Part 7

Mr. Wickersham favored the extension of the parole law to include life prisoners. He regarded as an incongruity that prisoners sentenced to long terms for vicious crimes should be eligible for parole, when the man convicted of second degree murder must remain in prison for life.

“If the lawmaking power,” continued Mr. Wickersham, “considers reformation, conditional liberation and reinstatement to a normal position in society possible in these cases, ‘it is difficult to say on what principle the same possibility and hope of reformation, liberation and forgiveness should not be extended to one guilty of murder under circumstances not punishable by death. While there is life there should be hope. It may be far off, delayed, a dim, distant possibility, but it would seem that that hope should be held out as a possible attainment to the meanest wretch who is allowed to live. The justice of man should aim at the perfection of divine justice, and though finite wisdom not knowing the hearts of men, may not always deal justly with offenders, yet it should not “shut the gates of mercy” against the meanest of God’s creatures.’”

Since the parole law was placed in operation last autumn, the attorney-general said, but one prisoner had violated his parole. The 200 prisoners who were paroled from the time the law was put into effect in the autumn of 1910 to June 30, earned nearly $22,000, whereas, if they had remained in prison, the attorney-general pointed out, they would have been a charge on the government.

Mr. Wickersham expressed the belief that the parole boards should be enlarged by adding two unofficial persons selected from among prominent citizens of the locality in which the prison is situated.

The Federal Parole Law, approved 1910, provides that any prisoner confined in any United States prison or penitentiary, for a definite term of over one year, whose record of conduct shows that he has observed the rules of such institution, and who has served _one third_ of the time for which he was sentenced, may be released on parole as hereinafter provided.... Nothing in the law is to be so construed as to impair the power of the President to grant a pardon or to commutation in any case, or in any way impair or revoke such good-time allowance as is or may hereafter be provided by Congress.

PREVENTION.

Governor Vessey of South Dakota took “Prevention” for his theme, dealing with the topics of child labor, contact with hardened criminals, lack of practical education in the schools, and bad environment at home, principally brought about by the curse of alcoholic drink.

“Child labor,” he said, “is a traffic in human souls, backed, supported and sustained by an unjust greed for gold, and though financially it may be profitable to the employer, it is nevertheless a shameful sale of humanity for money, and that such a cruel condition, with all its concomitant evils, should be tolerated in this progressive age and in this fair land, exceeds my understanding.

“But we are awaking from our dream of false commercialism and the institution of child labor must pass.”

PRISON REFORM LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA.

Griffith J. Griffith, Secretary of the Prison Reform League of Los Angeles, California, read an interesting paper on “What the Prison Reform League Wants to Do and See Done.”

“Perhaps the question as to what we of the Prison Reform League have in view will be answered best by stating at the outset what we are not seeking. We are not attempting to boost any party ‘ism,’ creed or private interest. We are not endeavoring to inoculate the public with any new philosophy. On the contrary, we conceive ourselves to be severely practical people, who have noted a series of appalling facts and wish to know how they agree with certain principles by which society professes to be guided. We mark the startling difference between theory and fact; we try to bring that difference to the notice of those whom we can reach. All thinking men and women acknowledge, as it appears to us, that punishment can be justified only by the necessity of protecting society and diminishing as far as possible the tendency toward barbarism.

“We submit that every judge who passes what is called an ‘exemplary’ sentence in the hope of checking crime; every warden or jailer who excuses brutality toward prisoners with the plea that they have been sent to jail for punishment; every police officer who conceives it to be his role to terrify malefactors by the display or exercise of force, is making the same false argument as that by which the upholders of things as they are seek to justify capital punishment. All these classes, paid by society to protect it against crime, are in our view victims of an utterly erroneous philosophy and intensify the very evil they are hired to cure.

“We say that it never pays society to wrong the individual. We say the state wrongs him inexpressibly when it professes to seek his reform and debases him; that murder cannot be abolished or diminished in volume by the state turning murderer; that when the state compels a man to toil for it without remuneration it is itself a thief, and that such is not the way to discourage theft; that if the poor, isolated, and therefore helpless, individual has duties toward the all-powerful state, infinitely greater are the duties of that almost omnipotent organization toward the individual. We say that side of the question has been overlooked, and we call attention to it in the very sharpest terms at our command.”

CAUSES OF CRIME.

