troll for a quarter of a century. Ny
respect for them has not been shaken"
We believe the people Of the upper
peninsula hold the same opinion of
the Marquette institution, which. un-
der Warden Russelrs direction. has at
tracted the attention Of the best
known penologists. who regard it as
model prison, admirably conducted.
When Warden Russell asked for the
recent investigation he believed politics
would not figure in IL. But such proved
not TO be the case. From the start the
Detroit Journal was particularly bitter
against the warden, it printing every
thing it could get hold OF that would in
any way injure him and showing no
inclination 10 play fair. The truth Of
the whole matter is plainly revealed in
the following comment from the Sagi-
nav Courier Herald:
The assault upon Warden Russell
is aimed really at the Osborn admin
stration and is solely the effort Of bit
ter enemies of Gov Osborn to try 10
discredit him, to put him in a hole,
Jas they gleefullly chortle it. The as
sault is fostered, sustained and en-
couraged by the Detroit Journal and
Free Press, whose owner is +. d.
stair, who wants 20 be United States
senator. who has built a colossal for
tune out of the ten-twenty- thea
ter trust whose newspapers are the
untiring defenders Of entrenched priv
ilege in Michigan, and which have
never lost opportunity. since the gov
ernor disclosed sympathy for popular
rights and antagonism to the powers
that prey. to misrepresent him, 10
Tie about him, to revile him, and to
impede his progressive policies.
IF this pernicious 1nfuerce. whiclfl
has been the sustenance of the ele-
ment opposing the governor in the
legislature, can manage to discredit
him in the minds Of the people with
a popular outcry about the cruel
spanking Of mutinous convicts, and
use il as an argument that all his pur- |
poses Of reform are insincere it will
feel that II has taken a long step to-
ward accomplishing its purpose
which is to cripple him in his work |
For IL must not be forgotten that the
mass Of corporate wealth that controls |
the policies Of these two Detroit news |
papers Immediately bristles with ami
mate life the moment any strong |
arises that threatens to |
check OF curb its power The Mar
quette prison matter is merely one |
phase Of the plan-the others that /
have developed since Gov. Osborn
sent his inaugural message to the leg
islature contained no element that |
could appeal TO unthinking or ignor-
ant popular sentimentality.
These are the newspapers that have
used every resource to prevent the
passage Of a just workingman's COM
pensation act, while at the same time
emitting anguishing sobs daily over
the woes of the child killers, the wo-
men ravishers and the murderers in
prison That is the real
politics in the case"
In view Of these facts It is easy TO
see why Warden Russell now asks for
a non-pOlitical investigation OF the
prison, an inquiry by men who are not
seeking political Office or power. An
Impartial inquiry, too, would be well
coined by the people OF the state.
The members Of the House who
voted for the minority report permit
ted themselves 20 be swayed by false
sentiment worked up by the Detroit
Journal. In other words they were po-
itically humbugged.