Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-05-01
So Says Man Whose Ranch 10
Run by Ex-Convicts.
Whatever Difference There 10 Between
convlcts and Free Citizens 10 A.
most Entirely Of Degree and
Not Of Kind. Nc Claims.

According to Fremont Older, q San
francisco newspaper man well known
on the Pacific coast, who has studied
crime and criminals. criminality To- the
result Of an attitude Of mind that may
be due to = number Of causes, but
there Is no such thing as a criminal
type OF man. Mr.. Older has established,
. bureau through which employment
Is obtained for ex-convicts. The work
on his own ranch In California 10 man
aged by one-time stage robber, and
almost all of the ranch employees have
been In prison for offenses from petit
larceny to burglary and highway rob
berry. "a
Many persons seem to think that
the men In our prisons are distinct
class different In several essentials
from any other class" says Mr.. Older.
fhey seem to think that .convicts
should be treated differently from 9th.
er men, whereas whatever difference
there Is between convicts and free citi.
zens Is almost entirely one of degree
and not of kind. Few men go through
life without at one time or another be.
Ing out Of sympathy with the law in
thought or act. but we do not call
them all criminals.
The criminals are those who get
caught In a single offense, which may
not indicate their conscious and con-
tinuous attitude toward society, and
those who, after one or more offenses,
elect to hold themselves without the
pale OF social regulation and live in de-
nance OF the law and custom. When Z
man Is poor and dissatisfied and. his
point OF view Is twisted by an unsym-
pathetic environment or the irrespon-
sible influence Of the streets 1t is easy
for him to make the transition from
what, we might call occasional crimi-
nality to habitual criminality.
Then he has the criminal attitude of
mind and his occupation is law-break-
Ing just as selling boots or books or
making stoves is the occupation OF an
other man. But he does not choose his
occupation. because Of some inherent
mental defect. Many q man whose
name is q symbol Of honesty would
have become criminal IL he had been
under the same influences and expert
ences that affect the average man who
steals for a living. ss55,
Take the little boys of the very
poor. Turned out when mere babies TO-
spend their time from morning till
night on the streets. they quickly be-
come petty violators Of the law and It's
largely matter Of chance whether any
one Of them will have q vision Of . life
Of law-abiding honesty and settle down
safely before q few encounters with
the police and association with criMA
determine his future as criminate,sy
I'm their business Of being crimfn1lp
most men look at things differently
from us; but in things not concernes1
with their law-breaking they are Ike
other men in their feelings and
thoughts. Realizing. then, that cfimi-
mails arc pretty much az other people.
have spent many Year, trying to
correct the point Of view Of 90 many
Of them as possible.
THE results Of my efforts have been
most encouraging. Right now there
are $50 ex-convicts working on ranches
and in other places IN California who
have got their chance through my EN-
ployment bureau. My own ranch is
worked almost entirely. by ex-convicts.
Only two men out Of all we have
helped have ever been sent back to
prison, which, think. IL q remarkable
showing"