South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-12-03
DOES NOT BELIEVE
WHIPPING POST A
CRIME DETERRENT
Representative Evans of Mon
tana Points to Record in
Delaware as PrOOf-UrgeS
Reform in WorkhouSe.
CBY gibson

WASHINGTON. Dec. 3.--The news
Of still another whipping-this time a
white man-at the Newcastle 1~u
workhouse in Delaware, indicates 10
me that the whipping post has not the
de~terrant effect upon crime that is
claimed by its supporters, s aid Rep.
Evans of Montana Wednesday, discus
sing the flashing last Saturday OF ano-
ther prisoner.
Gov. Miller of Delaware in an inter
view stated that the whipping post has
eliminated the criminal gentry from
Delaware In my mail this morning
l received a marked copy Of q morn
ing newspaper published in Whining
ton, Delaware, where the Newcastle
wOrkhouse is located, and on a single
page of that paper, ten stories of
crime appear. out Of a total OF thir-
ty-two items on that page. about me
third are stories OF crime. 'Gunman
fires twice in crowded street. Loot
Summer Cottage Accuse Two of Lar
ceny. James Davis, Fugitive. Killed
Following Attempt to Make Third At
tack on Negress,' Girl Attacked
Two Negro Boys Waylay Miss Anna
Underhill; these are a few of the
headlines. The last-named outrage
occurred within o~ne-quarter of a mile
of the whipping post itself.
Points To Delaware
Il am confirmed in this belief"
continued Mr.. Evans, by Mr.. Julian
Leavitt, chairman of the prison labor
committee of the National Consumers
League, one of the foremost experts in
the country, who has recently publish
ed two widely read series of articles
on prisons and convict labor in the
American Magazines and Pearson's
Magazine. In Mr.. Leavitt's opinion,
Delaware is one of the worst OF the
convict labor states, and is annually
contributing al unknown, but certain
ly large number Of criminals TO the
population of the neighboring states"
Il would ever go so far as to say,
that the u. s. Department of Justice
should have the power to assume con-
troll of this institution, as a matter of
social sanitation, in precisely the same
manner that the u. S. Public Health
Service takes charge of infected areas
whrre the local authorities are unwill-
ing or unable to exercise proper con-
troll" declared Mr.. Leavitt to-day in
discussing tn matter.
"Deleware clingS to the old systems.
And these are its b~y-products: First it
produces embittered, hopeless, con-
firmed criminals. The leading indus
try in this particular prison is the
making Of boys knickerbockers for a
private concern. Now, outside of
prison, this trade, like most needle
trades is largely in the hands Of
ome This means that the dis
charged prisoner finds himself with
out a trade, without means and with
out friends on the day OF his release.
Weakened by prison food and indoor
confinement he is unfit to compete
with free men, and must revert to
crime. Who knows what quota Del
eware is contributing to the criminal
population of its ~neighboring states?
Second. the Newcastle workhouse
is. like all contract prisons, a hotbed
OF tuberculosis and other specific pri-
son diseases. Yet we know, on the
basis of official reports. that in the
year 1904, and probably in each of
the years following, the prisoners
turned out about $4,000 pairs Of boys'
knickerbockers. all of which were sold
outside the state Of Delaware. This
means that during the last sight years
this institution exported nearly a half
million of these garments through in
terstate channels. Who
knows how many innocent boys
throughout the land fell victims of
infection to these goods?
"Third-many of the prisoners are
husbands and fathers. Who is sup
porting their dependent wives and
children? The State of Delaware does
nothing for them. What quota does
IL add thereby to the general burden
of prostitution, dependency and
crime?
These three counts alone prove
that the Delaware prison, as organized
to-day. is an interstate nuisance and
should either be cleansed or abol
ished."