Arizona republican., 1912-06-16
 |. PRISON REFORM
An Outline of the Views of Frank E. McCrary Res pecGing the Application of Better Methods to the Conduct of City Jails

comes a fad it loses it's value, Senti- ment, or even human sympathy is a detriment to the work. This is so well understood that some states do not allow prison officials to have any voice in paroling prisoners. Frank E. McCrary the father of parole work at the state prison belongs to this school which does not at all represent the idea of the present state admin is stration McCrary has been asked by Mayor Christy to address the city council on the subject of city prisons
 His ideas are set forth in part in the following statement:
 Almost every day in the year the police court of Phoenix fines men who cannot pay fines. Almost every day
 in Phoenix men are locked in the
 city jail, convicted of violating city
 ordinances Technically, that is true,
 but, as a matter of fact. isn't it true
 that these men are locked in jail be-
 cause they have no money. Is thlS
 good business or is anything gained
 bv staying the fine of a convicted
 man and turning him loose to meet
 the same conditions under which he
 has failed to make good many times?
 Is there a better way to handle a
 man who won't work. or who cant
 get work, but can get whiskey, and
 fails to support his family? Under
 the present system such men and
 their families, as their numbers in-
 crease, develop the slums of the city. Is it necessary for the Phoenix of the
 future to have slums? The slums of
 city are a result of the present
 method of dealing with the victims of poverty. disease and crime. It is the false attitude of the strong towards
 the weak. It is no fault of the police department; it is the fault of sys-
 tenn that the police judge and the chief of police find when they take office Can Phoenix save money by dealing with the causes of poverty disease and crime, rather than their results?
 Phoenix is about to do business un- der a new charter. The question be- fore us is, can we, under that charter, do away with some of the causes that breed business for the police de partment? Can we prevent the for nation of slums, with all their at tendant evils, in the Phoenix that is | to be-
 Some of us think the city govern ment can, through an agent. take up the work where the police court drops l it. Such an agent or officer might l be known as the public welfare agent. Before the police court meets each day he would interview each one who is to be tried. The man $ I,fe ord should be noted on a card. The names of those dependent upon him for support should be taken, also the name of his last employer, why he quit work, as well as the name of any one, who would be apt to give him work. In most of these cases the record will show that the money the defendant earned in the past did not get home. In many cases the puplc welfare agents investigation would show that the defendant could secure employment if the fine were stayed. That being done. the defendant would be asked to give the public welfare agent an order on his employer TOT his pay. the same to De dlsburSed TOT the family needs. under an agreement between the agent, the defendant and his wife. In this way, the demand made on the Associated Charities would be reduced, and the family would avoid the demOralizing influ- ence of charity.
 am informed that recently in this city Mexican was locked up for drunkenness. For two days ne was in iaiI during which time his wife remained alone at home with the remains of their baby. whose death preceded the fathers debauch. Un- der such circumstances the public welfare agents investigation would develop the situation promptly
 Every one who works contributes to the support directly or indirectly 1 of those who do not work. Every consumer who is not a producer IS a charge on the producer. The pubic welfare agents work should reduce 1 tbe number who do not work, and ! increase the number who pay their hills He should find employment for the disheartened, and those who do not want work and make them | like it. | In time the city's bureau of public
 welfare would have a municipal farm where convicted men who could not safely be paroled would work for the
 city and their own benefit. In other l words this branch of the city gov ernment representing the strong
 would give the weak liberty and em-
 ployment in proportion to their men, tal moral and physical strength.
 SeIfishness rules the world. we can for selfish reasons make war or
 poverty, diseases and crime instead
 of on their victims. AS in all other things. society is only as strong as it's weakest part. We can bulid LII
 the weak places in the body polite
 We may differ in our views or the submerged tenth, but we all sit LII
 and take notice when the coin ot tht
 realm is at stake. Under the method
 here briefly outlined, Kansas City
 | Missouri's report on preventive worf
 of this character shows men parolet
 from the city workhouse, saved tht
 city in feeding and housing them $f6,'
 900. and while on parole they earned
 lS166000 There is food for though
 in the additional fact that the public
 | welfare bureau saw to it that tht