The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-10-12

reformers of prison methods in the
past have been the prison workers
themselves. Occasionally we see
one of these reformers placed in
an institution. He comes with a
blare of trumpets-he prOclaims
his theories from the housetops;
some star might almost be expect
ed to wander from its orbit at his
appearance. The public is fed in
the morning. noon and evening
editions upon the discoveries he
has made and the reforms he has
inaugurated, but usually, someh"w
in a short time something seems to
go wrong and he usually disappears
to enter some other field of ac-
tivlty. He always leaves behind
him an almost impossible task for
his successor to restore order out
of chaos. His folly costs the State
a large amount of money. doubling
at least the per capita cost. He
does his best to undo that which
his predecessor has done, but worst
of all be leaves behind him a large
and altO0ether needless number of
human wrecks and failures.
say again that the real reforms
in prison methods come from such
prison workers as Maj. R. w. Nc
Claughry, L. R. Brockway, the
father of the Elmira Reformatory:
Joseph R. Scott of Massachusetts,
later of New York; DR.. j. I. Gill
mour of Toronto, Albert Garvin
of Connecticut, and the greatest Of
all, our own Henry Wolfer, who
has left with us a rich legacy. the
most up to-date prison in the
world. Such men are progressive
and true reformers. but they have
not spent their life chasing rain
bows nor have they allowed their
good judgment to be destroyed by
the noise and clamOr Of a few
fanatics who know nothing of the
real problems of institutional man.
agement. All of these as well as
all other successful institution
workers among delinquents have
been advocates Of strict dis
cipline and their success has been
because they have insisted upon it.
1t will be noticed, too, that the
institutions that furnish from it's
corps of workers men or women
for responsible positions in or
heads of other institutions are only
those that maintain a high STAN
dard of decency, decOrum and
discipline. Men are not cured of
their bad habits by allowing them
to practice these habits in prison.
The liquor or drug user. the cigar
ette fiend, and be who has no re-
spect for the rights of others can
not be reformed or helped by al
lowing him to continue in these
bad habits or ways. The institu-
ton officer who allows anything of
this order to make himself popular
with the inmates is worse than a
failure. He is fzzle. The lack
of courage he exhibits is more
harmful than that caused by the
use of the prohibited articles
themselves. IDdulgencies in the
minor offences invariably leads to
more serious ones and the terrible
things that are sure to follow can
only have their origin in these de-
based minds. and the blame for
some of these offenses, some of
them so heinous and revolving as
to be unbelievable. should be
charged to the administration that
so lacked in discipline as to make
such things possible.
So Say again. the parole sys-
tenn. to be successful, demands for
its foundation the highest type of
efficiency in the institution. In
mates of an institution must, before
being released on parole, be so
treated, taught, trained and dis
ciplined that those having to do