EVENTS IN BRIEF
[Under this heading will appear each month numerous paragraphs of general interest, relating to the prison field and the treatment of the delinquent.]
Immigration and Crime.—That lax immigration laws are to a great degree responsible for many of the criminal cases calling for the attention of the courts, is the opinion of Major Richard Sylvester, of Washington, D. C., president of the international association of police chiefs, which held its nineteenth annual convention in Rochester in June. Several years ago the association memorialized Congress to define anarchy and more carefully restrict undesirable immigration.
Referring to the large number of alien criminals, Major Sylvester said: “Many of these subjects come from climates where capital punishment does not prevail, where the least respect for law and life is had. If certificates of good character from the authorities at places of departure in foreign lands and a year’s means of support were made legal requirements for presentation at our doors by each individual, the disadvantages might not be so great or so many.”
Hospitals For Inebriates.—The special committee of the New York Board of Estimate and Apportionment has unanimously reported in favor of carrying into effect a law which provides for the establishment of a board of inebriety and a hospital and industrial colony for inebriates for New York City.
The committee made an exhaustive investigation of conditions before reaching a conclusion. It found that the 29,461 persons arrested in New York last year and arraigned in the magistrates’ courts on the charge of public intoxication constituted more than one-sixth of all the arrests made for all causes. The records disclose that, of the 20,291 held for trial, about 15,600 were committed to workhouses, either directly or in default of payment of fine. Commenting on these and other statistics the report says:
Inebriety, therefore, furnishes a very large percentage of those who keep the police officers busy, clog the magistrates’ courts, and fill the workhouses and jails. It furnishes also a very large number of cases for treatment in our public hospitals. Seven thousand male drunkards are treated annually in the alcoholic ward of Bellevue and allied hospitals. Carefully compiled records show that in the one year ended May 1, 1909, 498 men were treated for intoxication more than once in that ward, and over 100 from four to twelve times, and that in the course of a few years some individuals have been treated in the alcoholic ward over twenty times and have been committed to the workhouse over sixty times.
The committee does not overlook the moral effects of the treatment of inebriates under the plan which it has approved, but it especially points out the economic features. It finds that New York is spending annually on Blackwell’s Island the amount of $80,000 for cases committed for intoxication, and in addition there is the cost of two overflow wards at Bellevue, amounting to not less than $65,000 per annum. The proportion of expenses in maintaining magistrates’ courts chargeable to intoxication is at least $125,000 a year, and a large additional expense is incurred in maintaining police officers for the city prison and for the alcoholic wards in hospitals. To use the language of the report: “As a result of all these expenses under the present system there is a complete lack of accomplishment. There is no pretense even that the individual is helped; quite the contrary, he is rather confirmed in his habits of inebriety and is permanently fastened on the community as an expense and as a bad example.”
A Prison Farm Proposed for Iowa.—According to the Dubuque, Iowa, Telegraph-Herald, Warden Marquis Barr of the Iowa State Reformatory, is of the opinion that it would be a wise movefor the state to purchase a large farm and work the prisoners upon it, turning the money which they make over to their respective families. He declares that this age must solve the great problem of justly punishing a man for his wrongs without at the same time taking from his family its only means of support.
The logical thing for a state to do is to purchase a farm of about a thousand acres, with barracks for the prisoners to eat and sleep in. Over one-third of the men in the prisons of Iowa could be set to work upon this farm, raising grains and garden truck. They could be paid a certain wage and board in the same manner as the farmer pays his hired help, but every cent of these earnings should be turned over to the wife and children of the man who earns it. Not a penny should be given to him.
Warden Barr also said that he believed that if men knew that they would be compelled to work and work hard at a fair wage without themselves getting a penny of it, that there would be less crime. Many men during the fall commit crimes solely for the purpose of getting a warm place to stay during the winter and three good meals per day. They allow their families to shift for themselves. For the state to encourage this sort of a thing Mr. Barr says is absolutely wrong.
