The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-18


IT, the South. whom TO set free we
spent some billions Of dollars
nd several hundred thousand lives. II
was held that the result was worth the
cost. But to-day We are creating some
five hundred thousand slaves, white and
black. each year. or that is about the
number Of made slaves each year in the
United states; it costs US several mill
.ons to keep them in an enslaved con-
dition. and their deprcdations upon
society. before and after slavery,
amount to several millions more.
have not the precise data, but the
ngures hazarded are not excessive. \
sound statistician would make a more
~cnsational showing, and when he pro-
,ceded To cast up his account OF the ag-
.regate Of the years since the war and
If the estimated amounts for the COM
ng nifty years the bill would look large
ven with a hundred million paymasters
,.f foot it.
In that bill probably the smallest item
would be the cost Of crime itself. the
actual loss caused to the community by
hc thieving Of thieves; Of the thieves
that is. who have been convicted and
,ondemned as SUCH for there is no way
"f figuring on how much the undetected
'hleves steal. Every time We shake the
social body in this Or that spasm OF
.,robing and reform hundreds drop out,
Ike moths from an unprotected gar
m"nt. SO that at last we are prone to
suspect that the thief. overt or covert
! more the rule than the exception. and
that a good part Of the cash In circula-
Ion was more or less dishonesty come
Icy. But leaving this aside, the money
or values appropriated by thieves &C.
credited as such and sent to Jail Is an
amount relatively uncomfortable and
10y no means enough to pay the ex.
penses OF their apprehension, trial and
prison sojourn. 1t Is. then, politically
uneconOmcal.
The reply to this Is, of course. that
PENAL slavery is preventive Of crime;
that II We did not prosecute malefactors
crime would multiply and abound, like
weeds in a neglected garden. Perhaps
II would but the point Is that it multi
plies and abounds even in the teeth Of
prosecutions; every year the number N
Convictions Is greater and the jails are
already cracking their seams to contain
rhc convicts.
one might almost conclude that
Prisons as now administered stimulate
crime instead Of prevent 1t and thai
W" are in the predicament Of Hercules
in the fable who as fast as he cut of
head Of the hydra saw two others
sprout in It's place. At which rate We
might be led on to the surmise that II
would be financially cheaper to lei
crime run on: the cost OF our futile
efforts to stop it would be saved anC
might be set over against the loss from
the increased annual depredations.
But finance is not the whole story;
what about morality? And who cal
forecast the ruin of anarchy? The prob
lem cannot he so crudely solved.
Crime must be prevented; doubtless
nnc-terths even Of the men in jai
would agree to that proposition. The
question Is can the jail system prevent
It? And the answer is that Judged b!
long experience, the experience Of thou
sands Of years, 1t cannot.
There are several reasons why Il
cannot, into some Of which we may in
quire later; but the objection to the jail
system which ! wish to emphasize jus
now is that 1t not only makes slaves o
conyicts but, unlike the more reasona
BILE Southern negro slavery, It makes
i.iem unproductive slaves. Either !
withholJs this vast body OF men from
production altogether or else II force
tl"m To- toll under conditions whicl
bring forth results the smallest possible
and the most unsatisfactory.