the fer Iar to the position and its emoluments owes something to others. The community does not owe something to him because he belongs to the party that happened to gain the victory. 1-Dec e of th The first application of this general principle is that every person should have an opportunity to be examined for a position and be placed upon an was eligible list, without regard to his creed or his party. Sometimes we meet these this objection: "This is a scheme for building up an office-holding class." Just the opposite is true. It is the only way in which, without regard to gor party, every citizen that has sufficient capacity and training can offer himWE ST self to the examiner or to a non-partisan examining board and say: "I have per just as good a right as anyone to be a candidate for this place." When a noncar partisan and thorough examination has been conducted and he has made a oer good showing he is placed upon the eligible list. This is the first step. But the politicians who deal in the spoils system caricature it and mis10 represent it. They say that this examination does not amount to anything; that we examine a man in the infinitesimal calculus and in Greek and Latin and Hebrew in order to see if he can carry the hod for the building of a public structure. Of course, such gross falsehoods as these are easily answered. But someone has said that if the examination consisted in nothing more than jumping over a broomstick it would be better than the present want of principle. It would at least be an impartial test if we know whether a man was sober enough to jump over a broomstick or ride a bicycle. It certainly would be one step in advance of some of the methods in vogue in many of our cities. For what is the usual test? "I have served you, sir. I have done some very unclean work for you, sir. It was repugnant even to me, with my strong and unsqueamish stomach. It was very hard for me to do that dirty piece of work, Mr. Alderman or Mr. Congressman, and now I want an office." That is his examination; that is his catechism. What we want is some sort of knowledge for each particular task. If a man applied for a position as bookkeeper in any of our institutions he should prove that he can at least read and write. That would be a reasonable requirement. And it is for something as reasonable as that that the real civil service reformers are asking. Compared with the present law of bossism, would not that be a step in advance? But it is only the first step. The second step is probation. Objectors say: "You expect to let people pass a college examination, and then take a place as superintendent of an asylum for the insane or a public prison." Nothing of the sort. We believe that people should pass an examination simply to show certain qualities, a certain level of intelligence and capacity for learning. We do not say they have yet learned. The applicant goes into his probation period, and under practical administrators he works his way up, and at last he gains his place by an apprenticeship, as in any occupation. The third rule is the principle of security of office during the period of efficiency. If we are to change the offices with every change of partisan administration there is no public guaranty whatever that we can have skill. I have known a township trustee who was by the wisdom of the community, without any such rule as this, kept in his place fifteen years in succession, because he knew the people and he knew their wants. That was a wise community. He could avail himself of all he had learned about the families of the town and the best methods of helping them, and he made for himself a very honorable record indeed. And that is the thing we want to proclaim and insist upon, year after year, until public opinion requires it. This means keeping each prisoner in a distinct and separate cell, and ada ting them to the corridor for exercise, one at a time. The reasons for th are obvious. Take a man arrested for some small crime, throw him into ce tact with hardened criminals, men made desperate and reckless by a long li of crime, and what is the result? Not one in a thousand but what becomes worse instead of better. Congregating prisoners affords opportunities plot how escapes may be made, arrange signals for notice of the approac of the turnkey, to tell foul stories, and to concoct all manner of crimes, to b perpetrated as soon as the prisoners may be free men. While it is impos sible to prevent entirely communication between cells, solitary confinement surely reduces the harm to a minimum. I recommend separate and disting divisions of jails, one for persons awaiting trial for serious charges, one for prisoners serving short-time jail sentences, one for women and one for chil dren. Minnesota has not, I believe, so constructed her jails, except in rare cases, and I think this matter should be regulated by harsher state legisla tion than exists at present, if it cannot be done otherwise. As to the care of jails, they should be kept absolutely clean, and this can be done with comparatively little trouble. The prisoners should be required to take particular care of their persons, and I have had but little difficulty in making them do so. I advocate a plentiful supply of clean, wholesome food, and I consider that the moral welfare of prisoners should be looked after and opportunities given at stated intervals for religious services and spiritual instruction. Their mental condition can also be improved by