Under this general heading, Dr. William Healy, Director of the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute of Chicago, read a paper on “The Problem of the Causation of Criminality,” and Dr. William Martin Richards, of New York, gave an address on “Physical Defects as a Factor in the Making of Criminals.” No synopsis of these papers can do them justice. They represent the latest investigations along these lines, and when published should be read by all who are interested in the betterment of humanity. Dr. Healy recited numerous specific instances of abnormal children whose lives were directly aimed at defiance of law, because of physical or mental defects or because of trivial circumstances, most of whom could be more or less readily reformed when handled in a rational manner.

Dr. Richards dwelt on such defects as bad eyesight, nasal imperfections, “flat foot,” and various spinal troubles, all of which were responsible for criminal tendencies. He told of some cases where the restoration of correct vision had resulted in changing lives, criminally inclined, into right habits.

Frederick Howard Wines, the only charter member of the Association present, said that in all the sessions he had ever attended he had not heard two such illuminating addresses.

COMMITTEE ON PRISON LABOR.

Kate Barnard, of Oklahoma, introduced a resolution providing for the appointment of a committee to study conditions of convict labor. It is gratifying to report that it was finally decided that the committee on organization at the next Annual Meeting in 1912 shall include among the Standing Committees a Committee on Prison Labor, whose duty shall be to study the aspects of prison labor and to report definite recommendations as to the most practical measures to be adopted by the various states.

The new committee to investigate the subject of prison labor will be composed of F. H. Mills, New York, Chairman; Albert Garvin, Chesshire, Conn.; Samuel Gompers, Washington, D. C.; Kate Barnard, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Dr. J. T. Gilmour, Toronto, Can.; Joseph P. Byers, Secretary.

DISCHARGED PRISONERS.

Miss Eva Booth, Chairman of the Committee on Discharged Prisoners, was unable to attend the convention, but the report of the committee was read.

This was a paper by Miss Booth, reviewing the problem of the discharged prisoner, urging that he must be understood as an individual in order that he might be helped to get a new footing in the world, and emphasizing the necessity of prison visitation to enable the workers to know the prisoner when he is liberated.

The parole system was commended and reference was made to the plan recently advocated by General Booth in England to have paroled prisoners make their reports to the Salvation Army and other charitable institutions instead of to the police departments.

Governor Folk’s plan of having the family of the prisoner taken care of from the earnings of the convict’s labor was commended.

FIRST OFFENDERS.

Eugene Smith, President of the Prison Association of New York State, read a report on “Statistics of Crime.” His report was embellished with illustrations showing that no statistics of crime could be complete in giving an accurate account of the amount of crime actually committed for obvious reasons. The first crime of a trusted employé willing to make restitution may be covered up, the disgrace to members of the family, insanity, business reasons and other considerations tend to cover up the criminal acts of many first offenders.

He favored the idea of treating the first offender so that his criminal tendencies may be corrected if this is possible under the supervision of a properly constituted Board of Supervisors. He called attention to the cost of a man who was convicted and sent to prison for killing his employer in a fit of rage. His case was studied by prison physicians who believed the man was living between the borders of sanity and insanity. An operation was eventually decided on and a needle was removed from the brain. The man recovered his normal condition of mind and was discharged from prison.

ATTENDANCE--CONCLUSION.

The number of members and delegates in attendance was 385, forty-three states being represented, also Canada, Cuba and the Philippine Islands. No one could attend these meetings without being impressed that this Association has already accomplished great service in improving penal conditions in the United States, and that its influence is rapidly extending. It is to be hoped that all barbaric methods of discipline will soon be abolished, and that reformation of the criminal habit will be the chief object of detention. We still believe in confinement as a deterrent factor, but the renovation of character is the goal for which our penal institutions should strive.

It should not be accepted as a criticism on the proceedings of former meetings of the Association to say that the papers and the discussions this year reached high water mark.

It was concluded to hold the next annual meeting in Baltimore in the latter part of November, 1912.

The following officers were elected: President, Frederick C. Pettigrove, Chairman Massachusetts Prison Commission; Secretary, Joseph P. Byers, Newark, N. J.; Financial Secretary, H. H. Shirer, Columbus, Ohio; Treasurer, Frederick H. Mills, New York City.

ALBERT H. VOTAW, _Delegate_.

NATIONAL PRISONERS’ AID ASSOCIATION.

The representatives of various Prisoners’ Aid Societies held two or three meetings while at Omaha, and formed a permanent organization, and the Executive Committee was directed to endeavor to secure recognition for the association as a constituent part of the American Prison Association with the privilege of presenting their work and interests at the Annual Meetings.

