The
WILLIAM L.
CLEMENTS
LIBRARY
The University of Michigan





PRISON REFORM
AND
OTHER TOPICS.
By MILTON R. SCOTT.
"And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice.”
NEWARK, OHIO:
1894.

Entered according to act of Congress,
in the year 1894, by
MILTON R. SCOTT,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress,
at Washington, D.C.
NEWARK, OHIO,
TRIBUNE BOOK PRINT,
1894.

CONTENT OF PRISON REFORM.
Page.
5
11
18
Chapter.
I By Way of Introduction..
II The Object of Legal Punishment..
III Society Should Act Conscientiously-
IV Imperfection of Human Justice
V Concerning Our Moral Standards.
VI Innocent Prisoners ---
VII What Do Prisoners Deserve?
22
31
39
47
VIII "Lex Talionis”.
57
IX Society and the Prisoner
65
X The "Criminal Classes"
75
XI Too Many "Crimes” in the Statute?
87
XII Too Long Sentences
89
XIII Take Off the Stripes..
101
XIV Remove "Politics' from the Penitentiary-----105
XV "Probation" Law.
109
XVI Prison Labor
112
XVII The "Indeterminate Sentence”.
_120
XVIII Parole of Prisoners.
126
XIX John Howard
131
XX Have Convicts Souls?
141
151
159
XXI Moral and Spiritual Power
XXII Thirty Years Ahead!
XXIII Scriptural Quotations.
XXIV Other Quotations.
172
176
CAPITAL AND LABOR
187
THE ART OF TEACHING
194
MORAL EDUCATION
197


PRISON REFORM.
CHAPTER I.
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION.
The subject of Prison Reform is not
a new one; but the writer is well aware
that it is a subject in which the general
public is not much interested ; and we are
not even certain but that the majority of
people would prefer to see prison disci.
line made more severe rather than more
humane.
The average man never expects to go
to jail himself—why should he care any
thing for those who are put there? Why
should his righteous soul be annoyed or
vexed by any suggestion of human rela-
tionship to the “criminal classes ?” Can
he not dispose of all consideration of

6
PRISON REFORM.
their case by exclaiming, “Let them live
honestly like the rest of us !” And what
interest has organized society in the viola-
tors of law except to place its heel on
their necks and hold them down as firm-
ly as possible ?
The proper treatment of criminals is
not a subject of discussion on the streets
and highways or in social circles ; it is
not considered an issue by our political
parties, or made a “plank” in their plat-
forms; newspapers, whether political or
religious, scarcely ever allude to it; and
the same may also be said concerning the
pulpits of the land, both great and small.
The writer has attended the services of a
great many churches in the course of his
life, and is quite certain he never heard a
on the subject or even a prayer
from any pulpit for prisoners as such.
We speak not thus to censure either
preachers or editors; for we know enough
to know that the pulpit and the press are
exponents of public sentiment rather-as
sermon

PRISON REFORM.
7
well as creators of it! We only desire to
express the sense of loneliness we feel in
assuming to bring this subject before the
public and to ask for a serious considera-
tion of our plea in behalf of the prisoner.
In the discussion of this subject we
shall not forget that prisoners are human
beings, and shall not refrain from appeal-
ing to the feelings and sympathies of our
readers in their behalf; but we are cer-
tain that if any one expects to find in
these pages a mere flow of gush and sen-
timentality, he will be greatly mistaken.
We do not hope to compass all phases
of prison discipline ; but if we fail to
represent the interests of society as well as
the interests of the prisoner, let the bat-
teries of severest criticism be opened upon
us—and spare us not !
Neither would we have our readers ex-
pect a narrative of horrors and abuses in
our jails and penitentiaries whose aboli.
tion is the sole purpose of our plea-we
humbly trust our object is more funda-

8
PRISON REFORM.
mental than that. So far as our purpose
is concerned we might even concede that
prison officials on the whole only desire
to do their duty, and that they treat the
men under their charge as kindly and
humanely as society desires prisoners to
be treated.
Neither do we promise an outline of
the prison discipline that shall be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing and free
from spot or wrinkle and
every
such
thing. On the other hand, we realize that
in this world of ours no complete “Uto-
pia” is possible—or desirable !
Society as well as the individual can
only go on, and on, and still on to perfec
tion !
Whatever improvement or reformation
may be needed in the management of
our prisons can only come about by the
process of education and moral evolution
in society; and if we are permitted in
any measure to facilitate this process or
even to participate in it, our labor will
not be in vain.

PRISON REFORM.
9
And why should we not have Prison
Evolution, or “Reform,” if you please ? We
boast very loudly of our progress in all
the mechanical arts, in law, in medicine,
in our systems of education, in our codes
of ethics, and even in our theological
creeds. Is it therefore a vain thing that
we should expect society not only to im-
prove the details of prison discipline but
to adopt larger, wiser and more humane
principles in dealing with the violators of
her laws? Is it too much to ask her to
remember that these men and women are
yet integral and essential parts of her
body and organism ? Can she refuse to
do this without sinning against her own
life?
Says the poet Cowper :
"By ceaseless action all that is subsists.
Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel
That Nature rides upon maintains her health,
Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads
An instant's pause, and lives but while she moves.
Its own revolvency upholds the earth.”
Will our readers hear us for our cause ?

10
PRISON REFORM.
cause
Will you believe that we have a
worthy of hearing and consideration on
your part

CHAPTER II.
THE OBJECT OF LEGAL PUNISHMENT.
“Salus populi est suprema lex.”
Self-protection, or self-preservation, is
often declared to be the first law of Na-
ture," and some one has defined life itself
as “the sum of the forces that resists death.”
Looking only at our physical life, what is
the point or object of our breathing, eating,
drinking, laboring, struggling and so forth,
but the effort to preserve our bodies from
the forces that would otherwise cause their
disintegration and dissolution? Nature her-
self plainly indicates our right—and like-
wise our duty—to maintain this conflict for
our physical integrity and existence, and
both the law and public opinion justify us
in all necessary
of self-def
against even the human enemies that may
assail or threaten us.
means
se

12
PRISON REFORM.
And it must be conceded that this law
come
to
or right (by whatever name it should be
called) belongs to society as a whole as
well as to the individuals composing so-
ciety. In fact many of the limitations
of this right which exist in the case of
individuals disappear when we
consider the case of the body politic or the
state. The right of self-defense in the in-
dividual must be subject to—at least must
not conflict with—the rights of other indi-
viduals, while society may do whatever she
finds necessary for her protection, and no
individual has a right to forbid or prevent
her doing so.
As instances of the exercise of this func-
tion on the part of the state, we may men-
tion the collection of taxes, direct and indi-
rect, the requirement of military service in
times of public danger, and, in fact, all
laws defining or restricting the freedom of
the individual. The whole structure of
government is built upon the theory that
the rights of individuals must be surren-

PRISON REFORM.
13
dered in greater or less measure to the in-
terests of society, and that their wel-
fare must be subordinated to the public
welfare. Each individual must not only
learn that he is but a part or member of
the whole body politic, but that the rights
of the whole are ever paramount to the
rights of
any
individual or individuals.
Nay more, the rights and interests of the
individual may be completely sacrificed for
the good of society-if necessary.
Blackstone says:
“ The state is a collec-
tive body composed of a multitude of indi-
viduals united for their safety and conveni-
ence and intended to act together as one
man.
If it therefore is to act as one man,
it ought to act by one uniform will. But
inasmuch as political communities are made
up
of
many natural persons, each of whom
has his particular will and inclination, these
several wills can not by any natural union
be joined together and tempered and dis-
posed into a lasting harmony so as to con-
stitute and produce that uniform will of the

14
PRISON REFORM.
whole. It can therefore be no otherwise
pal law
produced than by a political union, by the
consent of all persons to submit their own
private wills to the will of one man, or of
one or more assemblies of men, to whom
the supreme authority is entrusted."
Further on in his “Commentaries,” the
same distinguished author defines munici-
as "a rule of civil conduct pre-
scribed by the supreme power in the state,
commanding what is right and prohibiting
what is wrong;" which last clause we would
interpret as equivalent to saying, “com-
manding whatever is necessary to the pro-
tection of society and forbidding whatever
tends to the injury of society or the de-
struction of its peace and order.”
And all jurists agree that the virtue of
laws, especially of criminal laws, depends
in a large measure upon their sanction, or
the penalty attached to them. Without
this they would even be worse than useless ;
without this the very name of government
would be a farce, and organized society

PRISON REFORM.
15
would everywhere become a shattered and
demoralized mass.
We are therefore very safe in laying
down the proposition that the object of
legal punishment--without stopping at this
point to express what we consider the true
idea of “punishment”-is the protection of
society and the maintenance of its peace
and order.
We say THE object, by which we mean the
primary, fundamental object, the object to
which all other objects or ends that may
be
desired must ever be counted subordinate.
In fact, we can only recognize any other
object as true and lawful so far as it con-
forms to this object and harmonizes with
it in all respects. We would not even
object to the classification which would
make all other objects but means for the
attainment of this leading and fundamental
object.
We have stated our position thus clearly
(as we hope) and emphatically, that our
readers may have no occasion to charge us

16
PRISON REFORM.
causes
with ignoring the rights of the public or to
insinuate that we have a weak and senti-
mental sympathy for the prisoner which
us to disregard the health of the
body politic. We expressly desire that
every plea we may offer for the ameliora-
tion of the prisoner's condition shall not
only be based on the interests of society,
but shall be limited and qualified so far as
may be necessary to bring it into harmony
with the public welfare and safety. If nec-
essary let the proposition that the peace
and order of society must be maintained at
all hazards, be read between the lines of
every argument we attempt in behalf of
our proposed “Reform.”'
In a word, we propose to stand upon the
platform of society's protection with both
feet, nor will we consciously depart there-
from “but in the estimation of a hair” to
the very end of our discourse--will our
readers all agree to stand there with us?
Nay, we would not refuse to be consid-
ered society's representative and advocate;

PRISON REFORM.
17
we would fain be counted worthy to speak
in society's name and to plead her cause be-
fore the court of public opinion to which
our humble plea shall be addressed?
Is there anything “strange,” forsooth, in
the proposition, that there is no essential
conflict between the welfare of the prisoner
and the welfare of the public? May not
the interests of these two parties be brought
into harmonious relation, if not made iden-
tical?

CHAPTER III.
SOCIETY SHOULD ACT CONSCIENTIOUSLY.
But having conceded that society has the
right to make and execute whatever penal
laws are necessary for her protection and
likewise her right to be her own judge as
to what is necessary, we insist that she shall
judge righteously and be careful to go
no farther in the punishment of individuals
than is necessary to secure her lawful end.
Will our readers all agree to this proposi-
tion?
It may be claimed that we are here en-
tering the field of abstract argument and
of “glittering generalities” that involve no
living or tangible issue—but verily such is
not the case. We do not indeed assume to
draw definite lines or to give the exact
measure of punishment that
may
be neces-
sary for every crime or misdemeanor; but

PRISON REFORM.
19
we shall surely be understood when we as-
sert that society should exercise her right
of self-protection with a good conscience
and as humanely as possible. We not only
declare that she should not injure the indi-
vidual unnecessarily, but that in all cases she
should be careful not to do so.
If the wanton or even careless infliction
of pain or injury by an individual is a thing
to be condemned, how much more should
we insist that the state shall be guided by a
sense of moral obligation when she finds it
necessary to lay her heavy hand upon any
of her citizens. Can she be released from
this obligation--should she desire to be so
released-even when she comes to deal
with the most wicked and desperate cases?
And let it not be here urged that it mat-
ters not whether the public conscience is
thus exercised or not, if so be that the
wrong-doing receives its proper condemna-
tion, and the wrong-doer his proper meas-
ure of punishment. Is it a matter of indif-
ference to one whose bones are mangled

20
PRISON REFORM.
and broken that his surgeon cares not how
much pain he causes in his treatment of the
case? Or if the question at issue be wheth-
er an arm or leg must be sacrificed for the
whole body's sake, would not every one de-
sire the services of a surgeon who would
rather save
the injured member than
sever it from the body? In every such case
the surgeon
should not shrink from whatever
operation or treatment he finds necessary;
but would we not all pray Heaven to be de-
livered from the surgeon who desires to
amputate or cares not whether he amputates
or not?
Much more might be offered upon this
right of self-protection on the part of soci-
ety and the spirit in which it should be ex-
ercised; but we presume we have said
enough in this and the preceding chapter to
make clear our position that society in its
dealings with individuals may do whatever
it finds necessary for its protection, and we
trust we have made equally clear—and
equally acceptable to the reason and con-

PRISON REFORM,
21
science of our readers—the proposition that
society should not injure or degrade any of
its members unnecessarily.

CHAPTER IV.
IMPERFECTION OF HUMAN JUSTICE.
Our purpose in this chapter is not to
point out particular defects or abuses in the
administration of criminal law that call
loudly for remedy, but to show how impos-
sible it is in the very nature of things to
attain that perfect justice which gives to
every man his due.
So far as the letter of our statutes goes-and
we may concede the same as to their gene-
ral spirit and intent—the same prohibition of
wrong-doing applies to all men and al
classes of men, and the same penalty is
prescribed for all offenders. Our courts of
justice generally seek to execute these
laws faithfully and impartially; and a like
standard is set up and pretty generally rec-
ognized in the high court of public opinion.
But what are the actual facts?

PRISON REFORM.
23
Giving all officers of the law the fullest
credit for integrity of purpose, how small a
fraction of offenders they actually prose-
cute, and of those who are prosecuted how
many escape conviction and punishment.
And even if our officials possessed the ut-
most efficiency and impartiality of which
men are capable, is it not easy to see that they
could not prosecute, much less punish, even
a moiety of offenders? May we not even
say that by far the larger number of infrac-
tions of the law never come to their notice?
If all parties against whom a case at law
could be made out—saying nothing of
those against whom there is a " reasonable
presumption” of guilt—were actually ar-
rested and prosecuted, our courts would
have little time for other business; and if
sentences equal to those now inflicted were
passed upon all who were found guilty,
what would the harvest be? Would not
our jails and penitentiaries need to be both
multiplied in number and increased much
beyond their present capacity ?

24
PRISON REFORM.
Surely this representation of the case is
not overdrawn or too highly colored. It
must be conceded that under present condi-
tions the prosecution of all offenders, or
even the major part of them, is impossible,
if not impracticable.
Should not this bare fact give us consid-
erable pause when we ring the changes as
loudly and vehemently as we sometimes do
upon the “Justice” that is administered to
those who are caught and punished? Are
we certain that these men are receiving
the exact portion that they "deserve," no
more, no less ?
And how does society (whether con-
sciously or unconsciously) set about to find
a remedy for this manifest inability to reach
all violators of her laws? She must needs
protect herself and preserve her dignity and
integrity ; and since she cannot divide the
necessary punishment in just and impartial
measure among all offenders, must she not
punish those whom she does reach in such
manner that her protection may be se-
cured ?

PRISON REFORM.
25
We may safely assume that in the long
run society correctly measures the aggregate
of punishment that is necessary for her pro-
tection; and if that aggregate
fairly distributed among all actual offenders,
the portion of each individual would be
much less—we will not undertake to say
how many times less—than it now is. If
these premises be correct-can they be de-
nied by any one who looks the facts directly
in the face ?—we can not escape the conclu-
sion that society makes scapegoats* of the
few criminals whom she reaches and com-
pels them to bear the weight of other
men's transgressions as well as their own!
Are they not vicarious sacrifices (involun-
tary ones, it is true, but none the less real)
for the public health and safety ?
were
*The Jewish ceremony of turning the scapegoat into the
wilderness loaded with the sins of the people is thus des-
cribed in Smith's Bible Dictionary: "On this occasion only the
high priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies.
Having bathed his person and dressed himself entirely in the
holy white linen garments, he brought forward a young bul-
lock for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering, pur-
chased at his own costs, on account of himself and family, and
two young goats for a sin-offering with a ram for a burnt-offer-
ing, which were paid for out of the public treasury on account
of the people. He then presented the two goats before the

26
PRISON REFORM.
If the religious sensibilities of our read-
ers should be offended by the application
of such theological terms as “scapegoat”
and “vicarious sacrifice" to convicted crim-
inals, we are willing to adopt a more com-
mon term, about whose meaning there can
be no doubt, and the universal use of which
is sufficient to prove our point beyoud all
doubt or question.
What citizen has not
often expressed his desire to see examples
made of public offenders ? What judge or
magistrate has not felt it to be his duty,
when passing sentence upon men who have
been found guilty, to prescribe such a penal-
ty as shall satisfy the demands of public
justice, and likewise prove an example and
warning to all others who may be tempted
or inclined to violate the laws ?
Lord at the door of the tabernacle and cast lots upon them.
On one lot for Jehovah' was inscribed, and on the other
'for Azazel.' * * The goat upon which the lot for Jehovah
had fallen was then slain, and after the high-priest had
sprinkled its blood before the mercy seat, he laid his hand
upon the head of the goat on which the lot for Azazel had fallen,
and confessed over it all the sins of the people. The goat was
then led by a man chosen for the purpose into the wilderness,
into 'a land not inhabited,' and was there let loose. The man
who led the goat away had to bathe his person and wash his
clothes as soon as the service was performed.”

PRISON REFORM.
27
It may be urged in opposition to this ar
gument that our laws prescribe the same
penalties for all, and that guilty men have no
right to complain, even if other guilty ones
do escape. This sounds very plausible ; but
are not the laws themselves framed and
their penalties prescribed and graded as
they are—we certainly cannot believe oth-
wise—for the purpose of enabling criminal
courts to make examples or object-lessons
of the offenders who are brought before
them and convicted of any crime? Cer-
tain it is that if all, or nearly all offenders
could be reaehed, the penalties of the law
might be, and we believe, would be, made
much lighter than they now are.
The in-
creased certainty of punishment would re-
move the necessity of such examples and
warnings as now seem to be required for
the protection of society.
Examples--warnings--to whom? (To
whom ?” Ay there's the rub!
one who counts himself a good citizen con-
fess that he needs these examples before his
Will any

28
PRISON REFORM.
eyes to deter him from the commission of
crime, or that he is in any manner influenced
in his conduct by the sentences passed
upon convicted criminals ? No; we must
not insinuate that our readers would all be-
come transgressors, if it were not for the
penalties of the law. But even if we
accept the claim they will doubtless make
that their good conduct is wholly due
to principle and that they are in no manner
influenced by fear of punishment-even if
we concede to them the desire to obey every
law to which they are subject--who can
say in looking over his whole life that he
has never been influenced by the sentences
passed upon violators of the law ? Can
even the most righteous man claim that his
lawful disposition is not to some extent due
to the impression that these examples have
his consciousness? At all
events, as long as the law and public opin-
ion both lay so much stress upon penal sen-
tences as object lessons or warnings, it will
hardly do to claim that nobody in particu-
made upon

PRISON REFORM.
29
lar is influenced by them. Perhaps none
of us can afford to probe his consciousness
too deeply on this point!
In considering this question let us be wil-
ling to look the facts squarely in the face,
ever if it should appear that we as well as
the men and women whom we condemn so
severely are only human ! And if we are in
any manner related to either their crimes or
penalties, let us be honest enough to ac-
knowledge the fact and accept all the de-
ductions that proceed from it. If we owe
them but a cup of cold water, let us dis-
charge the obligation as in the sight of
God and without grudging or protesting.
Let us not fail to do “justice" in these
premises, though our pride and self-right-
eousness be severely rebuked and chastened.
Let us rise up and say to our courts and
legislatures: “This is an age of moral, as
well as material and intellectual progress ;
and although we are yet very far from the
goal of perfection we will strive to be good
citizens without such terrible examples be-

30
PRISON REFORM.
fore us as have seemed necessary in the
past."
If we are not yet prepared to go as far as
this, let us at least realize that we, the peo-
ple of the state, are responsible for what-
ever unnecessary degradation is inflicted
upon the prisoner; and that whatever deg-
radation is still necessary is on account of
the hardness of our hearts and the earthi-
ness—if not the depravity-of our natures.
In other words, the “Prison Reform" that
we desire to see must have its seat and cen-
ter in the bosom of society, and must pro-
ceed from a conception of the vital relation
that society sustains to the prisoner.
5***:
B

CHAPTER V.
CONCERNING OUR MORAL STANDARDS.
In addition to their function as warnings
to others the sentences passed upon priso-
ners also constitute a sort of basis for the
erection of our moral standards. It were a
very interesting, if not profitable, study to
measure the extent to which our public
virtue as well as our private virtue rests
upon an abhorrence and condemnation of
evil-especially the evil we see in others-
rather than upon our appreciation of those
things which are true and beautiful and
good.
Who can tell the extent to which the
zealous advocates of temperance sustain
their devotion to their good cause by the
severe epithets they apply to the liquor
traffic as well as by a contemplation of the
miseries and degradation of the drunkard ?

