Evening star., 1933-12-10

prisoner must not be exploited. He
can be taught valuable lessons In. SELF
reliance, thrift and industriousness
through a carefully guarded wage or
token system. The Government must
not 20 into competition In the indus
trial field. But on the other hand 1t
must be given access to its own indus
trial market.
"The most dificult and yet the most
hopeful function of the prison Of the
future is to find some way to individ-
ualize the corrective and protective
treatment to be given the inmates.
What will help one man win not cure
another. It Is just ut this point that
gienist can be of tnestimahle value in
the development Of our future prison
program. Before we can treat we must
prescribe.
"In many prisons the need for such
program hac been felt, and In the
Federal institutions 1t is taking definite
shape. Based on legislation enacted by
the Congress, the Public Health Service
has been called in to organize and sup
plement the medical and psychiatrtc
service in Federal prisons.
I'VE must be ready to assure ourselves
and convince the public that In the
adoption Of this future program Of
prison management there viii be no
diminution in the insistence on strict
law and obedience and enforcement.
One Of the most searching
questions that can be faced may be
stated thus: Which is the most impor-
tant to society as whole, to attempt
to reform, on humane terms, the co.
600 men and women now In our State
and Federal penitentiaries and reforma-
tories, or, through fear of punishment,
attempt to deter the almost 125,000.0o0
still on the outside?
It is my firm conviction that we can
do both Punishment may be so de-
vised as to be at once protective. cor
rective and deterrent. 1t Is punishment
to the shiftless boy to send him regu-
larly to school. 1t Is punishment to the
tramp or hobo to give him a bath"
And 1t may not be too ldealistic to say
that 1t is a keener humiliation and
disappointment to thug who expects
to be treated like roughneck to treat
him with the decency and considera-
ton which perhaps he may not deserve.
Some Don't Work.
There are many who will say that
those are fine-sounding sentiments, that
they square with scientific discovery
and research, that they breathe the
sentiment of the Christian religion
but that they just don't work when ap-
piled to the denizens Of the ganglands
of New York and Chicago. This may
be true. There Is no nostrum or serum
which always works. Furthermore,
science teaches that there is sometimes
a tolerance in a body, whether human
or polite, against which no medicine
can prevail. In such case the doctor
or psychiatrist is likely to say. oh, that
we could have had this case earlier!
This condition might have been pre-
vented And so it may likewise be said
of the most vicious and abandoned
member of a criminal gang.
This problem of the future conduct
of prisons requires the frank admission
that even under the most favorable cir
cumstances, with the finest prison struc-
ture manned by intelligent and devoted
officers, with its inmates working stead
liz at productive labor and q staff of
experts laboring with the individual
problems, it will not be entirely sue
cessful. But in the determined efforts
that will be made to solve 1t, much ma
terial will be unearthed, many studies
On personalities and causes Of crime
will be undertaken and completed which
will be of inestimable value to society
in the coming generation"
As applicable today as in his time
are the words of Charles Dickens:
who turns his back upon the fallen
and disfigured of his kind abandons
them as vile, and does not trace and
track with pitying eyes the unfenced
precipice by which they fell from good,
does wrong to Heaven and man, to
time and to eternity"