Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-01-09
OF This Amount ST, 1876 Was
Expended for Charity; $780,
$40 for Prisons.
TAX ON CORPORATIONS
ONLY SOURCE OF INCOME
Report of Commissioner of
Charities and Corrections Tells
of More Humane Methods.
Especial to the Newark Star. ]

TRENTON, JAM. 9.-CommiSStoner OF
Charities and Corrections DR.. George
B. Wight today submitted to Governor
Fort his annual report, in which he
shows that 1t cost the State s2,02T.-
645.s6 to maintain the penal and chart
table institutions. OF this amount
$1,34s, 935.17 was appropriated for charf-
table institutions n seTs,s1o.78 for
penal and correctional institutions.
making an increase over the previous
year of $220, 450. The report also shows
that the State Is caring for 1855 In
mates in its institutions.
Besides these amounts the Legisla-
ture appropriated for last year $12.6OO
for the maintenance of the charities
and corrections department; $4,000 for
the Board of Children's Guardians.
S. 5000 for the State Charities Aid So
ciety and $500 for the State Conference
of Charities and Corrections.
The commissioners says:
1.-THE officers of these institutions
have no other motive than to secure
the best results, and are quick to adopt
new methods in the treatment of Grim
inals and detectives. The conventional
striped garments have been banisheo
from the State prison and suitable but
distinctive uniforms worn instead, a
concession to the prisoners self-respect
and an important factor in his desired
reform.
Science Instead Of Dope for Insane.
violent disturbances in the insane
are reduced as far as possible by MOD
ern scientific methods rather than ny
drugs and cruel shackles. Deputies IN
penal and correctional institutions and
attendant purses for detectives are re-
quired to be human In their treatment
OF prisoners and un~fortunates, and the
wilful violator of this important rule
is turned over to the criminal authori-
ties for punishment. AS a result mis-
conduct and cruelty are far less fire.
quent, though they occasionally occur
in spite of stringent rules and careful
supervision.
''In its provisions for me care OF
criminals, waywards and detectives
New Jersey is in the forefront of the
States. Though prevented by its con-
stitution from issuing bonds to erect
and equip its institutions, and required
to pay out of It's treasury the appro-
priations for that purpose, in a little
over a decade it has established the
village for epileptics, the reformatory
for male offenders, the home for dis
abled soldiers at Vineland and the
tuberculosis sanatorium at Glen Gard
ner at a cost of $780, 44. In addition
it has expended on the older penal and
charitable institutions in the same
time 81, 401 ,957 for building n tmprov-
ing. Upon these buildings and equip
ment, valued at many millions, there
is not one dollar of debt.
"Other institutions are needed for the
custodial care of certain classes OF
criminals and detectives, now unpro-
vided for, and existing institutions
need additional buildings and facili-
ties.
IA surer basis for the support of the
States charitable institutions is much
to be desired. The earnest, influential
body of philanthropists of the state
who are demanding many new insti-
tutions ought not to overlook the fact
that New Jersey levfes no tax for the
erection and maintenance of these in
situations, but establishes and main
tains them from the tax upon corpora
tons, an uncertain source of revenue
at the best, and one that nay finally
fall"
notwithstanding the enlargement Of
the State prison in 1906 that institution
is still crowded, and in the Judgment
Of DIR. Wight must ave additional
room before long. After careful study
of the situation he is convinced that
II Is ~impracticable to move the prison
from it's present site. He therefore
recommends that the arsenal adjoining
the prison be removed elsewhere and
the entire tract devoted to prison uses.
Urges Change in Prison Labor.
Radical changes in the present sys-
tenn of employing prison labor are
urged by DR.. Wight. In a chapter OF
the report in which he also discusses
the subject of prison-made goods
against which a fight has been waged
for years by labor unions throughout
the country, he believes that prisons
could be made more nearly self-sup-
porting. a proportion Of the earnings
of the convicts devoted to the support
of their families and general condi-
tons bettered without producing a
competition which would work injury
to outside labor.
'Prison-made goods, n~otwithstand-
ing complaints made to the contrary,
are marked as the law direct, and I
am satisfied hat neither the warden
nor the supervisor would permit the
manufactured goods to go u from
the prison clearly labeled as such;
but once removed from the prison, the
authority of the official ceases. The
packages may be opened anywhere,
the labels removed and the individual
articles placed upon the market ac-
cording to Usual methods of trade, and
there Is no redress in law that I know
OF.
"A law might be passed which would
require every article manufactured In
the prison to be stamped as prison
made but this would not prevent the
goods being sent out of the State,
opened and returned, through jobbers,
to the retail dealer. Goods manufac-
tured in other State penal institutions
are now sent into the markets of this
State without hindrance. n our own
production would be no exception. The
proposition that the institutions man
ufacture only such articles as are re-
~