32
PRISON REFORM.
Would the average good citizen in any
community be as clean and honest as he is,
if he were not permitted to see the evil ef-
fects that sometimes follow wrong-doing,
and to hear meanness and rascality de-
nounced by his neighbors ? There be yet
many sincere professors of religion who
could not realize the profit of godliness, if
they should cease to ring the changes on the
uncomfortable portion of the wicked here-
after! Very slowly and sometimes very
painfully do we learn the simple and sub-
lime lesson that righteousness is its own re-
ward and sin its own punishment! What
exercise of soul, what throes and anguish
must we often pass through, ere we
discern the beauty of holiness, and are
ready to cherish virtue for her own sake,
for her grace and charms and exceeding
loveliness!
“Crime” is a word of very odious sound
to us; but would we indeed shrink from
every deed bearing that name, if it were not
for the pain and degradation which the law
can

PRISON REFORM.
33
inflicts
upon
those offenders whom it is able
to reach? Is not our abhorrence of many
acts measured by the legal penalties at-
tached to them ? And is not our standard
of public morality upheld in very large
measure by the shame and disgrace of con-
victed criminals ?
In spite of the boasted progress of our
age, we are yet of the earth, earthy. Al-
though we have reached the last decade of
the nineteenth century, human nature is hu-
man nature still !
In Macaulay's essay on Byron he thus de-
picts the efforts of the English public to
maintain its "high standard of morals" by
occasional outbursts of indignation against
certain offenders:
"We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the
British public in one of its periodical fits of mo-
rality. In general, elopements, divorcements and
family quarrels, pass with little notice. We read
the scandal, talk about it for a day and forget it.
But once in six or seven years our virtue becomes
outrageous. We can not suffer the laws of re-
ligion and decency to be violated. We must
make a stand against vice. We must teach lib-

34
PRISON REFORM.
ertines that the English people appreciate the
importance of domestic ties. Accordingly some
unfortunate man, in no respect more depraved
than hundreds whose offenses have been treated
with lenity, is singled out as an expiatory sacrifice.
If he has children they are to be taken from him.
If he has a profession he must be driven from it.
He is cut by the higher classes and hissed by the
lower. He is in truth a sort of whipping-boy, by
whose vicarious agonies all the other transgressors
are, it is supposed, sufficiently chastised. We re-
flect very complacently on our own severity and
compare with great pride the high standard of
morals established in England with the Parisian
laxity. At length our anger is satiated, our victim
is ruined and heart-broken. And then our virtue
goes quietly to sleep for seven years more.”
It would be going too far to claim that
this is a veritable picture of our attitude to-
ward those criminals who fall under legal
condemnation, but it surely presents some
very suggestive analogies to our case. It is
a mirror in which we may behold some of
our own features.
How often-rather how occasionally-
does the public express its abhorence of
official robbery by the ruin or degradation
of a Tweed, or its intolerance of all corrup-

PRISON BEFORM.
35
tion of the ballot by imprisoning a McKane
for six or seven years. Did not many, if not
most, patriotic Americans at the close of the.
late war feel that the leaders of the rebel-
lion ought to be executed in order to estab-
lish and maintain the proper distinction be-
tween loyalty and disloyalty? Did they
not applaud and loudly echo the utterances
of Andrew Johnson when he first became
President that treason must be made odious
by the punishment and impoverishment of
traitors? And when some flagrant crime
is committed in any community-witness
the Elliott-Osborn shooting affray in
Columbus a few years ago—are not the
people ready to rise up as one man and de-
mand such punishment of the offenders as
shall not only prove an adequate example
for the public protection but an adequate
expression of the public condemnation ?
Even the clergy in such cases may count it
their duty to protest against the exercise of
any mercy on the part of the state lest the
the people's respect for law and order be

36
PRISON REFORM.
more
seriously impaired thereby. And when
through some technicality of the law
or the superior ability and skill of his coun-
sel a very odious offender escapes convic-
tion and punishment, does not the public
feel that its virtue is outraged ? Does it not
cry out
as with righteous indignation,
because it fears its standard of morality will
be lowered, even
than it fears its
peace and safety will be endangered ?
But what of it all ? Admitting every
thing that may be claimed in reference to
the benefit we derive from the punishment
of criminals, whether as examples to deter
others from wrong-doing or as means of
sustaining the necessary moral standards in
society, can it be claimed that we owe them
any consideration when they only sought to
injure us? And in any case, can human
nature be changed or the constitution of
human society be radically evolved for their
sakes?
Such questions as these are very perti-
nent; and we wish it clearly understood

PRISON REFORM.
37
that we contemplate no such fundamental
change in human nature or in social cus-
toms as we might seem to desire. We will
even concede that as long as our bodies are
subject to the gravitation of the earth, we
can not secure an impartial distribution of
those pains and penalties of transgression
that are essential to the protection and evo-
lution of society. We will even concede, if
our readers please, that convicted criminals
have no claims upon our justice, and if such
claims did exist, they could not be fully sat-
isfied. Rather is it the point of our
argument to fully establish the fact that per-
fect justice is not done and can not be done!
Above all else, let us not be interpreted as
wishing to confuse the public conscience or
abolish the distinction between right-doing
and wrong-doing in the public mind.
Heaven knows our moral sense is none too
clear, and our moral standards none too pure
and none too high already.
But for the sake of those standards and
with a sincere desire to see them purified

38
PRISON REFORM.
and elevated, may we not plead that they
should depend more and more upon the
merits of right-doing and less and less upon
the misery and degradation of our fellow-
beings ? Should we not in all cases seek to
inflict the lowest measure of
pain and deg.
radation that is consistent with the public
health and safety ?
ఉద

CHAPTER VI.
INNOCENT PRISONERS.
The writer once asked the late Dr. A. G.
Byers, who served as Chaplain in the Ohio
Penitentiary for a number of years, how
large a percentage of innocent men he
would estimate among the in mates of that
institution. His answer was, “Say five per
cent.” It seemed to us and still seems a
very high estimate ; for according to it-
the present population of that institution
being over 2,000—there would be over 100
innocent convicts within its walls.
(We are well aware, too, that if the stories
of the convicts themselves were all credited,
this percentage would be increased many
fold-perhaps it would be hard to find any
guilty men among their number!)
It is, of course, impossible to estimate the
number of innocent prisoners with any ap-

40
PRISON REFORM.
proach to satisfactory assurance, but sup-
pose we put it at one per cent—we think
we have sufficient data to presume as large
a percentage as this.
This would make about twenty innocent
inmates in our Penitentiary-surely enough
for serious reflection on
our part. Who
would not consider this a very large num-
ber, if he were one of them ?
We will not contend for even this esti-
mate, and will only ask that in speaking of
this class of prisoners, we shall be allowed
to use the plural number. Our argument
does not depend on the greatness of the
number, but on the terrible injury that is
suffered by these persons—and for whom ?
Is there no suggestion of “vicarious sacri-
fice" in their case ? Can we dispose of all
our obligations and all consideration of our
relation to these prisoners by simply pro-
nouncing them “unfortunate ?"
And however skeptical we may be in
reference to the number of wholly innocent
prisoners in our jails and penitentiaries, we

PRISON REFORM.
41
can not doubt that a very large percentage
of their number at all times are only par-
tially or constructively guilty. How delicate
is the line in many cases between the awful
crime of murder and the lawful right of
self-defense! In how many cases are men
convicted of crime because they have been
found in bad company and are unable to
prove their innocence.
In how many cases
also are men convicted because, through
some mistake or perhaps serious error on
their part, they are entangled in a net of
circumstances in such wise that it is impos-
sible to clear themselves of suspicion. Nay,
are there not frequent cases where men are
convicted because they are so closely related
to the circumstances of the case that they
must needs show who did commit the
crime in question if they did not? Our
courts never fail
to remind the jury
that the law presumes the prisoner in-
nocent unless he be proven guilty beyond
a reasonable doubt; but this presumption is
often of very little value to the prisoner

42
PRISON REFORM.
whose reputation is bad in the community
where he resides ; and if he be a notorious
offender, or one who has served a term in
the county jail or the “Pen,” the rule is re-
versed, and he can only escape by proving
his innocence beyond both reasonable and
unreasonable doubt.
If to all these we add the prisoners, who
through ignorance or a mistaken notion of
their rights, have been guilty of some tech-
nical violation of the law without any evil
intent, we should have a percentage much
larger than people generally suppose.
Shall we say fifty per cent ?—forty ?-
thirty ?-twenty ?—ten ?
But why dwell on this point? Society
surely does not desire the imprisonment of
the innocent, and has carefully framed her
laws in such manner as to prevent their
conviction of crime as far as possible.
Nay, we believe that if any one could de-
vise a scheme by which the present safe-
guards of innocence were made much
stronger, he would be counted a public ben-

PRISON REFORM.
43
efactor ; and so perhaps would be one that
could furnish a scale whereby it were made
possible to determine the exact merits of
every case where prisoners are neither
wholly guilty nor wholly innocent.
Nothing of this kind is possible as long
as human nature remains so imperfect and
human society continues as complex a thing
as it now is; and any wide departure from
our present rules of law in behalf of pris-
oners at the bar would probably result in
such laxity of administration as to bring our
courts of justice into contempt. On the
other hand, if we were to make our rules
more rigid in order to secure the conviction
and punishment of all who are guilty, we
would be certain to take in a larger number
--and likewise a larger proportion of
innocent men.
Thus whichever way we turn we are con-
fronted with the everlasting fact of human
imperfection and the impossibility of secu-
ring the equal and exact justice which is the
purpose of our laws. Have we no argu-

44
PRISON REFORM.
ment here for some mitigation of our at-
titude towards prisoners as a class? Have
we not some basis for our plea in their be-
half on the score of justice as well as hu-
manity? The discipline of the prison must
needs be the same for all inmates; no dis-
tinction can be made between the guilty on
the one hand, and the innocent and partially
innocent on the other. They must all en-
dure the same privation, the same humilia-
tion, the same degradation. They are all
'convicts,” and must take their place and
order as such.
In view of these facts, when we come to
determine the system of treatment that is
proper for prisoners as a whole, shall we
give no consideration to the claims of those
-be their number ever so few—who are
not guilty as charged ? If severity of
prison discipline is to be measured by the
guiltiness or depravity of the inmates, let
us consider the cases of all and not base our
standard upon the few desperate cases that
stifle our compassion and arouse our right-

PRISON REFORM.
45
eous (?) indignation. Even if our object is
to administer to all prisoners the portion that
they, as a whole, “deserve,” should we not
at least be careful to find the proper average
before we open the vials of our wrath upon
them ? If it were our function to do injury to
the prisoner in return for the injury he has
done, or sought to do to society, should we
not be careful to do him no greater in-
jury than he has done to us?
But even if the number of innocent pris-
oners be considered too small and too un-
certain for any serious consideration on our
part—and even if all pleading in their be-
half be counted mere gush and sentimental-
ism-what shall we say for the fathers and
mothers, brothers and sisters, and wives and
children of our prisoners ? For whom, we
pray, are these innocent persons suffering
such shame and misery and degradation ?
Is there nothing serious to us in the thought
that their suffering is or seems
to be
necessary condition of our administration
of “justice ?” We do not say that the
a

46
PRISON REFORM.
wheels of government should be stopped
on their account; but in Heaven's high
name ought we not to give some heed to
their cry of anguish? Ought we not at
least to inquire whether there might not
be some alleviation of their misery without
endangering the peace and order of soci-
ety? If nothing more, shall we not find
food for pious reflection in the thought that
in order to secure her peace and integrity
society must needs place her heavy hand
and her iron heel upon the necks of inno-
cent women and children? How long, O
Lord, how long must this continue without
serious consideration on the part of the
state and the people ?

CHAPTER VII.
WHAT DO PRISONERS “DESERVE ?"
Although the significant word "exam-
ples” is so generally used in reference to the
punishment of criminals, and although the
idea of furnishing a warning to the public
enters into the breast of every judge or
magistrate who is called to pass sentence
upon men convicted of crime, yet society is
not quite willing to accept this theory of
punishment or to confess her inability to
measure out equal and exact justice in all
cases.
Hence the theory—to what other source
can we refer it ?—that the punishment ad-
ministered to criminals is what they “de-
serve.” What a comfortable way of meet-
ing the issue—what an effectual means of
stifling any sentimental sympathy for pris-
oners that might rise in our breasts in an

48
PRISON REFORM.
"unguarded moment”—what a soothing
balm to our consciences, if by any means
they should be stirred or exercised in the
criminals behalf-what a pleasing stimulant
to our pride and self-sufficiency whenever
we compare ourselves with convicted crim-
inals!
But on what basis of reason or argument
can we place the theory of punishment ac-
cording to desert ? Admitting for argu-
ment's sake that such is the proper function
of society, where shall she find her stan-
dard of measurement? How shall she ascer-
tain the degree of punishment that each
offender—or any offender for that matter-
actually “deserves ?” Who can tell us to
what extent the violators of law are to
blame (in the strict sense of the term) for
their acts, and how much allowance should
be made for the circumstances in which
they were placed ? Who can measure the
influence of "heredity,” of “environment,"
of “education,” as well as the particular
temptations by which the offender was

PRISON REFORM.
49
on
66
beset ? Can we ever hope to determine
man's exact relation to the powers of evil-
call them by what name you will—that
confront him
every
hand ?
Can
the state reason high on fate, fore-
knowledge and free will," and settle
the deep problems that have exercised the
souls of wise (and unwise) men through
all the ages ? And if she could do so—if
she could determine the exact limits of hu-
man freedom and the exact measure of
man's responsibility before God--would she
be a whit the wiser so far as the treat-
ment of criminals is concerned ? Would
she not still have before her the simple
(rather the complex) issue of her own pro-
tection ?
And when we leave the speculative and
come into the more practical realm, the dif-
ficulty is just as great. How variable-
how capricious even-is public opinion in
reference to many of the crimes for which
men are imprisoned or otherwise punished.
We are not now speaking of those cases

50
PRISON REFORM.
The man
where public opinion is divided in reference
to the merits and demerits of particular
acts, but of those shifting standards of right
and wrong that make it impossible to estab-
lish a positive rule of conduct.
who defends himself from assault and vio-
lence with a pistol may be applauded for
his act to-day, while to-morrow for the
same act and without any substantial dif-
ference of circumstances, he
may
be
branded as a felon, and his life and charac-
ter covered with everlasting infamy. The
girl who shoots her betrayer on the street
may, in one case, wipe out her reproach
and even pose as a heroine on account of
her act, while in another case, she will only
add to the shame of lost virtue the shame
and degradation of imprisonment. And so
to some extent through the whole category
of offenses known to the law.
Both jurists and moral scientists tell us
there are two classes of offenses in our
criminal laws, mala in se and mala prohibita
—the former meaning things evil in them.

PRISON REFORM.
51
selves, and the latter things that are evil
because prohibited by the law. The dis-
tinction, of course, is only a relative one,
and the line between them is not only sub-
ject to constant change but can never at
any time be exactly traced ; still the fact
that such a distinction is recognized shows
the impossibility of prescribing any stand.
ard whereby we may determine what
offenders in all cases strictly deserve.
Then the ever increasing complexity of
civilized life makes it necessary to put the
prohibition and ban of the law upon many
acts which have heretofore been counted
proper and justifiable, so that the act which
this year may be performed with perfect
impunity would next year land its perpe-
trator in jail or the penitentiary. Perhaps no
Legislature of our state ever concludes its
labors and adjourns sine die without adding
new crimes and misdemeanors to those
already on the statute-book.
We are not condemning these laws or
the penalties attached to them so far as they

52
PRISON REFORM.
may be necessary to the public good; we
only seek to emphasize the folly of assu-
ming to measure the desert of offenders in
such cases.
To all the foregoing considerations may
be added the fact that society herself is
more or less responsible for many of the
“crime-producing conditions," under which
we live, and until the measure of this re-
sponsibility is determined, we can not even
approximate an estimate of the portion that
offenders deserve.
Our protest against this theory of punish-
ment is not wholly based on the impossibil-
ity of measuring the blame of offenders.
The theory is both unscientific (if we may
use that term in this connection) and un-
moral, if not essentially immoral, in itself,
and in its practical effect results in much
severer punishment than is necessary to se-
cure the true object of punishment.
After the protection of society is secured,
can there be any reason under the sun for
inflicting additional pain ? Can there. be

PRISON REFORM.
53
any righteous purpose in so doing? Cui
bono ? we would ask most emphatically.
And even if it be conceded that prisoners
deserve pain, either bodily or mental, be-
yond what is needed for society's protection,
can any argument be devised to justify the
infliction of unnecessary degradation ? We
are not speaking of that degradation that
merely humiliates, but of that which injures
and debases the manhood of the prisoner;
and concerning this we feel bold to declare
not only that society should not go beyond
what is necessary, but that she should have
the clearest warrant of necessity as far as
she does go.
We are well aware that wrong-doing de-
grades the soul whenever it is practiced.
God has written this law on the sky over
our heads and on the ground beneath our
feet; it is found in the Scripture and in all
experience; and it must be just and right-
eous altogether. But because the operation
of this law is so terrible and so certain,
therefore should the state be careful that

54
PRISON REFORM.
she shall only exercise the right of self-
defense, and assume no function that does
not justly belong to her. The infliction of
either pain or degradation can only be justi-
fied by a righteous purpose. As the sick
man should have the treatment which will
most speedily and surely restore him to
health, so the criminal—after the protection
of society is properly secured—“deserves”
whatever treatment will best restore him to
his normal functions as a member of the
body politic. We are not arguing against
bitter medicine or painful surgical oper-
ations; we only ask that the treatment of
the patient shall be intelligent and conscien-
tious, and that the physician be not given to
over-dosing!
The right to inflict pain and degra-
dation on account of real or supposed
desert does not belong to the state or the
teacher or even the parent. Punishment
for the sake of punishment is always un-
righteous and inhuman, and "deserves
severest condemnation.

PRISON REFORM.
55
We are aware that we are treading on
ground where we are very liable to be
misunderstood. The idea of punishing for
the good of society and that of punishing
on account of desert are so closely associ-
ated in the public mind that the distinction
we have sought to emphasize may not be
entirely clear, and we may be interpreted
as seeking to do away with all punishment.
Or the distinction itself may be considered
more metaphysical than practical or impor-
tant.
In answer to all such views as these we
can only plead that it is impossible for us to
have either righteous statutes or righteous
administration of criminal law unless we
have correct theories of legal punishment.
The quality of our “justice” depends on
the intent and purpose of the state, what-
ever may be the terms of our statutes
made and provided. We can not do well
toward the prisoner unless we mean well
toward both him and society.
If it be the function of the state to punish

56
PRISON REFORM.
men because they deserve it, to what extent
should she do so? Where should she
draw the line ? Should she exercise this
es-
right only upon convicted criminals and
leave the rest of us with our transgressions
uncorrected ? How
many of us
would
cape imprisonment, if our deserts were
strictly weighed in the balance? How
many of us would be willing to be judged
by the same standard that we apply to pris-
oners? How many of us could afford to
have the same measure meted to ourselves
that we mete out to them ?
Should we, or should we not, be willing
to take our own medicine?

CHAPTER VIII.
“LEX TALIONIS.”
Is society entirely candid in its theory of
punishing persons according to their strict
deserts? Does it not mean vengeance
rather than perfect justice ?
We think we would not be far from the
mark if we were to interpret its language
to the prisoner somewhat after this fashion :
“You defied my authority, and I must have
the satisfaction of making you feel its
weight. You challenged my power to con-
trol you, and I must let you know how
strong I am. You lifted your hand against
me, and I must inflict pain and degradation
upon you to get ever
You
have vexed and irritated me, and I must
have the privilege of seeing you suffer.
You have endangered my peace and safety,
and to balance the account I must needs
ren' with
you.

