The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-19

| apparently unrelated fact as the passage. l three years ago. through the Missouri l legislature of the mothers pension law. l Who would have thought that such a law
 eventually might solve the problem of
 how to treat economically the problem
 of criminals pay? Yet within year l II has broken the ice on over half the states of this country.
 The Missouri mothers pension law pro-
 vided incidentally for tie support of all | mothers whose husbands are in state l prison. The measure quickly justified it. | self. and was soon the statute books l of Illinois, Ohio, Colora>o. Pennsylvania
 and other states. Over 20 other legisla- l lures have recently considered similar 1 laws"
 | The only link required now to chain that law to the solution of the convict s economic Independence is to require that his earnings, while in prison, shall go to the mother of his children. Then she will not be receiving a pension as clarity. but only her basic human right Better even than that, the husband will have added to other outloolls the strong est kind of moral incentive to work faith fully and comport himself properly while
 in prison Of the half million men who go 10 prison every year. about one-third are married. Of course. many have never supported their families, but probably
 half of the married men have done SO More than that, fully half the men who
 go to prison are under moral obligation
 to support someone. Take from them not only the obligation. but the opportunity ahG You stamp them deeper into the mire of criminality
 Thus this pathetic cry of the inno-
 cent wife and children of the man in the cage bids fair to point the way to proper system of work and pay
 whereby he regains in prison that eco- homie independence which he usually has lost before he goes there. In the coming prison what a diff ference from the old regime confronts the convicted criminali
 Formerly he went to hard lahor
 without recompense; his wife and chill dren or his dependents were left to shift for themselves or to starve; for
 the period of his incarceration he was
 to wear stripes, have his head shaved lose his name and have no communica-
 tion with the outside world his word was never to be accepted: he was 10 be trusted in nothing; he was the arch
 enemy of society, different from other
 men, enchained. brutalized damned and forgotten.
 Today the best prisons have no stripes except for the worst grades of recall citrant prisoners heads are not shaved . in at least three the men keep their <, if only few cents day, for their labor; they are otherwise treated like men, 1t being assumed that they have honor until they prove the contrary they are permitted to communicate with friends and receive visitors wherefore they had no recreation, they now indulge in all manner of healthful sports.
 The convict of the future will be still better off. for we are in a passing stage of development. His economic independence will persist in prison, as | it is outside, energy and industry will be rewarded within, just as without and laziness will be similarly punished Finally will come the last step. No convict will ever be sentenced to any specific term or to any specific insti- tuition.
 Neither judge nor jury will be able | to do more than convict an accused | person of a specific crime. The atone ment and society's special privilege of