The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-02-03

duty. occasional illness, or other cir
lCumst2nccs.
This leaves only ,wcnty-three men
available Tor the productive work. that
# the roads Any business man will
realize that such IA proposition cannot
he made an economical success. Tho
road department has asked for ten
additional men from the penitcntiary.
They can be accommodated now i'm tho
hunkhouse; and as the present quota
of cooks, camp carctakers, and fore
men can easily take care Of them. the
Arrangement would be much better
But the number Of guards would
have To be increased. The general
rule is one guard for five or six pris-
"ners. The guords are not only dead
labor, but pretty expensive Labor al
that. With seven guards for the forty
prisoners, the camp would have to
carry charge Of $6l6 a month for
their salaries alone, not counting the
cost of their maintenance.
II is partly 10 get rid of at least r
share of this burden that COL. Stevens
wishes To establish virtual sclr-govern-
ment in the camp. But that is not his
only motive. He believes that such a
| system would be as much better for
! the morals of the men as for the nnan-
! cial showing. That this is no chimcrl
! has been proved out in Colorado where
I the COnvicts have given IA marvellous
| demonstration of what can he done by
| introducing the honor system
Col. stevens points to West Point
10 Annapolis and to the colleges and
universities as examples of the fact
that esprit de corps is more powerful
! than volumes of rules and regulations.
| He declares that the most potent in
! lluence in any institution is not the
rules of that institution, bu, the spirit
of the place. And he believes that his
conVicts can and will develop the pow
! 81 To Govern themselves if I. is put up
| 10 them to do il.
His plan, roughly, is this: He would
reduce the number of keepers To not
( more than two. He would have the
men organize their own Cove; nu."n,,
clecting their own officers. lie would
establish just rate of wages. Against
each mans wages would be charged
the cost of his maintenance THIS
would include food and the otner camp
expenses, as well as the salaries of the
keepers
The men would he told that If there
were more than certain very small
percentage of escapes, the guards
would be increased To the usual prison
ratio, and their salaries woull lie
charged AGAINST the mems wages. In
other words, if they made it necessary
to have guards they would have 10
pay for them.
In this way IL would he 10 every
mans personal interest to keep every
other man up to the standard Of disci-
pline and order. Col. Stevens believes
that this general camp spirit woull be
the most powerful agency that could
be. devised for preventing trouble, in
Guiding escapes Even if one man out
of ten wanted to run away, ne would
have hard work doing it when the
other nine were determined that he
shouldn't
out in Colorado a man IS ape from,
INV va tue Iodu GdnSS, winch WdS en-
the honor basis. There was one keep
or I'm charge. Two of the convicts went
To him ana said.
See here! OF course you've got to
set that man back. Now. We VIII
either stay hcic and take charge of the
camp or We will go and get him If YOU
will let us"
Well said the keeper, Il think Id
better stay here. You go after him"
They were gone four days. Then
they came back bringing the runaway
with them.
Another Fly IN the Ointment.
AS for the wages of the mon, they
would not receive them until the eX-
piration of their term. IL they had
families, the money could be paid 10
these dependents. Otherwise the bal
ance due the men, after the deduction
"f the cost Of their maintenance, would
be pain them when they received their
liberty. In this way the state would
he relieved OF the burden Of .heir sup
port while they were serving their
term and they would have something
To start with when they were out
again. The knowledge that they ana
Their families were To benefit by their
Continued m 6th Dao. HoI.c,n