The officers of the National Prisoners’ Aid Association are:

_President_: Judge T. F. Garver, Topeka, Kan. _Vice-President_: William R. French, Chicago, Ill. _Secretary and Treasurer_: O. F. Lewis, New York.

_Executive Committee_: General E. Fielding, Chicago, Ill.; F. Emory Lyon, Chicago; E. A. Fredenhagen, Kansas City, Ore.; R. B. McCord, Atlanta, Ga.; and A. H. Votaw, 500 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

IN MEMORIAM.

JOHN H. DILLINGHAM.

John H. Dillingham, whose death occurred in Third Month, 1910, joined the Prison Society in the Fifth Month of the year 1882. He was elected a member of the Acting Committee a few months after joining the Society, which position he held until he was called to another and higher field of usefulness in the world beyond.

Our brother was always much interested in the humanitarian labors of the Society, and was a valuable visitor at the Eastern Penitentiary until, owing to his many other duties, he was obliged to discontinue that service.

As an evidence of his interest in and desire to help the objects of our care, it may be stated that a short time before his death he said it was his intention to resume his visits to them, but the Lord, “whose he was and whom he served,” willed otherwise, and the service will have to be performed by others. His genial disposition, loving nature and conspicuous goodness endeared him to all who knew him.

DAVID SULZBERGER.

David Sulzberger, a member of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and a member of the Acting Committee since 1903, was born in the Duchy of Baden, in 1838, and died in March, 1910, at the home of his sister in this city.

Reared by pious parents of the Jewish faith, and following the teachings of Jehovah, as manifested to one who sought earnestly to know the Divine Will, he devoted much of his life and means to practical philanthropy. It has been said by a member of his own denomination that his crowning achievement was his splendid service to the cause of humanity in visiting the Jewish and other prisoners confined in the penal institutions located in this city. He brought to them the consolation of religion whenever they were amenable to its influence, the moral strength that emanated from a firm yet a kindly nature, the instruction that would give them a new start in the battle of life. Scarcely a week passed for many years without his visits to these prisoners, and at no time was he too busy to give his thought and attention to anything that would help the prisoners with whom he came in contact. Sometimes his kindness was abused, but that did not deter him from the work. He was possessed of the saving grace of a keen sense of humor that enabled him to take disappointments of that kind philosophically, as a part of the day’s work, and furthermore he was not hunting excuses to justify him in stopping. He was simply seeking to lend a helping hand in a field from which all but the stoutest of hearts are apt to be repelled.

He was a Hebrew of the patriarchal type, and to him Judaism was not merely a creed but a system of life, and with scrupulous fidelity he observed the lofty precepts of that religion which render it a sacred obligation on the part of its devotees to help struggling humanity by their presence, by their sympathy, by their means, in all the incidents of human life from the cradle to the grave.

In an eminent degree he possessed the courage of his convictions, and never for one moment shrunk from what might be supposed to be a disagreeable duty, or from lifting up his voice in high places in a protest against what he considered wrongs which should be remedied.

His counsels will be greatly missed, and his loss seems irreparable, but we have the assurance that he had fought a good fight, that his lifework was accomplished, and we are thankful that we have known him as a friend, and that we have had the example of his strong devotion to duty.

MARY S. WHELEN.

The passing away, on February 15, of Miss Mary S. Whelen came as a distinct shock to her many friends and to the class of Philadelphians interested in the welfare of the Commonwealth and of the Municipality in one of its most vital issues.

Although the part Miss Whelen played so effectively, owing to her modesty, is known to but few, it deserves some mention in order that others, inspired by the same motives, may carry on the work to which she fearlessly and generously devoted many years. She was intensely interested in the welfare of prisoners convicted of crime, and as an active member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, visited our prisons weekly, going into the cells, teaching many ignorant women to read and write. Her ear was ever open to explanations, and her kindly intuition made it possible for her to discern the motive which actuated a crime, and her advice and consolation often brought repentance and the possibility of better things. When the sentence expired, a woman having no home or place to which to go, was taken from prison, personally, by Miss Whelen to a destination where she might begin a new life; and letters from these once degraded creatures show in many instances reformation and warm expressions of gratitude. She was a member of the Committee on Police Matrons, and to this most beneficent service she gave practical and efficient aid. All her generous, charitable deeds have been accomplished so quietly and unostentatiously that it recalls the beautiful admonition, “Let not thy right had know what thy left hand doeth.”