58
PRISON REFORM.
cover your life with shame and disgrace.”
Without stopping to inquire how far so-
ciety has been justified in assuming such
an attitude toward criminals in the past, let
us consider whether this sentiment accords
with the humanity and morality of our own
age. Is it the voice of the savage, or is it
the voice of the Christ ?.
We frankly concede that in the discussion
of this subject, we can not draw a definite
line between the claw of retaliation” and
the law of self-defense or self-protection ;
but we do insist that society as well as the in-
dividual, shall recognize the distinction be-
tween the two and accept the moral obliga-
tion that it involves. An individual whose
person is assailed with force and violence
may use whatever means is necessary to re-
pel the assault upon him, but he must do no
greater injury to his enemy than is neces-
sary for his own defense, and after his safe-
ty is secured the law will not permit him to
inflict injury in return for any injury he has
received. He must, at least, seek his satis-

PRISON REFORM.
59
faction at the hands of the law and in the
name of the state.
Should not the same
principle apply to society ? Should not her
greater strength make her even more sensi-
ble of her moral obligation than the indi-
vidual is of his, if not more forgiving
in her spirit and temper? Has she any
more right to gratify her desire of revenge
than the individual has ? Is it anymore
lawful for her to return evil for evil than it
is for the parent or teacher to do so ?
In his treatise on 66 Moral Education”
Herbert Spencer says in reference to
family discipline :
" The current assumption respecting fam.
ily government as respecting national gov-
ernment, is that the virtues are with the
rulers and the vices with the ruled. So far
is this from the truth, that we do not hesi-
tate to say that to parental misconduct is
traceable a great part of the domestic dis-
order commonly ascribed to the perversity
of children.
Who has not re-
peatedly seen a child slapped by nurse or

60
PRISON REFORM.
parent for a fretfulness probably resulting
from bodily derangement ? Who, when
watching a mother snatch up a fallen little
one, has not often traced, both in the rough
management and in the sharply uttered ex-
clamation, 'You stupid little thing,' an iras-
cibility foretelling endless future squabbles ?
Is there not in the harsh tones in which
a father bids his children be quiet evidence
of a deficient fellow-feeling with them?"
And all our moralists agree that both
parents and teachers should administer dis-
cipline without bad temper or the feeling of
anger against children and with the most
active desire to benefit them rather than in-
jure them-should not the same principle,
we pray, apply to the state ?
It is no answer to this to say that the
government of the state is a very different
thing from the government of the school
or the family ; the difference is only one of
degree ; the
principles of
righteousness ought to be observed by polit-
ical rulers as by parents and teachers-as
saine

PRISON REFORM.
61
far as is consistent with the public safety, if
you please. It may not be as easy for the
state to determine what measure of punish-
ment is necessary as it is for the parent or
teacher-only let her exercise her con-
science and be careful not to degrade any
offender unnecessarily.
The parent or teacher who punishes a
child in anger degrades himself as well as
the child-may we not say the same con-
cerning the state whenever she punishes
offenders for the purpose of injurirg or de-
grading them? Nay, does she not defeat
her object of self-protection, or at least make
it more difficult by so doing ?
Can the policy of degradation in the pun-
ishment of criminals be expected to produce
any other result than increased degrada-
tion? Do men gather grapes of thorns or
figs of thistles ? Can we sow to the wind
and not reap the whirlwind? To tell the
prisoner that he “deserves" whatever
severity may be admistered to him is to
weaken his self-respect and debase the very

62
PRISON REFORM.
fiber of his manhood.
To treat him as an
outlaw is to make him one.
Let us never
forget that there two parties in this play or
game of retaliation !
It would almost seem that the more evil
or baseness there is to be found in the pris-
oner's actual character the stronger would
be the argument for a system of treatment
that seeks to make him a better man ; but
our course of reasoning-rather our prac-
tice—is exactly the reverse.
We first adopt
a system intended to injure and degrade
him, as for the purpose of balancing an ac-
count against him, and then make the evil
results of our system an argument for its
continuance? It makes us feel so virtuous
and moral, forsooth, to see the prisoner
writhe in his debasement !
Society flatters herself that she can secure
peace and order by keeping offenders in
close confinement for a term of months or
years, almost forgetting that she is all the
while turning out prisoners as well as tak-
ing them in. Seven hundred and ninety-

PRISON REFORM.
63
ment.
three inmates were discharged from the
Ohio Penitentiary during the year 1893 by
expiration of sentence--almost a full regi-
As an equal number must come out
of it in all succeeding years to take their
place in society again, is it not desirable
that they should suffer the least possible
degradation of manhood while there?
Nay more ; the walls surrounding that in
stitution, hard and massive as they are, can
not wholly confine the influence that must
proceed from any unnecessary degradation
of its inmates—whether it be published in
the newspapers or not!
We are not now condemning the details
of prison discipline in Ohio or any other
state ; it is the policy or purpose of degra-
dation on the part of the state against which
our pleá is directed. We would fain
see this eliminated from our prisons and
statutes and our system of legal punishment.
And yet we must concede that the prin-
ciple of retaliation is so closely blended with
the principal of self-protection that it is not

61
PRISON REFORM.
always easy to distinguish the one from the
other. We can hardly hope that our moral
sense will ever be so clear and our moral
standards so high that we shall be free from
all indignation against offenders and all de-
sire to injure or degrade them ; but what
we would desire is that the earthiness of
such a sentiment shall be realized, and that
our present theories of legal punishment
shall evolve-however slow the process
may be-into harmony with the voice of
reason and the obligations of humanity.

CHAPTER IX.
SOCIETY AND THE PRISONER.
Penologists have had much to say for
several years past concerning the details of
prison life and the various systems of prison
discipline in this country and Europe ; but
so far as we are advised, they have given
very little, or comparatively little, attention
to the attitude which society should assume
toward the prisoner and the spirit in which
all penal discipline should be administered.
Is it not time that the vital relation be-
tween society and the prisoner should be
more clearly realized ?
Our books on pedagogy and on family
government are full of exhortations to
parents and teachers in which they are re-
minded in every conceivable form and man-
ner, that they should not only avoid “bad
temper," but should cultivate the most ac-

66
PRISON REFORM.
tive sympathy for the children under their
charge. Will any one dare say that the
same divine principle should not apply to
the state, or that there is no field for its
operation in the court-room, or the prison-
house, or the breast of society?
As well might you argue that the pris-
oner's eyes were not made to receive the
light of the sun, or his lungs to inhale the
life-sustaining atmosphere !
It is a very old saw that “crime is a dis-
ease,” but heretofore it has been regarded as
a disease of the criminal alone-has not the
time come to recognize the criminal as an
organic member of the body politic and to
charge the whole body with the curing of
the disease whether it be responsible for it
or not?
When a physician is called to the bedside
of a sick man, whatever organ or part of the
body may be affected, and whatever remedy
he may apply, does he not depend on the
circulation of the blood and the natural vi-
tality of the patient to work out the desired

PRISON BEFOBM.
67
cure? Or if any one's arm or leg be man-
gled or broken, while amputation must be
performed if necessary, does not the surgeon,
when he seeks to save the injured limb, also
depend on the entire constitution of the
patient for its healing? And does not
Mother Nature command the brain, the
stomach, the liver, the kidneys, the heart, the
veins, the arteries, the bones, the muscles,
and every nerve and fiber and tissue of the
patient's body to exercise their function
in behalf of their fellow-member and restore
it to its normal activity and relation in the
entire organism ?
Surely it is not too much for us to claim
that society should treat the prisoner after
this manner. Would she not promote the
public health and safety by so doing?
It were an easy matter to deal with sin
and transgression in this world of ours, if
we had only to pass the sentence of con-
demnation upon trangressors and declare
ourselves holier than they are.
But not
such is the divine order. He who would

68
PRISON REFORM.
do battle against the evil that is in the
world must feel its weight upon his own
shoulders, and must be willing to suffer on
account of it as well as condemn it; he
who would save transgressors must consent
to be numbered with them !
We are not attempting to solve the intri-
cate problem of vicarious atonement, but only
to state the spiritual law that we believe ap-
plies to our treatment of the criminal. He
more reform without the sympathy
of society than a broken bone can heal it-
self without help from the other parts of the
body, and no more than a current of electric-
ity can be generated with only a positive or
only a negative pole. And as the very life-
principle of the body must be exercised
in the healing of the fractured member, so
society must give of its very life to secure
the reformation of offenders.
liken the criminal to the prodigal son in the
Scriptural parable who had wasted his sub-
stance with riotous living, it were no use for
him to return to his father's house, unless his
can no
If we may

PRISON REFORM.
69
father is ready to receive him—if he does not
run to meet him while he is yet a great
way
off.
And can we, indeed, push this principle
so far as to say that society must forgive the
criminal's offences and treat him as she treats
those who have never transgressed? Why
not, provided he is penitent, and provided
the public safety is not endangered? Let the
prerogative of mercy be surrounded with
all necessary safeguards, and let it only be
exercised in sound wisdom and discretion ;
but let us not refuse to love it and cherish it
as the apple of our eye. Is not the spirit of
forgiveness as beautiful and as divine when
we see it in the state as when we se it in a
more
parent or teacher or other individual? Is
not the state under the same obligation to
forgive as the individual is? Should not
her greater power make her even
magnanimous than we can expect the indi-
vidual to be? It may be claimed that the
doctrine we are preaching not only absolves
the individual from responsibility but actu-

70
PRISON REFORM.
ally puts a premium upon wrong-doing ;
but verily it is not so, unless our principle
be most grossly perverted. We do not ad-
vocate the forgiveness that licenses trans-
gression or even winks at it, but that which
fulfills all righteousness; not the forgiveness
that lowers the standard of virtue and mo-
rality, but that which raises it still higher ;
not the forgiveness that breeds in difference,
but that which echoes the voice of the
Christ who said to the woman taken in
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adultery, “Go and sin no more !
We can hardly hope to see such a moral
evolution of society that she can afford to
forgive all penitent offenders even after
they have furnished a reasonable expiation
of their offenses ; but let it be understood
that all unnecessary severity is simple
barbarism, and that all necessary severity is
due to the grossness of human nature and
the imperfection of society's moral sense.
If we, the people, were truly righteous, the
rigor of the law could be greatly relaxed,

PRISON REFORM.
71
and that without prejudice to the public
welfare.
But we do ask that society shall punish
only in self-defense, that she shall eschew all
desire to inflict pain or degradation, that she
shall exercise her reason and conscience in
the prisoner's behalf, and that in all cases
she shall make the punishment as light as is
consistent with the public safety.
Are we laying too much stress upon the
intent and purpose of the state in these
premises ? Rather does not the sting of
legal punishment mainly consist in the dis-
position of society toward
toward offenders ?
Why else are we anxious in so many cases
to make them feel the weight of our censure
and righteous indignation ?
To return to the analogy of parental disci-
pline, what a difference there is to the child
between the punishment administered in
anger and that administered in love and
sympathy. And likewise in the school
how easily children can distinguish between
the correction which is for their good and

72
PRISON REFORM.
same
or
even
that which is only an expression of the
teacher's passion or
ill-will. Will not
the
principle hold good in all
relations of life? A man may lay his
hand
upon your shoulder
"strike"
you with moderate force in friend-
ship or playfulness, and you will care not for
the physical sensation caused by his act;
but let the same force be exercised upon
you in anger or with the intent to hurt you
—will you not feel very differently in both
body and mind?
We concede the impossibility of making
men and
women fully realize that any
direct punishment can be the very portion
they ought to receive.
"No rogue e'er felt the halter draw,
With good opinion of the law;"
And perhaps no child ever fully under-
stood how the infliction of pain upon him
can be prompted by the love and sympathy
of his parent or teacher. Henry Ward
Beecher says he could not quite accept his
father's protestations on this point because
he was at the wrong end of the rod !

PRISON REFORM.
73
But we can at least have an approximation
to reason and righteousness in our dealing
with offenders. We already go so far as to
require our executive officers to be free
from personal resentment against the pris-
oner-should not society herself be free
from the desire to hurt or injure him un-
necessarily?
Let her say to every man
on whom
she lays her hand : "I am not your enemy,
but your friend. You shall be deprived of
your liberty for a time, and the discipline to
which you shall be subject is no farce or
mockery ; but my purpose is to admonish
you, to advise you, to instruct you, to
educate you, to "reform" you. You must
yield to my authority ; but your manhood
shall be respected, and the treatment extended
to you shall be prompted by a genuine in-
terest in your welfare and a sincere desire to
preserve your self-respect and prepare you
for restoration to freedom and citizenship.”
"And what punishment would there be in
this?" we almost hear many good peo-

74
PRISON REFORM.
ple exclaiming. “Punishment !”—“ Punish-
ment?”
Why should we desire to see
any one suffer punishment--so far as he
alone is concerned-except for his cor-
rection and reformation ? Moreover, how-
mild the direct punishment might
be in this case, the hand of the state
would still be upon the offender-and is it
not, at best, a very heavy hand ? As “punish-
ment" ought not this to satisfy every Chris-
tian ? And as an example or warning
it surely ought to deter every Christian
from the commission of crime ?
ever
くるくる
​
CHAPTER X.
THE “CRIMINAL CLASSES."
How easy it is to solve all questions that
may be raised in reference to criminals by
differentiating them from the rest of man-
kind and making a separate species of
humanity of them, as it were! It saves us:
so much thought and responsibility; and if
they are disposed to complain of the pecu-
liar distinction we assign to them, let them
mend their ways and become like us !
But does this course fully: satisfy us? Is
our judgment a truly righteous judgment ?
Are we prepared to stand by it before gods
and men ?
In our analysis (rather lack of analysis)
and estimate of the criminal's nature, is
there not danger of our being so "just" that
we will become exceedingly unjust? Is
there not danger of our trying to stand so

76
PRISON REFORM.
straight and rigid that we will lean back-
ward ? Is there not danger of our drawing
so broad a line of distinction between pris-
oners and other people that we will do this
class of persons a greater injury than they
have done, or sought to do, to us?
From one point of view the argument for
reform or improvement in the treatment of
prisoners does not depend on the degree of
evil that we may see, or think we see, in
their characters, for if they were as great
sinners “by nature and practice” as they
are generally considered, that would not be
a justification of any severity in prison dis-
cipline beyond what is necessary for the
protection of society, but rather a call for
treatment that would tend to their reforma-
tion-unless we want to be like the physi-
cian who always sought to throw his patients
into fits so he would know what remedy to
apply !
Because the disease is a desperate one, we
should not surely make it more desperate ;
because the wound is very loathsome, we

PRISON REFORM.
77
should not desire to render it more loath-
some ; because the prisoner is degraded in
life and character we should not seek to de-
grade him still farther. Such, however, is
our manner of reasoning --rather our manner
of practice--to a very great extent.
And even those who advocate an im-
provement of the prisoner's condition, it has
always seemed to us, are very apt to analyze
his character after the manner of a chemist
or botanist, as if for the purpose of discover-
ing its marks of differentiation from the
character of the average man.
Even the
men and women who desire to “ reform"
all prisoners, seem to regard them as
separate or special class, rather than as men
of like passions and natures with the rest of
a
mankind.
Would we not all be likely to come
to a more correct judgment in reference to
the character of criminals, if
we would
simply regard them as men and women,
without assuming that they are essentially
different from other people? Can

78
PRISON REFORM.
we study this problem either scientifically
or righteously in any other way?
Our issue, however, is not concerning the
actual measure of evil that is found, or may
be found, in the criminal's character, but
concerning the medium through which he
is viewed and judged and the standard
which is applied to him. Our complaint is
not so much that society charges him with
more evil that can be actually found in his
nature, but that she gauges and judges his
character by that evil alone. She places all
her figures on the debit side of the ledger
and refuses even to reduce the aggregate by
the few sums that ought to be placed to his
credit.
What person, either in prison or out of
prison, would not suffer by such a process
as this? Who of us could abide the judg-
ment that would bring out in bold relief his
worst acts and most unfavorable traits of
character, and give no consideration to his
redeeming traits and better nature ? Would
not the noblest man or even the loveliest

PRISON REFORM.
79
woman “ fall from grace" in our eyes under
such a test? Do we not love our nearest
and dearest friends in spite of all their
faults and defects ? And is not our love for
them sustained by cherishing their better
qualities and “overlooking” the qualities in
their natures that we do not admire ?
We will not go so far as to claim that
every person has a “Dr. Jekyll” and an
“Edward Hyde” in his nature, and that our
judgment as to the kind of man he is will
always depend on the question which of
these two characters is exposed to our view;
but we will assert that every man's nature
is a picture with both a background and a
foreground ; and who does not know how
much the beauty of a picture depends on
our point of view and the features of the
work to which our attention is directed ?
Look at the painting of Perry's Victory
on Lake Erie in the rotund: of our State
Capitol from a suitable standpoint, and you
can almost hear the plash of the waters and
the roar of the gurs, while your soul will
.

80
PRISON REFORM.
thrill with admiration of the hero who
seems the very incarnation of patriotism and
war; but approach the picture more nearly
for the mere purpose of measuring its
length and breadth, or of noting the colors
and materials used by the painter, and you
will only see daub spread on canvas !
There are pictures and pictures the world
over, we know full well ; but in the case of
every picture that we look at it depends on
ourselves whether we shall see the soul of
the artist or only the pigment he has used !
In like manner in our judgment of men-
especially when we consider any particular
class or classes of men-we can generally
find whatever qualities we set out to find !
We do not mean by this that there is no
essential difference in the characters of men;
but we do mean that no individual can be
rightly judged except by viewing all his
qualities as a whole and considering them
in their relation to one another. And is not
the same true of any class of individuals ?
But society does something more than

PRISON BEFOBM.
81
judge criminals by their evil acts alone ; she
selects their very worst act or acts for her
guage and applies it with most merciless
rigor. She does not stop even here, but to
a very great extent, places a brand
upon
all
criminals corresponding to the worst act of
the worst offenders. “They all belong to
the criminal class—let them perish to-
gether," is too often the sentiment of the
public. We believe this stern judgment is
often essentially unjust, even when applied
to the worst offenders ; but when applied
to the mass of convicts—most of whom are
serving their first term and have only com-
mitted a single criminal offense—it is cruel
beyond measure.
Another thing we ought to consider, but
do not, is the increased number—and also
the increased proportion of crimes in our
statutes, growing out of the complications
of commercial life, and which do not imply
the baseness of character that we apply to
burglars, robbers and murderers. Whether
our judgment of the men who have been

82
PRISON REFORM.
us
guilty of the mala in se be correct or not,
most of the men guilty of the mala prohibita
know that great wrong is done them when
they are reckoned essential enemies of
society. It may be impossible to make the
discrimination between the two classes that
justice would seem to require—then let u
at least modify our judgment concerning
the average prisoner. There is not much
danger of our going too far in the direction
of charity
We are not concerned about this sweep-
ing condemnation of prisoners merely be-
cause it is false in point of fact and theory,
but also because it necessarily works the
most serious injury. Can prisoners be thus
judged by society and not feel the wrong
in their inmost souls ? And can this sense
of wrong have any other effect upon them
than sourness and hardness of heart? Is it
not a degrading force that they must needs
lack both power and will to resist ? Can
we wonder at the inevitable tendency in
their case to avenge themselves by assuming

PRISON BEFOBM.
83
the character we have assigned to them ?
Will not our unjust judgment produce in-
evitable degradation of character, and will
they not seek relief from the sense of degra-
dation in despair and desperation ?
Another peculiar sting of our condem-
nation of prisoners is that we apply it to
them in many cases not so much on account
of the offenses they have committed as on
account of the fact that they have been de-
tected, run down and punished! Thus we
not only degrade them far below the
average man with whom they are apt to
compare themselves, but also below other
men who they know, and we know, have
committed the same offenses as themselves.
Fellow-citizens, ought we not to realize
that we can not continue to do this wrong
to these members of the body politic with-
out injuring the whole body, in whose
health and safety we
are all interested ?
We can not separate unjust judgment from
unjust acts-and for every act of injustice
that society commits shall she not receive

84
PRISON REFORM.
We are
her due recompense of reward? Should
we not remember that God is just ?
And still more, if we desire the “refor-
mation” of offenders-if we desire to fulfill
the law of righteousness in our treatment of
them—must we purge ourselves of injustice
toward them in thought, word or deed ?
We can not act righteously in the premises
unless we think and feel righteously.
Let us not be misunderstood.
not asking that crime be condoned and
criminals be patted on the back and pro-
nounced “good fellows,” because we are all
trangressors and must unite to shield our-
selves from punishment ! We are not
seeking to confuse the moral sense of the
public, but to clarify and elevate it. It may
be very hard for us to learn how to con-
demn sin without wronging the sinner ;
but it is a lesson we ought to study most
diligently Whatever crimes our fellow-
men may have committed, let us not for-
get that they are made of the same
flesh and blood as ourselves. If we have

PRISON REFORM.
85
been created in the divine image, so have
they. If they have degraded or destroyed
that image, let us consider how far we have
preserved and beautified it. If we consider
them “totally depraved,” let us ask how
much of evil tendency remains in our own
breasts. If they are "desperately wicked,"
let us at least remember who has made us
to differ from them !
66
But for the grace of God there goes
John Bradford !” was the remark that a
clergyman in a certain city was accustomed
to make whenever he saw a prisoner led
into the jail near his house.
“Two men went up into the temple to
pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a
Publican.
“And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee that I am
not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican.
"I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all that I possess.
"And the Publican, standing afar off,

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PRISON REFORM.
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me a sinner!
"I tell you this man went down to his
house justified rather than the other ; for
every one that exalteth himself shall be
abased, and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.”

