The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-28

stand before ther Creator, thcy stand
now before their fellows. They are
holplcss-so warden and guards think
but they have gained power be-
are voiceless, but they challenge man
kind. They endure every indigolty and
outrage: but an account will be required
OF those responsible for it.
An Attitude That Prison Docs Not
Modify.
wish to emphasize this dropping of
the mask-this stop put 10 posturing
and pretending going forth in rude
nakedness before ones follows. The
man in the church pew chants out with
tue rest or the congregation, We are
sinners, desperately wicked, and there
is no hoaltD in us, but he says 1T with
his tongue III has cheek, and hitting his
mask on only the more tightly. Or the
man convinced OF sin' on the anxious
seat al the revtvailst meeting trenZledIy
accuses himself OF all the sins in the
decaiogue, but finds protection in the
very generality and promlsculty OF hls
confession, which includes and at the
Same time Couceals the particular TACT
that he robbed the till and got away
with it. We seldom hear or penltent
of this kind beng indicted by grand
Jury, tried, convicted and jailed on the
basis of his salvation outcrles. He talks
6guratlvely.
There is nothing dramatic or hysteri-
cal in the attitude of the felon IN his
cell He robbed the till, he admits TO
you, but he does not drag III the rest OF
the decalogue 10 divert your attention.
And has penlUence, when he feelS any, IS
not, in nIpe cases out Of ten, prompted
by the expectation of getting clean
I,lI ,f hrE fIpn II a 1rp
(the empty till included) from good
natured Saviour not too keen about de-
tails. He tells you, as rule, - l was
| foolish and took too many chances!'
| or, "If d handled the thing by my
self, instead OF admitting partner, 1t
would have been all rignt;' or 'Oh,
| OF course, | was damned TOOL; what S
| the use of bucklng up against the by
| copsl' In the case OF murder, 1T
might be, II m sorry | killed him, but
L guess any fellow would have done the
same in my case -
Duration Of confinement does not
| modify this attitude; the man Of ten
years says the same as the man OF ten
| months, exccpt-and the exception is
worth noting-that the former 5 moral
| sense, whatever he originally had OF II,
has been blunted or discouraged, and
! he has conceived a settled animosity
| against human authority and dlSbehet
| IN the Justice and sincerity OF Its ad-
ministrators. He has been the subject t,
! during his incarceration, OF such num-
| beriess acts OF gratultouS tyranny, out
rage and cruelty, and has seen go much
OF ''the way things 60, In general,
| that though he may concede that hon
csty is the best policy, be can find nc
other recommendation for 1t, and is
| prone TO the secret conviction that hon.
/ csty itself Is somehow only cleyerer
way OF cheating
| Such state Of mind is bred by
prison eXperience-not otherwise. Prls-
on obstructs or altogether closes every
| door to genuine moral reform IN prIs-
| oners.
! A few larger souls overcome the OBJ
| structionS: for example, our John Ross
| who more than tbirty.three years ago
| in the blindness OF drunken spree IL
Yokohama, killed a shipmate who an
gered him. He died iu Jail last june
| (l9l3). He was sentenced TO death, but
got Communication TO life Imprisonment
He was a fine type of man, physically
and mentally. His spirit was never
broken by what he endured, and some
years before being transferred TO At
lanta, he became, IN simple, poU-seD-
sationsl, bat profound way, religious
| At Atlanta, in his cell, be was center
] of good influence on his fellow con
victs; truthful. hearty. faithful, manly
cheerful; his preaching was by per
sonal example, and by support and help
given at need to the weak and despair
ing, He was promised freedom on
parole; the promise was not kept; but
even tnis last betrayal failed 10 break
his stanch heart. He died like man,
with composure and dignity.
With a few such exceptions, prison
| cTs are unrepentant except for business
ressops-that is, either because they
recognize that crime does not pay. or in
order to influence in their favor the
| pardoning power, Many of them OF
course, employ their prison opportuDi-
! ties to devise new crimes and 10 train
fresh recruits from the younger con
| victs. Men who have been imprisoned
| more than once lose hope Of anything
better than transient freedom; they
know they will be prevented by the
| police from earning an honest liveli.
hood, and that they must either starve
or steal. They become in the end mere
prison creatures, destitute of evil or of
good, active or passive.
The Prison Sense of Brotherhood.
I repeat that the experience Of asso.
! ciating with men without DISCUSSES is
novel and refreshing. a tedious bur
den is lifted from the shoulders; the
bones in the sepulcher are lees revolt
| ing than the whitewash outside; II Is
| pleasantcr 10 know what a man Is than
to suspect him. 1t is certainly much
wbolesomer. on the other hand, to un-
cover your own defor1nity than to hide
! il. especially when YOU know. or fear,
that the hiding is unsuccessful.
There is sense Of brotherhood, long