The Washington herald., 1914-07-12

steel door. A wooden door. with wire
netting at the top. shuts out his view
OF the corridor. small window, high
up in the wall, gives him some light.
The cells are clean and dry.
mo man need be locked UP in an iso-
lation CELL" Mr.. Morgan said. As
remarked once before, It Is up to him.
He need not be in the penitentiary al
all, for that matter. He does something
TO get here: while here he does some
thing that causes his separation from the
rest OF the prisoners. Such philosophy
may sound harsh to sentimentalists but
1t Is true and sound just the same. We
are dealing with human beings-I always
keep that thought in my mind-but they
are not Sunday school scholars, nor are
they social uplifters and phllanthropists.
The best prisoners" Mr. MORGAN went
on to say. ARE those who have been in
the penitentiary before Especially Is
that so Of yeggmepI who have class pride
and look with contempt on train rob-
bers. counterfeiters and so on. They
know that good behavior will reduce
their sentence five days a month IN.
first year and ten days a month on a
long term. A fifteen year man can leave
the penitentiary in ten years IL he obeys
the rules and does his work.
Few Remarks on Work.
Our most troublesome prisoners arc
those who are ignorant or who cannot
control their tempers. A considerable
number of he-men now in the LeaveR.
worth penitentiary stopped growing
mentally when they were boys betwea.
the ages of ten and twelve. Such case:
are particularly sad. Many OF then
never learned to work.
Now working" Mr.. Morgan continued
afu la -,
habit. Men are sent here who were
never taught to start task and fnisf
II. They never saw the other side Oi
the shield. They get into some relation
with the guards or officials, however
and slowly come to understand that hu'
manity was made 10 work and be use,
full When that knowledge penetrates
their heads. though criminal vaGabonds
they actually become decent men.
"A convict barber shaves me every
day. He was a wild young fellow in tht
Southwest Ali that he ever knew IN
those days was to drink and fight. II.
killed somebody and was sentenced foI
life from a Territory that was not YET
ready TO be a State. He has been here
fourteen years and has sound ideas
about all personal and public questions
Learning to read and write in prison and
getting tine viewpoint Of normal men
ne mas become, even II ne Is in the peni'
tentiary. good citizen.
Il do not intend to venture into the
never-ending debate over hereditS and
environment. but my experience here
and in the prisons Of Kansas has com,
PEELED me to believe that a boy OF al
honest family may grow up amonl
thieves and be a thief but that blood
will tell II he ever falls in among the
right kind Of people
The theories OF reform and punish
ment run together in modern prisons
Old criminals do occasionally forsak,
their ways They have thought the mat.
ter out coherently and have concluded
that they are not smart enough to beat
or cheat the law. Such case came be-
fore me not long ago. 4 yegEman. sixty.
four years old, had served six terms in
prison. His mother always believed that
he would change the scheme OF his life
She kept her little farm for him, but
when she died at eighty years OF age he
was again in the penitentiary.