Evening journal., 1916-01-25

ing committees Of the Delaware State
Federation OF Women's Clubs:
Arts and Crafts. Miss Joanna
DUPONT Mclaughlin.
Education, Miss Edna Wagner.
Health. Mrs. c. W. Dorsey, Jr.
Outlook, Mrs. Otto V. Ort
Prison Reform, Mrs. Harry Hackett.
Mrs H. b. Rosa, chairman of the
committee on prison Reform re-
quests that we publish the following
Chairman. Prison Reform. The Inter-
national Sunshine Society, Della
ware Division. Wilmington, Del.
Dear Madam
Through you ! am hoping TO arouse
the members of your club 10 a dis
cussion Of our present prison system
and to urge the great need Of the ef-
fort Of this club, in cooperation with
the work of the Federation, toward
awakening public sentiment in favor
of Just, humane and carefully con-
sidered treatment Of our prisoners. I
would call attention to the fact that
concensus Of opinion regarding the
purpose Of Imprisonment has been
s@sadily changing during the last few
years Under the limelight not only
Of justice and humanity, but even Of
plain common sense and cOnsidera-
tion of what is Of the greatest econ
omic value TO the State, il is seen
that the only reason for imprisOning
a man, Is. first. to IT. him in mental,
moral or bodily ways, wherein he
may be defective, 50 that there shall
be no probability Of his re-becoming a
prisoner. and secondly, TO protect So
ciety from him while he is not ft
10 be q member OF IT, If he can't be
thus htted-and he certainly can't
unless he has the advantage Of sys-
tematic treatment TO this end then.
reason argues against setting him
free TO continue crime and 20 be an
expense to the State Nevertheless,
this is exactly what is being done
now IN the State In Mr. Osborne's
words. prison should not be a place
Of punishment. but place Of ban
ishment till the man is again iit for
society" and if ! may be permitted
4 10 quote him further-"There is no
man living good enough or wise
enough TO determine how much pun
ishment a man should have. The
only way i'm which we can mete out
Justice is to give to every sman an
indoterminatc sentence and then
keep him until he is cured enough
to go ont into society again. and not
be menace. just as We do i'm "a
hospital When a patient enters. the
physician does not say, when he pass
es through the door You must stay
four weeks, and no longer, he keeps
him until he is cured. There are some
men so dangerous to society at large
that they should be kept in prison all
their lives There are other men.
again. whom II is crime to keep in
prison. The aim OF the prison should
be TO make every man capable of liv-
ing an honest and a useful life"
This question seems to me one OF
the most important OF all that affect
our civilization, and yet il Is one that
is very difficult to bring TO the notice
of our people Why? For one rea-
son because il does not directly af-
felt every one personally Let one
have a son or brother in our prison,
and then the conditions that sur
round him and the influences 10
which he is subject. are Of vital
moment But this is not the only
reason. In many cases il is only be-
/ cause the question has not been
clearly presented, and our people do
not know the exact conditions, and
do not realize the far-reaching effects
Of our present system on the growth
of our civilization. There is also the
old, petriiled, unreasonable attitude
that We are apt to meet now and then,