Part 2

The report furnishes a very gratifying account of the progress which has been made in the erection of a new Refuge for Colored Juvenile Delinquents. A front view and ground plan of the structure accompanying our present number and the following general description of the arrangement of the various departments, may be interesting to our readers.

The site embraces eleven acres of ground, and is intended to afford ample room, (at some future time,) for a new Refuge for white children. The lot lies in the form of a parallelogram, 400 feet by 210, and is enclosed by a wall varying in height from 20½ to 30 feet.

“The arrangement of the buildings within the enclosure, which are all of brick, with slate roofs, is made with reference to a total separation of the boys and girls, and to the existence of three separate classes of both male and female inmates: the first (or best) and second classes each to have a play-ground and work-room, and the members of one class not to be allowed to converse with those of the other, on any occasion; the third class, consisting of the most depraved inmates, to be kept, until in a condition to warrant promotion to a higher class, in separate confinement, with a suitable allowance of out of door exercise for the preservation of health, said exercise to be taken in an enclosure specially designed for this purpose, where no conversation between the inmates shall be permitted.

“The numbers of these three classes which can be accommodated when the buildings marked on the plan shall be erected, as ultimately designed, are--

Boys. Girls. 1st Class 40 27 2d Class 56 45 3d Class 30 22 --- -- Total 126 94

“Dormitories for the first and second classes are at present provided for--

Boys. Girls. 1st Class 30 14 2d Class 42 22 -- -- Total 72 36

“The erection of all of the other buildings specified in the plan, was authorized, with reference to the accommodation of 250 inmates. They consist of--

“1. A main building, three stories in height, containing offices and chambers for the officers, school-rooms and infirmaries for the male and female inmates, a dining and sitting-room for the girls, &c.

“2. Two buildings projecting from the rear of the main building; the one in the male department, two stories in height, and containing the chapel and the boys’ dining-room; the other in the female department, three stories in height, and appropriated for the kitchen, the wash-room, store-rooms, &c.

“3. Two wings, each three stories in height; the one, in the female department, containing the dormitories and bathing-rooms for the girls; the other, in the male department, containing the boys’ dormitories.

“4. A building, two stories in height, near the southern wall of the male department, the first and second stories of which are designed for work-rooms, and the basement for a washing and bathing-room for the boys.

“A corridor, 12 feet in width, extends the whole length of the main building and wings, a distance of 243 feet.

“Many important points, in addition to the classification of the inmates, claimed the attention of the Board, in the preparation of the plan--_e. g._ security against the escape of the inmates, and their constant supervision by an officer at all times of the day; the proper ventilation and warming of all the apartments; provision for out of door exercise for the inmates in all states of the weather, &c. These, it is believed, have all been kept in view and provided for, in the plan adopted.

“The wall of enclosure, excepting the gate-way and a portion of the pointing, is completed; the work-shop is finished; and of all the other buildings the walls are up, the roofs on, and a small part of the flooring laid.”

Extracting flues, connecting with shafts leading to the external air, have been inserted in all the dormitories and other rooms, to ensure a good ventilation at all times; and suitable arrangements have also been made for heating the different apartments. We trust the Managers have succeeded in securing these two most important requisites to the health (physical and moral) of their new institution. A full supply of good water, fresh air and wholesome warmth, is what every institution of the kind wants; and yet in one or more of them almost all are deficient.

The second document, at the head of the present article, shows a prosperous state of the institution of which it treats. The whole number of children and youth who have found refuge within its walls is 4,397. Of these, 568 were under its care, at different periods, during the year 1848. The number remaining January 1, 1849, was 355; and 213 were disposed of during the year. The chief branches of labor are, making and seating chair frames and manufacturing razor strops. Among the improvements of the year is the introduction of a small steam engine, to relieve the severity of some parts of the labor, which is not unfrequently prejudicial to the immature strength of the inmates.

The disbursements of the year amounted to $22,896 10, and the receipts $24,122 32. Of the latter sum, $7,198 77 is from the labor of the inmates, $7,323 83 from the State, $4,600 from the city of New York, and $4,026 50 from theatre and circus licenses. The chief items of expense were food and provisions, $9,106 41; salaries, $4,875 89; clothing, $2,297 90.

