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 University of California. 
 
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CHAPTERS 
 
 SOCIAL SCIENCE 
 
 AS CONNECTED WITH 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION 
 
 OF 
 
 STATE CHARITIES. 
 
 GEORGE L. HARRISON. 
 
 IE 1 IR, I 2ST T E ID 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 I8 77 . 
 
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 
 
 GEORGE L. HARRISON, 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT, 
 
 No. 233 South Fifth Street, 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
I UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 I CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ^\^-_ __ , _ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE following pages aYe selected from papers originally con 
 tributed to the annual reports of the Board of Public Charities 
 of the State of Pennsylvania by the president of the Board. 
 They appeared in those reports as published by order of the 
 legislature in the years 1870 to 1874, inclusive. The writer has 
 deemed it advisable to collect them into one volume for his 
 own gratification and that of his friends, venturing to think that 
 thus they may not be without some further utility. 
 
 It might have seemed desirable to recast and rewrite the whole, 
 digesting what pertains to each of the subjects discussed into one 
 consistent and continuous treatise adjusted to the present time. 
 But this would have cost much labor, and would have been, in fact, 
 the production of an entirely new work, and, especially, would 
 have defeated a leading design of the writer in having this volume 
 printed, which was, to keep the whole in its original association 
 with the past. It has been thought best, therefore, to leave the 
 several chapters in their historical character, each with its proper 
 date, appending such notes and explanations as may seem required 
 by the state of the several questions at the present time. 
 
 The original form, therefore, remains, as addressed to the legis 
 lature under the circumstances then existing. There have been 
 some slight omissions, but no additions in the text, and no modifi 
 cations either in the sentiments or the expression, of sufficient 
 importance to be mentioned. 
 
 The whole is dedicated to my family and friends and those who 
 come after me, as a memorial of labors which have been for many 
 years among the most cherished and most absorbing objects of 
 my life. 
 
 The volume does not seek the public eye, but, while it does not 
 challenge, it does not shun either perusal or criticism. 
 
 May, 1877. G. L. H. 
 
 (iii) 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Compulsory Education (1871), i 
 
 2. Schools of Reform (1873), 37 
 
 3. Reformation of Neglected, Destitute, and Vicious 
 
 Children (1874), 76 
 
 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 1. Prison Discipline (1871), 89 
 
 2. Benevolence in Punishment and in Provision for the 
 
 Poor (1871), 100 
 
 3. Crime and Prison Economy (1872), 105 
 
 4. Prison Reform (1874), 224 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 1. Insane Hospitals (1872), 243 
 
 2. Plea for the Insane (1873), 2 6i 
 
 3. Addendum to Plea (1873), 3& 1 
 
 4. Provision for the Insane Poor (1874), 396 
 
 5. Concluding chapter (1870-1877), 433 
 
 (v) 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 COMPULSORY EDUCATION. 
 
 IN the report of this board for 1870, the last topic 
 presented was that of neglected children. The legis 
 lature was then appealed to, by the highest considera 
 tions of the interests and duty of the State, to make 
 provision for their care and education. " The average 
 of social virtue, dignity, and wealth," it was then said, 
 " is much reduced by the presence of this debased and 
 debasing ingredient. And it is a problem well worthy 
 of the gravest and most patient thought of philan 
 thropic political economists, whether anything, and (if 
 anything) what can be done for the rescue of these un 
 fortunates from their ill-starred condition, for the 
 protection of the community which they deteriorate, 
 and for the purity, welfare, and honor of the State, the 
 mother of them all." 
 
 This evil exists in all parts of the country, but is most 
 patent and pressing in large cities and crowded com 
 munities. The remedy what it shall be, and how it 
 shall be applied is a subject beset with grave diffi 
 culties ; but they are difficulties which must be sooner 
 or later manfully met and grappled with. The stability 
 and welfare of the State and its free institutions, the 
 
2 EDUCATION. 
 
 interests and safety of every citizen, and the weal or 
 woe of the thousands of innocent and helpless victims, 
 are involved in the question and wait upon your 
 solution. 
 
 This is an eminently proper subject for this board 
 to bring to your attention, both as a " Board of Public 
 Charities," and as being required by law to report on 
 the causes and remedies of vice and crime. 
 
 No almshouse, no hospital, no asylum or refuge for 
 the poor, the diseased, the insane, the imbecile, the in 
 ebriate, or the juvenile offender, is more a work of 
 charity, than would be a provision for the care and 
 education of these neglected children. No courts of 
 justice, no prisons or penitentiaries, or houses of cor 
 rection, or reformatory schools, can tend more directly 
 or powerfully to the diminution of vice and crime, than 
 schools and homes for these poor unfortunates, ever 
 growing up in ignorance and pernicious habits, pre 
 paring to leaven our whole social condition, and to 
 assist in making our laws. 
 
 According to the census of 1860 (the data of that 
 for 1870 are not accessible), the number of adults who 
 could not read was : 
 
 In the United States, of the whole adult population, 20 per cent. 
 
 of the white adult population, 9 " 
 " " of the native white adult popu 
 lation, 7J/2 
 
 In New York, of the whole adult population, .... 6 " 
 
 " of the native white adult population, . . \y 2 " 
 
 In Massachusetts, of the whole adult population, . . . 7 " 
 
 of the native white adult population, ^ " 
 
 In Maine, of the whole adult population, 3 k 
 
 " of the native white adult population, ... ^ " 
 
EDUCATION. 3 
 
 In Pennsylvania, of the whole adult population, . . 6 per cent. 
 " of the native white adult population, 3^ " 
 
 It is to be observed that only the number of the 
 adult population is here referred to in each case. 
 
 Of the native white population (adult) the number 
 of illiterate adults, less their proportion of adults who 
 were idiotic, insane, deaf-mutes, and blind, was : 
 
 In Massachusetts, 230 
 
 In Maine, J^S ? 
 
 In Pennsylvania, . 34,47 
 
 Thus the number in Pennsylvania was five to one 
 of that in Maine, in proportion to the native white 
 population of the respective States ; while in Massa 
 chusetts, the result shows, if the returns are correct, 
 that more than two hundred and thirty of the idiotic, 
 insane, deaf-mute, and blind adults must have been 
 taught to read, which is undoubtedly the fact. Since 
 1860, great improvements have been made in the con 
 stitution and working of the school system in Pennsyl 
 vania, and it is to be presumed that the proportion of 
 illiteracy among her native white population has greatly 
 diminished. Under such circumstances, the much 
 greater proportion of illiteracy among the foreign- 
 born population, though a great, is but a temporary, 
 evil. 
 
 In reckoning the twenty per cent, of illiteracy in 
 1860, in the whole adult population of the United 
 States, it is to be observed that the slaves were set 
 down, according to their legal status, as all untaught 
 to read, which was then not far from the fact. 
 
4 EDUCATION. 
 
 NON-ATTENDANCE OF CHILDREN AT SCHOOL. 
 
 The number of children of the school age (from 
 five to fifteen), not attending the public schools at all, 
 was : 
 
 In Massachusetts, in 1869 and 1870, 9 per cent. 
 
 " average absence of pupils. .... 19 " 
 
 In Pennsylvania, in 1869 and 1870, 6 " 
 
 average absence of pupils, . . . . 33 " 
 
 In Philadelphia, in 1869 and 1870, 12 " 
 
 " average absence of pupils, .... 46 " 
 
 In New York (school age five to twenty-one), in 1869, 24 " 
 
 The number of pupils in academies and private 
 schools, in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, may about 
 balance the number in the public schools, of pupils 
 under five and over fifteen years of age. 
 
