The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-08-08
GOVERNOR WEST PUTS
PRISONERS ON HONOR
Half the Convicts In Oregon
Prison Go About Their Work
Unguarded.
From the New York Times.

oregon, the pioneer among those
states that have turned their statute
books into Laboratories of experiment
tai legislation" has extended her policy
Of trusting the people beyond the
ranks of those who nave retained the
qualifications of citizenship. Governor
West is trying to show that c~onvicts,
as well as free men, are worthy of faith
in Oregon.
An example OF Governor Vests
methods is provided by this telephone
conversation in which he recently en-
gagged, quoted by Jennings Sutor in an
article in the Pacific Monthly:
Hello, p~enitentiary? This is West
speaking. Send 1915 up to the capitol.
l want to see him in my office"
But, governor came the troubled
voice of the warden, 'I've no guard to
send now-they are all busy. I'll send
him down this afternoon when 1 can
get some one to go With him.
mo, you won't. Tell him to get on
the car and get off at the capitol
Alone? Why. he's one of the worst
men we've got. He's a life termer. I
don't dare do it, governor.
Governor Takes Responsibility.
TIL take the responsibility. Send
1tA'' 'iSiiSs S"i' LIZ 1oN e. ltoi VI ohS-
So they called 36l5 from the shoe
shops, where he was at work helping
to turn out the heavy black footwear
that the 400 odd men in the Salem in
stitution use. old him to clean up,
and gave him his carfare for the trip
into town.
TIN not going alone?' he asked of
the warden in as surprised a tone as
that official had used to the governor,
a few minutes before.
That's orders, said Warden Curtis.
And 1915 walked down the steps,
along the path where the roses and the
brave hollyhocks try their best to over
come the grim background of the tur-
reted red brick prison, and by the aid
of the jerkN little trolley that runs from
the penitentiary into the city Of Salem
proper he came to the capitol build
Ing.
1T had beer eight years since he had
seen the world outside the ~penttentiary.
In that time he hadn't proved a model
prisoner. He had worked hard, it's
true; he had a natural aptitude for me-
chanics that easily gave him the lead
in the shops. But he had also used his
ingenuity in trying to escape the bar
riers that man and the law had built
around him, the last most successfully.
First Who Had Trusted Him.
How'd o enjoy the trip the
governor asked.
His visitor eyed him for a minute
neither was much in the mood for jok-
ing-and replied that it was a novelty.
Wow; you're In Tor life, a muir
tried to get away before. Why didn't
you this time? How do you know T
didn't send for you to give you a
chance to skip
No. 3615 hesitated a minute or two
before answering.
Well, I'll tell you, governor. I've
tried it before. This would nave been a
pipe for sure. But it's the first time
since l can remember hat a man g
trusted me. I couldn't throw you
down.
All right said West, go out and
see the town for an hour and then
go back to the warden
He did He went back to work and
stayed with his job for a week, when
another came to call on the
governor. He went, visited a while,
and went back to the penitentiary and
to work again. The third time his
curiosity was relieved.
I'll tell you what I want you to
do said the governor. Our shoe shop
is In a bad way. We make scarcely
enough to supply the men in the prison.
They're poor shoes at hat. We ought
to manufacture shoes enough to fit out
ONCtS pSISSIl III lileSS SldCS luSllLuIlOllS
around here. There's no reason why
you boys shouldn't be making shoes
for this entire lot, excepting that your
machinery is old fashioned and worn
out. Take some of the money you have
saved up and go down to Portland,
where there are shoe factories, see
what machinery we need, n how we
can improve u shops, and come back
and tell me about it. The state will
take care of your expenses
Paroled and a Good Citizen.
1.-THE convict went to Portland that
afternoon. 1t so happened hat it was
the week of PorIland's annual Rose
festival. The streets We're gay with
bunting and decorations, bands and pa
rades.
"It must have been a strange sight
for the man who had spent the last
eight years in prison. Out at the avia-
ton field a%eroplanes We're flying.
Everywhere the carnival spirit had
play. But 1915 went to the shoe fac
tories. examined the types of machin-
cry. spent w days and two nights
IN the city, and went back to the gov
ernor with the information thai he had
learned much, but hat the most mod
ern plant to be found was at Oregon
City. Should he go there and see tina
too?
Governor West told him to find out
JuSt WHAT tHe prison needed, an0
when he found out, to order it. So he
went to Oregon City. studied the ma
chinery there, placed an order for the
state of Oregon n returned to Salem
He has been paroled since, and is
working honestly at the employment
the governor secured for him. He was
the prophet of the new order of things
that has resulted in so per cent of the
convicts of that state being trusted
to go about their work outside the
prison walls without a guard to watch
them"
Into the Rriar Rose.