East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-05-15
GOVERNORS SHAKEUP
NOT YET COMPLETE
SEVERAL MORE SOFT JOB
HOLDERS SLATED FOR AXE
Men I'm Many State Institutions Are
Soon to Know Experience of Sum-
mary ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Convict
Honor System.

Cottage Grove, Ore, May 15.-De-
grossly misrepresented by papers po-
litically opposed to him; that great
care is used in selecting men for the
honor system, and that no dangerous
criminals are turned loose on society,
''as those papers with political axes
to grind would have the people be-
lieve," startling the audience by say
ing that there are number of ex-
convicts living in Cottage Grove un-
known to the citizens, but every one
of them making good and making ex-
cellent reports to the prison authori-
ties. and stating that his prison pol
icy is a mixture of common sense and
humanitarianism, and not the child
sh sentimentalism that his oppon-
ents declare it to be, Governor Oswald
West addressed an audience of at least
600 people at the NJ. E. church under
the auspices of the Lend-a-Hand mems
class.
The governor said that If spared
until the end of his term of office, he
would have the prison making money
for the state and have made men out
Of many convicts, who under the sys-
tenn in vogue when he took office.
would have been turned loose on So
ciety after eXpiation of their crimes
under conditions that would almost
inevitably have resulted in their be-
ing returned.
The governor stated that separat-
ing some of the old time politicians
from their jobs has caused an earth
quake, but I'm not done yet" he said
land after l get through with the
prison I'm going after some of the
other institutions. Prepare for some
more earthquakes"
Two impressive statements made
by the speaker We're:
eff man keeps busy and lets Ii
quor alone, he will not get into much
trouble;" Every man should be made
to work. No man is entitled to eat
unless he works and does something
useful for the institution"
The governor declared that he did
not care how much he was criticized
personally, but he wanted the sup
port of the public for his policies,
otherwise they could not be made a
success. He said he hoped he would
have given him many such oppor-
tunities to address the people of the
state and tell the truth about what he
is doing.
The governor declared that when
he came into office young men for
some trivial offense were thrown into
prison with degenerates and confirm
ed criminals, and if not criminals
when they went in they certainly
would be when they went out. This
kind of thing is a crime" the governor
declared. when l came into office
there were about 45O men in the pris-
on, at least $50 of whom were idle.
How can you expect to reform men
when you keep them in idleness. Why,
90 per cent of crime is the result of
idleness.
Great care is tSHen in the selec-
ton of honor men," the governor said,
but even then we sometimes make
mistakes, the same as other people
with problems to work out. That we
have not made more mistakes is most
remarkable, considering the general
class of the men we have to work with.
| cessful in 81 per cent of the cases" "
The governor also addressed the
children of the city at o'clock in
the afternoon and had large audi
ence