Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-27
GEORGE w. WILKINS
On Helping the Man Who Is Down


livery MAN. no matter what his past
~ may have been, has some element in him
%hch may De pps%Hed to to
says George w. wilkins, superintendent of
the Galilee Mission.
An experience Of many years has shown
me beyond all doubt that this is the cnse.'
said Mr.. Wilkins, land we have instances
almost daily which. tend to confirm this
statement. Many of the men who come to
us are from the Eastern Pententiary. Moya.
mensng or the House Of Correction The
Pennsylvania Prisoners Society. OF which
F.. J. Pooley is the active head, sends us
many men and especial attention is paid
to those who have just finished serving
sentence for their first ofenses.
Protecting the Ex.Prisoner
~ great many persons are inclined 10
think that man who has been prisoner
is afforded no protection, but is bounded
because of the fact that he has been In
prison. Such, however, is not the case
and there are several organizations which
do everything possible to help the man who
has been in prison. If he has trade,
these organizations see that the necessary
tools are provided for him and help him
in every way to get on his feet.
1--WE do a good bit of this kind Of work
in our own organization. besides which We
take care Of convalescent men in the hos
pitals, the unemployed and. in short, We
do everything we can for every man VINO
wants to get new start in life.
There was one man. for example, who
had served a prison term but was an excel.
lent paperhanger. We had no trouble In
finding him a position but a man who bore
him a grldge kept following him up and
telling his employers that the man was a
former prisoner. AS a paperhanger must
work in the homes OF the people, the
employers were afraid to trust him and he
lost several places, although his work WIS
very satisfactory.
Telling tho Boss
when finally located the trouble den
nitely I went to the man who was then
employing him and told him the whole story
saving that the man was genuinely sorry
for his misstep and was thoroughly honest
The boss was real man and kept HIM on
and he is stil working for him and giving
satisfaction.
"The superintendent OF one Of the big in
dustrial plants Of the city told me some time
ogo that he would rather have a man who
had found out his mistakes and prohted by
them than one who had not had this exper-
ience. The man who had been through the
mill. he said was far less likely to make
an error than one who had not had this
experience.
from the heads Of the great industrial plants
OF the city, as well as from the large depart
stores.
II is difficult TO say how many places there
are in the city where men who have served
time are employed, but the number is very
large. More than ever the employing class
seems TO be willing to give chance for
reform to the man who had been imprisoned
Tho Effects Of Prison Sentences
Serving prison sentence, ns rule
does not make a man better, and solitary
confinement certainly never does serve this
purpose But II, while in prison, man
could be put nt some kind OF labor where
family would derive some benefit from his
labor. there would be little or none of the
feeling Of bitter resentment on the part of
the man confined and he would come out
better equipped for the struggle Of life
which he must again take up, and his hands,
instead of being white and soft, would be
hardened to do a man 8 work
"a very. very small proportion OF those
men for whom we secure employment fail
us. When they come to us 1t is sign that
they want 10 make a new start, and most
of them mean it to the extent Of doing
and TO justify the confidence in them which
we show them that we have.
Every man who comes to us hungry IL
fed and every homeless man Is provided
with lodging, but we do not allow any TO
become parasites on the institution. We
tunties can be- provided for them. The
honest man will work Of his own accord
md the fraud must do so II he wants our
continued assistance. However, l am glad
to say that there are very few OF the latter
kind.
was hopeless. There is a lot of truth +" -"
saving that "a man may be down. but he
"a never out I have always found that
every man has something IN him which may