Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1913-07-11

There should be intensive farming,
Following the scientific principles OF
agriculture. The farm should. there
fore. be located reasonably accessible
to u State Agriculture college, at
Ames. and the professors of u agri-
cultural college. postgraduates and
undergraduate students of sufficient
training should give instruction at the
penal farm in scientific agriculture.
including instruction in %dairying, poul-
try n stock raising; in short. there
should be such cooperation and as
s%tstance given by the agricultural coll
lege as to mak 1t a g for students to
visit out of idle curiosity, and 1t goes
without saying that the function of the
agricultural college should be to fur
nish instruction and nothing more.
Under this system, instead of using
military guards on dress parade, grad
yates of the agricultural college could
be used as instructors and colaborers.
Cooperation OF the agricultural COL
lege with a large penal farm would be
OF very great value to both tnstitu-
tons. 1t would furnish for the coll
lege a means Of experimentation and
demonstration; 1t would furnish addi-
tional opportunity for students to put
their theoretical knowledge into actual
practice, and 1t would furnish the most
+! healthful employment possible for the
prisoners. 1t would be the highest kind
of productive labor; it would give the
prisoners that kind Of practical knowl-
edge which would be of most val
ue to them upon their release. The
labor would % be injurious to free la
Dor. nor would. the prisoners be per-
forming women's work, OF the work Of
the blind. Every branch of farming
should, and could, be carried on; and
dairying and poultry and stock raising
should all receive special attention.
Our board of trade says that a po-
II <rr~ ~1ry~ ,.. - g. = --S-
oner upon the farm IL he Is capable.
h demand for farm laborers Is al
ways in excess of the supply, but the
reverse of this is true with men en-
gagged in other occupations. Many a
man is kept at our penitentiaries and
reformatories for a considerable period
of time after he Is subject to parole,
until a position for him may be Sc
| cured.
The value to the state and to So
ciety in Transforming a large number
of debilitated and shiftless men from
cities and towns who previously spent
their time in idleness, into useful.
healthy citizens to go into every part of
the state upon their release and engage
in the highest form of productive labor,
viz. scientific agriculture, scientific
dairyfng. and poultry and stock raising,
is beyond estimate; but to even re-
turn those who have previously been
- Va u AAA 1AlSICo0 vi lolio-
ferring them to cities and towns upon
their release, at best, only partly
equipped to earn a livelihood, will be
of untold value. provided that during
their confinement on the penal farm,
they receive that knowledge and train
ing in farming, and that degree of ef-
ficiency which they undoubtedly should
receive.
The products of the farm need be in
no way injurious to free labor. and 1t
is beyond question hat scientific agri-
culture and intensive farming
may be made very profit
able. Consequently farm work
would permit the prisoner to be not
only self-supporting. but to contribute
largely to those dependent upon him..
Because of the peculiar location Of
Fort Madison. the supplies for h in
state of Illinois, the Iowa producer
having no opportunity to compete. Not
a ton of Iowa coal is used at Fort Mad
ison. This. of course, is due entirely
to the freight rate necessitated by the
location. What is true of coa is true
OF many other supplies. If the Milwau-
hee railway company can abandon a
part OF its line in the state of Iowa in
order to straighten it's track and re-
duce its grade, surely the state itself
can an institution, the loca-
ton of which practically excludes the
oWo PiVNuSSI anu JODOGr from IuF-
nlshlng supplies, and makes the cost of
operation excessive For these reasons.
Fort Madison has been condemned by
legislative committees and by the
board of control. 1t is a subject of
Common remark that no worse location
could possibly have been found, either
IN this state or any other, for a penal
Institution. To enlarge the grounds at
Fort Madison would only commit the
state of Iowa to a third-rate policy in
dealing with its detectives and GRIM
inals. while by the expenditure of q
mount of mOney we can
SO transform our penal system as to
stand in the forefront of the states of
the union.
The state of Iowa has not purchased
an acre of ground for any Of it's insti-
buttons that it could not sell at n
profit of from 100 to 400 per cent, and
1T has not purchased an acre Of ground
for gardening or agricultural purposes
which has not been operated at a profit.
If 1t is urged that the state cannot
AFFORD to appropriate sufficient money
70 purchase a new state farm, reason
ably accessible to Des Moines and
Ames. I can do no better tina cali at
tention to the fact that Illinois has
recently appropriated $500. 900 for the
purchase of a new farm of 1000 acres.
and is now abandoning the Joliet
prison, the present valuation of which
Is only $3.O00,000 although its original
cost was SIT, 900. 900, and in connection
with 1t was a farm of over 200 acres.
The Jail system of Iowa. like the Jail
system of all the states of the union.
is the very worst system thai it is
possible to conceive-idleness. and
either solitary confinement or base
companionship. 1t is almost incon.
ceivable that an enlightened, free peo-
pie should continue a system as vicious
and barbaric as the present Jail sys-
tenn.
cannot insist too strongly upon the
fundamental proposition that the
state itself should administer the pun
ishnent for infraction of state laws.