 If, then, we make due allowance for the number of 
 imbecile, insane, deaf-mute, and blind, for those taught 
 to read at home, for those detained from school by 
 chronic sickness, for those (particularly between the 
 ages of five and eight) not yet sent to school, but who 
 will attend hereafter, and for those (particularly between 
 the ages of twelve and fifteen) not attending school in 
 the given year, but who had already learned to read in 
 former years, the percentage of absolute non-attend 
 ance in these two States will be reduced to a very low 
 figure, probably to not more than one or two per cent., 
 which is quite enough. And the apparent advantage 
 of Pennsylvania over Massachusetts, in the percentage, 
 may, it is not unlikely, arise from some difference in 
 the manner of making the returns. 
 
EDUCATION. 5 
 
 In Pennsylvania, the whole number of pupils regis 
 tered in the public schools, during the whole year, are 
 reported. In Massachusetts, the highest number at 
 tending for any time, that is, in the winter schools, is 
 given. In other words, in Massachusetts the highest 
 number attending the summer schools is returned, and 
 the highest number attending- the winter schools ; but 
 
 o o 
 
 though many pupils attend in summer and not in 
 winter, and conversely, no attempt is made to give the 
 full number of different names registered at both sea 
 sons of the year. However this point of comparison 
 may be settled, any doubtful advantage in this respect 
 is more than balanced by our manifest disadvantage 
 
 * o 
 
 in the average absenteeism of those actually regis 
 tered as pupils. 
 
 If due allowance is made for the longer period of 
 school age in New York, it will probably be found that, 
 at least outside of the city of New York, the school 
 system of that State is quite as effective in reaching 
 the whole population as that of either Massachusetts 
 or Pennsylvania. 
 
 It is in the large cities, as is shown by the statistics 
 of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Reading, and other large 
 cities, that the greatest proportion of neglected and 
 uninstructed children is found ; and in such communi 
 ties the proportion is appalling. It cannot be less in 
 Philadelphia, after all such allowances as those before 
 referred to are made, than about six per cent, of the 
 whole number of children of the school age that is 
 to say, about ten or eleven thousand. And the huge 
 and unparalleled proportion of absence to attendance 
 of the pupils themselves, viz., forty-six to fifty-four, is 
 scarcely less appalling. 
 
6 EDUCATION. 
 
 IGNORANCE AND CRIME. 
 
 Ignorance not only entails vice and wretchedness 
 upon the individual, and loss and expense upon the 
 State, but it is a fruitful source of crime. This might 
 be presumed from the nature of the case, without 
 facts ; but facts establish it. 
 
 The percentage of convicts in State prisons, who 
 were unable to read on admission, as reported in 
 1868, was : 
 
 In the whole United States, 28 per cent. 
 
 In New York, 15 " 
 
 In Pennsylvania, 16 " 
 
 In Maine, 10 " 
 
 How far the result in the nation, as a whole, may 
 have been influenced by the presence of the freed- 
 men, it is not possible for us, at present, to determine; 
 but it appears that, even assuming all the freedmen to 
 be illiterate, the number of uninstructed convicts was 
 nearly three to two of what it should have been in 
 proportion to the whole number of the illiterate popu 
 lation of the United States. 
 
 To the percentage of illiterate of the whole adult 
 population, and of the adult native white population, 
 respectively, the percentage of illiterate convicts was: 
 
 In New York, as 2^ and 10 to i. 
 
 In Pennsylvania, as 2^ and 5 to i. 
 
 In Maine, as 3^3 and 13 to i. 
 
 And, after making the proper comparisons, it will 
 appear that, if all the people in these States had 
 
EDUCATION. 7 
 
 learned to read, the number of State prison convicts 
 would probably have been diminished just about ten 
 per cent. 
 
 DUTY OF THE STATE. 
 
 To furnish the needful education, therefore, to her 
 neglected children, is what the State owes to them 
 is what the State owes to herself. Charity requires 
 it ; prudence and statesmanship command it. And, 
 accordingly, we shall not hesitate to proceed to con 
 sider the subject in both these relations. 
 
 But when we propose to bring our schools to bear 
 especially on this unfortunate class, we are met, in 
 limine, with the objection that our present school sys 
 tem already provides for the whole case ; that it offers 
 the means of an elementary education to all who 
 choose to avail themselves of its benefits. This may, 
 in a certain sense, be true ; but there are children, too 
 young to be qualified or permitted to choose for them 
 selves, and yet the choice made for them determines, 
 it may be, the happiness or misery of their whole 
 lives ; determines whether they are to be useful or 
 pernicious members of society ; and shall that choice 
 be permitted which imperils not only their happiness, 
 but the welfare and existence of the State ? 
 
 It is precisely those children, whose parents or 
 guardians are unable or indisposed to provide them 
 with an education ; it is precisely those, for whom the 
 State is most interested to provide and secure it ; for 
 other children would, probably, be educated, if the 
 State did not intervene. And as for the children, so 
 far as they choose for themselves, those who neglect 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 the education offered them in the free schools, prefer 
 ring the pleasures and license of vagabondage and 
 truancy, are precisely those for whom such education 
 is most needed ; for a desire for education is next to 
 education itself in its good effects, and those who 
 determine to have it would probably obtain it, whether 
 the State offered it to them or not. 
 
 Clearly it is the duty that is, it is the highest interest 
 of the State, to secure the education of these "neg 
 lected children," if possible; and the only questions 
 are: Is it possible ? and, if so, How can it be done? 
 
 To attain the end will, of course, involve something- 
 like what is called "Compulsory Education;" and, 
 against such a scheme, there is started at once a great 
 variety of objections and difficulties. Are these insup 
 erable ? Without argument, it might be assumed that 
 
 o o 
 
 they are not; for, "where there is a will there is a way." 
 Moreover, it is demonstrated by fact, that they are not 
 insuperable ; for the thing has been done ; and where 
 it has been done, it has never yet been undone or 
 repented of. It is a notable fact, that no country or 
 community that has adopted either the system of pub 
 lic schools for all, or that has gone so far as to add to 
 it that of compulsory education, has ever retraced its 
 steps. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION HAS BEEN LONG 
 AND SUCCESSFULLY TRIED. 
 
 This system has been long established in Norway. 
 During the four hundred years of the subjection of 
 this country to Denmark, it may be said that education 
 
EDUCATION. 9 
 
 was much neglected, and ignorance threatened to be 
 come universal. The law rendering- education com 
 pulsory was passed in 1827, the agitation of which was 
 begun in 1814, soon after the independence of the 
 country was secured ; and the enactments have been, 
 since that time, rendered more complete, particularly 
 by the law of 1860. The consequence is, that almost 
 every Norwegian can read and write. The school age 
 of compulsory attendance is, for children in the country, 
 from eight to fifteen years, and in the towns, from 
 seven to fifteen. Regular attendance upon the com 
 mon schools is enforced by fines imposed upon the 
 parents. If they persist in neglecting the training of 
 their children, the law steps in, removes the children 
 from their guardianship, and places them in families, 
 where they will be conscientiously taught, the expenses 
 being collected from those who should have cared for 
 them. In Norway, compulsory education was the 
 immediate result of political freedom. 
 