CHAPTER XI.
TOO MANY “CRIMES” IN THE STATUTES—?
Thus far our argument has been directed
to the spirit and purpose of society and to
the principles on which criminal law should
be administered, but we can not stop here.
We must needs express an opinion not only
concerning many evils in our system of
prison discipline, but also suggest inquiry
concerning some acts of the legislature.
The statutes of Ohio designate nearly five
hundred acts as crimes and provide for the
punishment of the same by fine or imprison-
ment, or both. Of these some three hun-
dred and fifty are classed as misdemean-
ors,” to be punished by fine or confinement
in the county jail or other local prison, and
something over one hundred as "felonies,"
to be punished by confinement in the peni-
tentiary of the state.
66

88
PRISON REFORM.
It is not our purpose to enter into the
merits of these statutes in general or in de-
tail. We fully concede that they have all
been passed for the purpose of remedying
some actual evil in society, and that the
penalties prescribed were at least considered
necessary for the public welfare ; and as we
have in a previous chapter, sought to base
an argument for a mitigation of prison dis-
cipline upon the necessity of increasing the
number of criminal offenses, we must not
now offend the reason of our readers by
denying such necessity. We may, how-
ever, venture to express a doubt whether
our legislature has always exercised due
6 care and discretion” in the
of
these laws and in the grading of their
penalties. At any rate should not our law-
making power learn to "go slow” in the
making of new crimes and misdemeanors ?
Too ready an ear should not be given to
every person who expects to remedy all
evils and set the world to rights by im-
prisoning people !
passage

CHAPTER
XII.
TOO LONG SENTENCES.
The one hundred and more felonies de-
fined in the statutes of Ohio have penalties
variously ranging from a minimum of one
year to a maximum of twenty or twenty-one
years. We will not here stop to discuss
these penalties, nor will we dare to assail
the wisdom of the legislature in prescribing
them. They were no doubt deemed the
proper “punishment” for the offenses to
which they relate, and were also considered
necessary for society's protection ; but may
we not remark that many of them are the
product of a past age, and were placed on
the statute-book before the more modern
notion of reformatory treatment had even
begun to claim the attention of legislators ?
The range of discretion given to the
courts varies very largely, extending in

go
PRISON REFORM.
some
cases from one to twenty years, in
others from one to fifteen, and so on to
others where this range only covers two or
three years. The object of conferring so
large a discretion on the courts was, no
doubt, to have all the circumstances of each
case carefully weighed, so that each pris-
oner might receive the exact portion that
his offense calls for, in other words, that
severe punishment might be administered
in aggravated cases and that lenity might
be shown where the circumstances seemed
to justify it. No one can surely find fault
with such a purpose; but in its practical
effect this discretion has resulted in an
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inequality of the sentences passed upon
offenders, which in many cases amounts to
the most glaring injustice. The proper and
ultimate remedy for this is, no doubt, the
“indeterminate sentence,” under which the
length of the prisoner's confinement will
not depend on the degree of his crime or
the public feeling in reference to it, but
upon his behavior and conduct and his fit-

PRISON REFORM.
91
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ness for discharge ; but it may be a long
time before society will be "educated up”
to this theory in regard to all offenders.
The average sentence passed upon the
inmates of the Ohio penitentiary, other than
life-prisoners, is between two and a half
and three years ; in view of the fact that
our list of felonies includes such offenses as
"entering the dwelling or premises of any
one without his permission, or against his
will ” as a tramp or beggar, and “misrepre-
senting the former speed of any horse
which is to be entered for any contest or
trial of speed,” are we not justified in saying
that this average seems much larger than is
needed for the protection of society ?
Society is very careful, at least in theory,
that every prisoner shall have a fair trial-
except in those cases in which she is
wrought up to a frenzy of indignation and
must needs find one or more victims on
whom to vent her wrath ; but after men
have been found guilty, the Lord have
mercy on their souls ! Let them be very

92
PRISON REFORM.
grateful if they receive anything less than
the full sentence of the law.
And are our judges of courts, who are
exponents of the public will as well as
ministers of the law, as careful not to inflict
too long a sentence as not to inflict too
short a one? And when the tide of public
feeling runs very strong against a prisoner,
are they not sometimes apt to court popular
favor and newspaper commendation by im-
posing a severe sentence upon him ?
The d:ty of a judge in such cases, we are
well
aware, is a delicate one ; but he surely
ought to stand between the prisoner and an
unreasonable popular indignation even at
the risk of his own popularity and prestige.
At all events he should be careful not to
seek any “glory” for himself at the expense
of the unnecessary humiliation and degra-
dation of his fellow-m He must do his
duty and impose a sentence sufficient for
the protection of society—but no more.
And he is as much bound to weigh the
necessary length of sentence without any
-men.

PRISON REFORM.
93
feeling or prejudice against the prisoner, as
the jury are bound to weigh the evidence
in the case without such feeling or preju-
dice. The conscience of the court should
be exercised in the prisoner's behalf as
well as in behalf of society. And if juries
should guard against any outside pressure
or influence in their deliberations upon
the evidence, should not judges be equally
careful in reference to that influence in de-
termining the sentence to be imposed ?
We are not aware that any such “law”
as this is laid down in the books—but there
ought to be!
And what shall we say concerning the
practice that some judges indulge in of
"scoring” offenders when passing sentence
upon them? Isn't it the very essence of
cruelty ? Isn't it inhuman? Isn't it mean
beyond measure ? Every judge should re-
member that he is the representative of the
state ; and neither in his voice nor language
nor in the sentence inflicted should there
be any severity not dictated by the clearest

94
PRISON REFORM.
and most positive sense of duty. And let
him also be careful to distinguish between
the sense of duty and the desire to be borne
on the high tide of public feeling or to
echo the “thunder” of great newspapers !
These stumpspeeches (we can give them
no better name) from the bench do a
great deal more than humiliate the prisoner
—they cut into the very fiber of his man-
hood and inflict a wound upon his self-res-
pect that no time can heal. They add
nothing to the dignity and majesty of the
law and tend to prevent rather than pro-
mote the desired “reformation” of the
prisoner
Do people outside of prison ever con-
sider the weight of these long sentences-
say for twenty, or fifteen, or
five
years—upon the prisoner's consciousness?
Of course, if we desire to feast upon his
misery, the deeper he is sunk in shame and
infamy the better ; but if we only desire
to secure the protection and welfare of
society, we should weep rather than gloat
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even

PRISON REFORM.
95
over his ruin and degradation. Should we
not consider that unless prison discipline is
of a humane and reformatory character, the
longer a man is incarcerated the less fit is
he to return to his place in society? And
even under the most favorable conditions
there is danger of unfavorable results from
too long a period of confinement and isola-
tion. The mere deprivation of liberty
tends to unfit a man for the privileges and
functions of citizenship. For all purposes
of human life, a day, an hour, of virtuous
liberty is worth a whole eternity of
bondage !
We are aware that the discipline of our
penitentiaries is free from many of the
harsh features that once characterized it;
but it is not free from the purpose to de-
grade, and it yet retains many features
whose object is humiliation and psycho-
logical, if not physical, torture.
The
very
first process to which the pris-
oner is subject, that of shaving his face, is
in many cases a peculiar humiliation that

96
PRISON REFORM.
we believe might be avoided. Then the
putting on of the stripes—but of this we
will speak in the next chapter. And
the narrow cells in which prisoners are
confined—are these men, indeed, wild
beasts that they should be caged thus ?
We know very well that two thousand
men cannot be kept in order and subjec-
tion without strict rules and a firm and
rigid administration and this is the inevit-
able evil of prison life on which our argu-
ment for shorter sentences is based. The
prisoners in our penitentiary are provided
with moral and religious instruction and do
not suffer for advice and exhortation from
their officers ; but we have very little faith
in any system of instruction or any efforts
at reforming men's lives and characters that
does not seek to build up their self-respect.
How can this be done-even if prison
officials sincerely desire it-when the moral
functions of the prisoner are almost wholly
restricted to obeying the “rules” of the

PRISON BEFORM.
97
prison, the principal one of which is the re-
pression of his social nature.
It is easy enough to persuade prisoners
that they ought to lead an honest life after
they are released, and we have no doubt
most of them desire to do so ; but what
they need to meet the temptations that will
come to them is moral stamina. This can
only be developed in them by the exercise of
their moral faculties, and the exercise of moral
faculties as well as the exercise of the body
requires some range and freedom, at least
of freedom. Men
not
make bricks without straw in the psycho-
logical realm any more than they can in the
physical realm. No husbandman can se-
a harvest of corn or wheat or per-
chance of other grain without soil and at-
mosphere and rain and sunshine. Obedience
to "rules" is a necessary starting point or
basis of moral discipline, but to make it the
full measure of good conduct is to weaken
and debase the moral nature rather than
some
sense
can
cure
strengthen and develop it. As well seek

98
PRISON REFORM.
man
to develop the intellect by a perpetual
recitation of the A, B, C's, or the body by
keeping the growing boy and the full-
grown
in the leading strings of
infancy.
Two thousand men confined from day to
day and from night to night within the nar-
row space of twenty acres, with stones to
right of them, stones to left of them, stones
above them, stones beneath them, and
working by day and sleeping by night
under cover of the deadly revolver-can we
expect much preparation for citizenship in a
free country like ours from such an “envi-
ronment?”
Not enough air to breathe !—not enough
sunlight-not enough converse with Mother
Nature—too many functions of life are de-
nied them! If cur object is only to se-
cure subordination and obedience to rules,
long sentences and severe discipline are
certainly the means we should employ ; but
if we want to prepare the prisoner for a re-
turn to his place in society, it were surely

PRISON BEFOBM.
99
wise to consider how long it is necessary
to deprive him of liberty, as well as to in-
quire how many of nature's functions he
should be allowed during his imprisonment.
So far as any of the severities of our
present system are necessary, they are cer-
tainly a consideration in favor of reducing
the length of sentences—at least of making
them as light as is consistent with the pub-
lic safety; and if any of them are unneces-
sary, they should surely be abolished.
We are quite well aware that men under
long sentences often make “better priso-
ners” than the one-year or two-year men ;
but the long-term men as well as the short-
term ones will be discharged when their
time is out! Admitting that all criminals
are “dangerous men," how can we hope
to secure our own safety by unfitting them
for a return to their place in society and
their function as members of the body
politic?
Long sentences certainly have a virtue as
"examples ;” and we can
can not deny that
לל

100
PRISON REFORM.
they are more or less necessary for that
purpose ; but so far as we magnify and em-
phasize that necessity we discount the
efficacy of the moral and spiritual forces on
which we must depend for our peace and
safety. Let us be careful lest we sin and
grieve the very spirit of God by our blind-
ness in this respect. Does not the public
welfare depend as much on our apprecia-
tion of these moral forces as on the inflic-
tion of legal penalties? Where there is no
VISION the people perish!
In all seriousness might not the average
sentence of prisoners in the Ohio penitenti-
ary be reduced by one-half—at least one-
third --without impairing our respect for
law and order or endangering the public
peace and safety?

CHAPTER XIII.
TAKE OFF THE STRIPES !
Is it not a “striking commentary on our
free institutions," as well as on the boasted
"progress of the age,” that we still clothe
the inmates of our penitentiaries in a garb
that is a distinct mark of shame and degra-
dation ?
There is room for question in reference to
the reason and purpose of many features of
prison discipline, but any wayfaring man
can tell why the hapless convicts have to
wear the stripes. This garb was originally
devised for the purpose of humiliation and
mental torture, and it is for this purpose
that it is still continued in the penitentiaries
of the country.
It may be urged that the stripes are only
a matter of color, and that the prisoner's
clothing is made of the same woolen or
cotton material that is woven into the gar-
ments of other men, but verily we cannot
accept such a plea. The stripes were in-

102
PRISON REFORM,
tended in the beginning to crush the pris-
oner's self-respect and make him feel the
brand of infamy that society had placed
upon him, and during all the years—we
know not how many—that they have been
worn they have become more and more the
sign and symbol of degraded manhood.
The very sight of them suggests the wild
beast in his lair and the serpent in his slime.
Every thread of their warp and woof is
steeped in the dregs of infamy and degra-
dation ; and no prisoner can
wear them
without a sense of shame beyond the power
of language to express.
Would God had
power to abolish
them !
O ye wise legislators, why do you not
give some heed to the perpetuation of this
relic of barbarism ? O ye politicians, so
busy with the making of “changes” in our
public institutions, why do you not free
our prison-houses from this abomination
of cruelty ? Oye ministers of the Christ,
why do you not "protest” against this
degradation of the bodies and souls of
your fellow-men—at least pray that it may
to an end? Oye "penologists"
and “prison reformers," why are you so
we
come

PRISON REFORM.
103
strangely silent concerning this unrighteous
and unnecessary torture of men's souls ?
Know ye not that while it continues your
most earnest labors in the prisoner's behalf
will be largely in vain ? The convict's garb
is a very devil that laughs all your pleas and
prayers to scorn !
A National Prison Reform Convention
was held in Cincinnati in the year 1870,
which was presided over by the Governor
of Ohio, and was attended by more than
one hundred persons interested in the sub-
ject of prison reform. We are not aware
that it discussed the question of prison
uniform or delivered any utterance upon the
abolition of the stripes; but one of the
principles it enunciated is so explicit on
the subject of unnecessary degradation in
general that we cannot forbear quoting it in
this connection :
"It is essential to a reformatory prison that the
self-respect of the prisoner should be cultivated
to the utmost extent, and that every effort be
made to give back to him his manhood. Hence
all disciplinary punishment that inflicts unneces-
sary pain and humiliation should be abolished as
of evil influence. There is no greater mistake in
the whole compass of penal discipline than
its studied imposition of degradation
as
a

104
PRISON REFORM.
part of punishment. Such imposition destroys
every better impulse and aspiration; it crushes
the weak, irritates the strong and indisposes all
to submission and reform. It is trampling where
we ought to raise, and is therefore unchristian in
policy.”
Are we in any wise mistaken as to the
purpose of the state in clothing her pris-
oners in stripes, or as to the effect of wear-
ing this odious garb upon the feelings and
sensibilities and likewise the character of
the prisoners ? Is it possible for prisoners to
sustain the proper self-respect while thus
clothed? Can they respect each other as
they should? Can they receive the respect
and consideration from their guards and
other officers to which they are justly en-
titled? Above all, does the wearing of this
garb contribute to the proper education
and reformation of the prisoner or prepare
him for restoration to free citizenship ?
Of course our plea will have no weight
with those who care not how much humil-
iation or misery may be inflicted upon con-
victs; but it surely will not be despised by
all who believe that prisoners have SOULS,
and who want to see them treated as human
beings.
Take off the stripes !
TAKE OFF THE STRIPES !

CHAPTER XIV.
REMOVE “POLITICS” FROM THE PENITENTIARY.
לל
Can we ever hope to have a proper sys-
tem of discipline in our penitentiaries as
long as all positions in them from Warden
down are counted among the spoils of the
political party that has elected the Governor
of the state and secured a majority of the
Legislature ?
Why should the incumbents of these
positions be “fired” and new men put in
their places whenever a Governor of
opposite politics enters upon his duties?
We frankly concede that when men are
kept too long in these positions they are
apt to become martinets and to regard
the men under their charge as mere subjects
of " discipline," mere wheels in a mass of
machinery. They are also apt to regard
their authority as a sort of divine right, and
to lose the vital sympathy for prisoners
which every prison official, however great
or however small, should possess, and with-
לל

106
PRISON REFORM.
com-
out which, whatever other qualifications
he may possess, he is not the man for the
place.
But the proper remedy for this is not to
put men in these places merely on account
of their services to a political party or be-
cause they “stand in ” with members of the
legislature or other great statesmen (?) in
the various counties of the state. Is there
not some medium course that will avoid all
the evils of the two systems and
bine all their good features ?
We are not prepared to give even an out-
line of the proper remedy ; but we do say
that prison officials should be selected with
reference to their qualifications for the place
they seek, and no questions should be asked
in reference to their politics or “previous
condition of servitude” to the politicians of
either party. Their tenure should depend on
their faithfulness and efficiency; and when
they fail to come up to the proper standard
in these respects, they should be kindly per-
mitted to resign their places without any
questions in reference to their politics or
any consideration of their “influence" at
the next state election.
There is no office in the state of Ohio

PRISON REFORM.
107
that requires a higher order of qualifications,
moral and intellectual, if not physical, than
that of Warden ; and no man should be
elected to this position who has not in
some way proved his special fitness for it.
He should possess the highest order of ex-
ecutive ability without any danger of get-
ting the “big head” when clothed with
power and authority. He should know
how to combine kindness with firmness, and
how to sympathize with prisoners without
losing their respect or sacrificing the dig-
nity of his administration. He should
recognize the manhood of every prisoner
while requiring obedience to the rules and
order of the prison. He should respect his
own dignity and the dignity of his office
too highly ever to lose his temper or “get
mad” at any prisoner or subordinate officer.
His ear should be open to every honest crit-
icism of his administration and to every
proper suggestion of improvement—but he
should not fear the
newspapers ! He
should do his whole duty without fear or
favor, and sustain all under-officers in main-
taining order and discipline, and at the same
time prove himself the friend of every
prisoner, and possess a soul large enough to

108
PRISON REFORM.
respect the self-respect of every one.
He
should also possess such force of character,
that his deputies and guards will catch a
portion of his spirit, and an atmosphere of
efficiency and good-will will pervade the
whole institution.
Give us such a man as this for the head of
our penitentiary, and let Governors and pol-
iticians understand that he is the servant of
the state and not of their party; and may
we not hope for a more perfect manage-
ment of that institution than we have ever
had in the past?

CHAPTER XV.
“PROBATION” LAW.
In the state of Massachusetts a law was
passed some years since providing for the
appointment of probation officers, a special
district being assigned to each one, whose
duty is to attend the sessions of the crimi-
nal courts and examine the case of arrested
persons with a view to save them from im-
prisonment. One section of this law pro-
vides that “such probation officers shall
carefully inquire into the character and
offense of every person arrested for crime
in his city or town for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether the accused may reasona-
bly be expected to reform without punish-
ment,” and in such cases the accused person
is. allowed his liberty and put upon his
good behavior under the care of the proba-
tion officer, being subject to arrest and sen-
tence whenever his conduct is such as to
render this action necessary.
In his report for the year 1889, Mr.

110
PRISON REFORM.
Edward H. Savage, the probation officer for
the central district of Boston says:
“In the 1,125 cases disposed of during the year,
1,065, or 94 per cent. were accredited with doing
well, while less than 6 per cent. proved incorrigi-
ble. Of the 316 persons sent home, a majority
were strangers in the city-had been convicted of
some minor offense and were without means.
They were sent home to save them from prison.
Among them were 49 young women convicted
for the first time, and were sent to parents or rela-
tives to save them not only from prison, but a
probable life of infamy. Probation by securing
opportunity for hundreds of unfortunate speci-
mens of human frailty who show an honest desire
to reform-by restoring to destitute and suffering
families those on whom they were dependent for
the necessaries of life—and by aiding to stay the
increase of the criminal class—renders a service
that outweighs any pecuniary consideration."
Mr. George N. Parker, the officer for
South Boston, reports as follows:
“ About 93 per cent of the persons placed under
my care have done well and have been dis-
charged. On account of their poverty all would
have had to go to prison had they been sentenced
on the day of trial. But as probation was inter-
vened, many of them have since lived good,
orderly lives, have been a blessing to their fami-
lies, and have kept their homes from being broken
up and their children sent to charitable institu-
tions; so that the benefits of probation have in

PRISON REFORM.
111
or
no
concern
a
many cases been two-fold, viz: reformed the
parents and saved the children."
Is it not cheaper as well as wiser and
more humane to treat petty offenders in
some such manner as this than to imprison
them with little
for
their welfare ? Is not such treatment more
rational, more scientific and likewise more
effective than summary commitment to a
jail or workhouse? Would not such
law save many boys from degradation and
ruin ? Would it not also prove an educa-
tional agency with the public, causing them
to realize the force and virtue of moral in-
fluence in dealing with the violators of law ?
Would it not teach all that a most excellent
means of protecting society and preventing
the increase of crime is to prevent the un-
necessary punishment and degradation of
offenders-especially of young offenders ?
How much wiser it is to treat disease than
to aggravate it!

