The mucous membrane has other uses, more natural, than to undergo the penalties of human law. The prison physician, too often a tyro or a third-rate practitioner, should be skillful and humane in a profession eminent for skill and humanity. "A French traveler, imaginative and brave, has discovered the gorilla in our time; for years he was thought to have invented that crea.ure. Recent reports speak of the dodo as still existent. Wonders will never cease; we live in hope that somebody in America will either discover or invent that almost unheard of being, the prison-schoolmaster. He is found in Ireland and in some other parts of Europe; but his appearance in most of our American prisons would excite as much surprise as to see the great Irish elk striding about the corridors or stretching his horns up for exhibition among the muskets and manacles in the guard room. Rumors have reached us that there are schoolmasters in some of the western prisons; but in Massachusetts we are slow to believe it. There is a school there at Charlestown, but no schoolmaster. Distant hopes are held out that one will be forthcoming by-and-by, if people are good and do not find too much fault with the prison authorities. The warden thinks a school with a schoolmaster 'would prove highly beneficial to the convicts, state and contractors;' the chaplain gives still another argument against the present arrangement when he says: 'The fact that some in prison cannot read, and many have a very limited education, is not only lamentable in itself, but it embarrasses a chaplain's plans and limits his usefulness. It is, therefore, sincerely to be hoped that our state will make more liberal provisions for removing from her convicts the fetters of ignorance which exclude the light of God's revealed word.' For whatever reason this hope may be entertained, it is a worthy one, but it can never be fulfilled until the prison schoolmaster appears. Nor will it be expedient to dispense with him on the ground that the chaplain can do his work, for in a large prison the chaplain's own duties are quite enough to tax one earnest man's whole energies. Take, for example, a congregate prison like that of Massachusetts, with 650 convicts. Should the chaplain labor there for ten hours a day, this would allow each convict almost one minute of his time each day, half an hour every month, and a little more than half a day every year. Unless the chaplain is peculiarly gifted in his mission (as he ought to be, but seldom is, so far as my own observation has reached,) he can hardly accomplish much for his hearers in those odd minutes and half hours. 66 THE RESULTS, ACTUAL AND POSSIBLE, OF PRISON DISCIPLINE. "The actual result of American prison discipline, as a whole, cannot be to decrease crime; for crime increases yearly, both in frequency and in atrocity. It has often been said that our prisons, upon the whole, increase crime; which we regard as probably true. Now, the possible results of a good system of prisons, faithfully administered, are much better than this. It is possible to reform and restore to society a considerable number of our convicts— since in some prisons it has been done. It is possible to deter others from crime through fear of consequences, and thus to keep out many men who are sentenced to prison now. It is possible to hold in confinement, for longer periods than is now done, those prisoners who have benefited nothing by their imprisonment, and who are either actually or virtually incorrigible. These general results, if once obtained, would be a great gain over what we see now existing; but along with the effort to secure these should go a much more systematic and persistent endeavor to prevent discharged convicts from returning to crime, to reduce the number actually confined in the minor prisons, and to improve the reformatory character of those prisons. The taint and corruption of prison life is much more likely to be communicated in a first or second imprisonment than in the longer terms to which our state prison convicts are generally sentenced; and it seems to be true that a great many young persons are now shut up for brief periods in the minor prisons, who might just as well be elsewhere, and much better in reformatories. What is most needed is the close and earnest attention of good people (to a much greater extent than is now given), directed toward the whole subject of crime and its penalties, and especially towards the prevention of crime. And one great merit of the Crofton system of penal discipline is this: that it gives "ample room and verge enough" for practical philanthrophy to labor, in ways where what is to be done, by each person and for each person, is plainly seen, where the process can be understood, the common sense and common humanity of mankind called into aid, and the results made so clear, even to the skeptical, that it is capable of enlisting in its service a much greater number of workers than any other system yet devised. To introduce and perfect its methods in America seems to be a task worthy of the whole energies of our association." CHAPTER SEVENTH. STATE CHARITABLE AND CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS. The following table will exhibit what the state has appropriated for the support of the various Charitable and Correctional Institutions from their foundation; also what is asked by these institutions for current expenses and for permanent improvements for the year ending February 1, 1876: I. WISCONSIN INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. [Located at Janesville.] The board of trustees of the institution is as follows: Terms expire April, 1875-J. D. Rexford, Janesville, Rock county; J. B. Whiting, M. D., Janesville, Rock county. Terms expire April, 1876-Wm. H. Tripp, Janesville Rock county; A. A. Jackson, Janesville, Rock county. Term expires April, 1877-J. B. Doe, Janesville, Rock county. OFFICERS OF THE BOARD. President-A: A. Jackson. Treasurer-J. D. Rexford. Secretary-J. B. Whiting. OFFICERS OF THE INSTITUTION. Superintendent- Thomas H. Little, M. A. Teachers-Mrs. S. C. Little, Miss A. T. Hobart, Miss S. A. Matron-Mrs. Maria H. Whiting. Foreman of Shop-James Stephens. TABLE Showing Cost of Construction; Current Expenses; Total Cost to the State by Appropriation; Whole number and Average Number of Pupils, of the Institu tion since its Foundation. The foregoing table shows what the institution has received from state appropriations only, and the cost per capita is estimated, from year to year, upon the amount appropriated for current expenses, without reference to the reports of the institution treasurer to ascertain just the amount that was actually expended for that purpose. The object of this table, and similar ones of other state institutions, is to give a general view of the cost to the state. To such a plan as we have followed, we think there can be no objection. One year with another, it will prove about as fair as any estimate, and reasonably correct for the purposes intended. THE RECEIPTS Of the institution for the year ending September 30, 1874, as reported to this board, is as follows: On hand September 30, 1873 .... From State Treasurer on appropriation.. for barn... on appropriation.. From Supt. for clothing and traveling expenses of pupils. apparatus and books. ... sales from girls' work department.. sales of pigs.... sales of vegetables $2,946 52 5, 125 00 2,800 00 14,250 00 186 55 46 19 86 49 219 18 34 14 32 50 24 00 13 91 20 00 19 70 $25,804 18 |