The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-22

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ago and IL receptions WAS not encour.
asing. .t
Thoughts like these pass Shrough q
convict's mind when he discovers that
he 10 on the last leg Of his disastrous
voyage. He then begins to see the whole
matter In IL general relations what
use was servedf who y the better for
NJ prisons make . good man bad
and . bad man worse" b the way
often heard the men { Atlanta put Il.
Tho situation, entire and In detail,
II preposterOus and. futile. Grown
men from all ranks Of life or
all degrees OF intelligence and educa.
tion ere herded promiscuously and
treated now like wild beasts, now
like children. Discipline In any condi.
ton Of lne u . good thing and no PEG.
pie need dlsciplii.e more than we do;
but In prison discipline means punish.
ment and there II no discipline In the
right sense of the word. A man 10 dis
ciplined" when he u starved or dubbed
or put In the hole or deprived Of his
good time.
Military discipline might be beneficial;
IL implies respect for rightful authority
and orderly conduct Of ones own life.
Officials in . penitentiary wear uni.
eorms; prieoosro wear prisoa clothes;
but In warm weather officials 90 about
Indoors and out In their shirts and with
the bearing d lOafers: they have no
Official salutes and the men are not
allowed to salute them-to do 30 would
expose them to discipline"
There h no drill in the prison, no
soldierly bearing. no physical control Of
movement. The men are 'lined up"
to 20 to work. but Il y Q line Of SLOUGH.
ers and derelicts; no spirit In II, no re.
Spect for themselves or one another, no
decent example set by the guards. And
yet armies In all ages and In all parts
OF the world have proved the value Of
discipline, its necessity Indeed, In AL
proper and intelligent handling and
control Of bodies Of men; and II ID a.
important for convicts a. for soldiers.
1t would promote cheerfulness smart
ness. efficiency: half an hours lively
drill OF all the men In prison every
morning and evening would do them
good. improve relations between guards
and prisoners and lessen the danger Of
revolts.
Why refuse It then? II It because It
would imply something human still lin
gering In convicts or because II II feared
that convicts taught to act In unison
by military drill would combine more
readily for mutiny? But order does not
naturally lead to disorder. but away
from II and mutinies are mostly I'm
promptu AFFAIRS. contemplating revenge
rather than escape. Is for the other
argument q lie Il not O sound basis
to build on and II IL . lie that convicts
are not human. 10 admit this would
facilitate their management.
Physical exercise twice q day in the
open air would diminish the sick line,
produce better work and help to put O
soul In any prison. Desultory exercise
say two or three hours Of baseball on
Saturdays-dOes not meet the need, It
emphasizes II rather. But at present
the well nigh universal aim seems to
be to render the gray monotony Of
prison slavery as mOnotonous and as
gray as possible. Any relief from It Is
opposed or made dificult.
1t Ii true that at Atlanta and else
where We have music (that IL what 1t Is
called and I have no wish to criticise
the hard working and jealous young
fellow who produces It In and out OF
season; and some Of the men may like
1t for aught know and that vaude.
Vile company performs for us occa-
sionally. But I must look these gift
horses in the mouth and say that often
we have them less for our own adj
vantage than as an advertisement to
the public Of the liberality Of prison
authorities. And there to be sure at
my prison Is Uncle Billy. who makes
fiddles out Of shingles with nails and
plays on them, all with one hand. But
he isl hope I may now say ne was,
for he was to have been paroled the
nj hat In h..
turesQue and wholly innocuous figure
he was. then. permitted to pursue his
industry. and visitors used to come and
watch him do It; but he too was most
useful to the prison press agent, and
owed the indulgence to that function.
airy.
On the other hand there IL a convict,
also lifer. who cultivated q most re.
markable skill in inlaid woodwork, pro-
duclng really beautiful and artistic
boxes and other articles, and found some
consolation for his awful fate In making
them. But one day while was there
his cell was entered by the guard, his
boxes and plant taken away and
broken. and he was forbidden to do that
work any more. Visitors did not know
about him.
This was malicious. But some of
the things done by prison authorities
are apparently due to sheer stupidity
and ignorance. For example, there
were some cows belonging to Atlanta
prison. and some Of Them calved. 80
there were half dozen calves more or
lsss. with prospects Of more to come.
The authorities decided that the ex-
pense Of rearing these innocents was
not justifiable; there was nothing In
the rule book about It; besides, the fail
was not designed to harbor innocent
creatures.
The minutes Of the conference were
not given out. and We can Judge Of
what passed only by the results. The
order went forth that the calves be
killed. and the killing was actually per.
petrated. and the bodies were buried
somewhere In the PRISM grounds. The
story seems incredible. bat u was cor.
roborated by several msn cognisant Of
the facts. Why NOT. ct least. have
turned them into veaif
I was speaking just now oe the pro.
miscuous herding togethsr Of prisoners
In prisons generally. No effort II made
to sspAsats the on from the young, the
educated from the ignorant. the hard