Arizona republican., 1919-06-29
BY FREDERICK J. HAsKIN

 and strong, but who had the hunted | look of one who has been rejected and 1 forgotten by men, walked up to the | prsident of bank in this city the | other day.
 T used to be a bank cashier" he said. Now I am an ex-convict. i Served two years in the pen. Will you l give me a job in your bank?"
 The bank president carefully scru- tiniZed the stranger, and after reading a note handed to him by the ex-con- vict, replied:
 Certainly. I will You come in. to- morrow morning and we'll start you to work at $25 a week. Later we will give you more, since you are an ex perienced cashier"
 Nothing was asked about the mans terms in prison, nor did the president seem much concerned at the prospect of employing an ex-convict in his bank. The reason for the presidents willingness to give the young man chance to start life over, without even so much as asking a question, was eX- plained by the fact that the note he handed the president was from Dr. Earl E. Budding, founder and presi- dent of the Prisoners Relief Society, with headquarters in Washington. This society, which is national in it's scope, was founded five years ago for the purpose of getting jobs for ex convicts. During that time more than l 50.000 released prisoners have been placed in positions by the society. The l recards show that less than one per i cent of the ex-convicts given fresh l start have gone bad"
 F., z an ex-convict and he knows how hard | it is for a man, with the stamp of the | prison cell upon him, to get a new footing in the world.
 Tn every prisoner" sad Dr. Dud- ding, mo matter how terrible the crime he has committed. there is all ways some seed of good left. That seed must be cultivated He is often willing to live a clean life but in his mind there is always that lurking fear people will know; people will shun me-
 Our organization thinks that peo- pie have the right to know but not to shun. Society says let the prisoner reform Yet only a small minority will aid the criminal in his upward endeavor. It requires only slight ef- fort on the part of the fortunate in- dividual to help some ex-convict to go straight. Work is what these men and women want-some means to earn an honest livelihood, and to keep them from breeding over the missteps for which they have fully paid with some
 of the best years of their lives.
 T know what it is to have society look down upon you for having worn the prison garb. I lived in Huntington
 Na I e aI,;
 l was respected in my community and
 held position paying me $5.000 as
 general agent for Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., of Chicago. Then occurred what was legally called my crime of man. |. slaughter. In what was shown to be shooting in self defense, killed my
 uncle. My penalty was five years ir . prison.
 When I was released, I started out
 on the road again as salesman, but
 my old customers refused to buy from me, because 1 was an eX-convict. Ont merchant who had been good friend of mine before I went to jail, called
 me into his office and told me that he
 would like to start buying from mt
 again, but that he couldn't, lest his trade should find out that he bough
 goods from a jail-bird He offered me $50 to go where I was not known T didn't want charity. I wanted tC make living. I went back to my home in West Virginia, with my cour. age broken like fallen china, ant thought how every man turned out o prison had to face the world as I did l then started, single handed, to tr, to get fair deal, and to change tn worlds attitude toward the man wh, has been in prison.
 T conceived the idea of organizin, a society to carry on this work. didn't have a nickel to my name a the time, so I borrowed fourteen dol lars and got an office A month late I the society was chartered by the stat Of West Virginia. My neighbor wouldn't have anything to do wit me, and it was hard to keep up Whil trying to get people interested in tn \ work. Today these very people i Huntington are with me, and are anon ' the most generous contributors to tn \ support of our society.
 Every year, more than 100000 me \ and women are released from the peni tentiaries and jails of the Unite States. As we have a small organiza | ton, everybody working without sal ary except the secretary, and she get SIP week, we are not able to talk
 care of such a large number So ia this year we have secured employmer
 for 1000 men and women who serve
 terms. We have outgrown our pres
 ent quarters, and find it necessary {
 build a new home and hire help [
 conduct our work
 To this end Dr. Budding has starte
 nation wide drive for S1 ,00O, 900
 order to put the society on a soun
 financial basis. It is proposed to us
 half that amount, when raised, as a
 endowment fund. The remainder wi
 be spent for new national headqual
 ters and in establishing branch ot
 fices in Americas principal cities, wit
 a resident labor agent or office mar \ ager in charge. The campaign hs \ already opened here. Washington
 share is s10,000. As soon as that SUI
 is raised the country will b& asked
 contribute the balance. The campaie
 will be carried on by the Rotary Clul | of the country.
 The society has the support of son - of the most influential men and wome
 in the country, William Jennfn,
 Bryan, former secretary of state. giv
 ie, l-,4: .a.t.