 In Sweden it was an agitation of ten years in the 
 House of Peasants that finally constrained the gov 
 ernment to take up the subject. Then there arose a 
 remarkable and unanimous opposition from the bish 
 ops. Some held the matter to be absolutely local, 
 and one with which the State should not meddle; 
 others declared that, if schools were established, the 
 people were too poor to send their children properly 
 clad; others maintained that the education of the peas 
 antry should be of a limited character. The bishop of 
 Lund, that seat of the ancient university, maintained 
 that popular education could not and should not be 
 introduced. The reply of the celebrated poet Tegner, 
 
10 EDUCATION. 
 
 then bishop of the diocese of Wexjo, was similar in 
 spirit. To the question, what should the folk-schools 
 teach? he answered, "The culture of the laboring 
 classes ought, principally, to be religious ; this, if rightly 
 imparted, includes morality; all other is to be regarded 
 as not only needless but more hurtful than beneficial." 
 Tegner was at that time fifty-seven years of age, and 
 had been a bishop about twelve years. Notwithstand 
 ing the opposition of the established church, in three 
 years from the time these answers were given, the 
 present system of folk-schools had its foundation in 
 an act of the Diet. By the law of 1842, one such school 
 was required to be maintained in each socken, both in 
 the city and in the country. [See the report of the 
 United States Minister at Stockholm.] The result has 
 been that in 1868 ninety-seven per cent, of all the 
 children in Sweden were actually attending the folk 
 or higher schools, or were receiving certified instruc 
 tion elsewhere. Compulsory education in Sweden 
 may be carried by law to the separation of children 
 from parents; but this has been resorted to in but few 
 instances, and only where the poverty of the parent 
 rendered it necessary for the parish to support the 
 child. 
 
 There is in Sweden a growing sentiment in favor of 
 enforcing universal attendance, avoiding, if possible, 
 the separation of parent and child. Instruction in the 
 folk-schools is practically gratuitous. 
 
 In Prussia, also, as is well known, the system of 
 compulsory education has been established long enough 
 to have had its effect upon the training of a whole 
 generation ; and it is perhaps the best educated gene- 
 
EDUCATION. II 
 
 ration that has ever lived, or that is anywhere to be 
 found. No other people have been so universally 
 trained in the elements of learning and useful knowl 
 edge. This is the people that has revolutionized 
 Europe on the fields of Sadowa and Sedan ; and the 
 success of Prussia in her great contests with Austria 
 and with France, has resulted far more from this edu 
 cated intelligence of her people than from any warlike 
 arm, or any strategy or military science of her generals. 
 Austria has been wise enough to take a lesson from 
 
 o 
 
 her defeat, and imitating the policy of the victor, she 
 has entered upon a course of political and popular 
 improvement, upon a system of liberality and progress, 
 which, if persevered in, will render her a greater nation 
 than she has ever been. One of the greatest benefits 
 yet conferred upon the working classes of Austria, is 
 the general school bill of izj-th May, 1869, which makes 
 national education compulsory, and greatly elevates 
 the standard of it. In accordance with the law, com 
 pulsory attendance at school begins with every child at 
 the age of six, and is continued uninterruptedly until 
 the age of fourteen. But even then, the child is only 
 allowed to leave school on production of certified proof 
 that he has thoroughly acquired the full amount of in 
 formation which this great law fixes as the absolute 
 minimum of education for every Austrian citizen. 
 Nor are any private schools tolerated by the govern 
 ment which do not efficiently provide the prescribed 
 amount of secular instruction ; although so long as 
 this condition is fulfilled, the law imposes no limit to 
 private educational establishments. 
 
 The misfortunes and miseries of France have taught 
 
12 EDUCATION. 
 
 her the same lesson ; and it is now stated, on good 
 authority, that the French republican government has 
 it in contemplation to establish for that country a 
 thorough system of universal compulsory education. 
 Had she established such a system thirty years ago 
 the name of Sedan would have remained in compara 
 tive obscurity ; the myriads of her soldiers would have 
 acquired their knowledge of German geography in a 
 more satisfactory way than that in which it was actually 
 forced upon them, and the Paris commune would 
 either have never existed, or would not have found the 
 ignorant mob of idlers and vagabonds that were ready 
 to execute its savage decrees of vandalism and murder. 
 
 England, too, has been roused at length from her 
 lethargy. Her elementary education act was passed 
 August 9th, 1870. This act of a liberal progressive 
 administration, has made a step towards the thorough 
 instruction and education of the masses of the English 
 people, which an established church and an aristocratic 
 State, with all the wealth of the richest country in the 
 world at their command for centuries, had neglected 
 or failed to accomplish or even to undertake. This 
 education act includes the compulsory feature, and its 
 detailed provisions, the result of a most exhaustive 
 investigation and discussion, may be referred to as 
 embodying an eminently practical effort towards solv 
 ing and removing the difficulties which embarrass the 
 subject. 
 
 Thus, in Europe, the system of compulsory education 
 has been established in countries chiefly agricultural, 
 and in others largely commercial and manufacturing ; 
 in countries with a scattered rural population, and in 
 
EDUCATION. 13 
 
 others with cities as large as our own ; in countries 
 comparatively poor and peaceful, and in others of the 
 greatest wealth and warlike spirit; in countries where 
 the distribution of wealth is most equal, and in others 
 where it is most unequal. And, wherever it has been 
 tried, it has proved successful and satisfactory; no ret 
 rograde step has been taken or even thought of. 
 
 Nor is it in Europe only that the system has been 
 introduced. Massachusetts has, for several years, been 
 trying it with some limitations, but with a constant and 
 increasing tendency towards a more stringent and ab 
 solute enforcement of the rule, and with eminently 
 satisfactory results. Not only Massachusetts, one of 
 our oldest States, and, side by side with our own 
 Pennsylvania, the very cradle of American freedom, 
 and where the ancient fires of liberty still burn as 
 brightly as anywhere else in our independent country; 
 not only old Massachusetts in the east, but Nebraska 
 in the west, one of the most youthful States in the 
 Union, where the life-blood of liberty and progress is 
 throbbing with fresh and buoyant energy, Nebraska 
 has, by the frame rs of her constitution, sought to engraft 
 this feature upon her school system in her fundamental 
 law ; a provision, however, which has been rendered 
 prospective, in consequence of the rejection of the 
 constitution because of an objectionable feature in the 
 article on taxation. 
 
 The superintendent of public schools in Massachu 
 setts reports, in 1870, that the law for the suppression 
 of " truancy," as applied in Boston, is working satisfac 
 torily. The city is divided into ten truant districts, 
 one truant officer bein^ assigned to each district. 
 
 o o 
 
14 EDUCATION. 
 
 These officers are expected to give their whole time to 
 the investigation of cases of truancy, reported to them 
 by the teachers of their respective districts, and in 
 securing the attendance of absentees that is, of chil 
 dren whose names are not enrolled in the schools, 
 and who are, therefore, not known, technically, as 
 "truants." Massachusetts, also, requires a certificate 
 of a certain number of months attendance in school, as 
 a condition of the employment of children in any 
 manufactory. 
 
 The Massachusetts Board of Education, in their 
 report of 1871, say: 
 
 "By the present law, attendance at school for three 
 months in each year is rendered compulsory for every 
 child between the ages of eight and fourteen, except in 
 certain special cases, while the towns are required to 
 maintain their schools at least six months in each year. 
 
