Imperial Valley press., 1944-12-10
NUBBINS
BY
BURRIS JENKINS

/ C4lll0rnl3 Wits prize UtcauSt
her convicts led all the states in the
union last year in production. That's
fine busin :. We may look for the
! whole prison syst m of California TO
lead the rest of the country in the
i near future and nothing we need
more in the United Stat than to
study and practice of scientific
penology. In fact, we may say i'm
general that the United States with
i the exc ptiOn of one or two great
students of the subject have left il
entirely neglected.
Warden Lawes of Sing Sing has
gon7 into the subject i'm earnest and
of course America has read his book
and has therefore caught some
slight interest: but il is slight. We
know nothing about these raging
animals that are in prison walls, are
treat d like raging animals. and
really are beasts among beasts. Ev-
ery one of those men, most OF whom
are mere boys, were mothrs sons.
tenderly loved and cared for. Now
every mans hand is against them.
But down underneath tn y are still
living human beings, capable Of IN
struction and training. California
has siezed upon the pride Of her
prisoners and has made il way to
their heart. If California persaveres
she will go the whole road in pencil
ogy; for nothing is more contagious
than good work. beautifully done.
Warden Lawes found that out at
Sing Sing. i'm brOsO found that
out and became th great expert in
penology in Italy. The Soviets found
that out and know how to run pris-
ons without guard and without gun.
Now don't laugh at that statement.
rs absolutely true, we've seen II, ana
we'v.s mingled with the prisoners.
They don't run away because they
can't get food anywhere else nor
shelter anywhere Use; SO II by
chance one OF them does run away
he soon comes back for food ana
shelter. We asked tt3 head warden
of the place if il was true that he
had no revolver. He slapped all his
pockets and laughed and invited us
to do so. mo, l have no gun, and
nobody here has 4 gum
Men inside prison walls can be
made over again and California mas
started out on the road to doing 1t.
Good old Irwin Cobb was laid to
sleep by th, Elks in his long rest
ing place yesterday. And the brother
EIks, some of them, got sore tooth
over what he said about burial serv-
ices, and cam near withholding
them. That wouldn't have worried
Cobb in the pat or in the future.
II was the fact that Cobb expressed
limited interest i'm funsral services
of any kind that threw the Elk teeth
off edge. The Elks are pretty proud
of their memorial occasions and VIII
NAV be. Their ritual is well designed
and eloquent, but all that didn't
faze old Irwin. He expressed DIS
appreciation in his last fitter OF ai-i
most all types of funeral services
requested that none be held over
him. and none was held until the
Elks m rnorial day rolled round. on
we'll. they better include the name
of the good old grizzly bear, as most
of us held a very deep affection Tor
him and h. lieve he is right in just
what he said about the elaboration
of funerals.
They tried to put Irwin Cobb into
the place of Will Rogers, nut IL
couldn't be done. His daily para
graphs printed for quite while in
Ros, rs space, turned out to be, to
most of US, the poorest thing ne
ever did. Cobb was just not that
kind of metal. Now then, when he
wanted to say something with
sIedge hammer or trip hamm r.
he could certainly do it.
Here is a little quote from CODb
that the present writer clipped years
ago. from his daily paragraph and
had reprinted in large capitals
framed, and hung over his desk:
There is only one world Con-
ou ror who came with clean hands,
and those hands the soldiers took
and with iron spikes nailed the
Nazarene to the cross"
Now that's an old hard-headed
newspaper man talking. rough as a
chestnut burr and as lacking in
g ntiment as a cactus plant. Mighty
few newspaper men could say, or
even know how to say what is con-
tanned in that sledge hammer blow.
That wa, Cobb at his best; every