The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-20
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 deeradation. And Oscar Wilde in spite of shame gave out of a prison experience a human vail that will carry down ehe centuries in his poem, "The Ballad ol Reading Gaol.'
 There is a very extensive prison liter ature in prose. The stories of lmprlson- ment for debt are part of the treas ures of English letters, and debtors prls- ons have been photographed in words ana made to live on canvas by Hogarth'
 If the inside of prisons where men were laneuishing on account of owing thelr butcher. baker, or candle maker nave played a conspicuous part in autnofshlp. the penal colonies have had much to uo with the settlement not only Of Amer ,ca. but Australia, Africa, Siberia ana other countries.
 One of the big questions that loom out of the world conflict arises over prisoners of war. This has been nara of settlement ever since the days of Grecian wars, in which frequently the whole adult male population of con- ouered state were put to the sword' while the women and children were en- slaved.
 The reyersion of Germany to the earlier days of civilization in the hand ling and Urea tment of captured sol diers is one of the sore spots in her boasted Kultur; and her deportation of women and children and non-combat- ant males from Belgium is severely criticised as being the work not of Christian people but of Huns.
 Even here in America we have the problem to contend with as the Ger man raiders as well as those who have been suspected of disloyalty are informed in camps or cast into prisons throughout the country. Yesterdays dispatches brought forth the fact that there was feeling that the Prus- sians were being overfed; and the country is sensitive over the escape of officers and men freaeuntly reported in the press. But I am not going to write the history of prisons, or strive to settle the status of war or political prisoners.
 For years I was interested in the question of prison reform and attend ed some of the sessions of the National Prison association, which was founded at Cincinnati in 1871, and to supple ment the work of the state assocla- tions and so when I ran into section of the delegates at the Tutwiler on Saturday en route to Mobile to attend a session of the body I was immedi- ately interested.
 I regretted exceedingly that engage ments kept me from accompanying them over the district to inspect the various warehouses, farms, and pris- ons, as I would very much liked to have heard from their lips their com ments on the way in which we are try ing to solve the question here in the city, county and state, as the men and women were experts and not out on pleasure trip. I saw them as they were just getting back under the guidance of County Commissioner R. F. Love- lady, who told me they were deeply | interested III WHdl lHCy itdu oOSii' daresay they will make report of their findings when they arrive at New Or leans.
 It may be of interest to know that Howard college at our doors is named after John Howard. the great English prison reformer who did' so much to awaken not only his home country, but Europe to the shameful treatment of prisoners, and whose state of Prisons q77S), "Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws" published in 174S; "Becarrias' Crimes and Their Punishment" G7e4, and "Blackstone's Commentaries" Q765) were forerunners of an agita- tion that has not died down to this day.
 As a matter of fact William Hays exposure of the horrors of English prisons G735), and his urgent plea for l just remedies, were taken up by Wes- | ley and Whitefield, and burnt into the consciences of men, but failed to in- duce the government to attempt any remedy. A memoir by Villain XIV of l Belgium, proposing to convert the cita' del of Ghent into q workhouse dTD and the construction CITED by Charles of Lorraine of the prison of Ghent ev- idence the fact that prison reform had
 crossed the channel.
 l
 l England, 171S-76, regularly shipped great numbers of convicts to America
 and when the revolution which stopped | this caused an accumulation of 15,00C prisoners in the hulks on the Thames
 a convict fleet, 17S7. began the plant. ing of penal colonies in Australia.
 But so far as America is concerned it was James Edward Oglethorpe, 5
 member of Parliament G722), who be
 came deeply interested in improvins the poor debtors in English prisons and in TIPS it was subject of a par
 liamentary inquiry into the state of th' jails in the Kingdom, which, however
 had no immediate result, but aroused
 great public indignation.
 Now. Oglethorpe, the founder Q
 Georgia. not only purposed to remed,
 the horrible prison conditions, but be
 came deeply interested in improvins
 the conditions of the poor debtors il prison, by providing an asylum for in
 solvent persons, by establishing col } ony in America between Florida an
 Carolina. A large sum was raised b.
 subscription, Parliament granted 9lo
 900 (about s50,0O0), and in 1772 tn
 King granted to Oglethorpe and | tt,o bot C1