The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-07-31

| Bang! Out of a clear sky came the
stroke which notified him that the
board of control of the state peniten-
tiary had picked him for the war
den's job, had chosen him to be the
custodian of the restraint of half a
thousand bad ones. 1t was strange
call. Where are the high school
principals to say YES to this stir
ring proposal? But Sanders thought
of 500 criminals-the hardest, most
Elusive game in the profession of
man salvage! Furthermore, there
was a wife. She was a thin, gray
haired woman. Nowadays the pris-
oners who see her walking alone in
side of the jail walls point to her
with respect and affection and say:
There goes the duchess" She was
his wife, and when he was offered
the new chance, she nodded. San
ders took the job.
| Plenty were the arrangements, the
rules and regulations, and the man
ners and customs that the new war
den wanted to change when he came
to live at the penitentiary. Yet these
were details compared with the one
thing which Sanders, who is nothing
Of sentimentalist, wanted to turn
inside out
Why Not Graduate q Better Man.
First of all, he could not see any
reason to treat prisoners inhumanly
He believed that this was somewhat
out of keeping with civilized man.
! ners and customs. Furthermore,
/ nd ;>,~, -
nor subtracted from the punishment
Sanders believed the most punish
! ment man gets is the punishment
of the mind, which is made to see
more clearly day by day, it's own
! wasted or perverted history, it's lost
| chances.
Nor could the high school principal
believe that the state gained any
thing by depriving man of his right
to health. aside from common de-
cency,' said Sanders to me, "let us
look at these men as 500 machines
which turn out products for the state.
II can show you on paper that there
is money in giving them proper air,
clothes, sleep, food and education"
Finally Sanders could not for his
life see why 500 of the population
even though segregated, should not
be made better men rather than
worse men. Salvage was his profess
sion, and said he to me: "Why not
try to graduate better MANI"
Go ahead and answer him-you
who believe in our present penal sys-
tem
found Sanders on hot afternoon
in July standing near the front porch
OF the Warden's residence, collarless,
happy-and five men who were about
him looked up as l came.
They had all been discussing
carving on piece of repaired furni-
ture which had been put out on the
lawn for the finish to dry-the war;
den and the five men who looked like
those who sit across the aisle from
you on the train or come to repair
the leak in the roof.
The warden was in his joy.
Eve started a new department"
says he, looking over his eyeglasses.
eve are salvaging furniture Come
into my cellar and I'll show you
chair which one of my men pulled
out of scrap heap with a rake. I've
found lot of the boys can be used
on this work. There goes B
now to deliver an upholster job to
Mrs. NJ, down in Fort Madison.
We are charging little more than
union prices for all outside work of
any kind. This repair work has
been great hit"
These men are prisoners"
"Of course"
And that man."
That's c.. He's been here
years already for manslaughter. He's
a lifer. He goes out every afternoon
into the country to drive in my COW.
Ha! You look surprised. Well, this
afternoon over $50 men are outside
the prison walls. They're all around.
Some are painting barns for the
farmers eight miles out in the coun-
try. some are dragging roads. I've
got lot helping unload coal down
there by the siding, some are deliv-
ering stuff-oh! all kinds of work.
Guards? Let's see. There are Just
three guards out today and not one
of them carries a weapon"
Many fair men believe, further
more, that, having deprived the con-
vict Of his liberty, it is unfair to de-
prive him Of the results Of his labor.
They believe 1t Is ban enough to send
q single man out of prison without
any savings to stand between him
and his necessity to eat and have
protection from the elements, but
they bslteve 1t W aimost > robbery OF