Charting Juvenile Crime.—The juvenile court of Detroit is reported to be greatly assisted in its campaign of saving girls and boys, by a chart which shows how many children are under the watchful care of the judge and his probation and truant officers, and how crime recedes and advances among the young at different seasons of the year; also what effect a big convention has on the city’s morality, and how greatly parks and playgrounds help in the fight for decency.
The 600 boys and 170 girls are represented on the chart by cloth-headed tacks of different colors: red for bad boys, blue for bad girls, and white for children who are only truants or neglected. Each tack bears a bit of cardboard with a number which refers one to a filing cabinet where may be found the entire record of the boy or girl. Little groups of dots on the chart show where the gangs are, and indicate that bad boys are more gregarious than bad girls, who usually go alone or in couples. The chart also shows more plainly than any magazine article the evil results of congestion. The probation officers are not using this chart as an interesting sort of game, but as a valuable aid in their work for good citizenship.
London’s Beggar Army.—Walter Weyl, a well-known writer on social and economic subjects, has the following to say in the “National Post” on London’s army of the unemployed. It is of special significance to Americans who are facing the impending problems of vagrancy and mendicancy in urban centers.
“As I started to call a cab,” writes Walter Weyl, “suddenly there arose out of the darkness, as though evoked by some Aladdins lamp, four tattered, pale-faced men of the underworld. The four sprang forward to render me this slight service. One, quicker than his fellows, tore open the cab door and received his penny. Then the men vanished, slinking into the gray mist.
“Whence come these men? What manner of city was this that wasted able-bodied men on so paltry a task?
“Later that evening, when in the crossing currents of the streets, my cab came to a halt, I caught another fleeting glance at London misery. A naked, dirt-caked arm, thrust from a sleeveless coat, touched my shoulder; a haggard face peered into the cab window, and a voice harsh with anxiety asked, ‘Can I ’ave the luggage, sir?’ As the cab wound through the mazes of the London traffic, I saw this tattered man doggedly running behind us. Not once did he lose sight of the cab. At the hotel he was waiting, breathless.
“‘It’s mine, sir,’ he panted. ‘You promised me the luggage, sir.’
“For the chance of earning a shilling at work which did not need him, this wretched man had followed me through tortuous miles of London streets. What a city it was!
“I did not wish to see deeper into thisabyss,” writes Mr. Weyl. “I had not come to England to view bottomless misery. But what is everywhere cannot be hid. On the following days I saw in street after street workless, homeless miserable men with broken shoes and dropping rags of clothes. I saw abject women, with trailing, bedraggled skirts, and with a flat sterile vacancy of expression, more tragic than despair. There were drunken men, too, and sodden women, and files of men—or of what had once been men—waiting outside bakers’ and butchers’ shops for crusts and refuse. The halt, the blind, the unemployed, the shifty beggars, and the wretches too timid to beg, passed in an unending procession. Long before sunset the lines had been formed for admission to the casual wards of the almshouses.
“‘It’s deplorable,’ commented my English friend (he was a doctor with a fashionable practice and aristocratic pro-possessions), ‘still every country has its poverty. Even in the States——’
“‘Yes,’ I admitted, ‘It is not for us to throw stones.’
“Later, however, as on our silent homeward walk I summed up all the dismal impressions of the day. I began to feel that after all there was a difference. American poverty was overwhelming, but it was not everywhere, and it was not so hopeless. Men did escape from American slums, and their children escaped.
“But the English slum was a prison, in which the fallen man and his children and grandchildren rotted. There was a droop, a sagging to these people; an inexpressible indifference to surroundings, an utter self-abandonment. You could seek out poverty anywhere, but in London it obtruded itself—stark, menacing, unescapable, like the naked, dirt-caked arm of the superfluous wretch who had followed my hansom.”
Prisoners to Build Roads.—It is an assured fact, according to the New Orleans Picayune, that a model road built by convict labor will be constructed connecting New Orleans with Kenner. This will take off four miles from the present railroad and other routes to this thriving section.
The state board of engineers will make the surveys as soon as possible and once started the work will be rapidly pushed.
Nothing but the best material will be used, and the drainage of the roadway will be given attention. It is expected either shells or some other substantial “topping” will be put on the thoroughfare.
