Show I CRIMINALS IN THE SOUTH The question of methods of punishment punish-ment for crime or rather the question ques-tion of the disposition to be made of criminals while undergoing punishment punish-ment where they are to be bestowed and how guarded is fast becoming a most serious one in tome of the uthern States It appears to many thoughtful observers that the sheer impossibility of finding room or secure prison aocoaoodatioas for the swarms and herds of criminals convicted con-victed of theft must lead to changes in the laws relating to crimes of this class and to some relaxation of the penalties now provided This is the characteristic crime of the negroes that is the thefts committed by them greatly outnumber those committed by white men and the expense to which the Stale is subjected has already al-ready reached alarming proportions But the expense incurred is not the worst feature in the case These prisoners or criminals white and colored together are so numerous that they constitute a distinct social element or factor in the life and civilization civil-ization of the community or state with an appreciable influence upon public opinion sentiment and morale mor-ale Their class must be recognized in any just surveyof existing conditions condi-tions and tendencies as the source of potent formative or educating forces as so many people are constantly in contact with them either as guards or in other necessary relations In the streets of some Southern capitals the penitentiary stripes are nearly always in sight worn usually by men who are trusted to labor or attend to errands outside the prison inclosures often indeed withoui being accompanied accom-panied by a jard In one instance I met a handsome young man wearing wear-ing the prison garb at various times in the streets and at places of business i busi-ness in the city and inquired regard ing his crime and origin I was told that he had murdered his moet intimate inti-mate friend and companion in a drunken quarrel and that his conduct con-duct had been so satisfactory during his imprisonment that ha would probably soon be released pardoned out to quote the phrase used I observed that he chatted with the young ladies behind the counters in the stores and other customers with ease and selfpossession and it was plain in this as in many other cases that neither the criminal nor the people about him felt that he was in any wise degraded by his crime or that he was inconsequence of it to suffer exclusion from pleasant social relations with the community The penalties now for some of the most common crimes do not constitute any real punishment for such men as make up the mass of criminals in the Southern States where I have examined exam-ined the prisons and the methods of their management As many of them are not confined to the prison nor even to the enclosure around it and I as the labor of such convicts is by no msans severe being usually performed per-formed in a very leisurelymanner their life is not destitute of compensations compensa-tions and attractions for many idle worthless negroes and young white men They are brought up from dull little country towns where they had mighty hard work to live to the city where they have a chance to see all the sights with better food clothing and shelter than they ever enjoyed before What ia to be the course of society under the conditions of modern life in its treatment of the classes requiring control and protection pro-tection criminals paupers and insane in-sane persons and what is to be the effect of the reflux influence which these classes will in turn exert upon society are of course somewhat serious problems in all civilized countries and we have abundant material and opportunity for oberva tion and experiment here in America Amer-ica February Atlantic |