The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-06-07

SSAtSu VIII d W 4 fOLS ny d COAuuAt-
tee named by the president Of the fed
Grafton to consider changes in the by
laws. Mrs. Huse was the dissenting
member of the committee.
Battle on Taxes
Material for message to the next
Legislature is being gathered direct
by Governor Silzer upon the opera
ton and management Of the penal.
charitable and correctional institu-
tions Of the state. BY personal and
unannounced visits the Governor has
been able to obtain facts he would in
no other manner be able to collect
and he Is said to have been amazed
and deeply moved by some Of the
things he has discovered. The uproar
in the state prison here, due in large
measure to overlapping authority ana
no little conflict of power, not to men,
ton probable jealousies, has led to
general conclusion that some vigorous
house cleaning is necessary.
1t will be possible for the Governor,
therefore, to treat the subject with in
telligence and offer remedial sugges-
lions for removing the causes of the
constantly recurring scandals.
The state prison has board Of
managers, citizens serving without
compensation and under executive APP
pointment, to whose responsibility the
affairs of the institution are commit
ted. The head keeper is under the d.
rect charge Of that board, although
he, too, Is appointed by the Govern
or. The State Board of Control Of
Institutions and Agencies, which is
supposed to have direct administra-
ton Of all the institutions, is also
composed Of citizens named by the
Governor and likewise serving with
out compensation The State Com
missioner Of Institutions and Agen-
cies, another executive appointee.
functions as head of the latter body
and in this completely there has been
constant friction with such wide
spread dissatisfaction that some Of
the officials have been drawn into per-
sonal encounters, with ugly charges
flying about.
That some method of dealing with
this unhappy and confusing situation
should be devised at any early day
has been the demand of many mem
bers of the Legislature for years, but
the ms and outs Of politics have usu-
ally operated to prevent definite
action Governor Silzer holds well
developed hope that the next Legis-
lature may be little more responsive
to his suggestions than was the last
session, to which he directed so many
proposals for measures intended to
establish needed reforms and econo-
mics. He won a final victory in the
long and bitter controversy over the
Highway Commission, to be sure, but
it came only after certain Republicans
of both houses yielded to the pressure
brought to bear upon them when the
party organization appeared to have
been arrayed against him.
Conditions at State Prison
In the investigation of affairs at the
state prison, continued by the joint
committee of the State Board of Con-
troll and the prison managers, two
notorious criminals in the institution
and a dozen officers or employees Of
the institution were heard. The tes-
timony as to the treatment Of prison
ers was conflicting and irreconcilable.
Beginning with the criticisms Of the
methods of the Investigators made at
the opening session by William A.
Barkalow, acting president Of the
prison managers. continuing with the
reading OF the letter by Principal
Keeper Joseph S. Hoff, rejecting upon
the motives of Commissioner Burdetts
G. Lewis in attacking the prison man
agement, and concluding with fire.
quent tits between members of the
respective boards, the whole situation
was laid bare as 1t has not been be-
fore.
Present conditions in the state
prison are substantially improved
over those of 1917, according to spe-
cial report submitted by the Board OF
Prison Managers to Governor Silzer.
The report was prepared in compli-
ance with a requesI of Governor Sill
ger to make known to him just what
basis exists for the complaints con-
corning the administration of the In
stitution. The managers insist that
it is one of the best-conducted prisons
in the United States.
"Any one who visited the prison In
the old days" the report states, "and
again within a year must feel a differ
emit and a much better atmosphere.
A visit to other prisons is well worth
while in this connection. We have no
scandals, like Florida or Pennsylva-
MIA. The disturbance over peaches
last summer was nothing like the
riots reported elsewhere. No sensible
person will deny that there is much
that does and will go wrong in the old
prison buildings like ours with a popu-
lation of 1900 convicted men, many
of them forced to be idle"
Il l-4fr He~s4t