New Jersey Adopts the State-Use Plan.—By the signing by Governor Wilson, the bill abolishing the present system of convict labor at the termination of the existing state prison contracts, all convict labor in the state and county prisons in New Jersey may be employed in the manufacture of articles for use in the institutions of the state and its subdivisions. The convicts are to be employed for nine hours, except on Sundays and public holidays. They may be employed in the construction or repair of prison institutions, and the labor of the convicts must be so directed as to produce “the greatest amount of actual product of articles and supplies” for all state and local institutions, the buildings and departments or offices of the state, “or in any public institution or department owned, managed and controlled by the state or public sub-division thereof.” Convicts may be employed in agriculture, horticulture and floriculture, and “all surplus product of this convict labor is to be disposed of at public sale to the highest bidder.” The new law extends the prison labor system from the state prison to all county prisons, and makes city and county departments, offices and institutions, as well as the state institutions, its beneficiaries. The sum of 50 cents a day is to be paid to the families of the convicts.
Parole in Maryland.—That Maryland will save at least $5,000 a year in earnings through the institution of the modern practice of paroling prisoners is stated by Charles D. Reid, of the Maryland Prisoners’ Aid Society. Heretofore in Maryland the practice has been but seldom resorted to in this state, with the result, says Mr. Reid, of failure to suppress crime, loss to the stateand failure to encourage right living among the criminal class.
“Last year,” said Mr. Reid, “the amount of money taken in by fathers of families who have been paroled and thus saved in resource to the state was only $600. The parole system was then started by arrangement between Judge Duffy and myself. Already in one month $400 has been saved and the prospects are that at least $5,000 will be saved during the year.”
Uncle Sam and His Delinquents.—According to the Meriden (Conn.) Journal, modern and advanced ideas upon penology will be introduced into the army method of handling garrison prisoners, according to orders just issued by Major General Leonard Wood, chief of staff. The new regulations will not apply to military convicts, but only to those sentenced to confinement and hard labor without being discharged from the service.
The purpose behind the new regulations is to give the prisoner every opportunity to make good, instead of discouraging all effort toward good behavior. Under the new orders, garrison prisoners will be allowed an abatement of five days of their terms of confinement for each period of twenty-five days of good conduct, when serving sentences of one month and not more than three months. On sentences exceeding three months they will be allowed the five days’ abatement for the first month, and thereafter ten days abatement for each period of twenty days’ good conduct. Abatements thus authorized may be forfeited wholly or in part by subsequent misconduct.
A garrison prisoner who has served one half of a sentence of ten days or more, according to the new orders, may submit a request to be put on probation for the remainder of the sentence, and if his request is granted, may be restored to duty on condition that if his conduct is not good while on probation he will be required to serve the remainder of his sentence.
The new orders also make important changes in the methods of working garrison prisoners at military posts. These changes have been outlined in the following letter, sent to the commanders of the several departments:
“The present system of working prisoners under sentinels conveys a false impression as to the character of the prisoners, gives the public the erroneous idea that the army is full of bad characters requiring forcible handling, is injurious to the self-respect of the prisoners, discourages enlistments, and lowers the military service in public opinion. In addition to these objections, the system constitutes a heavy drain upon the command furnishing the necessary guard.
“It is deemed advisable and in the interests of the service, to adopt a different method of handling these garrison prisoners who are confined for comparatively short periods of time, to the end that the fewest practicable number of prisoners may be required to work under guard.
“It is therefore directed that as far as is practicable, as may be determined by post commanders in accordance with the above policy, garrison prisoners will be paroled for work under the general supervision of the officer or non-commissioned officer in charge of prisoners; and that prisoners whose character of offenses are of such a nature as to require that they be kept under armed guard shall be assigned tasks, as far as practicable, which will make the presence in the service of this class of men as little conspicuous as possible.”
Convicts to Build Road.—“The State of Utah,” according to a statement of Major M. P. Hackett, of Ogden, “is going to build an improved highway, 500 miles in length, stretching clear across Utah to Idaho at one end, and to the Arizona boundary at the other. The road is to be built entirelywithconvict labor, in accordance with a late law authorizing such use of the felons.
