New Britain herald., 1923-02-19
OPPOSED FOUGHT
 WINES AND BEERS
Nearly 600 Men of E. B. B. Want
 Present Laws Maintained

Members Of EveTynan's Bible class
 went on record. practically unsni.
 mously. yesterday as being opposed to any change in the Nolstead amend
 mehl or te the return Of lieht wines g and beers. and to lesalising Sunday movies, baseball. etc, In asking for a vote an these subjects First Vice. President l, N, Bnrdiek, who pres sided, stated that the executive eem- mlttee of the class had taken stand as being opposed to any attempt to influence the political opinions of the members Of the class. but that he did not see any harm in asking for a vote as to the feeling Of the men one way or the other. stating that it might hein the local representatives in their voting.
 The hands raised showed that there was practically no sentiment in fayar Of more liberal sunday laws. nor was there any sentiment in favor Of letting down the hars on prohibition enforce ment.
 Senator Richard Covert and ex. Senator Edward F. Hall are members of the class. and Representative F. W. Christ is a yiee.president.
 There were 6:5 men present. The Red army had eal. the White army had a6 and the Blue army had 2as. Visitors were present from Massachu- ber of cities throughout Connecticut.
 The newly organized male chorus. under the direction Of Rev. A. B. Tay- Tor. made its first public appearance.
 Advocates Prison Reform The address Of the morning was de- livered by Rev. C. J. Albertus, Of New York, who spoke on prison reform. Rev. Mir. Albertus claims to have served sentence Of 10 years for being implicated in the commission of crime. He did not give any specific information as to his own personal record. but pointed ont what he claims is the need for considerable improvement in the various prisons throughout the country. He empha- sized tho point that n prison sentence often does more harm than good to the prisoner. under the present sys- tom, and said. "The majority of our prisoners today arc in living he'll"
 He recommended an eight-hour working day system. such as has been adopted by many of the larger prisons recently. with the added proviso that prisoners be paid for their work, and then made to pay for their owIi board.
 In this way. he contended, muci, money could be saved that might be | used for schools, public playgrounds, welfare work or other worthy causes.
 He said one of the crying evils of prison system today is that the prison employees usually are given their jobs through some political influence and !. rarely are qualified to hold their posi- tion. The average man who holds a position in a jail today is barely able to read and write" he said a"Many of l them are Of lower morals than the prisoners over whom they stand guard"
 He advocated law requiring con- pulsory religious services in jail and added, Any man who leaves prison determined to do right or go straight on his own strength is failure. he needs the helping hand of the church..
 He said the system of training boys and girls in state reformatories is all wrong. "Ninety-seven per cent of all the boys and girls who go to rcforma- tory wind up in states prison. There are more men aNd women in penal in- stitutions today than in all the col |eges and universities of the country. Two thirds of them usually return aft er being released"
 The speaker closed with a plea to hold out helping hand to man or who has been down and is irving to go straight.
 MT. Albertus spoke last evening in Trinity Methodist church to large gathering.