The importance of more perfect classification and separation, especially among the female inmates, is urged. “Contact with the older and more depraved of their sex, is, for obvious reasons, far more destructive to young and comparatively innocent females than to males.”[2]

In confirmation of the views we have presented in a former part of this article, we cite the following passage from the report now before us.

“This is the proper place to allude to a practice of which we have already complained more than once--that of sending to the Refuge, from mistaken ideas of humanity, subjects so far advanced in years and in crime as to give but faint hopes of their own reformation, while by example and influence they are calculated to do infinite harm to others. Those who have travelled long and far on the downward road of vice, are most unfit companions for such as have been arrested at the outset of their guilty career. It is to guide and to reclaim the latter, that houses of refuge are established; the reformation of the former must be attempted in other places and by other means. To this practice of sending to the refuge hardened offenders, whose proper place is a State prison, the managers ascribe the frequency of attempts to escape. Many sent to us as boys, are men in size and strength, impatient of restraint, reckless of consequences, hardened, daring and ingenious in all mischief. While such subjects are sent us, to corrupt, to organize, and to lead the younger and more orderly, attempts at escape will continue to be made, and in spite of all the vigilance of the officers, will occasionally be successful.

“The rapid increase of crime in our city, and the constantly augmenting numbers of vicious and vagrant youth, is a subject of serious contemplation. It would be serious enough, if it only kept pace with the astonishing increase of our population, but it even outstrips it. There is no way of getting at complete statistics in this matter, but all the details that can be obtained confirm this view. Thus there were committed to prison in the city, including those sent before trial, and after sentence, and excluding summary convictions,

in 1835, 2387 persons, in 1844, 9153 persons.

During this time the population increased from 270,089 to 312,710 (in 1845) or about 35.1 per cent., while the increase in crime was 354.6 per cent. The average number of inmates in the Tombs was, in 1846, 174; in 1848, 216, an increase of 21.2 per cent. in two years, or over three times the growth of the city, which of late was about 6.90 per cent. for two years. This startling disproportion, is more or less true of all large cities. It is a law of our social state, that growing prosperity shall find its drawback in the parallel increase of misery; and that crowded communities, as they offer the most liberal rewards to good conduct and enterprise, so shall contain likewise the most seeds of evil, the strongest temptations to vice, the largest amount of misery. And besides our own neglected and depraved population, the tide of emigration, now setting in stronger and stronger every year, while it enriches our country, leaves much of its refuse in our city. Pauper families, and even felons, are not unfrequently sent over to us, as a cheap way of disposing of them, by the selfishness or mistaken humanity of those whose duty it is to provide for them at home, thus swelling the number of houseless, friendless and lawless youth, drifting loose upon society, to become utterly ship-wrecked, unless the active hand of benevolence is stretched out to save them.”

Of those children received in 1848, 209 were boys, (192 white and 17 colored,) and 55 were girls, (45 white and 10 colored.) 140 of the whole number were from the Police and Sessions of the city, and of the white children only THIRTY-NINE were of American parentage. 127 were of Irish birth! Of 141 boys discharged, 53 were indentured to farmers, 14 to shoemakers, and 19 sent to sea; and of 47 girls discharged, 33 were indentured to housewifery. The average age of the inmates received during 1848, was thirteen and two and a half twelfths years. Seventy-seven were over fifteen when received.

_New House of Refuge at Rochester._--Our readers are perhaps aware, that an institution similar to the present House of Refuge in New York, is about to be established in Rochester for the accommodation of the Western counties of the State. A friend has kindly furnished us with the following description of the buildings, &c. Mr. Wood, the present superintendent of the New York House of Refuge, is expected to take charge of the new establishment, and the discipline will probably be substantially the same. An appropriation is expected at the present session of the legislature, that will enable inmates to be received this spring. No provision is yet made for females.

“At present,” says our correspondent, “they have only erected a main or centre building and one wing. The whole length of this building is 234 feet. Main building 86 by 60 feet. Wing 148 by 32 feet, terminated by a building 37 feet square. The basement of stone, 10 feet in the clear, walls above of brick. The basement in the main building is intended for the culinary department; that in the wing for wash-rooms, bathing-room and workshops. The first and second floors of the main building are divided into four rooms, with suitable closets, and three halls, with staircases. The main hall in the centre is 15 feet wide; side halls to communicate with the wings 12 feet wide. The rooms on the first floor of the main building are intended for superintendent, matron, &c. The rooms on second story for hospitals and sleeping-rooms for the officers of the institution. The upper or third story of main building is intended for a chapel, 60 by 60 feet, the entrance to which is from the side hall.

