The mirror., 1914-06-11
God help us to be fair to all.
A MISLEADING EDITORIAL

w it's publication at this particular time is
therefore not surprise. The Saltwater
Gazette in it's issue of Friday last, says
TIT editorially:
iii The new prison rules promulgated
Ill by Warden Wolfer, which appear in
IL other column, may be along the line of
improvement, encouragement, elevation,
III reformation, ETC., but they remove much
of the alleged hard labor that usually
goes with sentences to state prison.
With cessation of labor on Tuesday and
Friday afternoons so as to be given an
opportunity to witness moving picture shows and
Saturday afternoon off to devote to athletic sports,
the inmates have many privileges that free and al
legged independent citizens know not of. 1t is
just possible that the attractions of the Minnesota
State Prison will become so widespread that it will
be necessary to double the capacity in year
twO."
Printed as it is, right at the door of the state
prison, the Gazette has ample opportunity to be-
come cognizant of the conditions and changes that
made behind the walls, and to be in position
to truthfully and intelgently state them in it's
columns. However, the lure of the comfortable
swivel chair in the Office these warm June days is
evidently too strong to make the effort, so the edi
tor each week, grabs the Mirror, hurriedly scans
the headlines, jumps at conclusions without wad-
ing into the body of the article for particulars;
then fires away, giving his readers broadside of
exaggeration and misleading opinion.
If the editor had read his Mirror carefully he
would have seen that the men lose very little time
from their work through the introduction of the
moving pictures and the Saturday baseball games.
Instead of quitting time on Tuesday and Thursday
afternoons being at 5:15, usual, the inmates are
graciously permitted to take supper at o'clock,
after which they permitted to spend an hour
and half in the auditorium looking at picture
show. On Saturday afternoons they are now Civ
en- two hours outdoor athletic exercise-from $3.50
to $50 o'clock. Awful isn't it, that such TERRI
BILE oUTCAsTs here should be given TWO
HOURS AND HALF each week in which to get
their minds off the monotonous grind of twelve
hour prison work day existence.
The editor of the Gazette would do we'll to read
up criminal statistics before he bewails the fear
that all these LUxURIEs might tend to increase the
prison population. He should study the condi-
= tOns and learn that crime has increased every
where that punishment has been most severe He
should eliminate from his mind the desire for
punishment and substitute for it plea for refor-
nation.
Let us compare the Gazette's editorial on the
subject to this one, recently appearing in the New
York World
"A prisoner playing baseball, running a foot
race or, as member of brass band, parading
public thoroughfare is something new in New
York" the World says. ''Yet Auburn and Sing
Sing, two of the most celebrated prisons in the
world, afforded these spectacles on Sunday
"At Auburn they had field day in the pene
tentiary yards. The inmates of one wing of the
prison were pitted against those of the other.
Keepers were within sight at all times, but at the
close of the sports every one of the 1,4OO who
participated was accounted for and returned bet
ter man to his cell
At Sing Sing twenty musicians trained
within the walls marched outside with only one
guard, and escorted Grand Army post to the
prison chapel, where the inmate performers had
the place of honor on the program. At the con-
clusion of the exercises the band led all the prison
ers in procession around the picketed grounds.
"A few weeks ago the armed forces of the
United States took possession of Vera Cruz with
sacrifice of valuable lives. Some of us are still won
dering what purpose was served by this action,
but one thing is certain. The American occupa-
ton broke down the doors of an ancient prison in
which human beings had been tortured, from