Show PRISON REFORM The Meeting of the National Association h AX OPERA COJfl4XY COLLAPSE On the TurfLondon Lines No Bach ThlnaJhe Colleze Cetemony Let Er Como Ktc k National Prison Kefonn AMncla tlon ATLANTA Ga November GThe National Prison Reform Association assembled here tonight at 8 oclock with a good attendance from all part of the country The Opera House was crowded with an audience representing all parts of Geoigia ExGovernor Bullock made the opening address as resident director of ths association He was followed by Governor McDonald and Mayor Hillyer in addresses of welcome wel-come ExPresident Hayes president presi-dent of the association then spoke After a complimentary reference to the choice of the place of meeting the speaker said It is altogether fitting and proper that at the threshold of our proceedings a memorial address should be delivered by a distinguished citizen of New York Mr Dorabeimer on the lite and character of Horatio Seymour the I illustrious gentleman who for many years was president of this association and who was eminent alike as a statesman states-man and as a philanthropist A perusal of the programme for the week will show the intelligent reader that almost every important topic relating to prisons and prison systems to crimes and their prevention to criminals crimi-nals their treatment occupations apd reformation of both sexes and all ages will at some period of the meeting be not merely in order but under dicussion I by members of the association I do not jercfore now enter upon any of these topics the few words I may venture to offer to the origin and transactions of the associations whose members have been so heartily welcomed and as to some of its principles and purposes The father and founder of the National Prison Association was the late Rev E C Wines a learned devoted and persistent leader of American reformers reform-ers nnd prison discipline In 1869 Dr Wines proposed to the Prison Association Associa-tion of New York of which he was corresponding cor-responding secretary the holding of a national prison congress but the New York association judged inexpedient to take the initiatory in favor of the proposed pro-posed convention Dr Vines was profoundly impressed with the importance impor-tance of his plan and after consulting I with a few gentlemen in Boston and I Sew York he prepared the following I dr ft for a call of a National Congress I The undersigned deeming prison discipline dis-cipline a vital interest to iocirty as i well as one of the gravest of social problems and on both these grounds I worthy of the closet study and freest discussion cordially unite in calling a National Congress for conference on criminal punishment and refornatory treatment to be held in the autumn of J870 in the city of Cincinnati The call received ninetyone signatures The speaker then reverted to tHe first meeting uf the associatioh and detailed its objects The facts as to prisons and the treatment of prisoners during and before that period are strange unaccountable unac-countable and almost beyond belief They are so atrocious and forbidding that one cannot even attempt fully to state them before an intelligent audience audi-ence like this Turn to the pages of any volume of history or fiction in which the author dares truthfully to expose the miseries of prison life in a civilized country during the period r ferred to and the thoughtful and fair minded will be at no loss to discover one of the causes why civilization and Christianity have moved forward with such halting steps A writer in the Abrtfc American Review of July 1E39 describes the prisons of Massa chusettsConnecticut Pennsylvania and other States as they were about sixty years ago The detail are too shocking to be repeated The results he states can bi given in a few sentences He describes prisons as abodes of horrible sin and filthy squalid unalleriated misery The result was that the prison became a secret place governed by its own laws or rather by its own precedents pre-cedents an abode of misery in the midst of an enlightened city In which no man not belonging to it had any knowledge of what las transacted within its walls Mr Hayes then related re-lated the history of the organized efforts to improve this condition of things pointed to the results and concluded as follows Let the outcast and criminal be forgotten or disregarded and our whole society willjuffer from the taint of human degradation Like blood poison it will spread through and rough the social system until it reaches the heart This serious and mighty truth imposes a doty which no society can neglect and live As Hayes was speaking General Gordon Gor-don Governorelect appeared on the platform and was cheered Haves soon after the conclusion of Ms Address rose and shook hands with G neral Gordon and the crowd cheered enthusiastically while the band played a medley of Yankee Doodle and i > txev Addresses were made by Henry W Grady of the Atlanta Constitution Judge Emory Speer and General Gordon Gor-don Delegates are arriving on every train and the meeting promises to bs one ot the largest and most interesting ever held by the association |