“The first story of the wing is divided into two rooms for school and dining rooms, each 70 by 30 feet. In second story of wing are the dormitories for the inmates, two tiers in height, and 86 in number, arranged next the outside wall. Hall 15 feet wide in the centre. Each dormitory is 7½ feet wide and 7½ feet high, and is furnished with a narrow window reaching from floor to ceiling. Dormitory doors are of cast-iron open work for summer ventilation, allowing the air to pass directly across the building; in addition, each dormitory is supplied with fresh air, descending from the cornice by iron pipes, and passing through the iron doors. This building is surrounded by a stone wall, to two feet at the top, 23 feet from the foundation, and 20 feet above ground. The wall is 500 feet long and 400 feet wide, embracing about 4½ acres of land, and cost $12,000. The building, as above described, cost $26,000. The whole is a most perfect piece of workmanship in every respect, built in the very best manner, and is considered a most complete model for such a purpose.

“Attached are 40 acres of land, which it is intended the inmates shall cultivate, thus affording them a healthy employment, and, at the same time, furnishing a supply of vegetables, &c., to the institution. The buildings are situated about a mile from the centre of business, in a fine dry sandy soil.”

We had prepared a sketch of the proceedings at the opening of the State Reform School in Massachusetts, and of the discipline, &c., prescribed there, together with a view and ground plan of the buildings, but our limits are so contracted as to forbid its appearance in the present number.

ART. II.--MORTALITY AND CRIME.

It is not generally known, although the fact has been sufficiently demonstrated by different vital statisticians, that great annual mortality is accompanied by a proportionate increase of births, so that the population is kept at its usual average even if it does not increase. One effect of this mortality and increase of births is the disproportion between the numbers of the young, the improvident, and the thoughtless, and the older, more prudent and considerate. Mr. Slaney, in his report on Birmingham and other towns, made to the commissioners for inquiry into the state of large towns and populous districts, after referring to Mr. Chadwick’s exposure of the popular fallacy, that the sufferings caused by disease, especially among the poor, restrained the increase of population, says: “I have constantly observed, wherever the mortality was high in close, narrow, neglected courts and alleys, there the children swarmed, as if to fill up the places; and it has been demonstrated again and again, that a high mortality in an increasing country, only leads to a great increase of births.” After this preliminary notice, the reader will be able to understand the force of the following remarks on the connection between mortality, (including, of course, its physical and moral causes,) and crime.

Mr. Slaney contrasts the two classes or kinds of inhabitants of the same city, in the one of which the annual mortality is but two, and in the other four per cent. “We shall find the rate of mortality one great criterion of comfort, therefore, of contentment, of good conduct, of moral habits, of intelligence, docility, usefulness and value.”

“In the one case we shall find a population having little to complain of, ready to attend to advice, having had time to learn and to think, having experience from lengthened life, and being valuable subjects, docile and industrious, possessing their chief safe-guard against tumults or disorders, ‘the hope of improving their condition.’ In the other will be found a body, consisting in a great measure of the young, who cannot repay their support; a large proportion of the rest will be inexperienced, untaught, untried, having had no time to learn or to think. All will be more or less reckless, and hard in mind and conduct; they have been formed by the cautious course of circumstances around them; poison to the mind, to the body, has been the course of their only education. Their maxim will be the heathen maxim of old, ‘Eat and drink, to-morrow we die;’ forced by their necessities to labor, experience and wisdom will be wanting; they will not husband their wages, but seek for excitement in intemperance, or low sensual indulgences; their consumption of spirits will be ten times that of the happier class. The gratification of their animal passions will be their chief object; illicit connections will be formed; early ill assorted marriages will take place without any chance of provision for offspring; there will arise multitudes of sickly and neglected children, pressing into the place of those early victims just departed, and to be cut off by the same melancholy process; and thus the scene revolves. This class will eagerly join in mobs or disturbances, partly for the sake of excitement, and because they have _not_ that security for good conduct--the hope of improving their condition.”

