Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-08-27

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must have. Had there been a system
Of compensation to the family in South
Carolina while was governor, II
would have relieved me Of what felt
to be the necessity for taking actor
in a number Of cases, where the hus.
band and father was sent home tc
save his family from dire distress. W.
are told by some that a man should
consider his wife and children before
he commits crime. That is true, but
II he does not, the fact Of suffering
women and children stares us in the
-! !face-innocent women and children
suffering for want Of food and cloth
ing. OF course there are cases in which
even their appeals must be disregard
ed, in order that society may be pro-
tected, and charity, which too often
is found wanting. must be relied upon
to put bread in the mouths Of babes
crying because they are hungry.
Still another matter which I have
urged is that we ought to discard the
system Of numbering prisoners-des-
ignating them only by number. 1t
would have a much better effect in re-
claiming prisoners II their identity was
maintained, even though they occupy
a prison cell, keeping constantly be-
fore them the fact that they are hu-
man beings and that they have a soul.
And when the prisoners are releas-
ed 1t is nothing short Of a greater
crime than most Of them have COM
mitted to hound them down by always
reminding any one to whom they
might apply for work that they are
ox-convicts. There ought to be a law
passed by every state, and a national
law passed and enforced. to prevent
this great evil. The poor fellow should
be helped to rise and do better instead
of being held down, with so-called de-
tectives. hirelings, running around
trying to get people to perjure them
selves in order to work up new cases
against men who have expiated their
crimes by the time they have spent in
prison.
was heralded to the world as "the
pardonfng governor" and am proud
Of the title. I investigated every case
before me, and always was saddened
when found case in which my duty
to my people forbade me to exercise
clemency. My ideas along the line Of
the parole system and Of prison reform
have been called extreme by many but
there are those Of US here today who
will live to see them carried out
throughout the nation, II we continue
TO go forward in the future as we have
advanced in the past. What II some
Of the objections whereby our institu-
tions are assailed are extreme and
speculative" said Massachusetts, great
scholar, "and the reformers tend to
idealism; that only shows the extrava-
gance Of the abuses which have driven
the mind into the opposite extreme"
The greatest debate this nation ever
witnessed was staged In the senate Of
the United States between a son Of
Massachusetts, and son Of South Car
olina. Both were imbued with the
highest patriotism, and each was striv-
ing towards the same goal, but along
different paths. Looking back to that
time, we can see the gloom Of civil
war, In which brother was to be pitted
against brother, was already settling
upon our great nation. A few years
later the inevitable storm was upon
us. Fifty years have now passed since
it's fury was spent, and today South
Carolina and Massachusetts,, by the
fervid devotion to principle which
helped to bring on the great battles in
which the sons Of one wore the gray
and the sons of the other the blue, can
clasp hands with higher respect each
for the other and with the friendship
Of brothers each Of whom knows the
courage of the other and his devotion
to a common mother. And I am glad
that today South Carolina's voice can
be raised in Massachusetts, In the in
terest Of the great reforms which /
would urge.
I hear sometimes expression from
the north and the east and the west
as to the treatment Of negroes and ne
gro prisoners in the south. Let me
say that while I was governor Of South
Carolina, three-fourths, at least, Of the
cases in which exercised clemency
were those involving negro prisoners.
The best friend the negro has ever
had, so long as the negro stays in his
place, is the southern white man, and
the negro knows 1t. The south will
work out her own problem along this
line, and outside criticism and inter-
ference can only retard the solution.
But in the underlying principles OF i'm
proving our systems generally, we
should all work hand in hand.
In this connection, may say that
recently I visited the penitentiary Of
my state, and I saw walking around in
large, comfortable corridor, two ne
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criminally assaulted white women.
They had escaped their just deserts
for the time being. Locked and barred
inside of cell about four feet wide
and seven feet long, with little win
dow, iron-barred, about two feet
square, were three white men, charg-
ed with having killed negro who had
criminally assaulted white woman.
do not mean to say the incident. Is
usual, but it was in South Carolina.
In conclusion, would again urge
the importance Of the duty Of the chief
executives ir the proper handling and
treatment of prisoners. Our chief ex-
ecutives are clothed with large pow
ers, and a heavy responsibility Is
theirs. A man in jail awaiting trial is
presumed to be innocent-a presump-
ton too often trampled upon by the
law which has made it. A prisoner
serving a sentence Is human being.
with a soul-a being created In the
image of the same God in whose i'm
age you and I were created. Society
must be protected, but the most ef-
-