 " The board recommend that the statute be changed, 
 so as to require attendance for the whole period, at 
 least, during which schools are required to be main 
 tained, believing that attendance upon the schools 
 should be compulsory for the child for the same term 
 in which the maintenance of the school is compulsory 
 for the tax-payers. Since the only hope of security 
 and prosperity for a republic rests in the virtuous in 
 telligence of its citizens, the rightfulness of compulsory 
 education is generally admitted. Salus popidi suprema 
 lex. The necessity of enforcing this right arises from 
 the existence in our community of a large and growing 
 class of persons, not only ignorant themselves, but 
 only too willing to keep their children in ignorance for 
 the sake of the pittance which may be earned by un 
 skilled juvenile labor." 
 
EDUCATION. 15 
 
 From New York comes the voice in regard to the 
 crying evil of absenteeism : " There is no remedy 
 that I know of but compulsory attendance." The 
 superintendent of public schools declares that "the 
 primary object of the State, in bestowing free education 
 upon its citizens, is not to benefit individuals as such, 
 but to qualify them properly for their relations and 
 duties to each other as members of the same commu 
 nity." The superintendent of the schools in Maine 
 has put the argument into this form: "The power 
 which compels the citizen to pay his annual tax for the 
 support of schools should, in like manner, fill the 
 schools with all of those for whose benefit that contri 
 bution was made. It is in the light of a solemn com 
 pact between the citizen and the State community. 
 The private citizen contributes of his means, under the 
 established rule of the State, for the education of the 
 youth, with a view to protection of person and security 
 to property ; the State, compelling such contributions, 
 is under reciprocal obligation to provide and secure the 
 complete education for which the contribution has 
 been made. This implies the exercise of State power, 
 and involves compulsory education as a duty to the 
 tax-payer. The State builds prisons and penitentiaries 
 for the protection of society, and taxes society for the 
 same. But does she stop here, leaving him who has 
 violated the law to be pursued by the community in a 
 mass to be apprehended by a crowd and borne by a 
 throng to the place of incarceration ? No ; she pur 
 sues the criminal through legitimate instrumentalities, 
 ferrets him out by the sharpest means of detection, and 
 eventually secures that safety and protection to society 
 
1 6 EDUCATION. 
 
 for which society has been taxed. Now, to prevent 
 , crime to anticipate and shut it off by proper compul 
 sory efforts in the school-room, working- with and 
 moulding early childhood and youth to the principles 
 of morality and justice, and a sacred regard for truth, 
 love of country, humanity, and a universal benevo 
 lence, sobriety, industry, and frugality, chastity, moder 
 ation, and temperance, and all other virtues which are 
 the ornaments of society [cited from the Constitution 
 of Maine], the State not only has the right to inaugu 
 rate such methods as may be deemed best, but is 
 under strict obligation to do so by all the means in her 
 power." 
 
 The world is moving ! Shall Pennsylvania remain 
 behind ? 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE EVIL. 
 
 The evil to be remedied is multiform. The absen 
 tees from the schools may be distributed into various 
 classes. There are absentees from the public schools 
 who are provided at least with an elementary education 
 at home, or in private or charitable institutions. Of 
 these nothing further is required but the ascertainment 
 of this fact ; and their case is then to be entirely set 
 aside from any idea of compulsion or control. 
 
 For the rest, among the absentees from the schools 
 are : 
 
 i. Children living in the streets, without guardian- 
 
 o o 
 
 ship or supervision, and without employment, except 
 such as they may choose or chance to pick up for them 
 selves. 
 
EDUCATION. 17 
 
 2. Children employed in manufacturing drudgery, 
 not only in great cotton or woolen manufactories, 
 but who are crowded into cellars and garrets and 
 cramped and comfortless rooms working, for ex 
 ample, in manipulating tobacco, and in all sorts of 
 simple drudgery. 
 
 3. Children, in the city, kept at home by their pa 
 rents to run errands or help them in their daily toil, 
 trade, or business; as about grocers shops or butchers 
 stalls, or other purely unimproving occupations, equiv 
 alent to idleness at home. 
 
 4. Children in the country, kept, from their earliest 
 years, constantly employed in agricultural labors. 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE REMEDY PROPOSED. 
 
 It is necessary for the best interests of the State, 
 and of the children themselves, that at least an ele 
 mentary education should be secured to all these 
 classes ; but it is not equally necessary for all. For 
 the first class it is most necessary, and its importance 
 diminishes in the order of the enumeration, until the 
 last class, in which it is least important. For, any 
 honest employment, consistent with health, is better 
 than idle vagabondage ; and the knowledge of some 
 trade, or of agriculture (which is the healthiest em 
 ployment of all for a child, both morally and physi 
 cally), is even more important towards making a good 
 citizen than a knowledge of reading, writing, or arith 
 metic. 
 
1 8 EDUCATION. 
 
 The truant and employment laws of Massachusetts, 
 with some fuller provisions, might answer, for the rem 
 edy, in case of the first and second classes. Of the 
 first class, the attendance at school should be required 
 and secured absolutely ; and for those among them en 
 tirely destitute of homes and means of support, proper 
 refuges, maintenance and guardianship should be pro 
 vided at the public expense. The safety of the com 
 munity demands it; the economy of the tax-payer 
 requires it ; for it is, in the end, the cheapest way by 
 which the case can be disposed of, and the only way to 
 make the tax already paid effectual to accomplish its 
 object. 
 
 And it is to be remembered that, though this form of 
 the evil may be largely local, its dangerous conse 
 quences and the interest in having it remedied are not 
 local. The character of great cities exerts a powerful, 
 and often a sadly controlling, influence on the country, 
 near and remote. They may be fountains of blessing 
 to a State, or they may be sources of wide-spread cor 
 ruption, nests of iniquity, festering sores upon the body 
 politic. The children that grow up neglected in the 
 city do not always remain there. They may carry the 
 pestilential influence of their vices all over the State. 
 While, if they were rescued from ruin, trained up in 
 useful knowledge and moral habits, they would almost 
 certainly be found in large proportion distributed over 
 the whole area of the State, rendering efficient assist 
 ance in the development of its resources and the 
 elevation of its character. Their education, therefore, 
 concerns not only the city wherein they are found, but 
 the whole Commonwealth. 
 
EDUCATION. 19 
 
 The safety of the State may not be so much im 
 perilled by the neglect of the second class as of the 
 first ; but, in point of fact, an almost equal positive loss 
 of wealth, i. e., of productive labor, is incurred. Besides, 
 it is permitting outrageous cruelty to the children; and 
 if the State, by solemn enactment, may provide for the 
 prevention of cruelty to animals, though inflicted by 
 the poorest man in the very act of earning his daily 
 bread, will she not provide for the prevention of cruelty 
 to her own children, however the necessities of the 
 parents may seem to justify or excuse it ? In these 
 cases, the parents or employes should be absolutely 
 required, under appropriate penalties, to send the 
 children to school a certain portion of the year, until 
 they have acquired at least those rudiments of knowl 
 edge which should be adjudged by statute to constitute 
 the minimum of an elementary education. If obedience 
 to such a law is refused, and if, from the poverty of the 
 parties or from whatever cause, the penalties cannot 
 be enforced, then, as in the former case, the State 
 should interpose, and take the care and maintenance 
 of the children into its own hands. To provide for 
 their maintenance, by compelling them to devote to 
 manual and exhausting labor that childhood which 
 should be devoted to the studies and recreations of 
 school, is, in the end, the most expensive way to the 
 State in which it could be provided for. 
 