Dr. Lyon Playfair, one of the commissioners, in his report on the large town in Lancashire, remarks: “The tendency to crime is increased by the comparatively few old and experienced men left to counteract the haste and inexperience of youth. In the recent mobs in Lancashire, the great majority of the rioters were found to consist of persons just emerging from boyhood; the absence of elderly persons among them was a matter of common remark. Mr. Combe has observed, that the comparative paucity of aged and cautious persons is the cause of the inconsiderate and turbulent movements in America. The obstacles in the spread of education are, also, connected with these causes.”

Dr. Playfair said previously, “The facts exhibited in the preceding sections, will, I apprehend, convincingly show, that a crowded and unhealthy district, with all its inevitable accompaniments of low morals and low intelligence--where the condition of human beings is scarcely above that of animals--where appetite and instinct occupy the place of the higher feelings--where the lowest means of support encourage the most improvident and early marriages,--is not the place where we shall find a diminishing or even stationary population. For the early unions there, are followed by early offspring; and although more than half that offspring may be swept away by disease during early infancy, yet nearly a third of it will grow up, in spite of all the surrounding evils, to follow in the steps of their parents, and in their turn to continue a race ignorant, miserable and immoral as themselves.” In a note, Dr. Playfair makes the following estimate. “If we suppose a district of 50,000 inhabitants, with births as 1 in 22, and deaths as 1 in 33--a ratio not actually as unfavorable as that of Holme--a little calculation will show that, by the end of twelve years, the population will have swollen it to nearly 60,000!”

_Sameness of the Causes of Crime and of Disease._--Dr. Lyon Playfair, in the report already referred to, says expressly: “All the experience acquired during this inquiry, points out that one immediate effect of the operation of morbific causes, even when not present in sufficient intensity to produce direct disease, is to create an appetite for vicious indulgences. It is too common a mistake to transpose the effect for the cause, and to ascribe the disease to the indulgence of those passions, which, in the first place, were created by the low sanatory state of the district.”

To the same purport are the pointed conclusions of Mr. Slaney. He had just been describing the low class of dwellings of the poor and the wretched, and the self-interest of small capitalists to prefer the erection of these to ones of a better description. He goes on to say:

“I have endeavored to describe some of the evils arising from the want of proper sanatory regulations in many of these crowded and neglected places. They may be summed up as follows:

“1st. Shortening the duration of the lives of the community.

“2nd. Disease, suffering and inability to work on the part of many who survive--the cause of great cost to the country.

“3d. Crimes, theft, and the loss of property, which the police constantly point out as arising from these neglected classes.

“4th. Riots, disturbances and drunkenness, which may generally be traced to the same class of persons, often to the same place.

“5th. Great injury to the education of the poor, which is constantly neutralized in its good effects by the neglect and evils they see around them. The same observation applies to the inestimable advantages of religion and of attendance on religious worship.

“6th. Great discontent in some, and sluggish apathy in others, producing recklessness of conduct, indifference, and want of attachment to the institutions of our country.

“7th. The loss in the humbler classes of the cheapest, best and most enduring pleasures, viz., those arising from the kindly influence of the domestic relations between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters--this pure source of happiness derived from mutual kindness, attachment and good offices--is, amid the hardening and disgusting scenes described, almost destroyed.

“Amid such scenes, the children become hardened, careless of cleanliness, unused to order, and all the benefits derived from the best education which may be given, is destroyed by the constant evil examples they see around their homes. This is especially the case with the female sex, who, if early tainted by the disgusting scenes existing in the places described, and by the want of all decency and self-respect there exhibited, become at a future day, the nursing mothers of vice and wretchedness, instead of inculcating the household virtues.”

The sameness of the causes of diseases and of crime, are clearly indicated by the Rev. Mr. Clay in his report in the borough of Preston, as where he says:--

“A map of the town has been made, shaded in those districts which are ill ventilated, drained and cleaned; the increased depth of tint indicating a proportionate degree of dirtiness, &c. The number of deaths in the respective streets is also given, every blue spot representing a death from fever or epidemic disease, and the red spots showing the frequency of death from other disorders. The residences of persons charged with offences during the last year are also indicated, and the whole tends to show, that dirt, disease and crime are concurrent.”

_Overcrowding and Defective Ventilation._--Dr. Southwood Smith, in his evidence before the commissioners for “_Inquiring into the state of large towns and populous districts_,” adduces the following painful, but yet instructive observations. We reproduce them here, not merely as a warning against a remote, or even a threatened evil, but with the hope of stimulating our fellow-citizens to the adoption of such measures as shall eradicate similar nuisances too near their own doors.