“But there is a humane side to the enterprise, that may well be copied by other states. For every day’s work performed by the men each will have one day subtracted from his sentence. To a convict who is in for a long time this deduction is of big importance and it will be a great inducement for them to toilcheerfully and to the best of their ability.”
A Report From Texas Prisons.—A statement has been recently made by Ben. E. Cabell, chairman of the board of prison commissioners of Texas, that at this time Texas has between 600 and 700 prisoners at Huntsville and Rusk within the walls, and about 1,100 on her own state farms. About 1,000 are on share farms, where the state supplies the labor and gets part of the crop.
“At the beginning of the year about 800 convicts were being worked on farms and railroads. Within the last thirty days the railroad contracts have expired and have not been renewed. Some of the men were moved within the walls and others sent to the farms owned by the state. The present commissioners are in thorough harmony with Gov. Colquitt, who made it known that he wanted the contract and share farm system abolished as soon as practicable, and that all the convicts should be worked on state account. To this end the prison commissioners gave notice to all whose contracts expired with the end of this year that the contracts would not be renewed. This will leave very few men on share farms and none on contracts at the end of this year.
“The state has about 10,000 acres of land beside the 17,000 now in cultivation. This 10,000 acres will be put in cultivation for the year 1912. It is the intention of the prison commission (and has already been done) to put the farms and farm buildings in first-class condition, to make the buildings comfortable and healthful, to have good sanitation and wholesome conditions and all reasonable arrangements for the comfort of the convicts.”
New York’s Campaign For a Farm Colony.—The “farm colony plan” has progressed further toward success in this year’s session of the legislature than ever before. For several years charitable and correctional organizations have urged the state legislature to establish a farm and industrial colony for tramps and vagrants. At the present writing the bill has passed the lower house and is now in the order of third reading in the senate. Governor Dix is reported to have stated frequently his interest in this bill.
The bill, which has general interest in all states where the farm colony plan has been contemplated, provides for a state industrial farm colony for the detention, humane discipline, instruction and reformation of male adults committed thereto as tramps or vagrants. The colony shall be under the control and management of a board of seven managers, to serve without compensation. The board shall appoint the superintendent and other employes, establish rules and regulations including the classification, parole, discharge and retaking of inmates. The board shall, if possible, utilize lands now owned by the state, if such lands are suitable as a site for the state farm colony. In case no lands now owned by the state are found to be suitable, the board of managers shall select a site of not less than 500 acres. The term of detention in the colony shall be not longer than 18 months with the exception that an inmate who has been manifestly committed to an institution after the age of 16 may be detained not longer than two years. There is no minimum term of commitment, nor shall any person under the age of 22 be committed to said colony. A significant clause in the act provides that it is the intent and meaning of this act that reputable workmen, temporarily out of work and seeking employment, shall not be deemed tramps or vagrants, nor be admitted to the said colony. Persons committed as vagrants to the farm shall be local charges, and those committed as tramps shall be maintained at the expense of the state. In no event shall any locality be charged a greater amount for the care of vagrants than the actual per capita cost for their maintenance in such state industrial farm colony.
An excellent campaign of publicity has been carried on this year for this bill by the charity organization society, and the association for improving the condition of the poor in New York through their joint application bureau. Rarely has any bill before the legislature found so much favor in editorials and news columns.
Hospitals for Inebriates.—The special committee of the New York Board of Estimate and Apportionment has unanimously reported in favor of carrying into effect a law which provides for the establishment of a board of inebriety and a hospital and industrial colony for inebriates for New York City.
The committee made an exhaustive investigation of conditions before reaching a conclusion. It found that the 29,461 persons arrested in New York last year and arraigned in the magistrates’ courts on the charge of public intoxication constituted more than one-sixth of all the arrests made for all causes. The records disclose that, of the 20,291 held for trial, about 15,600 were committed to workhouses, either directly or in default of payment of fine. Commenting on these and other statistics the report says:
Inebriety, therefore, furnishes a very large percentage of those who keep the police officers busy, clog the magistrates’ courts, and fill the workhouses and jails. It furnishes also a very large number of cases for treatment in our public hospitals. Seven thousand male drunkards are treated annually in the alcoholic ward of Bellevue and allied hospitals. Carefully compiled records show that in the one year ended May 1, 1909, 498 men were treated for intoxication more than once in that ward, and over 100 from four to twelve times, and that in the course of a few years some individuals have been treated in the alcoholic ward over twenty times and have been committed to the workhouse over sixty times.