 Of the third and fourth classes, the attendance at 
 school might be required by a similar process with 
 similar provisions, and for similar, though, at least in 
 the fourth class, not equally imperative reasons. Such 
 is a general outline of a remedy proposed for the great 
 evil in question. But it meets with many 
 
20 EDUCATION. 
 
 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 1. "It would interfere with personal liberty." So 
 does the imposition of military service or training. 
 So does the requisition to serve on juries or to aid 
 the sheriff in the posse comitatus. So does the law 
 abating nuisances, or making it penal to sell certain 
 articles without a license. If the safety and welfare of 
 the State are sufficient reasons for those interferences 
 with personal liberty, why should not the same be 
 sufficient reasons in the other and more urgent case ? 
 Indeed, we might as well admit it to be a part of the 
 personal liberty of the citizen to get drunk or go 
 naked in the streets, or set fire to his house, or starve 
 his family, as to have children, and, that he may use 
 them only for his own accommodation, or in mere 
 wantonness to cast them upon the community in 
 vicious ignorance and sottish imbecility. If the law 
 may restrain a man from cruelly beating his horse or 
 his mule, shall it be considered an insufferable inter 
 ference with his personal liberty to forbid his dwarfing 
 the minds, debasing the morals, stunting the bodies, 
 and enfeebling the constitutions of his children ? Is 
 the State more interested in the care of oxen than of 
 men? 
 
 2. "It would be an interference with the rights of 
 
 conscience." 
 
 So may be the imposition of military service, or the 
 requisition of personal aid to the sheriff; but this case 
 need involve no such interference at all, unless men have 
 a conscientious repugnance to children being taught 
 
EDUCATION. 21 
 
 to read and write, and to lead moral and virtuous 
 lives, instead of being left to grow up in ignorance and 
 vice. And, even as for religious instruction, it would 
 be to assume a strange position to say, " the instructor 
 may teach the child that twice two are four ; he may 
 even say, be temperate and chaste, but I have con 
 scientious scruples against his saying, * obey the com 
 mandments of Almighty God. Still, all formal 
 religious instruction or exercises in the schools that 
 children are required to attend, including, under that 
 category, even the reading of the Holy Scriptures, if 
 so it is insisted upon* may be confined to certain 
 prescribed periods at the opening or close of the school- 
 day ; and all children may be excused from attendance 
 at those periods, whose parents or guardians should 
 expressly desire it. 
 
 3. " The State is not a benevolent institution, or an 
 association for moral reform." 
 
 *And who will insist upon it ? The opposition to the reading of the Holy 
 Scriptures in the common schools, coming from professed infidels, Mohammedans, 
 Jews, or Chinese, is scarcely of sufficient account, in this Christian country, to over 
 rule the wishes of all other parties. The real brunt of the opposition comes from 
 a professed Christian body the Roman Catholic Church ; and it should be distinctly 
 understood, once for all, that if the Bible is banished from our public schools it 
 is because that body of Christians demands its banishment. And then let it be 
 considered with what force and fairness that church can turn around and raise the 
 cry of "godless schools." By whose fault are they godless ? Let the responsibility 
 rest where it belongs. Let it be remembered that the same people who cry out 
 most lustily against the " godless schools " are the people who have insisted upon 
 utterly banishing from the schools the very reading of the Holy Scriptures. As 
 for the different versions of the Bible, that, except with bigots, could not be a 
 matter of essential moment, and it might easily be arranged that the question, 
 whether the Protestant or the Douay version should be read, should be determined 
 by the majority in each school division or school board. 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 But the State has its almshouses ; it aids in the sup 
 port of institutions for the deaf and dumb, the blind, 
 the feeble-minded ; it aids in establishing and in sus 
 taining- houses of refuge and schools of reform for the 
 youthful victims of neglect, incorrigibility, or vice. Its 
 legislature has its standing committee on vice and im 
 morality, and has constituted this commission as its 
 " Board of Public Charities." Surely it will hardly be 
 urged as a proper reason against a legal enactment, 
 that it will do some good, that it will tend to accom 
 plish even the highest ends of benevolence and morality. 
 But here it is the very safety and welfare of the State 
 that is appealed to, as the proper object of the pro 
 posed legislation. To prevent vice and crime by 
 removing their causes, and thus to prevent their con 
 sequences of poverty and misery and shame, of injury 
 and loss to society, is quite as consistent with the 
 proper functions of the State, as to punish them after 
 they have borne their fruits. 
 
 4. " It would vastly increase the cost and burden of 
 the public schools." 
 
 If it should do so, it would still be only as the nec 
 essary means of securing for all the education which 
 it is the constitutional duty of the legislature to provide. 
 But it would probably not increase the cost of the 
 schools nearly so much as it might be supposed or 
 apprehended, while it might be made greatly to increase 
 their general efficiency. It is to be assumed that 
 school accommodations are already provided sufficient 
 for all the children of school age in the Commonwealth. 
 But even if it were necessary to reserve or supply 
 
EDUCATION. 23 
 
 separate schools for those whose children do not now 
 attend school at all, and if to these were added the 
 incorrigibly truant and the unreasonably absent from 
 the other schools, together with those who for misbe 
 havior or negligence are expelled from them, it would 
 only leave more room in the other schools for the 
 wants of an increasing population, and would, in the 
 long run, involve only a change in the distribution of 
 the whole number of children. The result would, in 
 fact, be that the average attendance in the other 
 schools would be much raised ; the conduct and indus 
 try of the pupils would be improved, and in the end 
 the number to be provided for in the separate school 
 would be very small indeed. And as to the meagre 
 remnant of extremely destitute children which would 
 be, we believe, continually reduced under the system 
 we propose, for whom maintenance as well as instruc 
 tion would have to be provided, it is not easy to see 
 how the State can decline the duty of making the pro 
 vision, or why, while it has its numerous asylums of 
 kindred character, it should seek to decline it. We 
 think, therefore, that the expense would not be 
 "vastly" increased; but whatever the cost would be, 
 it ought to be cheerfully met. 
 
 5. "It would encourage reckless marriages, and the 
 reckless idleness and wastefulness of parents." 
 
 This is the sort of objection that has been made, 
 and may continue to be made against all relief afforded 
 to the poor and wretched. There is an abuse to be 
 guarded against, but it is not to be guarded against 
 by leaving the destitute and miserable to rot and 
 
24 EDUCATION. 
 
 perish ; but only by giving the relief in such judicious 
 ways and degrees as to avoid abuses as far as possi 
 ble. The same good judgment should be exercised 
 in this case. But the objection is the less applicable 
 here, because the natural and proper effect of the 
 legislation proposed would be, on the whole, to dimin 
 ish poverty and wretchedness, as well as ignorance, 
 vice, and crime. Meantime it does not appear that 
 the evil consequence alleged has actually followed 
 where education has been made universally compul 
 sory, whether in Sweden, in Norway, or in Germany. 
 
 6. " Merely to learn to read and write will not make 
 better citizens or diminish crime." 
 
 Here it is to be observed, first of all, that the prac 
 tical alternative is not, as is often invidiously suggested, 
 between a knowledge of reading and writing on the 
 one hand, and habits of morality and religion or a 
 knowledge of a trade on the other ; but between so 
 
 o 
 
 much knowledge as is involved in reading and writing 
 and no education at all ; between so much knowledge 
 as that or blank ignorance or a training only in habits 
 of vice and crime. 
 
 In the second place, so far from its being true that 
 such a modicum of learning, or any amount of knowl 
 edge, is naturally associated with immorality, the plain 
 fact is that there is a natural affinity between knowl 
 edge and good morals ; between the normal culture 
 of the intellect and of the heart ; between truth and 
 rectitude ; and that a knowledge of reading and writ 
 ing increases both the means and the tendency to 
 acquire both the knowledge and the habits of virtue 
 
EDUCATION. 25 
 
 and good morals. This is the general law, and the 
 dissociation of knowledge from virtue, the perversion 
 of knowledge to the aid and development of vice and 
 iniquity, which, it is true, may sometimes happen, and 
 which has happened in some notorious and terrible 
 examples, is one of the most monstrous abuses known 
 in human experience. 
 
