Arizona republican., 1922-01-25

in denial by the officials and hard
treatment for the unfortunate who
protested. The prisoners know this,
and they do not complain on such oc-
casions.
When DR.. budding pointed out
conditions in one Jail in a nearby
state. his accusations aroused the
county TO action. A grand juryman
came to Washington to talk over the
situation. GO out there to see for
yourself" budding told him. "But
when you go, insist on the officials
staying out and letting you go in
alone The men will then tell you
exactly what ! have. and show you
proof"
Dirty bedding, dirty clothing, bad
ventilation, rats, vermin, and poor
food sound like medieval prison con-
ditions. but they are not the root evil,
DIR. budding explains. A great part
of Jail discomfort is attributed by
him and by others acquainted with
the situation to the fee system.
The Fee System
The fee system works this way:
For every inmate in a Jail the jailer
receives from the county treasury a
sum for food and such clothing and
AlGNGDSllAES dis may DG Called IOIs lnE
amount given varies widely in differ
ent states and counties. 1t may be
said, roughly to average so cents a
day per person. The jailer is gem
orally paid a small salary. and II any
thing can be saved out OF the ex-
penses Of the prisoners he can
pocket it.
Thus. if he can feed his boarders
on beans, bacon, and potatoes for IL
| cents a day and save more than 30
cents a head, he sometimes succumbs
to the temptation of making this
much profit, regardless of the health
OF the men who are dependent on
him. This profit, whatever it is. the
jailer may divide with the sheriff
who gave him his political appoint
| ment.
DIR. budding says that when crime
is dull, and jail is empty 1t is not
an unknown practice for a sheriff
to speak to special detectives on the
railroads about the hard times. If
the detectives are amenable to the
suggestion. they will take extra
trouble to hunt out all the hoboes
| they can find for a few days and
send them to fill up the JAIL Each
| boarder at the institution means. of
course, 20 cents a day. or whatever
can be saved out of the expense
| money. to the jailer
Politics. too. play part in jail ad-
ministration. The sheriff is elected.
He appoints a county jailer. and as
is always true where political ap-
pointments are made, sometimes
| man is selected who is not known for
exclusive ability or honesty. SO graft
sometimes creeps in,
haInnuin0 0f nrlEOnnTg
such as watches. knives, and wallets,
are taken from them when they wear
| Jail clothing We are told that in
some places the jailer does not con-
slider 1t necessary to return these ar
ticles when the man is released. One
prisoner who was transferred to q
penitentiary was refused $12 left in
his pocket when he entered jail to
await trial. The prisoner was help
less. The superintendent of the peni-
tentiary learned of the instance, how
ever, and wrote a letter which
brought the $12 by return mail.
So long as the fee system and poll
tics are associated with our innu-
merable county jails, the situation
cannot be much improved, DR.. Dud-
ding believes. Here and there where
Investigations are held or offlcials
are honest and take personal in
terest in the welfare of their charges,
there are jails which are lit for hu-
man beings to live in
The remedy, according TO Dr. Dud-
ding, is TO make jail OFFICIALS ciVil
service appointees. He THINKS that
if the federal government were TO
supervise these institutions and IN
spect them vigorously once month
conditions would be bound 10 M
prove.
The next best thing would be state
control of the county institutions Tor
prisoners. This would be easier TO
bring about that federal control. Dr.
budding also thinks that by limiting
jail officials to fixed salaries, OF rea-
sonable size, and by having strict
system of accounts and supervision,
our medieval jails could be mace
considerably more up-to-date-
-O--
Eleven thousand American soldiers
on the Rhine ate $4,000 pounds of
turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Gran
berries, raisin and pumpkin PIE ana
hot plum pudding also adorned the
board The pudding and pies Were
brought from the United states, put
the turkeys were purchased from
German farmers at IL cents a pouno
compared with so cents PAID iast
year for turkeys shipped from
America.
For failure 70 supply hot water to
q tenant. a New York landlord was
recently sentenced by the Court OF
Special Sessions to pay a $3.50 tne