The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-09-18

100 convicts on the roads OF thesstate.
and In this connection we areSgixing.
the honor SYSTEM Of handling cpn=
victs a very thorough trial. Ufasf
q provision of the good roads laws
passed by the last legislature the
state board of control is giyengauthor-
ity to send out to countiesswhfeh tap=
ply for them convicts to worlsEEon the
public highways. The warden ofstheS
acknowledgement which men shall
be sent, andlIfn the beginning Of the
experiments he has permitted only
short-term men with good recordssors
long-term' men having only sasshort
amount of time yet to serve, toS1eayes
the penitentiary.
Results Have. BEEN Gratifying.
Our prison road campsgaregmod=
els and the results Of convict labor
have been gratifying III every q
The labor costs the counties8but
cents a day, the approximate expense
for each convict, and the reports
the engineers show that the costilof
work of the prison labor sonsthe roads
Is only ope-third of that Of free la
Dor. One aim we have II to@keep
apart the voncicts from free labor
crs, because mutual association would
tend to create dissatisfactionsam among
the convicts.
"Our state prison is conducted ON
a high plane, and we expect to be
able to obtain under the gneSwsystem
even greater results. Warden White
is a level-headed, practical man. and
he has invoked the principles$o of The
golden rule with each andaeYerysin-
mate of the institution. The changes
in the methods of punishment have
been put into effect and all stgnsiand
appurtenanccs indicative OF anti
quated forms of punishment have
been entirely .obliterated. ande can
assure you that brutal punishment
will not be, meted out iii any State
penal or, reformatoryu Institution %
long as I remain governor % the
state. s3t i
"As to the state asylums,, 6f which
the state has three, loctaed3 at Hunt
ington. Weston and Spencer; " are
engaged in a rcclassifications Of the.
inmates along lines based upon q
more scientific considerations of the
nature of their mental deficiency.
The orders recently issued relative
to the lifting OF the restrictionsa ana
censorship of letters written by in=
mates of penal institutions also
ply to the unfortunates5 confined |
the insane asylums.
Conduct of Insane AsyIpins.
"Our asylums have not SbeenSconS
Quoted on the broad scalelinsthespaas
that they should have been. as
rule the governor has no more knowls
edge regarding the medical and sci=
entific administration Of these instiS
tutions than the average Intelligent
man. Unless he happens to be asphy
stefan Of at least ordinary protes-
sional ability he knows nothing OF
the proper classification ofstheEdtgers
sified diseases that are founds among
the inmates Of an asylum, nor dues
he know anything aboutt the compeS
teney or ability of the physician 81
whose charge these unfortuthte peo
pie are left. I have madesanSexhans-
tive Investigation OF the asyiutns OF
our state along with Dr.SCarlos y.
the noted New York
%alienist, and we have arranged that
parents shall be classifiedsin the IN
situations according toSthe nature of
their ailments and not ID the future
be thrown together, as seems have
been the case in the past.