The committee does not overlook the moral effects of the treatment of inebriates under the plan which it has approved, but it especially points out the economic features. It finds that New York is spending annually on Blackwell’s Island the amount of $80,000 for cases committed for intoxication, and in addition there is the cost of two overflow wards at Bellevue, amounting to not less than $65,000 per annum. The proportion of expenses in maintaining magistrates’ courts chargeable to intoxication is at least $125,000 a year, and a large additional expense is incurred in maintaining police officers for the city prison and for the alcoholic wards in hospitals. To use the language of the report: “As a result of all these expenses under the present system there is a complete lack of accomplishment. There is no pretense even that the individual is helped; quite the contrary, he is rather confirmed in his habits of inebriety and is permanently fastened on the community as an expense and as a bad example.”
The New York Times recently published the following book review:
Tramps in the Making.—“The laboratory method in philanthropic work has never had more signal demonstration than in Alice Willard Solenberger’s “One Thousand Homeless Men,” (New York: Charities Publication Committee, $1.25) a study of original methods in the true scientific manner and spirit. The author was for four years in charge of a district of the Chicago Bureau of Charities and during that time compiled, in the regular course of her work, the statistics whose analysis and discussion make up this work. She endeavored also to trace the later histories of her subjects and, whenever this was possible, she had included it in her data. Mrs. Solenberger’s untimely death, before she had written the final chapter in which she has purposed to sum up the conclusions to which she had been led by her long study and intimate knowledge of the homeless-man problem, lessens somewhat the interest of her book for the general reader. But her analysis of her tables of statistics and her discussions of the inferences to be drawn from them are so lucid and so practical that philanthropic workers will find the volume valuable alike for its facts and for its suggestions.”
“Perhaps the most striking of the phases of the vagrancy problem brought out by Mrs. Solenberger’s figures is the extent to which it is a native problem. Of the group of confirmed tramps, more than a fifth of the whole number of cases studied, 76 per cent. are native born. Of the vagrant runaway boys, nearly all were born on American soil and of American parents. The chapter devoted to these boys is particularly notable forits sympathetic but level-headed treatment of the causes which lead to boyish vagrancy, of its results, and of the methods by which it might be combined. Among these methods she thinks the most important would be the satisfying of adolescent “wanderlust” by normal, wholesome means and the closing of the railways to vagrants.
“Indeed the whole tramp problem she believes could be well-nigh solved if vagrants of all ages could be kept off railway trains. It has been estimated by several authorities, working independently, that there are in the United States at least half a million tramps. In her book Mrs. Solenberger studies the genesis, character, and previous environment of 220, and comes to the conclusion that in the huge army of which these are typical examples the variations of character and of inducing causes are so great that they call for much variety in methods of treatment. But the basic characteristic of all of them is the abnormal propensity for incessant wandering.
“‘It is the mere accessibility of the railroads, more than anything else,’ she writes, ‘that is manufacturing tramps today. * * * When we succeed in absolutely closing these highways to any but persons having a legitimate right to be on them, we shall check at its source the largest single contributary cause of vagrancy, and the problem of the tramps, as such, will practically be solved.’
“She thinks the problem should be dealt with by states, and that if several of the most populous and most tramp-ridden would deal with it adequately, for which she makes a number of practical suggestions, the rest would be driven, in self-defense, to follow their example.
“Other subjects treated by this same scientific method of study of actual cases, with all the preceding and following data that could be gathered, and then discussed in their general implications, are chronic beggars, seasonal and casual labor, interstate migration of paupers, homeless old men, the crippled, the defective, and industrial accidents. A number of appendices contain much statistical information and some articles on lodging houses. The book is published under the auspices of the Russell Sage Foundation.”