 But, in the third place, it is not proposed that these 
 children should be taught to read and write to the 
 
 o 
 
 exclusion of all moral or religious instruction. The 
 public schools of Pennsylvania are neither immoral 
 nor godless schools. Ninety-nine in a hundred of the 
 teachers are, and would continue to be, moral, and 
 nine-tenths of them religious persons. Moral and 
 religious instruction and training would be given, 
 radiating constantly in an unconscious influence from 
 the person, bearing, and example of the teacher ; 
 from the very air and order of the school-room ; and 
 in formal lessons, too, and special exercises, with such 
 rare exceptions for weak consciences as have been 
 before referred to. Moreover, we here add, that all 
 the time, if any, besides Sundays and Saturdays, which 
 any parents may require for their children to receive 
 actual religious instruction from their own religious 
 
 o c> 
 
 teachers, would be freely accorded to them. The 
 church or the churches, and any benevolent, moral, 
 and religious associations or persons, are, and will be, 
 of course, at perfect liberty to give to these neglected 
 children now in question, not only moral and religious 
 instruction, but as full an education, in all respects, as 
 they please. The State will not interfere with them. 
 The State, in her school system, does not interfere 
 
26 EDUCATION. 
 
 with the church at all. The church is, and always has 
 been, and always will be, while the fundamental princi 
 ples of our civil and social polity remain what they 
 are, at perfect liberty to educate in religion, morals, 
 and every kind of learning, all the children in the 
 State, if she will, and if she can induce them to receive 
 her instructions. Of course the State will not, and 
 cannot consistently, compel the attendance of the chil 
 dren upon such schools. The church is at as full 
 liberty to do all she will and can with the State system 
 of public schools, even including in that system the 
 feature of compulsory attendance (for this feature 
 is never to be applied to children who receive 
 sufficient instruction elsewhere) ; the church has, 
 and will have, with all this, just as full and free 
 scope for all her benevolent activities as she ever 
 had or could have with no State schools whatever. 
 The church has had her opportunity, without these 
 latter schools, falsely and slanderously styled " god 
 less," and with immense revenues and means in her 
 hands, means and revenues, in many cases, bestowed 
 upon her for this very purpose, in Spain, in Italy, in 
 Portugal, in the states of South America, and even in 
 England ; and what has been the result as to the edu 
 cation of the masses of the poorer and of the so-called 
 lower classes of the community ? In many cases, as in 
 Sweden, she seems to have been positively principled 
 against their education. The "church" has reason to 
 hide her head in silent shame or humble confession at 
 her own neglect, rather than to carp at the state for 
 its imperfect efforts to supply her lack of service to 
 remedy, as it may, the consequences of her unfaithful- 
 
EDUCATION. 27 
 
 ness. Meanwhile, the state npt only leaves the church 
 at liberty to act for herself and in her own way, but 
 invites her, and invites all good men, to render their 
 aid in this work so fraught with beneficence towards 
 its particular objects, as well as interwoven with the 
 necessary conditions of the public welfare. And it is 
 no small encouragement to the efforts of the state in 
 this direction, to believe and expect, as we have good 
 reason to do, that those efforts will be seconded, and 
 their expense greatly curtailed, not only by the spon 
 taneous favor of public opinion, but by the systematic 
 aid of Christian benevolence, in furnishing homes and 
 refuges, as well as a good training, to many of these 
 children of neglect and want.* 
 
 #After so many repeated and complete explanations and refutations as have been 
 made, the persistent efforts to hold up the system of secular education in common 
 schools to obloquy, as being hostile, in any sense or degree, to the religious edu 
 cation of the young, is one of the most astonishing and inexplicable instances of 
 an inveterate and perverse misunderstanding, or of obstinate and unreasoning 
 misrepresentation, to be found in the history of human thought and human con 
 troversy. There is absolutely not the slightest antithesis or interference between 
 the two. The church is left just as free as she ever was or could be to give all 
 the religious education she can or will to any and all children, and all other 
 education, too, if she chooses. The common-school system leaves her entirely 
 untrammeled to discharge her whole duty in the training of the young; for as to 
 the assertion, sometimes made, that a merely secular education is in itself worse 
 than absolute ignorance, it scarely deserves the honor of a refutation. And yet, 
 from the persistent tone and reiterated assertions of certain ecclesiastical opponents 
 of the common schools, one would suppose the church was, by this system, abso 
 lutely stripped of her rights of training her children in religious culture at all, and 
 that all the children taught in the common schools were actually deprived of a 
 religious education, which they would otherwise receive, and positively con 
 demned to sheer godlessness, irreligion, and immorality. On the contrary, the 
 point is just this : the state, from the nature of the case, cannot and will not give 
 a religious education to her children, though she will have ihe Bible read in her 
 schools until the church forbids it ; but she will give a secular education to all 
 her children, unless the church herself or some other party chooses to give such 
 an education to any or all, with or without a religious training. In carrying out 
 
28 EDUCATION. 
 
 In the fourth place, if by "good citizens" is meant 
 useful, productive members of society, it is not pre 
 tended that all which is of importance to make men 
 such, is, to teach them to read and write ; and if the 
 state is disposed and can afford to secure to these 
 children the knowledg-e of some trade or handicraft 
 
 o 
 
 also, so much the better. Meantime, the mere knowing 
 how to read and write tends, and powerfully tends, in 
 the right direction; tends towards making men useful 
 and productive citizens; tends, therefore, to increase 
 the wealth and prosperity of the State, and thus to 
 repay, and more than repay, all that it may have cost. 
 Abundant evidence on this head has been collected by 
 the United States Commissioner of Education, and 
 published in his report for 1870, pages 439-467. The 
 following questions were submitted to a great number 
 and variety of competent witnesses : 
 
 i. Have you observed a difference in skill, aptitude, 
 and amount of work executed by persons you have 
 
 this plan, the state is not, here with us, hampered or hindered by those compli 
 cations which exist in most European countries, where they have an established 
 or state religion, side by side with dissenting religious bodies ; and where an out 
 cry is naturally created, whether in the state schools the religious instruction of 
 the established church is given or not given. Especially is this outcry occasioned, 
 and justly, if the funds of the established church are diverted by the state to the 
 maintenance of a system of merely secular instruction. There is also equal reason 
 for complaint, when the law of compulsory education absolutely requires that all 
 children shall receive their education in the state schools, whether religious instruc 
 tion is given in them or not ; so that, even if the church or private schools furnish 
 an equally good secular education, no such substitution is accepted for that given 
 in the state schools. This may well be considered as interfering with the right 
 of conscience and with personal and religious liberty. But nobody proposes that 
 compulsory education, with us, should assume this form. Only a certain training 
 in the public schools is to be required of all children of a certain age, or its 
 equivalent elsewhere. 
 
EDUCATION. 29 
 
 employed, arising from a difference in their education, 
 and independent of natural abilities ? 
 
 2. Do those who can merely read and write, and who 
 merely possess those rudiments of an education, other 
 things being equal, show any greater skill and fidelity 
 as laborers, skilled or unskilled, or as artisans, than do 
 those who are not able to read and write ? and, if so, 
 how much would such additional skill, &c. tend to 
 increase the productiveness of .their services, and, con 
 sequently, their wages ? 
 
