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Show A Gullible Legislature and the IZeform School. The special trouble hunting committee of the house that came to Ogden on Sunday last succeeded suc-ceeded in discovering more pent up crime and startling sensationalism than Ogden has been guilty of since the exploitation of the padded payrolls. That special bunch of legislators came up for the purpose of visiting informally the state reformatory. Many of them, no doubt, were entire strangers to the nature of the institution and, instead of coming to see a complex assortment assort-ment of young criminals pronounced incorrigible by the courts, they evidently were looking for a bevy of modest maidens and a collection of unusually un-usually good little boys. They were disappointed, disappoint-ed, of course. The placd Is full of all kinds, (except (ex-cept good) of little poachers on the leniency of society, and if they are not useful members, they certainly are bright enough not to be dull. The way some of these little George Washington story tellers imposed on the raw members of the visiting vis-iting delegation was a caution. These boys know a good thing when they both see and hear It, so when they found sympathetic ears and open mouths ready to take in any old song and dance they did not do a thing but give the law-makers what they were looking for. And the way the visitors broke into the papers! They left the impression that, coming up on a Sunday, they expected to find a Sunday school in session, the girls wearing crowns and the boys haloes. No, gentlemen, the Reform school at Ogden is the State School of Correction; it is filled to overflowing over-flowing with the worst class of the viscious, incorrigible in-corrigible youth of the state, every one of whom lias been passed upon by the District court. There is no separate dormitory for the girls. There should be enough money appropriated for a comfortable manual training department and additional ad-ditional room for instruction in the industrial arts. The inmates should be kept busy. They are not the class of boys and girls that like to study, or they would not be there. When they are idle they get into all kinds of mischief and will not hesitate to lie to get out of it. They also fix up sensational stories for gullible legislators when they come around nosing for trouble. The reporters, too, are good things. They are a little lit-tle short of news for Monday morning so they follow the sight-seeing law-makers and get a good story. & The result of the Sunday visit will be, no doubt, an increased appropriation so that the much needed improvements at the institution can be made. All's well that ends well. Neither the school nor Ogden will have any kick coming if the legislature does the right thing in the way of an appropriation. Come up again, boys, take a good look around and see if you can't discovor that what the Reform school needs Is help, not hurt. jt jt & It's a long roll that has no burning. |
