Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-07-17
NO OCCASION TO BE SNUG


Calloused palms are-or used to be
"A mark of honorable distinction
among those who assume to toll with
them, but callouses on our regard Tor
fellow human beings is distinction
of an altogether different nature.
"Salt of the earth" have borne the
former. The latter are to be pitied'
guarded against and enlightened, II
possible. Perhaps nowhere are they
more capable Of mischief than when
put in charge of the weaklings. Here
cupidity is likely to be found asso-
ciated with callousness and those
who are subjected to these, If they
ever get clear, are embittered against
the world and go forth hardened in
their offending. .
Surely no one will deny that when
society finds it proper to imprison
people for the good of society 1t as
sumes thereby the obligation to treat
them properly; that when it fails to
do so it sins against itself as we'll as
against the prisoner. Evidently we
need to have this impressed on our
consciousness, and with regard to
what is being done and left undone in
our prisons, especially those of the
South, this is graphically admins
tered to by Frank Tannenbaum IN
the July Century. Those possessed
of sensitive minds and warm SYM
pathies will not find his narration
conducive to their comfort nor re-
assuring to their confidence in the
civilization to which we have attain
ed.
The article is written from first
hand acquaintance with the details.
Apparently it is written in spirit OF
fairness with comprehensive UNDER
standing of the situation. He would
not have US believe that all the in
EQUITIES of the system are attribute
BILE to cruelty or cupidity, but one
cannot escape the conclusion that
these feature strongly in the results.
Neglect and greed have associated
the guardian and the guarded under
wrong conditions, "the sufferer and
the perpetrator caught in vortex of
passion and hate that drives them to
madness and brutality. Unfortunate,
ignorant men, strained beyond ca
pacity, incapable Of fortitude, and
needing some outlet and escape from
a fruitless, barren existence impose
their wills upon other men more I'M
fortunate and more hopeless.
Manifestly society should not per-
NIT such conditions to exist. 1t should
recognize that 1.-THE prisoner is at
the bottom of the heap. There is no
one below him., as the writer points
out. We are likely to lose sight Of
this, because we are SO often re-
minded how often through the de-
fects Of our legal machinery, the Gull
prit goes unwhipped of justice. But
he is not Of the great majority of
criminals, he is not one Of the COM
mon run who are weddings, victims
of their physical or mental weakness.
those who need protection as we'll as
does society, and to whom society
owes it, but is lamentably and con-
spicuously failing to give.
When society places the admins
tration of prisons and Of criminals in
the hands of those untitled to ad-
minister it becomes itself involved in
whatever of criminal there may be in
the results, and we know this is true,
yet are doing little about 1t. The
daily news tells us of dope being
peddled by guards in prisons .estab-
lished in some of the most enlighten-
ed centers of this country. Some
thing Is being done about 1t but there
seemingly is no comprehensive plan
for improving on the prevailing sys-
tenn, which neither safeguards So
ciety nor the criminal.
II such conditions are permitted in
prisons under the immediate eyes Of
a public interested, assumedly, in
reform in all it's various phases, in
communities where there is a reform
Ill Of the body polite, what may We
organization for every conceivable
expect in those states that do not
approve of child labor legislation,
that are content to contract their
prisoners in gangs, which compare
unfavorably with the old slave gangs,
states that maintain Whipping for all
sorts Of offences, methods suggesting
origin in the conditions of slavery
which once obtained in those parts :?
Evidently what results therefrom.
Those described by Mr.. Tannenbaum
will make the flesh, even of those not
representative, creep. Truly his is
an awful recital of incompetehcy, of
ignorance that compels two prison.
ers to battle in the tub together,
that mingles tuberculous and syphili-
tic prisoners in common herd under
the filthiest conditions, that confines
prisoners in cages under conditions
little If any better than those of the
Black Hole of Calcutta. And yet in
conclusion he reminds us that the
ciueliest form of punishment, the
strait jacket, is yet used in one
northern prison, that fiogging is
Still practised in the Middle West.
That dark dungeons, with leg irons
and chains riveted about the ankles
are still used in the Far West. So,
on the whole, it would seem. inop-
perfume for any of us to indulge in