 The answers to these questions all tend to establish 
 the point that the mere ability to read and write, 
 by even an unskilled laborer, adds, on an average, 
 from twenty-five to fifty per cent, to his value and 
 efficiency. 
 
 Similar questions were propounded to large num 
 bers of intelligent workmen, and of observers, who 
 were neither employers nor workmen, and all with the 
 same result. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, therefore, that the wealth of 
 the State would be greatly promoted by giving at least 
 a rudimentary education to those thousands of her 
 children who are now suffered to grow up in ignorance 
 and neglect. 
 
 & 
 
 In the fifth place, that the merely knowing how to 
 read and write is to some extent a preservative from 
 crime, is evident from the State prison statistics already 
 given, from which it appears that if all in the State were 
 taught to read and write, the number of criminals would 
 be diminished nearly ten per cent. The consequence 
 would be a great pecuniary saving; though one can 
 
30 EDUCATION. 
 
 hardly bring himself to mention this by the side of the 
 immense moral gain. 
 
 7. "The evil complained of is very slight in the rural 
 portions of the State." 
 
 If so, then all the other objections, for this case, pro 
 portionally lose their weight; then, its remedy could 
 interfere but little with personal liberty or the rights 
 of conscience; it could subject the State in but a slight 
 degree to the charge of philanthropy; it could cost 
 but little, and could not much encourage reckless 
 marriages or extravagant living, nor could it much 
 increase the exposure of the State schools to the 
 charge of immorality and ungodliness, or inutility 
 and impotence. 
 
 The remedy is, doubtless, more needed in cities and 
 crowded communities than it is in sparsely settled and 
 agricultural portions of the country ; but we think that 
 we have shown that its beneficial influences would not 
 be confined to these districts of dense population, but 
 that they would be widespread and general, and that 
 we have also demonstrated that in the less thickly set 
 tled districts it is not impracticable, nor likely to work 
 any evil, but rather that it will be productive of good 
 and only good, as is proved by the experience of Prus 
 sia and Sweden and Norway, in which latter country 
 it has been in full operation for more than forty years. 
 
 From a review, therefore, of the whole case, the 
 board cannot but earnestly recommend as a remedy 
 for this one of the greatest, most painful, and most 
 threatening evils that exist among us the enactment 
 of a general law of compulsory education, or as near an 
 
EDUCATION. 31 
 
 approximation to it as the legislature, in its wisdom, 
 shall deem expedient and practicable ; any necessary 
 increase of expenditure to be met either by appropria 
 tions from the State treasury or by local taxation, or 
 by both. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Since the foregoing was written, several European 
 countries, such as England, France, Austria, and others, 
 have made great progress towards the adoption of the 
 principle of not only affording a certain amount of 
 elementary education to all the children of the state, 
 but of requiring they should actually receive it. 
 
 In New England, compulsory education has substan 
 tially existed for upwards of two centuries, under the 
 old law of Massachusetts, of 1642. That law enacted 
 that " Forasmuch as the good education of children 
 is of singular behoof and benefit to any commonwealth, 
 and whereas, many parents and masters are too in 
 dulgent and negligent of their duty in that kind, it 
 is ordered that the chosen men appointed for managing 
 the prudential affairs in the several precincts and quar 
 ters where they dwell shall have a vigilant eye over 
 their neighbors, to see, first, that none of them shall 
 suffer so much barbarism in any of their families as not 
 to endeavor to teach by themselves and others their 
 children and apprentices so much learning as may 
 enable them to read perfectly the English tongue, and 
 to get knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of 
 twenty shillings for each neglect therein." 
 
 It was in the exercise of this same authoritative 
 parental oversight that Massachusetts again, in 1836, 
 
32 EDUCATION. 
 
 forbade the employment of children under fifteen in 
 factories, unless such children should have attended 
 school for three months in the preceding year. Such 
 an ordinance was a virtual compulsion of attendance 
 for at least that period in each year, on the part of all 
 children for whom employment was desired, since 
 without the attendance the employment could not 
 lawfully be given. The provision, slightly modified, 
 still exists in that State, and has been put also on the 
 statute books of other States. 
 
 So much for original American ideas as to compul 
 sion. 
 
 Turning to laws directly compulsory, we go a little 
 back of the date of the above report, in 1871, to make 
 sure of giving a full history of progress in this direc 
 tion. 
 
 Vermont, November 2ist, 1867, passed, and Novem 
 ber 23d, 1870, amended, a law requiring every child of 
 good health and sound mind, between eight and four 
 teen years of age, to attend a public school at least 
 three months in each year, unless otherwise furnished 
 with the means of education for a like period, or unless 
 such child should have already acquired the branches 
 of learning usually taught in public schools. No child 
 of this age to be employed in mill or factory without 
 attendance upon school for three months of the year 
 preceding. Penalty, in either case, ten dollars to 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 Michigan, April i5th, 1871, passed " An act to com 
 pel children to attend school" i. e., all of good health 
 and sound mind, between eight and fourteen for at 
 least twelve weeks in each school year, of which at 
 
EDUCATION. 33 
 
 least six weeks must be consecutive. Penalty for first 
 offense, five dollars to ten dollars ; for subsequent ones, 
 ten dollars to twenty dollars. 
 
 Texas, April 24th, of the same year, put on her 
 statute book a law requiring the attendance of all her 
 scholastic population on the public schools of their 
 respective districts for at least four months of every 
 year. Penalty, up to twenty-five dollars. The law, 
 however, was dropped in the revision of 1876. 
 
 New Hampshire, July i4th, 1871, enacted that every 
 person having charge of any child between eight and 
 fourteen, residing in a district where a public school is 
 taught, for an annual period of twelve weeks or more, 
 within two miles of his residence by the nearest 
 traveled road, must cause such child to attend such 
 school for at least twelve weeks in every year, six 
 weeks at least to be consecutive, unless excused for 
 reasons specified. Penalty for first offense, ten dollars ; 
 for any subsequent one, twenty dollars. 
 
 Connecticut, in 1872, amended her truant laws of 
 1865 and 1869, authorizing cities and towns to make 
 all needful regulations concerning- truants and vagrant 
 
 o o o 
 
 children, to arrest them by the hands of the police, and 
 to commit them, after a third arrest, to a house of 
 correction or reformation for a period not over three 
 years. 
 
 Massachusetts, also, in 1873 and 1874, amended her 
 truant law, making it require every person having 
 under his control a child between eight and fourteen, 
 to send such child to public day-school for at least 
 twenty weeks in each year, divided into two terms 
 of ten consecutive weeks each, unless the child has 
 
34 EDUCATION. 
 
 attended a private day-school approved by the school 
 committee for a like period, or is regularly attending 
 a half-time school so approved, or has been otherwise 
 furnished with the means of education for a like 
 period, &c., &c.* 
 
 Nevada, February 25th, 1873, passed "An act to 
 compel children to attend school," ages eight to 
 fourteen ; term of attendance at least sixteen weeks 
 in each school year, eight of which to be consecutive. 
 Penalty for first offense, fifty to one hundred dollars ; 
 for second, &c., one hundred to two hundred dollars. 
 
 Kansas moved in the same direction in 1874, by 
 passing, March gth, "An act requiring the education 
 of all healthy children ; " i. e., all between eight and 
 fourteen to be sent to school for at least twelve weeks 
 in each year, six of which must be consecutive. Pen 
 alty, ten to twenty dollars. 
 