ROBERT PARKER NICHOLSON.

Robert P. Nicholson, whose death occurred in July, 1911, as the result of an accident, had been a member of the Society for a few years, but had served on the Acting Committee for only a few months. His deep interest in the work gave promise of much service on behalf of our cause. His genial disposition had endeared him to a host of friends by whom he is sadly missed.

JOHN J. LYTLE.

“Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.”

Such was the passing of our beloved friend, John J. Lytle, whose death occurred on the 14th of Eighth Month, 1911, at his residence in Moorestown, N. J.

He was born at Alexandria, Va., in 1823, and had almost completed his eighty-eighth year. In his infancy his widowed mother brought her family to Philadelphia, and for the remainder of his life his residence was in or near that city. After he attained his majority he was a merchant for twenty-five years at the corner of Seventh and Spring Garden Streets.

Early in his business career he became deeply interested in personal visitations to the inmates of the Eastern Penitentiary. With the exception of Joshua L. Baily, President of the Society, his membership in the Pennsylvania Prison Society covered a period longer than that of any living member, both having been elected members in 1851. For nearly sixty years he was a member of the Acting Committee, and his official positions date from the beginning of his membership on the Acting Committee to the time of his death. Early in 1852 he was appointed Secretary of the Acting Committee, and in 1860 he was elected Secretary of the Society. This office he held till 1909, when, on account of the infirmities of age, he was released from the active duties of this position and appointed Honorary Secretary. From 1886 to 1908 he gave up almost his entire time and energies to work on behalf of prisoners. The Eastern Penitentiary was the scene of his greatest efforts. Almost daily did he visit this large institution, becoming personally acquainted with the thirteen hundred or more inmates and ministering untiringly to their physical and spiritual needs. He speaks of his great privilege and “pleasure to stand by the prisoner’s side, to grasp his hand, to put new life into his heart, to endeavor to restore confidence in himself.” While he believed in all changes in penal methods which are directed to the reformation of the prisoners, and in industrial and scholastic training, he was firmly convinced that the only sure basis of reformation was the life-giving, renewing power of the gospel of Christ. To this end he labored in season and out of season. He never forgot the spiritual interests of those whom he befriended. In his report for 1906 he says: “We must talk to the man in the cell as a man, a friend and brother.... That lives redeemed await the work of those who enter the prison cell with the message of Christ is well proven. Many a one has said to me--I believe in sincerity, ‘The best thing that ever happened to me in my life was my sentence to the penitentiary. Here I have found my Saviour, whom I knew not before.’” This theme is dwelt on in all the eighteen reports which he made after assuming the duties of General Secretary in 1886. To illustrate his faithfulness in the performance of duty, in a report made in his eighty-first year, he states that he had made during the year, four hundred and fifty visits to the Penitentiary (oftener than daily), and had conversed with the inmates, either in the cells or at the cell doors, about forty-five hundred times. “It is now fourteen years since my whole time has been given up to this work, and my interest in it grows from year to year.... I find there is an open door for me to talk to them of their spiritual needs....”

He was a delegate, in 1886, to the American Prison Association, and for twenty years thereafter he was usually in attendance at the sessions of that body, taking an active part in the proceedings and serving on its leading committees.

When the State Legislature, in 1895, discontinued the appropriation of $3,000 per annum for the equipment and support of prisoners discharged from the Eastern Penitentiary, John J. Lytle solicited private contributions to continue this aid, and so successful were his efforts that no prisoner in need in all these years has been dismissed from that institution without practical help and sympathetic attention. The task of making these collections and of attending to every minute detail of their distribution involved unremitting labor, which he ceased not until bodily infirmity in his eighty-fifth year compelled him to take a much-needed rest. From the autumn of 1908 till the time of his death he was mostly confined to his home and vicinity, but was able to maintain quite a large correspondence and to enjoy the visits of his friends. His genial, kindly disposition had endeared him to a large circle of acquaintances, who deeply appreciated the privilege of his intimacy. His interest in the cause of the prisoners never flagged. The summons came while sitting at his writing table by the side of his dear wife, who had been his faithful companion for more than sixty-two years. A stroke of paralysis, then a few days of unconsciousness and all was over.

He was a birth-right member of the Society of Friends. In 1849 he was married to Anna Reeve, and he is survived by the widow, one son and four daughters.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.