CHAPTER XVI.
PRISON LABOR.
The constitution of Ohio, Article I, Sec-
tion 6, says: “There shall be no slavery in
this state, nor involuntary servitude, ex-
cept for the punishment of crime;" and we
presume a provision similar to this is to be
found in the constitution of all the states of
the Union.
We have no disposition to argue about
words or phrases ; but there is an idea in-
volved in “involuntary servitude” which
savors of barbarism, and which we ought
by this time to have outgrown, to say the
least. It is substantially the same idea that
we have previously sought to combat,
namely, that crime is a thing to be pun-
ished rather than a disease to be cured or
an evil to be remedied.
Out of this theory has sprung our pres-
ent system of prison labor, under which
persons are put to work for the double pur-
pose of defraying the expense of their in-

PRISON BEFOBM.
113
as
a
carceration and of expiating their crimes.
“Is there any thing wrong about this ???
we imagine we hear many people asking.
Ought they not serve the state at “hard
labor' during their confinement
just payment for their bed and board and as
a satisfaction to justice for the mischief they
have caused ?"
Let no one assume that we are going to
protest against putting prisoners to work.
Hard as their work may be in many cases,
it is infinitely better for the prisoner, if not
more comfortable to him, than enforced
idleness would be. But we do believe that
the labor of convicts might be relieved of
many hard and degrading features, that are
now highly injurious to them and not at all
acceptable to the people in general. In a
word, we would change their labor from
“involuntary servitude” to a means of edu-
cation and reformation, and from a degra-
ding punishment to the very corner-stone of
self-respect.
It is a very common idea that criminals
are not disposed to work, and would not do
so if they were not compelled. We forget,
however, that no one likes to perform labor
of any kind unless there be something to

114
PRISON REFORM.
interest him in it. The most industrious
and energetic man under the sun would
soon grow tired," if not positively lazy, if
required to perform some exercise that
promised no desired result. Put such a
man upon a tread-mill, or compel him to
walk
upon
the pavement for the mere pur-
pose of walking-and how weary he would
soon become.
Is it to be supposed that convicts will be
interested as men should be in their work
when they know there is nothing in it for
themselves beyond their prison fare, and
that the proceeds, if there be any, will all
go into the coffers of the state or the pock-
ets of contractors ? Can they be expected
to love the hard labor that is assigned to
them, not as an opportunity to do something
for themselves or their families, but as
punishment ? Can they be expected to
have greater virtue in respect to work than
men outside of prison?
Under the contract system that obtains,
we believe, in most of the states of the
Union, the labor of convicts is bought and
sold, the average price being about 50 cents
a day. The consequence, very naturally, is
that the goods manufactured in peniten-
a

PRISON BEFOBM.
115
or
tiaries and other prisons have been put
upon the market at a lower price than those
manufactured elsewhere ; and on this ac-
count other manufactories have been com-
pelled to some extent to reduce the wages
of their employes cease operations.
This state of affairs has resulted in a cry
against “convict labor," which has puzzled
the wits of our legislators quite seriously-
and the problem is still unsolved.
And it will probably remain unsolved as
long as the law and public sentiment require
all the inmates of the penitentiary to work
inside its walls and at such a limited num-
ber of occupations.
The subject is such a complicated one and
is beset with so many difficulties that we
hardly dare offer any suggestions—much
less assume to throw any substantial light
upon its solution. But might not some-
thing be gained by eliminating the idea of
“involuntary servitude” from prison labor
—if we cannot take the phrase out of the
constitution of the state—and setting about
the inauguration of a system by which con-
victs can be allowed to earn something for
themselves after their subsistence is paid
for ? The average cost of keeping a con-

116
PRISON REFORM.
vict is very little over thirty or thirty-five
cents a day—could not the state by wise
and judicious management provide them
employment at a price considerably over
that sum ? For instance, why should pris-
oners not have a chance to till the soil at least
to the extent of raising the products needed
for their own board ? And if we could
once get rid of the superstition that the
foundations of society would be overthrown
if prison inmates be not strictly confined
within stone walls, many other branches
of industry would present themselves as
practicable and profitable.
Convicts should not only be encouraged
in reference to work by such wages as the .
state can afford to pay, but faithfulness and
efficiency should be rewarded by an abridg-
ment of their sentence. They should not
only be allowed to earn some morey, but
should also have a chance to earn their free-
dom by proper interest in their tasks. All
this may seem impracticable, if not impos-
but the difficulties in the way could be
overcome by proper wisdom and patience,
if we could once rise to the idea that the
prisoner is to be punished by the state's
taking him in charge and giving him an op
sible ;

PRISON REFORM.
117
even
are
portunity to achieve his freedom and work
out his own salvation.
Is it not clear that under such a system
convicts would not only be more willing to
submit to the rules of the prison, but would
have less disposition to escape? And who
can estimate the superior advantages of
such a system in respect to preparing men
for a return to their places in society ?
Of course, no penitentiary where prison-
ers are allowed reasonable wages for their
labor would ever be a paying-perhaps not
a self-supporting institution; but
prisons
not
established to make
money for the state any more than they are
to enrich certain contractors and manufac-
turers.
The President of the Board of Directors
of the Eastern Pennsylvania penitentiary
thus speaks of the work done in that insti-
tution.
Manufacturing material is bought at market
prices, and the goods sold at the same, so that
there is no unfair competition with manufacturers
who employ honest men.
The convicts are
allowed pay for over-time. One man supported a
wife and family outside of prison by overwork
done in the prison. Labor is not farmed out, nor
let out by contract. We are not self-supporting,
6

118
PRISON REFORM.
and I trust we never shall be. When a prison
becomes self-supporting, it is just what prisons
are not intended to be."
And the inspectors of the same prison
say in their report for the year 1981:
As a reformatory agency, intended also to
stimulate the self-respect, strengthen and preserve
the ties of father and husband and family, the sys-
tem of over-work has been adopted in this insti-
tion. *
* During the year over $10,000 have
been gained by the convicts and paid to them or
their respective families. It is believed that de-
cided good results from this plan, and even in an
economic view, it is of decided advantage. Labor
thus applied gives to convict labor a phase that
neither degrades the laborer nor adds a stigma as
an inflicted punishment.”
In Wines' treatise he makes this refer-
ence to American prisons :
“In a few of our prisons the convicts are
allowed some share of their earnings; and the in-
fluence of this is admirable, indeed, almost mag-
ical. The practice of allowing prisoners a share
of their earnings has not been extensively
adopted in America, but whenever it has been in-
troduced the effect has been excellent.”
How much wiser it would be for the
state to work her convicts in some such
manner as this—allow them, say, half their
time for their own benefit—than to sell
their labor to contractors for fifty cents a

PRISON REFORM.
119
day, and then require the goods they manu-
facture to bear the brand of the peniten-
tiary? Was our legislature. really in its
right mind when this remarkable (?)
statute was passed ?
Heaven speed the day when there shall
be no “involuntary servitude”—even “for
the punishment of crime”-in any of the
states of our great Republic !
న

CHAPTER XVII.
THE “INDETERMINATE SENTENCE."
The impossibility of finding any standard
by which to determine the exact length of
sentence that each prisoner should receive,
has long been apparent to both moralists
and jurists. Our legislators have attempted
to solve this question by prescribing a
maximum and minimum punishment, leav-
ing the exact length of the sentence to
the discretion of the court trying the case.
Provision has also been made for giving
prisoners an opportunity to shorten the
term for which they have been sentenced
by good conduct in prison.
The intent of these laws is certainly
good ; but as the idea of punishing the
prisoner according to his strict deserts has
evolved—rather, is slowly evolving-into
the idea of treating him according to his
particular needs, the definite sentence has
proven more and more unsatisfactory.
The new principle of reforming and edu-

PRISON REFORM.
121
cating the offender instead of taking ven-
geance upon him, was first put into execu-
tion by the establishment of the “Elmira
Reformatory” in the state of New York in
the year 1876. By the statutes of New
York all offenders under thirty years of age
convicted of a penitentiary offense for the
first time are committed to this institution,
the limit of their term being the maximum
period provided by law for the offense of
which they have been guilty. All prisoners,
however, must remain one year; and after
that time, if their conduct has been such as
to justify it, they may be paroled, and after
six or more months' good conduct under
parole, are discharged entirely.
Provision is made not only for working the
inmates, but for educating them and in every
possible way seeking to prepare them for a
return to their places in society. Its system
and methods of discipline are, no doubt,
capable of great improvement-especially
in respect to flexibility, we will venture to
remark—but its fundamental purpose is the
true one, and is destined, we fondly trust, to
become the basis of prison discipline
throughout the world.
The principle on which the work of this

122
PRISON REFORM.
institution is based may be stated in the
language of its School Superintendent:
“The highest wisdom and the noblest virtue of
the age have come to the clear conviction that the
worst use to make of a man is to kill him, the next
worse is to keep him in disease, degradation and
ignorance, and the best use of any man who needs
it, is to save him from death of any kind, and
raise him to health, intelligence and freedom.
Property and life, public order and social welfare,
are all made somewhat secure when a single man
who has lived a life of selfish and unreasoning
animalism is rescued from that dangerous deg-
radation."
In this reformatory prisoners are not only
given the educational advantages of the
workshop, the school and the military drill ;
but their self-respect is recognized as the
basis of all training; and they are at once
encouraged to earn their freedom by im-
proving all these advantages. A parole is
promised to all whose prison record is up
to the prescribed standard, and who can
give reasonable assurance that they can be
released with safety to society.
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;"
And this vital principle is appealed to in
such a manner as to make it a constant in-
spiration in the mind of the prisoner. In a

PRISON REFORM.
123
word, he is permitted and exhorted to work
out his own salvation with all faithfulness
and diligence.
The result of treating prisoners after this
manner and with the purpose of doing
them good, is that much of the reproach
and stigma of prison life is taken away ;
and the prisoner is thereby enabled to co-
operate with the officials of the state in the
process of his physical, intellectual and
moral education.
The establishment of this institution was
certainly a marked advance in prison re-
form; and although it is very far from per-
fection, the results of its work have fully
justified the hopes of its founders. Since
its establishment, some eighteen years ago,
nearly 5,000 men have been discharged
from it; and by far the larger number of
these have taken their place in society as
peaceful and useful citizens.
The last published report of the institu-
tion shows that of the 100 prisoners paroled
from October 1, 1891, to February 16, 1892,
"sixty-nine obtained their absolute release
upon a trial of six or seven months of lib-
erty, during which period they evidenced
such willingness, application and self-con-

124
PRISON REFORM.
not
are
trol as to render them a fit part of society's
constituency, and to entitle them to be con-
sidered as reformed, at least in the measure
of others in like position who had
passsed a portion of their lives behind the
bars.
Of the entire number but nine
were believed to have returned to criminal
practices, and only five were brought back
for violating the conditions of their release.""
Surely these results sufficient to
awaken our gratitude and justify the predic-
tion that the time will come when every
punitive institution in the civilized world
will be destroyed, and all places for the
treatment of crime will be hospitals, schools,
workshops and reformatories.”
We can not more fitly close this chapter
than by quoting the following report of the
committee on prisons to the legislature of
California :
"By indeterminate sentences is meant that all
persons in a state who are convicted of crimes or
offenses before a competent court, shall be deemed
wards of the state, and shall be committed to a
board of guardians, until, in their judgment, they
may be returned to society, and in accord with
their own highest welfare. The advantages of an
indeterminate sentence are :
"1. It supplants the law of force by the law of
love.

PRISON REFORM.
125
"2. It secures certainty of restraint and con-
tinued treatment, which operate to prevent crimes
as severity does not.
“3. It makes possible the arrest and right train-
ing of that whole brood of beginners before great
depravity is reached, and character is irretrieva-
bly fixed.
"4. It utilizes for reformatory ends the motive
that is always the strongest—the desire to be re
leased, the love of liberty.
“5. It removes the occasion, and so mollifies the
feeling of animosity usually felt toward the law
and its officers, puts the personal interest of the
prisoner plainly in obedience to the rules of dis-
cipline, and leads him to co-operate with those de-
siring his welfare."
re-

CHAPTER XVIII.
PAROLE OF PRISONERS.
The parole of prisoners first authorized in
Ohio in the year 1884, certainly constitutes
a landmark of progress. By the terms of
the various statutes and amendments thereto
any prisoner serving his first term in the
penitentiary may be paroled by the mana-
gers of that institution after he has served
the minimum term prescribed by the law
for the offense of which he has been con-
victed. The law of April 17, 1891, how-
ever, provides “That no prisoner confined
in the Ohio penitentiary shall be consid-
ered eligible for parole, and no application
for parole shall be considered by the board
of managers until such prisoner is recom-
mended as worthy of such consideration
by the warden and chaplain of the peniten-
tiary; and before consideration by the
board of managers, notice of such recom-
mendation shall be published for three suc-
cessive weeks in two papers of opposite

PRISON REFORM.
127
politics in the county from which such pris-
oner was sentenced.” It also provides that
“in no case shall any prisoner be released,
either conditionally or absolutely, unless
there is, in the judgment of the managers,
reasonable ground to believe that he will, if
released, live and remain at liberty without
violating the law, and that his release is not
incompatible with the welfare of society ;
and such judgment shall be based upon the
record and character of the prisoner estab-
lished in prison, etc."
There can be no objection to holding the
managers to the strictest care and respon-
sibility in the granting of paroles ; but it
seems to us that the requirement of publi-
cation in the newspapers opens the field to
an unseemly contest of numbers and zeal
between the prisoner's friends and his ene-
mies, which is calculated to turn the consid-
eration of the board away from the real
merits of the case. It certainly requires
them to consider the popular feeling rather
than—at least as well as—“the record and
character of the prisoner established in
prison," and in its effect must cause them to
give them more heed to the protests” that
may be filed against the parole than to the

128
PRISON REFORM.
question whether “there is, in the judg-
ment of the managers, reasonable doubt that
he [the prisoner] will, if released, live and
remain at liberty without violating the law,
and that his release is not incompatible
with the welfare of society."
And as “no attorneys or outside persons
of
any
kind shall be allowed to appear
be-
fore the board of managers as applicants
for the parole of a prisoner," how is he to
maintain his cause against those whose per-
sonal animus against him or whose sense of
duty to the public causes them to ring the
changes on the details and circumstances of
his crime in the ears of the board? Is it
not virtually trying him again ?--rather
prosecuting him again without permitting
him to make a defense ?
The whole virtue of a parole system con-
sists in encouraging the prisoner to earn his
freedom by repentance and good con-
duct-is it not mocking him, then, to invite
outside pressure and influence, and thereby
rob his good record (if he has one) of all
virtue and effect in the eyes of the mana-
gers? And surely it were no high or holy
office to conjure up the ghost of any priso-
ner's crime, after that he has furnished the

PRISON BEFORM.
129
expiation provided by the statute, and in
good faith promises to go forth and lead a
peaceful and honest life. In Heaven's own
name, has not the time come to administer
justice in mercy ? Could there be a greater
"heresy” than to deny this?
But with all its defects the parole law of
the state is a progressive and reformatory
measure; and as soon as public sentiment
will permit the managers to make its appli-
cation more general and give all persons
an opportunity to earn a parole-after they
have served one or more years --by refor-
mation and good conduct, may we not hope
to see the population of our penitentiary
considerably reduced—and that without
prejudice to the public peace and safety ?
At most, a parole is only putting a pris-
oner upon his good behavior, as he still re-
mains in the legal custody of the state and
may be arrested and returned to prison
whenever he fails to conduct himself in a
peaceful and lawful manner. And when
we talk about the danger” of releasing
prisoners in this way, let us not forget that
they are all to be released when their time
is out, whatever may have been their crime,
and however desperate may be their dispo-

130
PRISON REFORM.
sition and character. Is it essentially more
dangerous to discharge a prisoner before
his time is out, after due consideration of
his case, than when it is out ? And is there
no danger in keeping 2,000 or more men-
who are some time to become members of
society-in prison for a term of years with-
out the principle of HOPE in their breasts ?
We surely would not be wise to write over
the doors of our great prison-house the ter-
rible words,
"All hope abandon, ye who enter here!"
At all events, the parole law of the state
is as much entitled to the public respect-
and likewise the respect of the press and
the pulpit—as any other part of our penal
code.

CHAPTER XIX.
JOHN HOWARD.
[From Bayne's "Christian Life.”]
“ About the close of the year 1773 there
might have been seen on the high roads of
the counties adjoining to Bedford, a gentle-
man on horseback, followed by his servant,
traveling at the rate of forty miles a day.
At every town where he rested he visited
the jail. There was no fuss or hurry in his
motions, he never lost a moment, he never
gave a moment too little to the business in
hand, nothing escaped his eye, and there
was no spot into which he did not pene-
trate. He went into places where the
noisome and pestilential air compelled him
to draw his breath short, where deadly con-
tagion lurked, where physicians refused to
follow him; unagitated yet earnest, he
measured every dungeon, explored every
particular respecting fare, accommodation
and fees, inquired after the prevalence of
disease, with the means adopted for its pre-

132
PRISON REFORM.
as
vention, and learned in every instance the
relation which the criminals held to those
who superintended and kept the jail. He
rested not until he had carried his researches
over the jails of Britain and Europe, and
could credibly declare what was the state
of the prisons of the world. Was the scene
which discovered itselt to his eye such
confirms the idea that the time had
arrived when an offense against God and
man was no longer to be endured, and rays
of light, as just as they were beneficent,
were to be cast into dungeons that had long
been seen only by heaven?
“He found dens or holes made under
ground of dimensions such as might have
held one wild animal, where several human
beings were fung to gnash and groan the
night long. In some the heat and closeness
must have been stifling; in some the floors
were wet and the walls dripping; in some
open and reeking sewers poisoned the air ;
all that is noisome and revolting in gross
uncleanness lay bare to his sickened, but
unflinching gaze. Death, he discovered,
had here a realm of his own, where he es-
caped the eye of justice and humanity.
From time immemorial, uncured and un-

PRISON REFORM.
133
cared for, a virulent fever dwelt in those
decayed abodes; it had a character of its
own; it was called the jail-fever ! There
in darkness and famine and loathsome hor-
ror, it preyed on those victims who were
handed over to it, and whose life-strength
was broken by shame, sorrow and despair,
like a foul, cruel and insatiable vulture,
which men permitted to tear out the hearts
of their brethren, chained in the depths of
dungeons. Year by year its victims were
counted by the score and the hundred ;
many of these were debtors, and few of
these proved guilty—a grave and notable
fact, if nations are answerable to God for
the blood they shed. Nor was the jail fever
the only malady he discovered. The small-
pox raged fiercely, and the malignity of
every other form of disease was height-
ened ; the want of air, the damp vapors, the
insufficient food and other
many to recount, exaggerated every tend-
ency to consumption, rheumatism, palsy,
and other nameless ailments. He not only
found that the body was delivered over,
bound hand and foot to pestilence and fam-
ine, but that every soul which entered those
dens seemed actually handed over to the
causes
too

134
PRISON REFORM.
evil power. All the maladies which can in-
flict the mind still partially pure spread
their contagion there; while drinking,
swearing, gambling and indecency were the
appropriate accompaniments and aids in the
work. Even the jail-fever was not the
worst enemy men encountered in prison !
“The cases of individual misery which
he saw may be imagined, but can not be
detailed; they were such as might have
wrung forth tears of blood !
He saw pale
and haggard faces on which the light had
not looked until its glare pained the glazed
and hollow eye; ghastly beings who had
long years ago, left all the paths where com-
fort encourages and better prospects smile
in the distance, and who now stood front-
ing mankind with demoniacal scowl, in the
gaunt defiance of despair; men who, for
small debts after long years, died in prison ;
fathers sustained in their dreary confine-
ment by the families whose main support
they had hitherto been, and several of
whose younger members dropped at the
time significantly into the grave; women
lying desolate far from every friendly eye,
from every cheering word and dying of dis-
ease ; brother mortals driven mad by an-

PRISON REFORM.
135
guish, whose cries attracted the passer-by.
Such were the sights, which, in the course
of his various journeys over England and
the world, John Howard saw. Had not
the time come for philanthropy ?
"Ere Howard met his beloved Harriet
he had turned to the right hand and the left,
scarce knowing or caring whither he went
and dogged always by pain ; but soon after
her death he heard the call which made
him a name forever, and bade him leave
the wells and palm-trees of rest to take
his road along the burning sands of DUTY !
“Howard ever believed himself to be
doing the will of God; and for the
disposal of all events, he trusted, with
the
simplicity of a little child and the
faith of a Hebrew patriarch, to the immedi-
ate power of Jehovah. He passes by con-
tending armies; he enters dungeons where
others shrink back from the tainted air ;
duty, he says has sent him there, and Provi-
dence can preserve him ; he is cast on a bed
of pain and languor ; he bows in submis-
sion to the chastening hand of his Father, or
bends his head and asks wherefore He con-

136
PRISON REFORM.
tendeth with him. Men look
upon
him
with various feelings. The cold, the hard,
the cruel, scorn the whole enterprise. The
worshipers of Mammon look on amazed,
scarce finding heart to sneer; gradually,
from all lands there begins to rise a sound
of approbation and acclaim. Howard hears
neither sneers ror acclamations, he listens
for the voice which seems to the world to
be altogether silent.
“For himself he would have no glory.
He accept honor from men, who was the
weakest of instruments, and whose highest
honor it was that he was worthy to be an
instrument at all in the hands of God! He
listen to the applause of the nations, whose
most inspiring yet indestructible hope it
was, that he might be numbered
among the least in the kingdom of Heaven !
The people seemed in loud acclaim to say,
“Thou has brought us water out of the
rock ! Howard, with eager face and out-
stretched hand and heart pained to the
quick, cried out: 'I have done nothing, I
desire nothing—God has done all !'
even
*
*
“Look at him in his visit to Russia. On

PRISON REFORM.
137
his arrival at St. Petersburg, conscious that
his fame now goes before him and is apt to
interfere with his work, he leaves his car-
riage in the neighborhood and enters the
town privately. But the Empress Catharine
has marked him and sends a message in-
viting him to the palace. Here is clearly a
call to the highest distinction and applause,
to become the observed of all observers, in
the smile of one whose smile secures the
smile of all her courtiers and subjects.
Howard looks at the invitation with his
cool, piercing eye, flashing at once through
all possibilities into the heart of the mat-
ter; he feels instinctively that his work is
in the dungeon, not the palace, and that
to encircle it with a blaze of publicity will
probably interfere with the rugged task he
has appointed himself-he refuses the royal
invitation !
*
*
“He has heard very much of the human-
ity of the Russian criminal arrangements,
and it has been boasted to him that capital
punishment is here abolished. His strong,
instinctive sagacity doubts the fact—but how
shall he obtain a knowledge of the truth?
Howard hires a hackney coach and drives

138
PRISON REFORM.
to the house of the man who inflicts the
knout, where the following colloquy takes
place: Can you inflict the knout in such
a manner so as to cause death in a short
time ?' Yes, I can.' 'In how short a
time ?? 'In a day or two.' 'Have you ever
so inflicted it?' "I have.' 'Have you done
so lately?' 'Yes, the last man who was
punished by me with the knout died of the
punishment.' 'In what manner did
thus render it mortal ?? By one or more
strokes on the sides which carry off large
pieces of fesh.' Do you receive orders
thus to inflict punishment ?? I do.' How-
ard is satisfied and departs. The elaborate
cloaking of Russian policy, the infernal cru-
elty masked under the diabolical smile has
been penetrated by the simple, plain-looking
man now approaching his sixtieth year.
you
66 When Howard had been long engaged
in investigating the state of prisons, and
that task had been approximately accom-
plished all over Europe, it became apparent
to him that yet another service was ap-
pointed him. He had looked upon one
great portion of the human race which
most men forget and despise as having no

PRISON REFORM.
139
claim upon them; he now turned to look
upon another—the sick and diseased of the
human family. He aspired to the twofold
angelic office of bringing hope to the pris-
oner and healing to the sick—he entered a
lazaretto in Venice as an inmate, that he
might learn how to stay the ravages of the
deadly Plague !
*
"In the beginning of January, 1790, he
was residing at Kherson, a village on the
Dnieper, near the Crimea, still as of old,
with indefatigable resolution and kindness
pursuing his work. In visiting a young
woman dying with fever the infection
seized him, and he soon felt that death was
upon him. On his death-bed he was just
what we have always known him. We
hear the voice of prayer for his son, of in-
extinguishable pity for the afflicted, and
concerning himself these words addressed
to his friend Admiral Priestman, Let me
beg of you, as you value your old friend,
not to suffer any pomp to be used at my
funeral, nor any monument or any monu-
mental inscription whatever to mark where
I am laid—but lay me quietly in the earth,
place a sun-dial over my grave, and let me

140
PRISON REFORM.
be forgotten.' Thus, with the same calm,
saintly smile, so still but so immovable, that
he had worn during life, he passed away.
*
*
“Look not for him among the high, intel-
lectual thrones, among earth's sages or poets,
among earth's kings or conquerors. But
yonder among the few lowly, yet immortal
ones, whose fame has been endorsed in
Heaven, see John Howard ! His image is
formed of marble, pure as the everlasting
snow. Away from it, as if desecrating its
whiteness, fall all the robes of false adorn-
ment in which men have sought to envelop
it; away also fall all dimming, defacing,
distorting vails of stupid misconception ;
and there beams out clearly the face of
a simple, humble man, earnest of purpose,
celestially calm, and with one tear of inex-
pressible love on the cheek ; while from the
heavens comes a viewless hand, encircling
the head with a serene and saintly halo, its
mild radiance falling over the face and
blending with its speechless human pity;
the eye is fixed on the eternal mansions; and
the lips seem ever in humble and tremulous
gratitude to say, 'Lord God, why me?'"

