The Washington times., 1921-05-08

lstion In the jail. Three came for
vagrancy. four for grand larceny. four
for liquor law violations four for
housebreaIeing. one for non-support
Of his wife and six for Joy riding. Most
Of them were born In the District, or
say they were. although seven States
represented In the list Of places OF
nativity have ~ yet shown no inten-
ton OF becoming like the seven cities
that claimed Homer and proclaiming
THAR native sons.
because Of the time Limitations
Of Institutions which house short
terms prisoners these jail schools are
only one step forward" says their
founder. 1T 10, however. . step
In the right direction. for the pre-
vsntion and cure Of crime II largely
\ matter of education. BY that do
not mean. Of course. that those
crimes which arise from. almost
prevented by any amount Of school
ing. The great majority of crimes
which bring offenders to Jail for
short-term sentences, however. arise
from economic conditions which are
based on general Ignorance. Take,
for inst ance, the school roll here.
The Migrants, the house breakers.
the joyriders, the liQuor-law viola
tors have all committed crimes that
can be largely prevented by educa-t
ton. Had they been trained In some
certain means of livelihood. they
would have been unlikely to commit.
these crimes. 1t IL the economic
derelicts who Ill the American jails:
and IL is our Job to do what we
can. little though II il under the
circumstances. to try to salvage
those derelicts when they come to us.
REDEMPTI0Ns ONLY HOPE.
I'VE can no more rebuild them into
hrst-class ships than a shipyard
could turn q water-logged tramp into
a top-notch cruiser in week. All
that We can do 10 to try to teach a
man to steer a little straighter when
he goes out again on the high seas.
It 10 the job of society to train men
and women for the voyage. Society
fails to do her job. then expects the
jails and prisons to revamp the
wrecks. 1t is the old story Of stop
ping at the bung and leaking At the
spiggot.
Because, however. there IL q line
Of demarcation between the short
term and the long-term prisoner
line that Ia crossed in time, though.
unless the short-term man is made
over into q good citizen-it falls to
the jailer of short-term institutions
to try to prevent the crossing of that
line. That is the reason OF the Jail
school. II you can send a man back
into the world with the hope that he
can do better and the tools to work
with. you have helped to solve the
problem"
But doesn't he come back
I'VE proved in Louisville that he
didn't" said the man who ought to
know. There was only one returned
prisoner in the 900 who were Gradu-
ated from the Jail school in years. We
had. II Is true, more time there for
working out the plan and could teach
men elementary bookkeeping, carpen-
try, mason work, and other trades.
and women sewing and scientific
Homework. No. it's the answer and
the only answer to the question of
the criminal. Educate hin all you CEN
and then educate him some more.
But. since the time is SO limited, the
education must be. definite, specific
and aimed to the mark"
And that may be why the Louisville
jail school proved its success. Aimed
to- the-mark training IL just about the
rarest thing in the world. and IL NAV
be that out Of the Nazareth OF county
Jail may come the solution OF q great
educational problem. John Dewey. OF
Columbia, says that Charles c. Fos-
ter is a real American educator as well
as a real American citizen, by which
testimony the pudding seems proven.
And, IL individual vocational training
should become part of our national
education system, the District
schools may in time be grateful to
the cloistered desks Of the Govern
ments' only Jail.