The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-27
REFORMING CRIMINALS
Was Subject of Interesting Talk by
Roger w. Hulburd.

/ Roger w. Hulburd, one Of Vermonts
most eloquent speakers, prominent
lawyer, an ex-state legislator and for
many years member Of the state board
on penal institutions, spoke before the
members of Vincitia club at o smoke
talk held in their rooms in the Blanchard
block last night on the subject OF
Grimes and Criminals what shall we
do about it. and what shall we do with
themP There were over a hundred
members of the club present, and the
close attention accorded to speaker be-
tokened the interest he had aroused
in his audience. Mr., Hulburds years Of
work on the state board of penal institu-
tons brought him in close touch with
the prisoners confined within the state
prison, and he showed by his remarks
that he had made deep study of the
question Of reforming criminals.
The watehword OF the future in deal.
ing with criminals, he declared. would
not be punishment, but reformation
In the years gone by. the speaker said,
criminals We're punished for revenge,
with no thought Of reformation, and
to-day society still sticks more or less
to that old saying, "0nce criminal.
Away a criminal It is useless to say
to criminal that he is most unfortu-
nate person, for there is no one in the
world who knows it better than the
criminal himself, and there is no one
who wants and will appreciate more a
helping hand II YOU go about it in the
right way
We need probation officers who are
paid TO do their work, and above all we
need society that stands ready and will
ing to aid criminal after he has come
ont OF an institution, and not forever
damn him and crush him again Prisons
should be nothing more or less than moral
hospitals where criminals are placed to
be cured of their habits. for crime is
nothing more or less than a habit, he
asserted.
He declared that Vermont emphasizes
too much the punishment idea for re-
storing and uplifting criminals. Blot out
that sign which criminals in every prison
think they see: "He who enters here
leaves all hope behind and put up in
its place that single word, "Hope."
The trouble has always been with the
treatment Of criminals that it Is easier
TO kill than to cure. Ii takes time,
patience and thought to cure a criminal;
therefore, they were thrown into the
dungeons as the quickest aud easiest
method OF getting rid of Them There
is no work that carries with it greater
sacrifice and a greater reward than that
Of saving souls, and it Is one Of the
signs that the world is growing better
that progressive reformation is taking
the place Of punishment for revenge
The speaker said that Superintendent
Lowell at Nermonts state prison at
Windsor is a man who knows men and
is doing a good work towards reform
ing the prisoners who come within his
care. Though the superintendent is han.
dicapped by a system that is blind to
reformation, he has taken
It upon himself to work out his own
ideals Of treatment and care of prisoners,
with reformation as the object
Past history and students of sociology
tell us that punishment il not q deter
rent from crime, and the sooner the
world sees to ii that its prisons are
not places of torture. but hospitals and
schools whore criminals are cured and I
sent out into the world again on the I
light path, viii the number Of crimes |
md criminals decrease Like everything |
Use in nature, the future depends on /
he bending of the twig the way the tree
will grow. and is 1t not the very nature
if things that if We successfully reform
eur criminals and keep continually at
t that the habit of crime win in time
un out?
At the close Of Mr.. Hulburd's talk. a
pleasing vocal solo was rendered by
Thomas Mercer and dialect reading
" DR. F W. Lynde was enjoyed. A
,uifet lunch was served at the close.