CHAPTER XX.
HAVE CONVICTS SOULS?
We have no doubt argued the issue herein
involved in previous chapters as fully as
will be desired, and will here give a few ex-
amples showing what may be done with
prisoners by men and women who are wil-
ling to recognize them as human beings and
treat them rationally and humanely.
The first of these cases that we will cite
is that of Captain Alexander Maconochie,
who, in the year 1840 was invested with
the Governorship of the British penal col-
ony of Norfolk Island, at that time contain-
ing a criminal population of 1,500 souls.
We quote from Fohnson's Cyclopedia :
“The system of discipline inaugurated by Cap-
tain Maconochie was called by him the social sys-
tem of prison treatment, because of the play
therein given to the social interests of humanity.
It rests on four fundamental principles: 1. In-
stead of a time-sentence, it imposes a labor sen-
tence, thus setting the prisoners to earn back
their freedom by the sweat of their brow. 2. It

142
PRISON REFORM.
teaches them self-denial by enabling them to
purchase a speedier liberation through the sacri-
fice of present gratifications. 3. It appeals to
their social nature giving them an interest in each
other's good conduct, and thus making them
helpers in the maintenance of discipline. 4. It
prepares them for a return to society by gradu-
ally relaxing restraint and strengthening their
powers of self-control. To carry out these prin-
ciples Capt. Maconochie sought to make prison
life an image of free life as far as possible ; in
other words he sought to work with nature in-
stead of against it, as most prison systems have
done. He treated the convict as a laborer with
‘marks' for wages. His marks were made to
play the part of money, for with them the pris-
oner was required to purchase his food, clothes,
schooling, etc., while only the surplus of the earn-
ings counted toward his liberation. Maconochie
fixed on ten marks as a fair day's wages, and for
every ten marks saved the prisoner shortened his
imprisonment by a day The rations were served
out at these rates, the coarsest costing three
marks a day, the next four, and the best five.
The self-denying prisoner might thus save seven,
and the self-indulgent one five marks each day
for the purchase of his liberty; and as
marks were allowed for overwork, it was possible
to hoard at the rate of eight or ten marks a day
as the fruit of diligence and self-denial. More-
over, the marks furnished the means of discipli-
nary punishment, a proportionate fine in marks be-
extra

PRISON REFORM.
143
ing the penalty for every act of disobedience or
failure in duty. And while by this machinery of
marks, Capt. Maconochie trained his convicts
to habits of industry and frugality, he adopted
different means to accomplish his other objects.
He divided the convicts' sentences into three
periods. During the first or penal stage the men
worked under a sharp and stringent discipline.
At the conclusion of this they were allowed to
form themselves into companies of six each-the
members of each company being left free to
choose their own companions-and then they en-
tered into the second or social stage. In this
stage the six prisoners forming a company had a
common fund of marks, into which common stock
the daily earnings of each member were paid,
and from which the supplies and fines for the
whole company were deducted. They were thus
made responsible for each other's conduct, and
naturally became watchful both over themselves
and their companions. By this means also Cap-
tain Maconochie, who knew the intense selfish-
ness of criminals, hoped to implant kindly and
generous feelings; that is, to cultivate their social
affections. In the last stage the companies were
broken up, and though every man was still kept
at work, to earn his daily tale of marks, he was
in other respects comparatively free. He had his
own hut and garden, his own piggery and poultry
yard, the products of which he might sell to the
officers of the colony or the ships that touched
at the island. By thus giving the probationer

144
PRISON REFORM.
property and rights of his own, Maconochie
hoped to teach him respect for those of other
people. Captain Maconochie was four years on
Norfolk Island ; and although he was never al-
lowed by the British government to give his sys-
tem as perfect a trial as he desired, his success
was wonderful, almost miraculous. His own tes-
timony confirmed by numerous witnesses is: 'I
found the island a turbulent, brutal hell; I left it a
peaceful, well-ordered community !”.
E. C. Wines, in his work on Prisons, thus
notices the results secured by Colonel
Montesino in the Spanish prison of Valencia
containing between 1,000 and 1,500 per-
sons:
was
“Colonel Montesino's experiment covered the
period of fifteen years, from 1835 to 1850. Pre-
viously the re-committals had run up to forty,
fifty, sixty, and even seventy per cent. For the
first two years no impression was made upon
these figures, but after that they fell rapidly, com-
ing down in the end to nearly or quite zero. To
what
this remarkable decrease owing ?
Mainly to the use of moral force, instead of phys-
ical in the government of the prison. He intro-
duced a great variety of trades, about forty in all,
and allowed the prisoner to choose the one he
would learn. * He seized those great princi-
ples which the Creator has impressed upon the
human soul and moulded them to his purpose. He
aimed to develop manhood, not to crush it; to

PRISON BEFORM.
145
gain the will, not simply to coerce the body. He
employed the law of love, and found it the most
powerful of all laws. * He excited the pris-
oners to diligence by allowing them a by no
means inconsiderable portion of their earnings.
He enabled them to raise their position step by
step, by their own industry and good conduct."
From a work published by G. W. Quinby
in the year 1856, we take the following con-
cerning Captain Pillsbury, of the Weathers-
field prison in Connecticut :
“There was no institution of the kind in the
country so successful. Even the most ferocious
prisoners were subdued, and all by kindness and
love. The most desperately bitter could not stir
feelings of unkindness within him. If they were
sick, he would watch over them with the greatest
assiduity by night and by day. This was the man
who, on being told that a desperate prisoner had
sworn to murder him, speedily sent for him to
shave him, allowing no one to be present. He
eyed the man, pointed to the razor and desired
him to proceed. When he had done, the Cap-
tain said: 'I have been told that you meant to
murder me, but I thought I might trust you!"
"God bless you, sir, you may,' replied the man.”
With such men as these at the head of all
qur penal institutions, it would not require
many years to convince even the most
skeptical people that some convicts at least
have souls worth saving:

146
PRISON BEFOBM.
When Elizabeth Fry commenced her la-
bors of love in Newgate prison in London
in the year 1817, the condition of affairs in
that institution is thus described :
“These four rooms comprised about one hundred
and ninety superficial yards, into which nearly
three hundred women were with their numerous
children crowded, tried and untried, misde-
meanants and felons, without classification and em-
ployment, and with no other superintendence than
that given by a man and his son who had charge
of them by night and day. In the same rooms, in
rags and dirt, destitute of sufficient clothing (for
which there was no provision), sleeping without
bedding on the floor, the boards of which were in
part raised to supply a sort of pillow, they lived,
cooked and washed.
"With the proceeds of their clamorous begging
when any stranger appeared among them the
prisoners purchased liquors from a regular tap in
the prison. Spirits were openly drank, and the
ear was assailed with the most terrific language.
Beyond that which was necessary for safe custody
there was little restraint over their communica-
tion with the outside world.”
Look on this picture and then on the fol-
lowing one written by a visitor but a short
time after Mrs. Fry's ministrations among
these wretched creatures had begun;
“I went and requested permission to see Mrs.

PBISON BEFOBM.
147
Fry, which was shortly obtained, and I was con-
ducted by a turnkey to the entrance of the wo-
men's wards. On my approach no loud or dis-
sonant sounds or angry voices indicated that I
was about to enter a place, which I was audibly
assured, had long had for one of its titles that of
'Hell above Ground. The court yard into which
I was admitted, instead of being peopled with
beings scarcely human, blaspheming, fighting,
tearing each other's hair, or gaming with a filthy
pack of cards for the very clothes they wore
(which often did not suffice even for decency),
presented a scene where stillness and propriety
reigned. I was conducted by a decently dressed
person, the newly appointed yards-woman, to the
door of a ward, where at the head of a long table
sat a lady belonging to the Society of Friends.
She was reading aloud to about sixteen women
prisoners who were engaged in needle work
around it. Each wore a clean-looking blue apron
and bib, with a ticket bearing a number on it,
suspended from her neck by a red tape. They
all rose on my entrance, curtesied respectfully,
and then at a signal given resumed their seats
and employments. Instead of a scowl, leer or
ill-suppressed laugh, I observed upon their coun-
tenance an air of self-respect and gravity, a sort
of consciousness of their improved character and
the altered position in which they were placed. I
afterwards visited the other wards, which were
counterparts of the first.
And thus modestly and gratefully Mrs.

118
PRISON REFORM.
Fry herself records in her journal the re-
sults of her labors :
“Fourth month, 12th-I have found in my
late attention to Newgate, a peace and prosperity
in the undertaking, that I seldom, if ever, remem-
ber to have done before. A way has very re-
markably been opened before us, beyond all ex-
pectation, to serve these poor prisoners, those in
power are so very willing to help us; in short, the
time appears come to work among them. Already
from being like wild beasts, they appear harmless
and kind. I am ready to say in the fulness of
my heart, 'It is the Lord's doings, and it is marvel-
ous in our eyes !'”
“I consider that if it had not been for
divine grace, I might have been as aban-
doned as they are,” was the answer of John
Howard to one expressing surprise at the
interest he had taken in the welfare of
wicked and depraved men.
6 In this sen-
tence,” it has well been said, “is contained
not only an ample exposition of Howard's
views as a philanthropist, but also the whole
philosophy of Christian philanthropy.
Surely among the dark problems. of
our earth there is none that so baffles our
wit and reason as that of man's relation to
the circumstances by which he is surrounded
and the temptations to which he is subject.

PRISON REFORM.
149
We ought not to yield to these temptations
-but why do we yield ? We ought not
to make such grievous mistakes—but why
do we continue to make them ? And why
are we so liable to trip, to stumble and to
fall, even when we tread the King's highway
and count ourselves among his most loyal
and faithful subjects?
When we can solve this problem and
write our answer on the face of the sky, it
will be time for us to despise the manhood
of our fellows merely because they are
clothed in the convict's garb or carry the
convict's brand upon their foreheads !
Could we not learn something concerning
the spirit we should manifest toward convicts
from John S. Rarey's method of taming
wild and vicious horses? The principle
adopted by Mr. Rarey was that of "ap-
pealing to the intellect and affections of the
horse," and combining kindness and firm-
ness, thus convincing the animal that man
is his natural master and friend, and not his
enemy. Here is his own testimony:
“I have never had an accident since I became
perfect in my system, and I don't fear any. I
have been among horses since I was twelve years
old, and at first had a great many accidents. Now

150
PRISON REFORM.
I know horses' every thought, and can break any
animal of whatever age and habits in the world.
I can make any animal sensible of my power-
make him gentle and even affectionate !"
If Rarey could thus subdue the most des-
perate of these animals, and place his hand
in their mouths and his head between their
hoofs with perfect safety, shall we not have
faith in the convict's better nature when-
ever he is brought under a system of disci-
pline that holds him firmly in hand, and
at the same time extends to him the fullest
measure of sympathy and gracious service?
To make men respect themselves we must
give them our respect;
to make them
worthy of trust we must trust them ; to
make them just and generous and true, we
must extend to them the hand of kinship
and fellowship and count them worthy to
stand upon the higher planes of manhood.
The royal scepter of love and sympathy
always works its miracles of healing, when
it touches the souls of men and women !
“Down in the human heart,
Crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore ;
Touched by a loving heart,
Wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more !"

CHAPTER XXI.
MORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER.
לל
ness;
We cannot resist the impression that all
our “preachment” in behalf of a more hu-
mane prison discipline will seem to many
to savor of weakness, if not of “foolish-
and we realize that our argument
can only be fully appreciated by those who
believe in the virtue and efficacy of the un-
seen forces, which constitute the real basis
of society and of governments the world
over. The beauty and excellence of moral
power will no doubt be conceded on all
hands-must we indeed be required to
prove its efficacy?
Is not that the best governed family
where the exercise or assertion of authority
the part of the parents is scarcely
perceptible, and perfect love casts out all
fear? Is not that the best governed school
where teacher and pupils are united by
such a bond of vital sympathy that "rules”
and “deportment” are scarcely ever thought
on

152
PRISON REFORM.
of-much less any system of punishment.
Let us be understood, however, upon
this point. We are creatures of earth; and
force and authority must ever remain with
us as the basis of all discipline and train-
ing; but shall we build no structure of
beauty or symmetry upon that foundation ?
Shall not the tree extend its branches up-
ward and outward as well as penetrate the
ground with its roots ? Because our bodies
are subject to the gravitation of the earth,
shall we never lift our eyes to the skies and
the stars ? Shall we not feel the gravita-
tion of the heavens as well as that of the
earth ? Nay; are we not as those who
having eyes see not, and having ears hear
not, when we cling too tenaciously to the
exercise of force and authority as essential
to the public safety ? Is not moral power-
when it is exercised in wisdom aud discre-
tion, the very life of our social organism ?
And yet there be those who doubt and
even deride the possibility of applying this
divine power and influence to the inmates of
our prisons—"O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken !"*
If the sun that comes forth in the spring-
*Luke XXIV: 25.

PRISON REFORM.
153
time can melt the icebergs in our northern
seas and fertilize our zone with its heat,
shall we deny the efficacy of the power
which is from Him who is Lord of the sun ?
Are prisoners' hearts indeed harder than
flelds and pyramids of ice ?
The age of miracles is not past; and the
greatest of all miracles is the manifestation
of moral and spiritual power. This is the
miracle which is wrought from everlasting
to everlasting. It is the miracle of miracles,
the miracle of which all other miracles are
but types and shadows and object-lessons !
It is the miracle which proves the being of
God, the power of faith, the dignity of the
human soul, and the supreme beauty and
value of human life.
The power of which we speak—we care
not whether it be called “natural” or
pernatural”—is too fine for definition or
analysis. It is the flavor of the apple ; it is
the fragrance of the flower ; it is the beauty
of the sky; it is the brightness of the sun ;
it is the song of the morning stars ; it is the
poetry of earth and heaven ; it is the very
music of the spheres; it is the breath of
Him who created the worlds !
It is the Spirit which in the beginning
66
su-

154
PRISON REFORM.
moved on the face of the waters, and
divided the waters from the waters. It is
the voice which said, “Let there be light!”
and there was light. It is the ark in which
Noah and his family were borne in peace
and safety, though the floods raged and the
waters prevailed over all the earth for forty
days and forty nights. It is the rod of
Moses which parted the waters of the Red
Sea, that the children of Israel might pass
over on their way to the promised land-
which the Egyptians essaying to do were
drowned. It is the shout that caused the
walls of Jericho to fall down after they were
compassed about seven days. It is the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon that de-
livered the children of Israel from the
Midianites by whom they were vexed and
oppressed for seven long years.
It is the
fire that came down from heaven and con-
sumed the sacrifice of Elijah, confounding
the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal
and the four hundred prophets of the grove.
It is the stone cut out of the mountain with-
out hands, which broke in pieces the king-
doms of gold and silver and iron and brass,
that the kingdom of the Messiah might be
established in the earth. It is the angel

PRISON REFORM.
155
that shut the lions' mouths when Daniel was
cast into their den, and walked with Shad-
rach, Meshach and Abednego in the midst
of the burning fiery furnace, so that no
smell of fire passed upon them. It is the
voice that bade the winds and waves be
still on the sea of Galilee, and cried, It is
finished," on Mount Calvary. It is the
power
that raised the crucified Christ from
the grave, that he might appear once more
unto his brethren, and afterward ascend
to the throne of his Father in the heavens!
And if we seek for the incarnations of
this power, what a host of witnesses rise up
before us. We can see it in the faithfulness
of Abraham, in the meekness of Moses, in
the valor of Joshua, in the poetry of
David, in the wisdom of Solomon and of
Socrates, in the vision of Isaiah, in the “ex-
cellent spirit" of Daniel, in the piety of
Marcus Aurelius, in the consecration
of Paul, and in the patience, meekness and
compassion of Jesus the Christ? Coming
down to our own era, we
same power in the eloquence of Savon-
arola, in the courage of Luther, in the zeal
of Loyola, in the heroism of William the
Silent, in the philanthropy of John Howard
can
see this

156
PRISON REFORM.
and Elizabeth Fry and William Wilber-
force and Florence Nightingale. And in
our own land we can see this power in the
patriotism of George Washington, com-
manding the army of the Revolution and
presiding over the infant Republic until it
was firmly established in its place among
the nations. We can see it in the devotion
of Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd
Garrison, consecrating their lives to the ser-
vice of freedom and swearing never to close
their lips until the last chain was broken
and the last slave set free. We can see it in
the determined purpose of General Grant,
leading the armies of the Union from the
capture of Fort Donelson till the final sur-
render of the Rebel army at Appomattox
Court House. We can see it in the virtue
and genius-almost divine—of Abraham
Lincoln, steering the ship of state through
the wild storms of the civil war, and never
deviating from his course until he reached
the shores of the promised land, when he
was struck down by the assassin's hand,
and was carried by the angels to his home
in the skies !
Verily it is a thrilling reflection to us,
that the great President, who signed the

PRISON REFORM.
157
Emancipation Proclamation and delivered
the immortal address at Gettysburg, and
whose glory reaches from the rivers to the
ends of the earth, is quoted as saying:
“Some of our Generals complain that I
impair discipline and subordination in the
army by my pardons and respites ; but it
makes me feel rested after a hard day's
work if I can find some good excuse for
saving a poor fellow's life, and I go to bed
happier as I think how joyous the signing of
my name will make him and his family !”
Well has Col. Ingersoll said concerning
Mr. Lincoln, that “he never abused his
great power except on the side of mercy !''
And how sweetly did Bryant sing over
his corse :
“O, slow to smite and swift to spare !
Gentle and merciful and just !
Who, in the fear of God, didst bear
The sword of power, the nation's trust.
"In sorrow by thy bier we stand,
Amid the awe that hushes all,
And speak the anguish of a land,
That shook with horror at thy fall.
“Thy task is done, the bond are free,
We bear thee to an honored grave,
Whose proudest monument shall be
The broken fetters of the slave!
"Pure was thy life, its bloody close
Has placed thee with the sons of light,
Amid the noblest host of those
Who perished in the cause of right !”

158
PRISON REFORM.
לל
And what shall we say more ? For the
time would fail us to tell of others almost
without number, who, through FAITH,
have subdued kingdoms, wrought right-
eousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and out
weakness were made strong:
Again we declare that the age of miracles
is not past! To believe as we should in this
unseen power will not only increase our
own strength many fold, but will also give
us a draft on the resources of Omnipo-
tence. “Thinkest thou,” said Jesus, " that I
cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions
of angels?” God is --let this be the cor-
ner-stone of all our theology and the
quintessence of our faith. Is he not our
God as well as the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob? If we believe in God, let
us also believe in the Christ whom he
has sent; if we believe in the Christ, let us
believe in the virtue and power of the prin-
ciples that he represents. He is not in his
tomb—he is risen ; and lo, he goeth forth
ever conquering and to conquer, until he
shall touch all nations with his scepter, and
we shall see the new heaven and the new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness!