providing suitable reading matter and persuading them to use it. A deep and lasting responsibility rests with the officer in charge, and it is undoubtedly true that the most poorly constructed jail in the country, with good management and careful supervision, is better for the inmates and tends to lessen crime tenfold more than the best and most modern buildings and appliances under the charge of a neglectful and incompetent management. Enforced idleness is the greatest trouble. I should like to see steps taken to provide employment of some kind. I believe it to be the duty of every sheriff to make himself, as nearly as may be, familiar with the circumstances surrounding each prisoner, and in this way we can often give such advice to the prosecuting attorney as to almost assure the meting out of justice. Many criminals escape just punishment by the lack of evidence, and many more receive unjust punishment through lethargy on their part and insufficient knowledge of the merits of the case on the part of the prosecution. Thus justice is thwarted in many instances, and innocent men made future criminals in others. These things can be averted in a large measure by the sheriff making himself thoroughly acquainted with the conditions of each person brought under his charge. Prison abuses can never be wholly eradicated, but by enforcing the isolation of each prisoner as far as may be, by watching him closely, getting at his past history and trying to direct his mind in the right channels, I am sure much good can be accomplished. I am afraid that few of us realize the gravity of our positions, but a very little study in penology ought to bring us to a thorough appreciation of the stern reality of the conditions which we are obliged to face. We can do wonders in the way of rendering assistance to this board in lessening crime, PROPER FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNTY JAIL. 25 Parate we all work together and keep the necessity of careful supervision in perT ever in mind. The most difficult class of prisoners to deal with are the women. They e usually (at least, in my experience) of the lowest order. How to deal ith them is a puzzle to me, and it is a matter upon which I am, up to this same, in the dark. Every jail should have a competent and conscientious Patron, who can do much towards bettering the mental and moral condicon of these women, but I have found those with whom I have been brought When contact very reserved and hard to get at. itary 1 The care of children also puzzles me, and I lay particular stress upon the taecessity of providing suitable separate apartments for them. In Minnedasota jails with scarcely an exception, there is no alternative except to put Woche boy into a cell, in one of the main cellrooms, where it is impossible to prevent his being brought into direct contact with men of depraved charracter, vicious habits, blasphemous and foul speech. If any evidence of the truth of this statement is lacking, come with me to any jail in the land and where this state of things exists (and it is almost universal), and I will furThe nish it. Watch the delight with which the old offender teaches the boy vile the practices, fills his mind with foul, highly colored and untruthful stories. He relates to his awe-struck listener vivid episodes in his own life of crime, I showing success in this theft, that assault, and so on. He throws such a glamor around the life that the lad feels injured by the fact that he is ina carcerated, and then and there is enlisted in that great army of evil-doers whose lists seem ever-swelling and growing until no man can see the end. The jail is sometimes called the school of crime; the jail is the building, the criminal the teacher, and the lad the unfortunate scholar. Touching briefly on the insane subject, each one is a study. I cannot see that any general ideas can be advanced except a plentiful use of kindness and sympathy with the peculiar hallucination the patient is laboring under. I strongly recommend providing a padded cell for each jail, for use in extreme cases. I want to quote here an extract from an Illinois report, issued in 1872: "Our deliberate judgment is, that the practical value of jails, whether as means of prevention or of cure of crime, compared with their great cost, is very trifling. We find, upon inquiry, that others have arrived at the same conclusion before us. In fact, this opinion is shared by nearly all who have given this subject any attention. Probably no other equal expenditure of money is equally unprofitable." While written away back in 1872, it seems to be a general proposition of to-day, and one applicable to many states. In view of this situation, what can be done? It is certainly necessary that punishment should be meted out. A place must be provided for those awaiting trial and one for those serving short sentences. It is truly self-evident that these necessary functions of a jail should be so administered as not to demoralize. In fact, they should tend to elevate those brought into it. How is this to be accomplished? The only satisfactory solution seems to be, so far as I know, what is called the district jail system, these jails to be situated in various parts of the state, and operated by the state instead of the county, with appointive instead of elective officers. My three principal reasons are these: It is a practical impossibility in county jails to enforce the cellular system. In my own jail I have thirty |