he ought to do and really wishes to do. He has always done either as he pleased upon impulse, or as he has been forced to do, but never has learned to force himself to do the thing that is hard but right. His observance of prison laws and regulations has by no manner of means taught him this lesson. His choices have been made for him, his rules have been laid down and he has been forced, by the power in charge, to do as he has been ordered. He has learned to be controlled by others, through fear, instead of having learned to control himself, through freedom of choice. It is not within the province of the writer to presume to give advice to those who manage the prisons, for they know how it should be done, and he does not. However, his experience for many years in seeing men make their fight and often fail through lack of self-control may bring to him pardon for the expression of the wish that some system of self-government and control might be devised in our penitentiaries, as well as reformatories, where prisoners may learn the necessity and profit of regulating their lives in harmony with their fellow associates, by their own choice. He feels certain that until they have learned in the prison to relate their lives to their fellows instead of to the officers and guards, they will not, upon their discharge, rightly relate them to society's wholesome habits and just requirements. The writer is not familiar with the methods in vogue in the East for helping discharged prisoners. He hopes to profit by exchange of information in this meeting. Those used in Kansas, where he is best acquainted, are well defined. Services are held in prison, jails and workhouses; public addresses are given weekly in churches, public halls, high schools, and universities; citizens and legislators are interviewed and new laws lobbied for. Such laws, providing for the indeterminate sentence and parole, the juvenile court for every county in the State, the suspended sentence in the district court, have all been passed since the soicety for the friendless was organized; prison leagues have been established in many of the western penitentiaries; over twelve hundred men have been given employment and friendly aid. The work is supported entirely by private subscription, which is increasingly generous as the results have multiplied. Kansas and Missouri are now organized under one board of directors and several other states have affiliated organizations. The men, upon release, are given every necessary assistance and care. It is the custom in the West to take the discharged prisoner directly to the home of some superintendent, that for a few days he may live under his roof, sit at his table, find a home with his family and be made to believe that wholesome and clean ways of living are for him also if he wills it. It is the custom then to find him congenial employment, to fit him out with an extra suit of clothes, a change of underwear and if necessary, an overcoat. These are contributed by friends of the society over the State. A suitable boarding place is found, new friends are provided, money is loaned and board bills are guaranteed if necessary, and he is given friendship, oversight and counsel in his effort to live a new life. The writer had one hundred and fiftyeight such ex-prisoners in his home last year. Little can be known by the public of the heroism and the pathos of the struggle which many a man makes with the all-butoverpowering odds against him. Success achieved by others with hardly an effort, can be attained by him only after an almost superhuman struggle. Right choices that make themselves for others, are absolutely heroic for him. Had he their habits and self-control, half the effort with which he now barely escapes failure would bring him splendid success. Knowing nothing of his battles, others cannot realize the fight he makes for his victories. e. g. (1) A Scotch Irishman, forty-six years old, made the remark during his first meal at our house, that it was the first time in his life that he had eaten at a table where they had napkins. He was not without much native ability and an instinctive mannerliness. His mother had died when he was a baby and he had had no home since seven years of age. He had been a drunkard for years, had been in jail several times for pilfering when drunk, and finally was sent to prison for breaking into a box-car and stealing merchandise. He was released on parole. There never was a kinder man about the house and after he was provided with employment and a boarding place no week passed without his coming back once or twice for a little call. He said that it was the only home that he had ever had. He never drank another drop of liquor, he chose an entirely new sort of companions and when discharged from parole had two hundred dollars in bank. During that time, when the family of the superintendent were away on a visit and the superintendent himself away about half the time, this man was given the keys of the home and stayed there in full charge for seven weeks. (2) Another notable case is that of a man who had been a criminal for thirty years. He had spent thirteen years in prisons and had stolen during the other seventeen years an average of more money each year than any Prisoners' Aid Society in the United States expends annually. He had never earned a day's wages outside the penitentiaries. That man has been toiling in heat and cold and has been self-supporting and absolutely honest for the last year and a half. In the panic last fall he was temporarily out of work and money, yet his courage did not leave him nor his success fail. Such men are in direst need. It is a happiness to grip their hands and to strengthen their purpose; to have them sleep under one's roof, eat at one's table and breathe hope and courage at one's fireside. Some are good, some indifferent, some bad. It is not for us to choose among them but to offer opportunity to every one who knocks at our doors. There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the place of their self-content; There are souls like stars, that dwell apart, In a fellowless firmament; There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths, But let me live by the side of the road, Let me live in a house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by; The men that are good, and the men that are bad, As bad and as good as I. I would not sit in the scorner's seat, Nor hurl the cynic's ban; Let me live in a house by the side of the road, And be a friend to man. I see from my house, by the side of the road, And the men who are faint with the strife. Both parts of an infinite plan; Let me live in a house by the side of the road, And be a friend to man. DISCUSSION. Rev. E. A. Fredenhagen, Missouri-I wish to add a word to Mr. Brainerd's paper. It is the plan of the Society for the Friendless to have a report from every district superintendent. In the year 1907 in Kansas and Missouri 421 people were cared for in three homes and given a new start. We want to stand as a society with an ever open door, to uplift men coming from prison, helping them to honest labor at living wages, and giving them the aftercare that such men need from those who are stronger than they. We believe it to be the mission of our society to work for laws that shall make our penal institutions reformatory; for preventive movements that shall propagate juvenile court laws and compulsory education; and all efforts toward preventive legislation. Dr. M. A. Bullock, Nebraska-The Nebraska Prison Society meets the man that has a bundle. If he wishes work, employment is found for him and he is given the opportunity to earn an honest living. Since the Nebraska Prison Society was organized six years ago, we have assisted 630 men, 72 per cent. of whom have been saved to good citizenship. I do not mean that 28 per cent. have been lost. Many of those have depended upon themselves. Others have passed out of our province and we have lost track of them. They may or they may not be making good; we do not know; but we do know that 72 per cent. of those we have assisted have been saved. That is the way we are helping the man with the bundle. Rev. D. J. Starr, Ohio-This work is so very great and the results are so very satisfactory that I wonder we have not taken action to have such a society organized in every State repre sented in this Association. I am quite sure that is just what is needed. It is impossible for any one society to spread itself all over this country. E. McQueen Gray, New Mexico-I should like to speak of the work of the Society for the Friendless in New Mexico. In my experience a prisoner has very definite ideas as to where he wants to settle. When he tells me he wants to settle in such a place, I go to the place, interview some prominent men and find out the sentiment of the people with regard to this man settling in their place. Sometimes they are opposed. He may have had some connection with a feud or there may be some reasons why they think his presence is not advisable or desired. Sometimes argument or discussion induces them to change their minds, but other times not. I think it is essential when a prisoner wants to settle down in a place that the people of that place who feel themselves to a certain extent responsible for the well-being of society, approve of it. That is a point of view which is often overlooked. We are often inclined to consider only the prisoner. So I never place a prisoner or help a prisoner to be placed in any town or village without assuring myself first of all that he will have the support of the men who feel responsible for the well-being of the town and that they will give him a helping hand. I think we should bear this in mind in helping discharged prisoners. We have not only to work for the best interest of the prisoners, but also for the best interest of the locality. Adjourned 4:50 p. m. |