The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-03-26

could not. Would you employ a
man whose every appearance told
you he had beeu released from State
Prison? or broken Jail? You would
not, neither would your neighbors.
What could he do? Let society
think of this good and hard, and act
accordingly.
There are keepers of the old type
PRISONS" who lay it down as hard
and fast axiom in their practice that
tits impossible to reform a prisoner;
perhaps they will admit that God
ceald do 1t, and The Monitor cheer
fully agrees with them that none but
lie can reform sinner after he has
fallen into their hands. And it 10
equally plain to The Monitor that
nothing less than omnipotent power
can reform them.
Only Seme
Some prisons are called peniten-
tiaries, some reformatory prisons,
but usually, both in name only. As
properly might He'll be called Heav-
en- In old type PRISONS it's not
the reformation of the prisoner that's
sought, but their earnings; and they
are treated as "Befo' de War''-in-
telligent bur heartless slave e-holders
would treat his negroes to
work as long as they can earn their
living, then cursed with freedom,
that they may die at their own ex.
pense.
The preceding sketch shows on
what principle some prisons are
conducted. There may be many
minor principles. Of these the re-
formation of the prisoner may be a
fraction. Their punishment may be
unit. But the major point of all
is. pecuniary advantage. The in
.erests of the captive, or their de-
pendent families is not a grain in
the calculations of the prisons. If
they live. they live, and if they die,
they die. But living or dead, sick
or well, SHINING or praying, saved or
lost, they are estimated in dollars
and cents, and one mill would turn
the scale of their destiny to heaven
or hell. Thank God: Windsor's
principle is founded on .!trdism and
a decent conception of proper me-
thods of reformation first, and has
risen above the idea that human
commercialism ia the first and only
object of a sinners Incarceration by
society.
How true is the language of the
poet--There is no flesh in some
mems hearts 1t does not feel for
man." And surely the morals Of
mankind must have reached dread
full climax when even Ministers of
Justice deserve heavier blows than
they infiict, and the seraph accents
of mercy are turned into the war
whoop of death.
Whether a man has his home in
a dungeon, or palace, he is still a
man, possessing the same sensibili-
ties. the some instructive dread of
misery and desires for happiness.
the same longings after immortal
ity and delight in truth, which be-
long alike to the degenerate family
of fallen Adam.
What of the Family7
1t is easier to sympathize with
j. M. Osborne and other prison re-
formers who desire to have prison
life made less dreary for the inmates,
if one can succeed In forgetting the
prisoners wives and children some
where in the world outside seeking
food and shelter during the enforced
absence of the family's natural wage
Garner. At least the prisoner has
enough TO eat and a place to sleep,
each of its kind, but what of the de-
PENDENT ones he has left outside?
Aren't they factors in the Prison
Reform League, too?
The most pressing need is not as
Mr.. Osborne and bis colleagues seem
to think, to make prisons pleasant
places of residence, but to devise
ways whereby an imprisoned man
may be made to contribute to the
support of his wife and children so
long as the law holds him apart
from them.