CHAPTER XXII.
THIRTY YEARS AHEAD!
[From the "London Times."']
COLUMBUS, OHIO, July 1, 1924.
In accordance with instructions your
reporter recently made a visit to this insti-
tution, which has begun to excite so much
interest and attention on both sides of the
water. Soon after arriving in Columbus, I
inquired for the penitentiary, and although
I had understood it was outside the city
limits, I was rather surprised when the
policeman to whom my inquiry was ad-
dressed, informed me that I would have to
ride several miles from the State House to
reach it. He then pointed toward the
former location of the prison, and informed
me that the ground it once covered was
now occupied by store-rooms, manufacto-
ries, ware-houses, etc.
Acting on his information I at once took
passage on the electric line running north-
ward—which only one of the numer-

160
PRISON REFORM.
ous lines connecting Columbus with the
various towns and villages in Franklin and
adjoining counties.
Although I had previously heard that the
Ohio penitentiary covered a very large area
of ground, it was very hard for me to re-
alize when I reached it that its prisoners
were actually kept within an inclosure of
five hundred acres, with only a picket fence
surrounding it—but such was found to be
the fact. At the main entrance where I
was admitted I was fortunate enough to
meet the Warden of the institution. who
was dressed in a neat suit of blue cloth, but
with no marks of authority upon
his
person
—but a very few minutes' conversation sat-
isfied me that he was master of the situa-
tion for all that. “ Business” was clearly
stamped on every feature of his face and re-
vealed in every step and motion of his body.
As he went with
me through the
grounds, I was very much surprised to see
men working in the fields and gardens and
the various shops under the superintend-
ence of men clothed in the same blue uniform
as themselves, and with the same freedom
of conversation that is enjoyed by work-
men in other establishments. I was still more

PRISON BEFORM.
161
surprised to find that while they were very
far from saints or angels in their looks, they
would compare pretty favorably in that re-
spect with any other body of workmen or
other citizens.
A detailed description of all departments
of this wonderful institution must be re-
served for a subsequent letter, and in this I
will merely recount my interview with
Warden Greatheart :
Question—How long have you been at
the head of this penitentiary, and when
was it moved out of the city ?
Answer-I might make a pretty long
story out of this question, but will be very
brief. I was first promoted to my position
from that of Deputy Warden in the year
1915, having served several years in the lat-
ter capacity previously. At that period we
had introduced many reforms in the meth-
ods of discipline, among them being the
substitution of blue and gray uniforms for
the stripes hitherto worn by convicts. The
contract labor system was also abolished,
and instead of it, prisoners were directly
worked by the state either by the day or
piece at a very moderate compensation,
which, however, gave them something

162
PRISON BEFORM.
over the expense of keeping them. They
were also made eligible to parole after cer-
tain periods, varying in length according
to their offense. But there was still a con-
gestion of population within the walls of
the penitentiary, and the subject of increas-
ing our accommodations was brought be-
fore the legislature of the State by a great
many people interested in the cause. If
I may speak without boasting, we had ob-
tained such signal success in doing away
with severe punishments and substituting
the law of love and reason for mere force
or authority, that we at length persuaded
the legislature that it would be wise and
economical to sell the ground which we
were occupying in Columbus and purchase
a large farm some distance out.
Ques.—Did you not have great difficulty
in convincing the legislature that you could
safely confine your prisoners and yet allow
them so much range?
Ans.—Yes, we found that difficulty, and
public opinion was also against it for sev.
eral years, as it was very hard to get it out
of the people's minds that men could be
compelled to stay within any limits not sur-
rounded with stone walls; but we at last

PRISON BEFORM.
163
succeeded in getting the opportunity to try
the experiment—and thus far at least the
public peace has not suffered.
Ques.—Was not such a feeling on the part
of the public very natural ?
Ans. Certainly; and we also realized
that our proposed change involved great
risks ; but you also know that every step
in the direction of free government, of free
thought and of free speech is attended with
more or less risk and more or less actual
danger. Europe was very doubtful about
the safety and stability of our government
for nearly a century; but I presume
her
mind is fully settled on that point now!
Ques.—But you do not claim to have en-
tirely eliminated force and authority from
your institution ? Men are not staying even
within the limits of your 500-acre farm yol-
untarily, are they ?
Ans.—On the contrary, our principle
which our inmates clearly understand—is to
use all force that is necessary to keep them
here and maintain order and discipline
among them ; but they also understand that
we do not desire to use any more than is
necessary, and that we do desire to give
them as much freedom as we can while

164
PRISON REFORM.
they are here. In a word, they realize that
while the hand of the state is upon them,
the weight of the authority they will feel
depends largely upon themselves. We are
all creatures of law, natural and political,
physical and psychological, and there is no
such thing under the sun as freedom in any
absolute sense ; but out of our obedience
and conformity to law we can obtain a cer-
tain degree of freedom, rather, a certain
sense of freedom which gives zest and en-
joyment to our lives and development to .
our whole nature. To any one entirely de-
prived of this sense of freedom life is sure-
ly not worth living; and therefore we aim
to give our prisoners as large a measure of
this elixir of life (if I may so designate it)
as is consistent with the maintenance of our
authority over them.
Ques.-Have you determined what degree
of liberty convicts may safely be allowed ?
Ans.—No, we have not; that must ever
be a matter of experiment and evolution,
particularly the evolution of society. What
I mean by this is that the more society ad-
vances in civilization and refinement, the
less pain and degradation she will find it
necessary to inflict upon offenders, and the
less she will desire to inflict
upon
them.

PRISON REFORM.
165
Ques.—But how do you prevent prisoners
from escaping unless you keep them under
very close guard and strict discipline ?
Ans.—Every man who is committed to
our prison realizes that under our present
system of measurements, etc , he can never
conceal his identity, even if he should travel
to the ends of the earth ; and since nearly
every city and village of the country is
lighted with electricity, and we have tele-
phone communication with all of them, he
cannot hide himself anywhere, even under
the ground. The first year after our peni-
tentiary was moved into the country we
had quite a number of escapes ; but in
nearly every case the men were brought
back in a few days ; in fact, some of them
came back of their own accord, saying
they would rather serve out their time than
live a life of concealment. And although
we did not punish thein very severely for the
crime (?) of escaping, not a single man has
ever tried to escape the second time !
Ques. But do you not make your prison
altogether too comfortable, and will not
men feel a license to commit crime unless
they know they will be punished for it
with severity ?

166
PRISON REFORM.
Ans.--Men will never desire to go where
they have to go and stay against their will !
We would hardly want to go to heaven in
charge of an officer of the law with a war-
rant of commitment in his hands! The dep-
rivation of liberty will never be a thing
that men desire—it will always be a thing
they will shrink from. The cases where
men commit crime on account of the light-
ness of punishment they expect are few
and far between ; when they think of the
punishment at all they expect to escape!
But figures are better proof on this point
than theories. At the close of the nine-
teenth century the commitments to the
penitentiary for all crimes averaged nearly
1,000 a year; they now average less than
600, notwithstanding the great increase of
population in the state. The percentage of
those committed for the second and third
time has also perceptibly diminished. Men
are much more ashamed to be sent back
now than they formerly were.
smile at this—but I know it is true. Our
aggregate of prisoners is also proportion-
ately less.
In the year 1,900 the total num-
ber was considerably over 2,000—now it is
less than 1,200.
You may

PRISON REFORM.
167
are
Ques.—Then your theory is to reform all
prisoners rather than punish them-how
does it work with the tough and desperate
characters with whom you have to deal ?
Ans.—Men are, of course, punished by
being confined and deprived of liberty--
but aside from that our duty is to serve
them in whatever way they need it. Very
many prisoners do not need “reforming”
any more than the average man outside ;
but they all need service of some kind, and
we seek to do the best we can for them.
As to the desperate cases, while we
careful to do nothing that will make them
worse, we control them—and that without
keeping them in iron cages ! We have the
whole power of the state behind us—why
should we not sustain our authority with
the least possible severity ? Prisoners have
reasoning powers as
well as other men.
And in all cases we try to reach their better
nature and appeal to their self-respect.
Ques.—What punishments do you use in
cases of disobedience or violation of rules ?
Ans. In the first place, we have as few
“rules” as possible ; and we seek to avoid
all direct punishments as tending to injury
and degradation. But in order to gov-

168
PRISON REFORM.
ern a prisoner in this way it is essential
that there be a good understanding at all
times between officers and inmates. The
first thing—and last thing as well—that
every prisoner needs is SYMPATHY, not
merely of the negative order that wishes
him no harm, but that which feels and cares
for him as a man deprived of his natural
liberty. Let him realize this and set him
to work to earn his liberty by good conduct
and faithfulness to duty, and he will then
be ready to co-operate with officers in the
discipline of the institution. Public senti-
ment may be made a factor in conducting
a prison as well as in the administration of
the government. When prisoners actually
transgress or become unworthy of the con-
fidence placed in them, we seek in every
possible way to bring them to reason-and
we nearly always succeed with the very
minimum of punishment. For instance, a
prisoner who committed a vicious assault
upon his guard was kept in his cell—we
have no dungeon—and fed on bread and
water, until he was ready to make an apol-
ogy for his offense before all the prisoners
in the chapel. Two other prisoners who
got into a fight were served the same way.

PRISON REFORM.
169
92
All these offenders have been “good pris
oners” ever since, and, we believe, will be
good citizens when they go out. And there
have been no assaults or fights in the insti-
tution since then-among either officers or
inmates !
Ques.-How about the paroling of pris-
oners ? Is there much opposition to it on
the part of the people ?
Ans. There was for some time, and the
pulpit
and
press loudly
loudly “protested
against every thing of the kind; but
when the people saw that the “danger"
from such a course was chiefly imaginary,
they acquiesced in it; and they now seem
to realize that it is better to let prisoners
earn a parole by good conduct than to keep
them in prison till they become hard and
desperate, and then turn them loose without
any conditions. In fact, so great is the
change of public opinion in this respect,
that a parole or honorable discharge from
the penitentiary is almost a presumption in
a man's favor in the eyes of the public.
Ques.-Do all your officers and guards
share your ideas of discipline and seek to
carry them out?
Ans.—Not as fully as I could wish, but

170
PRISON REFORM.
ence.
yet
in
a very great measure. They do un-
derstand, however, that while they will be
sustained in all necessary measures to pre-
serve order and discipline, their success and
tenure will depend on their ability to con-
trol the prisoners mainly by moral influ-
In all our conferences and consulta-
tions we emphasize the importance of vital
sympathy with prisoners and interest in
their welfare. We not only accept this as a
theory, but strive to keep up a high degree
of enthusiasm in our work. We likewise
admonish ourselves continually that we
must not indulge any lust of power and
authority, but must cherish and cultivate
moral influence as the more excellent way
of controlling men. In short, we regard the
power and authority we have over these
men as involving the most serious moral
responsibility ; and we feel that our duty
to them—and to society as well-requires us
to be ever conscious of that responsibility.
Should not officers of prisons recognize
their moral obligations as fully as parents
and teachers should recognize theirs ?
Ques.—Do your prisoners appreciate
your interest in them, or do you waste
most of
your sweetness on the desert air ?

PRISON REFORM.
171
Ans.—They are very much like other
people, I guess, in respect to kindness
shown to them. Our patience is often
sorely tried; but, on the whole, we are
richly rewarded so far as their feelings
toward us are concerned. We do not want
them to be satisfied with the deprivation of
freedom; but we do seek to give them all
the satisfaction that attends a faithful effort
to earn their freedom and prepare them-
selves for a return to society by forming
habits of industry and self-control. To
this end we encourage them to form base-
ball teams and some other organizations
among themselves. We are also at work
on a plan by which they may choose their
guards from among their own number—but
we can not introduce all these innovations
at once. Whenever the prisoner himself
desires to do the right thing the range of
his freedom should be gradually increased ;
for the more functions of an independent
nature he can be permitted to exercise, and
the more of the atmosphere of freedom he
can be permitted to breathe while in prison,
the better he will be prepared for the func-
tions of citizenship when he gets out!

CHAPTER XXIII.
SCRIPTURAL QUOTATIONS.
And God said, Let us make man in our
own image, and after our likeness. * * So
God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him ; male and
female created he them.— Genesis 1: 26, 27.
Mercy and truth are met together : right-
eousness and peace have kissed each other.
--Psalms LXXXV: 10.
O, give thanks unto the Lord because his
mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now
say that his mercy endureth forever. Let
the house of Aaron now say that his mercy
endureth forever. Let them now that fear
the Lord say that his mercy endureth for-
ever.—Psalms CXVIII: 1-4.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee;
bind them about thy neck; write them
upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou
find favor and good understanding in the

PRISON REFORM.
173
sight of God and man.—Proverbs III: 3, 4.
The merciful man doeth good to his own
soul ; but he that is cruel troubleth his own
flesh.—Proverbs XI: 17.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent
me to bind up the broken-hearted—to pro-
claim liberty to the captives, and the open-
ing of the prison to them that are bound.--
Isaiah LXI: I.
He hath showed thee, Oman, what is
good ; and what doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God ?- Mi-
cah vi: 8.
Blessed are the merciful ; for they shall
obtain mercy.-Matthew v: 7.
That ye may be the children of
your
Father which is in heaven ; for he maketh
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust.—Matthew v: 43-45.
Judge not that ye be not judged ; for

174
PRISON REFORM.
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
judged ; and with what measure ye mete it
shall be measured to you again.—Mat-
thew VII: 1, 2.
For the Son of Man is come to seck and
to save that which was LOST.—Luke xix: 10.
Recompense to no man evil for evil. * *
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but
rather give place unt wrath ; for it is writ-
ton, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord. Therefore, if thine
enemy
hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him
drink : for in so doing thou shalt heap coals
of fire on his head. Be not overcome of
evil, but overcome evil with good-Ro-
mans XII: 17-21.
Love never faileth !—I Corinthians xii: 8.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual [should not the
state be “spiritual ?"] restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness, considering thyself
lest thou also be tempted.— Galatians VI: I.
When the Son of Man shall come in his
glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.

PRISON REFORM.
175
one
And before him shall be gathered all na-
tions; and he shall separate them
from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats. And he shall set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the King say to them
on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world ; for
I was a hungred, and ye gave me meat; I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a
stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye
clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me ;
I was IN PRISON, and ye came unto me!
Then shall the righteous answer him say-
ing, Lord when saw we thee a hungred
and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee
drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and
took thee in ? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto thee? And the king shall an-
swer and say unto them, Verily I
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me!—Matthew XXV : 31-34.
say unto

CHAPTER XXIV.
OTHER QUOTATIONS.
- The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blessed ;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway;
It is enthroned in the heart of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself !
And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, cunsider this -
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation ; we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
-Merchant of Venice.
Prison discipline, the science of public
punishment, the philosophy which investi-
gates the
proper treatment of criminals
must have a profound interest for all lovers
of the human race.
It goes down to the
foundations of public order. It touches the
stability and security of the public peace.

PRISON BEFORM.
177
sons.
It affects the sacredness of human life. It
is concerned with the protection of prop-
erty and the safety of our homes and per-
It has a vital relation to the material
well-being of communities, and a yet more
vital relation to the purity of public morals
and the redemption of multitudes of human
beings, our brothers and sisters from sin
and suffering. In all the wide range of
social science, in all the varied fields of
inquiry which command the study of the
friends of human happiness and progress,
there is scarcely one more comprehensive,
more complex, more important, or
abundant in the fruits which a wise culture
will be likely to yield than this.—Johnson's
Cyclopedia
more
not
Those gentlemen, who, when they are
told of the misery which our prisoners suf-
fer, content themselves with saying, “Let
them take care to keep out," prefaced per-
haps, with
an angry prayer, seem
duly sensible of the favor of Providence
which distinguishes them from the suffer-
ers. They do not remember that we are re-
quired to imitate our gracious Heavenly
Father, who is kind to the unthar:kful and

178
PRISON BEFOBM.
the evil. They also forget the vicissitudes
of human affairs, the unexpected changes
to which all men are liable, and that those
whose circumstances are different may in
time become debtors and prisoners.- John
Howard.
If the leading object of incarceration were
punishment--that is, injury to the individ-
ual--most of our prisons are admirably
adapted to that end. For the worst punish-
ment that can be inflicted upon any one is to
confirm him in evil ways and make him
worse than he is.--Harper's Monthly.
My experience leads me to believe that
nineteen-twentieths of those who are con-
victed of crime for the first time are willing
to reform when their term of imprisonment
expires. I am of the opinion that a man
convicted of his first offense, if the sentence
given him is a moderate one, enters prison
with the firm resolve that when he has
served his time he will endeavor to reform
and lead a better life. When persons com-
mitting a first offense receive a heavy pun.
ishment, which is in no way tempered with
mercy, all hope is dispelled. Despair fol-

PBISON BEFOBM.
179
lows, and they care little what becomes of
them in after life, and are liable, on leaving
prison, to associate with criminals whom
they have met there. The belief grows on
them that they can never associate with
honest men, as after their long confinement
it seems almost impossible for them to get
honest employment.”—R. A. Pinkerton.
our
All punishment should be conducted
mainly with a view of reforming the
offender. I regard the culprit as
patient; I consider the judge who con-
signs him to punishment as the parent, or
guardian, or master, who sends his child, or
ward, or workman to a hospital; I look
upon the state as the superintendent of that
infirmary, and the governor with his assist-
ants as the physician with his helpers occu-
pied in bringing about a cure. The malady
is rather chronic than acute; but the treat-
ment is to be regulated by principles, guided
by knowledge, tempered with kindness and
tenderness, yet administered with a firm
and unflinching hand.—Lord Brougham.
Now society demands protection to life
and property and a preservation of the

180
PRISON REFORM.
peace. That is all that it has any right to
ask. It has no authority to sit in judgment
on the sins of its members. This is a func-
tion the Almighty has thus far reserved for
himself.–From “ Our Penal Machinery
and its Victims," by John P. Altgeld.
to
How shall we define this golden attri-
bute of mercy? Is it not the one perfection
which we creatures give, or seem to give,
our Creator? How could he have
mercy, if it were not for us? He has no
sorrows that want soothing; no necessities
that need supplying ; for he is the ocean of.
inestimable being. Mercy is the tranquillity
of his omnipotence and the sweetness of
his omnipresence; it is the fruit of his eter-
nity, and the companion of his immensity;
it is the chief SATISFACTION OF HIS JUS-
TICE, the triumph of his wisdom, and the
patient perseverance of his love. Wherever
we go there is mercy, the peaceful, active,
broad, deep and endless mercy of our Heav-
enly Father. If we work by day, we work
in mercy's light; and we sleep at night in
the lap of our Father's mercy. The courts
of heaven gleam with its outpoured, pro-
lific beauty; and the earth is covered with

PBISON BEFOBM.
181
it as the waters cover the bed of the ocean.
"There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea ;
There's a kindness in his justice,
Which is more than liberty.
The love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind ;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.”
- Frederick W. Faber.
Men are born as individuals, and if they
are convicted of crime, they are sentenced
as individuals; when they die they die as
individuals; and if they are saved, they are
saved as individuals. This is the law of the
law and the law of the gospel. Through-
out the world the most advanced penolo-
gists have come to the opinion that it is of
very little avail to treat criminals in masses ;
that there is but one way to protect society,
and that is by the reformation of criminals ;
that there is but one way to reform crimi-
nals, and that is to treat them individ-
ually.— William M. F. Rounds.
There can be no more patriotic or phil-
anthropic enterprise than that of converting
the enemies of law and order into the stable
support of the state. Nor can there be a

182
PRISON REFORM,
work more truly Christian than that of sav-
ing the sinner, not only from the penal con-
sequences of sin, but from its vital presence
and power.—Dr. F. C. Baldwin in “ Den-
ison Quarterly."
72
Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne ;
But that scaffold sways the future; and behind the dim
unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His
own !
-James Russell Lowell.
If the history of every convict could be
written in letters of truth over the door of
his cell, I believe the only emotion it would
arouse in our minds would be pity, pro-
found pity.-Edward Everett.
Ordinary criminality is not a bold, adroit,
self-reliant and gratuitous assault upon soci-
ety. It is only in unbound novels and in
the unsophisticated minds of amateur penol-
ogists that the criminal is a wonder of learn-
ing and accomplishments. The specimen
exists as does the white black-bird ; but
most men who lie or cheat or steal, do so
because they are in some way too weak to
do better. What others gain by honest,
intelligent industry, they seek by dishonest

PRISON REFORM.
183
schemes, not because they are strong and
cultured, but because they are too weak and
witless to follow truth and honesty. Their
rescue must be by that which will impart
strength and wisdom, and so render them
both willing and able to earn their living by
lawful and honorable means.—7. R. Monks,
Supt of Schools in Elmira Reformatory.
Society in general is responsible for its
criminality. Its criminals are not detached
units on the outside, but rather eruptions
from within. The circulation of the body
politic is impure. As well cut off an oc-
casional thistle head with the expectation of
killing the crop as hope to exterminate
crime through the deterrent power
of
pen-
alty.--Henry Wood in the " Arena."
I would not enter on my list of friends,
(Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility), the man,
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm ! -Cowper.
Three gamins were playing in the streets of
Paris. - There
goes a priest,” cries
one,
“look out for your eggs and chickens!” The
priest hearing these words, knelt down and
prayed for the boys. Then he reflected that it
was the fault of the boys' parents ; so he knelt

184
PRISON REFORM.
down the second time and prayed for the pa-
rents. Next he reflected that it was the fault of
society; so he knelt down again and prayed
for society. Then remembering that he was a
member of society, he knelt down the fourth
time and prayed for himself !-Bret Harte.
To be trusted is to be saved! And if we
try to influence or elevate others, we shall
soon see that our success is in proportion to
their belief of our belief in them. For the
respect of another is the first restoration of
the self-respect a man has lost ; our ideal of
what he is becomes to him the hope and
pattern of what he may become.--Prof.
Henry Drummond.
re-
The Christ of Humanity is the Saviour, the
physician of bodies and souls. He
stores sight to the blind and hearing
to the deaf; he makes the lame walk; he
cleanses the defiled; he quickens the dying ;
he raises the dead; he opens the prison-
house and gives liberty to the captives; he
lightens the burdens that press on the poor
and miserable.
He has gone into the
wilderness in search of stray sheep; he has
pursued the moral leper into his desolated

