Evening journal., 1916-07-24
REFORM METHODS
IN prison WORK
Warden Cross Tries "HellO
Boys" Plan at the County
WOrkhouSe
FARM WORK FOR
COUNTY PRISONERS


Reformatory at Railway, is prison re-
former with ideas of his own. At pres
emit he Is directing special attention to
the workhouse farm, covering S26 acres,
purchased last March for $4,000 The
farm was in run down condition when
taken over, but II is said to be one Of
the finest farm locations In the State,
and contains three separate groups of
farm buildings.
W. w. r. Arkcol is in charge Of the
farm, under Warden Cross, and it will
be made into a model dairy farm. Mr..
Alkcoli has reputation as a dairy
farmer, and has Judged cattle at many
of the leading shows He is modern
agriculturist.
The farm now possesses a recently
purchased herd of thirty registered Hol.
stein cattle and a registered Holstein
bull that that won the blue ribbon at
the Toronto Fair. This means more than
a little TO the dairying interests Of
Delaware and in this respect the work.
house farm plans to be an experimental
station for Delaware dairymen. Dean
Hayward, of the School of Agriculture
at Delaware College, is interested in the
farm and visits It frequently. model
dairy barn is one of the developments
that Is now planned and will be in oper-
alton as soon as it can be built. II
will be Of stone with the most modern
sanitary dairy construction throughout.
There Is no intention on the part Of
Nj. Cross to enter into competition with
the farmer, hut rather to help him. The
milk will be used at the workhouse.
Warden Cross wants TO give the men
An his charge change in the open be-
fore their terms expire 50 few months
before they are to be given their free
dom they are set to work on the farm
aud hardened The work out of doors
also serves to give them a new view
point ON life as well as an insight into
scientific farming.
Another feature Of the farm will be
the raising Of Berkshire hogs. A
number of these have already been
received az the farm. OF the 326 acres.
much has been pasture land and
never titled, much has been titled
time and time again with nothing put
in to rejuvenate the soil. Captain
Cross and Mr.. Arkcoll estimate that
Il will take almost five years to bring
back the farm 20 the condition they
want It. This season 20 acres Of po-
tatoes we're put IN. There are so
acres of corn. which has not done so
we'll owing to soil conditions; IL
acres are sown with oats and a large
acreage is hay and pasture land.
Seven acres have been planted with
white beans, a commodity that is
scarce on the market at the present
time.
In addition to the upper farm Of S26
acres, there Is a lower farm. just
across the road from the workhouse,
OF $50 acres, which is leased. George
wainwright is the farmer in charge
here, and besides food for stock, this
is used principally for truck for the
workhouse.
The past few weeks have been busy
ones at the farm as the haying sea-
son has been at its height. Five good
strong teams, with plenty Of mechan-
ical equipment, have kept several
gangs Of prisoners busy in the hay
fields. Then, too. several groups have
been hired out at Is cents an hour 10
nearby farmers who had been unable
to secure help. One of the biggest
drawbacks to farming In many States
has been the lack of help. and were
II not for the aid farmers in this To-
cality received from the workhouse
this summer, some of them would not
have been able to get their crops har-
vested
Many of the farmers have CO.
operated with Captain Cross and have
been glad to give the men employ
ment. Some of them have opposed
prison labor and Il has been hard
TO win them over. The prisoner
hired out in this way works an eight
hour day for S1.20. The county gets
81 Of this while the prisoner gets 20
cents, which goes to his own fund
From this fund he may make small
purchases at certain specified times
Before Captain Cross came to the in.
stitution the prisoners we're allowed
to make purchases of tobacco and
other Injuries twice a year. Now
they may buy these things at Christ
mas, Easter. July 4, and Labor Day
Warden Cross has also instituted
some radical reforms in prison dis.
cipline. He believes in the smile
rather than in the frown; in the
kind, CHEEKY word rather than in the
short, sharp comamnd. When hi
masses among the men in the shops
he greets the men with Hello, fei,
lows" and gets back a Hello, war
ien," in reply.
He says that his first task wher
he came here was to create a smile
over any task that might come in thu
lays run.
Keep men working and they arr
content, IL once you can get them in
terested in the work itself. Encour
age them TO try a little harder thar
the other fellow. Create the perpet
ual smile" These are some of Cap
ain Cross axioms.
"Bht no establishment can worl
we'll without executives, and the ex
ecutives here are the guards" Cap
tain Cross believes that the guard
increased the output. and that, 10 hin
Is their principal reason for being a
the workhouse. When a gang is on
on the road they have guar
along. not as a guardian, because
would be an easy matter TO overcom
him and get away, If that were tn
prisoners motive, but rather as
foreman whose duty il is to see tina
things are done as they should b
done"