Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-08
By Julian Hawthorne

of the kitchen, which opened into the dining
room. Complaints were constantly made, but
the holes were never mended, and no means
were taken to kill the flies. Food sometimes
was placed on the tables hours before the men
sat down to their meals, and the flies, not hav-
ing the same delicacy of appetite the men,
Toasted freely in the meanwhile There was
also frequent protest against the bits Of loose
enamel In the bowls many of these were
made direct to the doctor; but he did nothing
II whose digestions had given way
called on him for help, dose Of salts was
the only reply, and several deaths, while was
there, unquestionably had their beginning In
this neglect. Upon the whole, contentment
with starvation was the most prudent policy
In Atlanta Penitentiary.
/ am not sybarite or epicure. For If
teen years before | was sent tc prison lived
on the hardest and most Spartan diet, eating
as little food as possible, and that Of the
simplest kind Wheat, milk, few green veg
etables and fruit made my menus. was
therefore better fortified against hardships
than the majority of prisoners; I could hold
out against starvation longer; but against the
poison of rotten or bad food had no pro
tectton.
The wardens and the chief clerks of prisons
often wish, for motives of their own, to make
al economical showing, and perhaps do not
much II il is made at the expense OF the
health or lives Of prisoners. Some friends of
mine in Atlanta prison and myself made an
per man in the prison for subsistence; we
quietly obtained statements from men in the
Kitchen and commfssary departments, and
made our calculations. After careful revision,
the figures showed that we were being fed at
the rate of from to IL cents per head day.
About that time, great scientific discovery
was announced by the chief steward. Food,
he had been informed, contained a certain
amount Of heat and power; and these heat
units, called calories, could be estimated for
an rift pf or Az 7 ita ar
editorial on the subject in a recent issue OF a
New York newspaper states the matter In
terms which l am happy to reproduce.)
Psychologists have determined by repeated
experiments that definite quantity of certain
foods furnished definite number Of calories
or heat units, which produce certain quantity
of energy In the animal or human body. =
In "a hours normal man Of about 1870 pounds
at rest, needs 1880 calories or heat units,
while a man doing severe physical labor would
require sufficient food to produce 5000 calories.
-" Since the efficiency Of labor depends
upon the energy of the body, and this energy
or power is produced by the food, it Is not
difficult to calculate the actual outlay required
for this purpose The household re-
quirements of family where two servants are
kept would at this rate be from $100 to $1.40
a day, sum sufficient to furnish all the energy
for all purposes of normal maintenance"
Such being the case, our steward figured
that the convicts could be we'll enough sup
ported by about $500 calories apiece; and upon
making scientific estimate of the calories In
our average billoffare, he found that we were
being overfed rather than the contrary. Meat
so many calories; soup, so many; sweet po-
tatoes so many bread, so many; and SO on,
1t was found possible, this basis, to re-
trench here and there; the bills were reduced
At was hoped that we might ultimately beat
even cents. The sole difficulty appeared to
be that the men, the subjects OF the expert
ment. began inoomprehensibiy and perhaps
maliciously to starve.
was fortunate enough to have access to a
physician Ca fellow prisoner), of 40 wears
eminence in his profession who solved the
enigma for me. The sum of his comment was
this: Put Delmonico dinner in one bucket,
and an equal bulk of swill or garbage in an
other; the number of Galleries may be the same
in both The steward, In his calculation, has
forgotten to consider the condition in which
the food is served-its eatableness, in short II
men could devour swill, It would be all right;
but If they can not, they will starve In spite
of calores."
So the stewards calories became a byword
and q mockery in the prison for many weeks
afterward.
Similar conditions perhaps due to the same
cause. seem to have obtained at Sing Sing and
elsewhere. II Is not enough that prison food
should be sufficient in amount; It must also
be of a quality such that the men are able to
get 1t down their threats. Nor are the doctors
salts remedy; their violent and abnormal ac-
ton finally paralyze the excretory and diges-
tive powers Of the organism, and the man dies
from poisons generated by indigestible food
In his own system. Even keeping him in the
dark hole fails to recuperate him, though 1t
has been constantly tried at Atlanta, and very
likely In other reformatory institutions
Plenty of vigorous and hearty outdoor exer-
else would help much not the exercise of
prison toll, which but deepens the darkness of
the heart; but exercise for its own sake for
the cheer and excitement Of It. Much has
been said Of the baseball at Atlanta Peniten-
tiary and doubtless 1t has been Of benefit.
But only handful of the prisoners, and nine
tenths Of them negroes play the game; the
others can only stand and look on. The games
occur, weather permitting once q week. on
Saturdays From Saturday at $3.50 until Mon
day morning at 1880, the men are locked in
their cells, absolutely inactive in body and
abandoned to such mental activities as, for the
most part, breed no good either for themselves
or others. The only outlet is the Sunday
church service hour-a crowded session In a
blank hail. with rifles ready to subdue any dis
order. A very apostle might fail in his efforts
under such circumstances; and very apostles
are few.
man who is sick and sad day after day
and year after year, and conscious of his I'M
potence to amend his state, is in no mood for
moral reform Much of the sickness might
be averted II the medical treatment at the
outset Of disease were such as to encourage
the patients to avail themselves of advice. But