PRISON REFORM.
185
haunts
among
the
graves; he has spent
himself, worn himself out-literally died in
poverty and outward wretchedness that the
mission of brotherly love might be accom-
plished through him. He is the glorious
company of the philosophers; he is the
noble army of reformers and philanthro-
pists; he is the holy band of the wise in
heart, who counsel, warn, admonish and con-
sole the world.
Between the Un-
searchable One and imperfect beings, this
Christ perpetually mediates, passing down to
the low places the light of regenerating in-
fluence, leading up the weak and timid souls
to the mountain-top, whence they may be-
hold diviner forms and hear more celestial
voices than come to them in their ordinary
lives. He touches both extremes ; his earthly
lot associates him with lowliness and pov-
erty, his character allies him with translated
and immortal spirits! The true Christ reaches
all heights and sounds all deeps. He eats
with publicans and sinners and communes
with Moses and Elias. There is a stain on
his mortal birth ; but his home is Heaven,
among the angels of light and before his
Father's face ! -0. B. Frothingham.
PRISON REFORM."'
66
END OF


CAPITAL AND LABOR.
a
one
Who shall settle the everlasting issue be-
tween capital and labor, and tell us the
exact relation they sustain to each other?
Our government is often defined as
system of checks and balances ; might we
not say the same thing concerning that
complex and ever evolving entity that we
call civilization ?” Should not capital and
labor be regarded as two forces ever to be
balanced—so far as possible--the
against the other ? Would it not be a partial
solution of this question for us to realize
that the process of adjusting this balance
must go on and on to the end of the chapter ?
If this be the case, it seems to us that the
first and last thing to bear in mind is that
this balance cannot be made in legal or
commercial scales alone. The moral law
must be invoked, and its principles must be
considered as of binding obligation by all
parties. In Swan's Treatise,'
we read in
reference to the conduct of the individual
citizen:
“Many things may be reproved in sound morals,
which are left by the law without remedy, except
by an appeal to the conscience of the party him-

188
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
self. It should, therefore, be always borne in mind,
that he who adopts the law of the land as the only
guide in his dealings, or the only rule for his con-
duct, is neither a good neighbor nor an honest man."
If this be true of the individual citizen,
how much more is it so concerning the rep-
resentatives of two such great interests as
capital and labor? If all these representa-
tives would fully commit themselves to the
law of righteousness, the difficulty attending
the solution of the problem before us would
be largely diminished ; and only so far as
they will do so can any particular adjust-
ment be considered satisfactory.
If this problem could be solved by a defi-
nition of legal rights and a repetition of com-
mercial maxims, it would have been dis-
posed of many centuries ago. Wages must
be governed by the law of supply and de-
mand-every employer has a right to pay
whatever wages he sees fit to pay and can
afford to pay—no man is bound to labor for
wages that are not satisfactory to him :-all
these maxims are good “law" and correct
principles of political economy; but they
are not sufficient to meet the difficulties of
the case ; and to make them the sole basis of
our treatment is but to aggravate the mal-
ady. Moral obligation must be preached to
both capital and labor.
But neither capital nor labor is altogether
righteous, and therefore the various issues
between them must continually be tried in
the high court of public opinion as well as

CAPITAL AND LABOR.
189
in our national and
state legislatures.
As long as there was no very distinct
dividing line between employers and em-
ployes and no particular combinations of
capital, labor was comparatively satisfied
with its share of profits and likewise with
its voice or function in determining what
its share should be ; but during the last
quarter of a century there have been such
extensive combinations of capital and
capitalists, that the representatives of labor
have justly felt that without similar organ-
ization on their part, their wages would
be entirely at the mercy of their employers ;
hence the various labor unions and other
organizations of workingmen.
That these organizations have been very
unreasonable in some of their demands up-
on capital as well as unlawful in some of
their acts, no candid person can deny ; but
the essential right of laboring men to organ-
ize as a means of self-defense and a means
of maintaining proper self-respect ought
also to be recognized. There is something
more in this issue than the amount of wages,
important as that is. Labor should not be
deprived of all function in regulating
wages; it has the right not only to a living
support, but to proper consideration and
respect on the part of capital. The man or
or company that employs a large body of
men and refuses to treat with them as an
organization virtually refuses to treat with
them at all. In view of the vast combinations

190
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
our
us.
of capital and the improvements that are
constantly being made in machinery,to refuse
all power and function to organized labor is
equivalent to an utter disregard of the rights
of labor. It is more than that it is the crack
of the slave-holder's whip! Organized labor
must some day be recognized by the law !
Why do we all prefer to live under a Re-
publican government? Not because
laws are necessarily better than those of
other nations, nor because the officials
whom we elect are necessarily better men
than a king or emperor might appoint over
Is it not because we are permitted to
exercise some function in determining the
laws to which we shall be subject and in
choosing the men who shall carry those
laws into execution ?
In the year of grace, 1886, Andrew Car-
negie named the following as the next steps
in the advance toward a permanent peaceful
relation between capital and labor :
"First, That compensation be paid the men,
based upon a sliding scale in proportion to the
prices received for product.
“Second, A proper organization of the men of
every works to be made, by which the natural
leaders, the best men, will eventually come to the
front and confer freely with the employers
“Third, Peaceful arbitration to be in all cases
resorted to for the settlement of differences which
the owners and the committee cannot themselves
adjust in friendly conference.
"Fourth, No interruption ever to occur to the
operations of the establishment, since the decisions

CAPITAL AND LABOR.
191
of the arbitrators shall be made to take effect
from the date of reference."
That Mr. Carnegie has since turned over
the management of his various works to an
avowed enemy of all labor organizations
does not detract from the soundness of the
principles he enunciated in 1886—whatever
opinion it may give us of his character !
The continued concentration of capital in
this country is certainly serious, if not alarm-
ing -- what are we to do about it? Is there
no remedy but socialism ? And would not
socialism paralyze all individual energy and
enterprise, and thus produce a worse condi-
tion than it seeks to remedy ?
The problem is a very difficult and deli-
icate one, and can not be settled by mere the-
ories or dogmas ; but we can not too highly
emphasize the moral obligations that attach
to the possession of capital, whether by indi-
viduals or corporations. Every possessor of
property should realize that his wealth is the
product of other men's labor as well as his
own; and that he has no divine or absolute
right to the advantage which it gives him
over his fellows, but that he is morally bound
to hold and use it in whatever manner will
best promote the general welfare.
And why should not men of great
wealth—especially the millionaires and
multi-millionaires of the land—be willing to
pay a fair proportion of its annual pro-
ceeds into the public treasury in return for
the privileges and advantages which they

192
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
enjoy? Can there be any just or rea-
sonable objection to a graded income tax ?
In his highly famous book, Progress and
Poverty, Henry George gives this graphic
picture of the manner in which men may
become very rich through the increase of
population and the labor of others :
“Let us imagine an unbounded savanna, stretch-
ing off in unbroken sameness of grass and flower,
tree and rill, till the traveler tires of the monot-
ony. Along comes the wagon of the first immi-
grant. ſired out with the search for one place
that is better than another, he stops at length to
make himself a home. He has what, were he in
a populous district, would make him rich ; but he
is very poor. It is an easy matter for him to get
enough to eat; but beyond this, his labor will only
suffice to satisfy the simplest wants in the rudest
Soon there comes another immigrant.
Although every quarter section is as good as every
other quarter section, he knows that the place for
him to settle is where there is already a settler,
and he can have a neighbor.
* Another immigrant comes, and soon another,
and another, until around our first comer there are
a score and more of neighbors. Mechanics set up
their shops, and our settler can have his tools re-
paired for a small part of what they formerly cost
him ; a store is opened, and he can get what he
wants as he wants it; a post-office gives him com-
munication with the rest of the world ; and a little
church soon arises; and many other satisfactions
become possible that were formerly impossible.
Go to our settler now and say to him : 'You
have been cropping your land, and it is not as val-
uable as it was ; I will give you the full value of
your improvements, it you will give it to me, and
go again with your family beyond the verge of set-
tlement.' He would laugh at you ; for although his
way.
CE

CAPITAL AND LABOB.
193
66
land yields no more wheat, corn and potatoes
than it did before, it yields far more of all the
necessaries and comforts of life.
“Population continues to increase, and our set-
tler is able to sell in building lots a few of his acres
for prices which his land would not bring for
wheat-growing, if its fertility had been multiplied
many times. With the proceeds, he builds himself
a fine house, and furnishes it handsomely. That is
to say, the people who wish to use the land, build
the house for him, on condition that he will let
them avail themselves of the superior productive-
ness which the increase of population has given
to the land.
"And still population increases, giving greater
utility to the land and more wealth to its owner.
The town has grown to a city-a Chicago, a St.
Louis, a San Francisco—and still it grows! Our
settler is now a millionaire. Like another Rip Van
Winkle he may have lain down and slept; still he
is rich, not from any thing he has done, but from
the increase of population. There are lots from
which for every foot of frontage the owner may
draw more than an average mechanic can earn
there are lots that would sell for more than would
suffice to pave them with gold coin. In the princi-
pal streets are towering buildings of granite, mar-
ble, iron, and plate glass, finished in the most ex-
pensive style and replete with every convenience;
yet they are not worth as much as the land on which
they rest—the same land, in nothing changed,
which, when our settler first came upon it, had no
no value at all.
"It is a well provisioned ship, this on which we
sail through space. If the bread and beef above
decks seem to grow scarce, we but open a hatch,
and there is a new supply, of which we before
never dreamed. And very great command over
the services of others comes to those who, as the
hatches are opened, are permitted to say, 'This
i's mine!'
*
*

THE ART OF TEACHING.
The science of “Pedagogy” has made
marvelous progress during the last twenty-
five or thirty years; but we do not believe
that the teachers in our public schools and
Sunday-schools, or even the professors in
colleges and universities, have yet fully
learned to appreciate the beauty and excel-
lence of the drawing-out process-we doubt
whether they have more than touched the
borders of this rich and fertile field.
Boys and girls should not only be urged
to learn the lessons prescribed for them, but
should be stimulated and encouraged to
search out facts and the relation of facts for
themselves. They should not only be taught
to think for themselves, but should be pro-
voked—we use this term in the Scriptural
sense—to express the results of their thought
in their own terms and language.
To this end the teacher should diligently
search out the faculties of each and all of
his pupils, and should ever seek to connect
the particular lesson that is to be learned
with what the pupil already knows and like-
wise make it the basis of new acquisitions
of knowledge. Houses are not built by

THE ART OF TEACHING,
195
suspending stone or brick or pieces of wood
in the air, but by laying stone on stone and
brick on brick, (cementing them with mor-
tar), and by joining wood to wood. Should
not the psychological house be built in the
the same way ?-—can it be built in any
other way?
Herbert Spencer says concerning the late
Prof. Tyndall and his methods of teaching :
"He was a good expositor ; and a good exposi-
tion implies much constructive imagination. A
pre-requisite is the forming of true ideas of the
mental states of those who are to be taught; and
a further pre-requisite is the imagining of methods
by which, beginning with conceptions which chil-
dren already possess, there may be built up in
their minds the conceptions they do not possess.''
We would not condemn the prescribing
of definite lessons in the text-books of the
Various branches-drill is a feature of edu-
cational work not to be despised or neg-
lected ; but we do assert that every recitation
or other exercise in every school under the
sun should be a direct means of awakening
the faculties of pupils and arousing their
powers of thought and expression.
In other words, it should be a play be-
tween the soul of the teacher and the souls of
the pupils after the manner of an electric
True teaching is something more
than communicating knowledge. No one
can teach children well without constantly
learning, and constantly desiring to learn,
from them.
The teacher who merely “hears” a recita-
current.

196
THE ART OF TEACHING.
tion for the purpose of “grading” it and cor-
recting mistakes, and seeks not to stimulate
and quicken the faculties of his pupils with
questions and suggestions, knows not the
beauty and glory of his office. Such a
teacher may secure a limited measure of re-
spect from his pupils ; but they can never
love and honor him as they do the teacher
who awakens their powers of mind and
gives them the thrill of satisfaction that
comes from conscious achievement.
And how rich and abundant is the re-
ward of the teacher who can carry his art
to the degree of perfection we have indi-
cated. First of all, the prescribed lessons
will be studied with increased interest and
enthusiasm, and the recitations will be much
more "perfect” than ever before ; and in ad-
dition to this, not only will the soul of the
teacher grow larger and nobler day by day,
but he will be greeted with constant sur-
prises as the faculties of his pupils brighten
and unfold before his eyes. This process will
make dull children bright and bright chil-
dren brighter still—could any teacher desire
a higher reward than this?
The path we have endeavored to point out
is high up the slopes of the mountain, and
cannot be reached without great labor and
earnest aspiration : but it is a path strewn
with the choicest fruits and the most fragrant
flowers; and like the path of the just, it
grows brighter and brighter unto the per-
fect day!

MORAL EDUCATION.
Among the most important marks of
educational progress in the present age is
the realization by teachers that their work
includes the training of the moral nature as
well as the intellectual nature of their
pupils. But highly as we appreciate this
progress, we yet think that our teachers
have come far short of their high privilege
in this respect. You have, indeed, occupied
a very large area of ground; but there yet
lies before you a land of promise flowing
with milk and honey, which it is for you to
go forth and possess. Do you all realize as
clearly as you should that there is no such
thing as teaching morality or exercising a
moral influence upon your pupils' characters
without being truly moral yourselves ? As
well might you attempt to teach arithmetic
without knowing how to count, or to teach
reading and writing without knowing the
characters of the alphabet.
We refer not so much to your outward or
external conduct as to the springs and mo-
tives that constantly influence you, to your
inmost thoughts, desires, purposes and

198
MORAL EDUCATION,
aspirations. You can raise your pupils to
no higher plane of morality and virtue than
the plane on which your own lives are
pitched. You can hold no higher ideal of
goodness before them than the ideal that is
ever before yourselves. You can draw no
sweeter music from their lips than the
music that is found in your own daily walk
and conversation.
In moral education as well as in intellectual
education, too much stress can hardly be
laid upon the character of the teacher-
everything depends on it.
It is easy—it is at least comparatively
easy-to lay down rules and principles of
morality and even to urge upon children the
practice of every virtue, but the work of the
living teacher goes far beyond this. He
must also cause his pupils to be interested
in the cultivation and development of their
moral natures; he must reveal to them the
beauty and grace and excellence of Virtue,
that they may love her with their whole
hearts and delight to obey her voice con-
tinually.
Go out with your pupils into the fields
and woods on some dark day and see how
little interest or attention will be manifested
in reference to all the objects of Nature that
are before their eyes; but go when the sun
is shining, and see how the trees and the
grass and the flowers and all other objects
will delight and thrill them.
What causes
the great difference? Light, light!

MORAL EDUCATION.
199
It might be an exaggerated figure to speak
of teachers as suns and stars of light; but
they should at least reflect the light of the
spirit of Truth upon every maxim and prin-
ciple that they may enunciate, that the minds
and hearts of their pupils may be quickened
and inspired thereby. “Let your light so
shine before men,” said the Christ,“ that they
may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in Heaven !"
It has become a very familiar principle in
mental education that the most useful and
efficient teacher is the one who secures the
highest activity and largest exercise of mind
on the part of the pupil. May we not
safely assert that the same principle applies
in moral education, and if possible, with
even greater force? Verily, the teacher of
morality should search most diligently for
the moral faculties of each and every pupil
and seek to bring those faculties into the
largest possible exercise. Children can not
see the beauty and excellence of any virtue,
unless they are taught to practice it.
And there would be no more "education”
in the teacher's solving all problems in arith-
metic or algebra for his pupils than in
assuming to solve all moral questions for
them. In both cases, however, the teacher
should be an illuminating and inspiring in-
fluence that will secure the true process of
solution and also the correct answer to
every problem. True morality must be
taught from the SOUL; and the light of

200
MORAL EDUCATION.
the teacher's face should be a constant
means of communication between his soul
and the souls of his pupils.
In the whole course of education from
the alphabet to the highest branches, ap-
peal is made to the mental faculties of the
pupil ; so all moral discipline should be ad.
dressed to his moral sense ; and the teacher
should never feel that his duty is done till
the moral sense of the pupil has been
brought into exercise, and he is able to
discern what is right and what is wrong.
Good moral conduct is not so much walk-
ing on a single straight line, as it is walking
between two lines, the one on the right and
the other on the left ; and children should
not only learn to keep a proper balance
between these lines, but also learn when,
where and how to draw the lines for
themselves! And the office of the teacher
should not be to solve this problem for them,
but to encourage and inspire them to work
it out in their own minds. It is just as
important that boys and girls should learn
to do this while at school as that they
should learn to solve the problems of arith-
metic. In after years there will be many
issues of right and wrong to be tried in the
court of their consciousness; how can they
be equal to this task, if their moral faculties
have never been trained and educated by
exercise ? Is it not as important that their
moral faculties should be exercised in

MORAL EDUCATION.
201
their early years as that their bones and
muscles should be ?
We do not mean by this, that children
should not be required to obey-rather, let
the lesson of obedience be made the basis
of all other moral lessons.
Have you ever thought, O parents and
teachers, how the work of moral education
may be facilitated by invoking the sympa-
thy and assistance of Mother Nature? We
can not explain the secret of her ministry ;
but we know how she loves little children,
and is always ready to show them her
beauty and glory and make them happy.
She is also ready at all times to teach them
the lessons of duty and virtue and piety.
Let
your
children learn to sit in her lap and
bask in her smiles ; let them romp in the
fields ; let them lie down on the grass ; let
their faces be browned by the sun; let
them listen to the still small voice of the
water; let them worship the trees and the
stars and the skies, that they may learn
very early how the heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handiwork ! In their innocence and
simplicity they can see what we can not
see, and hear what we can not hear :—they
can see the face of God, and hear the voice
of God, in all his works !
Perhaps in no part of the teacher's work is
his moral (or un-moral) influence so dis-
tinctly felt as in the discipline and govern-
ment of the school. You may indeed secure

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MORAL EDUCATION.
order and tolerably good conduct by the
exercise of force and authority, but if you
want conduct that is really noble and beau-
tiful, you must make it voluntary and spon-
taneous—the unconscious expression of the
spirit and disposition of your pupils. The
picture that you paint must indeed have a
background, but in the foreground we
would have you paint the beauty of moral
power so clear and so bright that the dark
background of force and authority will
scarcely be seen or felt!
Only that school is well governed, where
order prevails, and the pupils all feel free.
And let no one say that this is a theory
that can not be reduced to practice. It is,
perhaps, an ideal that cannot be fully real-
ized, but it can be cherished in the soul of
every teacher, and approached more nearly
the longer he continues in his work. And
we urge it upon your consideration, not
because we would increase your burdens,
but because we would lighten them ; be-
cause we would turn the sharp angles of
school discipline into lines of grace and
beauty, and change the government of the
school from an irksome task (wherever it is
such) into a dance of joy and gladness!
But to reach this height of beauty and ex-
cellence you must love the very souls of
your pupils and cause them to love you
with a love that passeth knowledge. Every
teacher should be the dear charmer as well
as the faithful instructor.
You may use

MORAL EDUCATION.
203
force and assert your direct authority--if
necessary; but let the “IF” be very large
and the "necessary'' very small. And we do in-
sist that you shall always prefer the moral
influence. The teacher who prefers force
and authority sins most grievously—and
fails more or less grievously.
How rich and abundant is the reward of
all teachers who know how to govern
thus. Will not the sympathy and affection of
your scholars—and children are always
ready to give sympathy for sympathy and
affection for affection-prove the very nec-
tar of life to your jaded nerves and weary
brains ? Will not their smiles give you rest
and comfort by day and sweet dreams by
night? And shall you not also indulge the
belief that in the after years of their lives
they will rise up and call you blessed !
To govern a school by moral influence is
not only to govern it more thoroughly than
you can possibly do by force and authority;
but it is higher art; it is nobler achievement;
it is a diviner function. It is to wield a more
than royal scepter; it is to wear a more than
golden crown; it is to drink from the very
fountain of the river of life ; it is to be a co-
worker of the Christ and his angels !
This, then, would be our exhortation to
teachers of every name and grade : Follow
after love, and desire spiritual gifts. Eschew
all unlawful power, and cultivate “sweet-
ness and light!” Avoiding all manner of
affectation, let the power that animates and

204
MORAL EDUCATION.
controls your school ever be a cheerful and
smiling face—the smile of the wise and
sympathetic teacher is heaven's own light to
children. Let your scepter of authority
be hid in a corner, and put you on the beau-
tiful robe of sympathy and companionship.
O, the music you can make by playing on
the chords of children's souls ! But you
must know how to play-you must know
how to touch those tender chords—you
must have the divine melody within you.
If you can indeed come into this vital re-
lation with the minds and hearts of all the
children entrusted to your care, you have
FOUND the eternal fountain of youth, and if
you will drink freely of its waters—you will
never grow old ! Your hair may turn gray ;
your faces may be covered with wrinkles;
your forms may be bent with length of
years; but your spirits will always be as
young and fresh as the morning light-and
you shall dwell in the City of God forever!
“At the same time came the disciples
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven ?
“ And Jesus called a little child unto him,
and set him in the midst of them,
" And said, Verily I say unto you, Except
ye be converted, and become as little chil-
dren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven!”
THE END.





Scott, Milton R,
35286-H
ІВоск1
1894
Sc