 New Jersey came next, with a law passed March 
 27th, 1874, and amended April 9th, 1875, requiring 
 parents and guardians having charge of children be 
 tween eight and fourteen, to cause them to attend 
 some school at least twelve weeks in each year, six of 
 which must be consecutive ; or to be instructed at 
 home for the same period in the branches commonly 
 taught in the public schools, unless excused for cause. 
 Penalty, three dollars for every week during which, 
 after notice from the district clerk, there has been a 
 failure to comply with the provisions of the law. 
 
 California followed closely after New Jersey, pass 
 ing, March 28th, 1874, "An act to enforce the educa 
 tional rights of children." All between eight and 
 
 *See several reports of the Hon. J. D. Philbrick, of Boston, on this subject. 
 
EDUCATION. 35. 
 
 fourteen to be sent to a public school two-thirds of 
 the time for which said school shall be taught in the 
 place of the children s residence, twelve weeks of the 
 time to be consecutive, unless excused by the school 
 board for reasons specified. Penalty for first offense, 
 twenty dollars ; second and so on, twenty to fifty 
 dollars. 
 
 New York, May nth of the same year (1874), 
 passed, and in 1876 amended, an act with almost 
 as pleasant a title as that of California, calling it "An 
 act to secure to children the benefits of elementary 
 education." Provisions as to age, eight to fourteen ; 
 term of attendance for each year, fourteen weeks, 
 eight of which must be consecutive. Alternative of 
 school attendance, instruction at home for at least 
 fourteen weeks each year in spelling, reading, writing, 
 English grammar, geography, and arithmetic. None 
 under fourteen to be employed in any business during 
 the school hours of any school day in which a public 
 school is taught in the place of the child s residence. 
 Penalty, fifty dollars. 
 
 Laws kindred to these have been passed in Maine 
 and Arizona, and one is said to have been passed re 
 cently in Ohio. But as copies of them have not been 
 yet received, the precise date of their passage and the 
 precise conditions they impose cannot be now given.* 
 
 Unfortunately, it must be acknowledged that the suc 
 cess of the efforts thus made to secure the universal 
 education of the children in these States has not, in 
 all cases, been altogether satisfactory ; but has varied 
 
 * The foregoing statistics have just been obtained from the Bureau of Educa 
 tion, at Washington. 
 
36 EDUCATION. 
 
 according to the wisdom and thoroughness of the le 
 gal provisions, and especially according to the stimulus 
 afforded by popular sympathy to their energetic and 
 faithful execution. 
 
 It is to be particularly regretted that Pennsylvania 
 has not been found prepared to place herself among 
 the progressive States on this question. A better 
 public sentiment among us needs to be aroused, 
 shaped, and concentrated, before we can have a com 
 pulsory law, and still more, before such a law can be 
 effectually enforced. The popular mind must be 
 brought to a clearer apprehension of the appalling 
 magnitude of the evil which such a law alone will rem- 
 
 o 
 
 edy ; to a clearer apprehension of the absolute neces 
 sity of universal education to the safety and perpetuity 
 of republican institutions based upon universal suf 
 frage. The suggestion that the popular mind cannot 
 be so trained, is the suggestion of apathy or of des 
 peration. The stale objection that compulsory educa 
 tion is inconsistent with democratic or republican or 
 American ideas, is a mere prejudice or a downright 
 impertinence. It is to be presumed that democratic, 
 republican, and American ideas are not suicidal ; are 
 not inconsistent with what can be shown to be re 
 quired by the public good and the very safety of the 
 Commonwealth ; and so the only proper and perti 
 nent question in this case is, whether compulsory edu- 
 icaton is so required. But is it verily a democratic and 
 American idea that, while universal popular education 
 may be a good thing in a monarchy or despotism, there 
 is no need of it in a free State ? Besides, there is a 
 class of men in society who should remember that it is 
 
EDUCATION. 37 
 
 their office to bestir themselves to lead public senti 
 ment, instead of being idly and passively led by it. If 
 the efforts of the Board of Public Charities on this sub 
 ject had been zealously seconded by other parties who 
 have had it in their power to exert an effective if not 
 a controlling influence in the case ; if they had exerted 
 such an influence in accordance with their own personal 
 convictions of what was demanded by the public good ; 
 if they had boldly and manfully stemmed the opposing 
 current of misguided popular prejudice ; it is confi 
 dently believed that, before this time, public sentiment 
 in Pennsylvania would have been brought to such a 
 pitch that we should not only have a law of compulsory 
 education upon our statute book, but such a law carried 
 into actual, thorough, and beneficent execution. 
 
 SCHOOLS OF REFORM. 
 
 DESTITUTE AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN. 
 
 In the annual report of this board for 1871, we en 
 deavored to show that vice and crime were largely the 
 offspring of ignorance, and we recommended a system 
 of universal education, which would certainly embrace 
 those classes of the youth of the State who were most 
 exposed, through the far-reaching influences of " illit 
 eracy," to a violation of law and order ; and in our 
 report for the following year, we reiterated the same 
 view, and have shown by reliable statistics, First, that 
 one-third of all prisoners are totally uneducated, and 
 four-fifths are practically uneducated ; and Second, that 
 
3$ EDUCATION. 
 
 the proportion of prisoners from the illiterate classes 
 is at least ten-fold as great as the proportion of those 
 having some education. This is no longer an idea 
 or speculation ; it is a well-recognized truth, and has 
 been so accepted by the more cautious and reflecting 
 communities, both at home and abroad. Prussia has 
 acted upon it with the most marked and beneficial 
 results, and has been emulated by other continental 
 powers, as we have already shown. The statesmen 
 of France are co-laborers with her philanthropists in 
 the endeavor to solve the problem of their nation s 
 fluctuating political embarrassments, and believe they 
 will find its solution in the state s neglect of the 
 education of the people. They find unquestionably 
 there that the crime of the country is largely the 
 result of ignorance and mental impotence, and this 
 fact is most strikingly confirmed by the following 
 statement of the illiteracy which prevailed in the 
 French prisons in the years 1867 to 1869, given in 
 the report of the International Penitentiary Con 
 gress : 
 
 Whole number of arrests, 444,133 
 
 Number unable to read, 442,194 
 
 Or 95.63 per cent. 
 
 Whole number of convicts, 18,643 
 
 Number unable to read, 16,015 
 
 Or 87.28 per cent. 
 
 Average number of juvenile prisoners, 8,139 
 
 Number unable to read, 6,607 
 
 Or 81.14 per cent. 
 
 In Great Britain no measure of public policy is so 
 much relied on for the elevation and amelioration of 
 
EDUCATION. 39 
 
 the condition of the people, and the firm prosperity 
 of the state, as common-school education. It has 
 been well said, that " education is a force restraining 
 vice and crime." Where it is purely intellectual, it 
 restrains by teaching the truth that " honesty is the 
 best policy." Where it rises to the dignity of a Chris 
 tian education, it includes, also, the higher restraint of 
 the conscience. It may be safely stated as an irre 
 futable proposition, that the state which neglects the 
 education of her youth, prepares them for vicious, 
 degraded, and criminal lives, which are spent in dep 
 redating upon society, and in infecting by example, 
 by contaminating and debasing influence, the lives of 
 others, which would otherwise prove exemplary and 
 useful. 
 
 The United States Commissioner of Education pre 
 sents the following results of an examination of the 
 statistics of pauperism in the three States of Pennsyl 
 vania, Ohio, and Illinois, States not inferior to any in 
 popular education. Take one million of persons from 
 the population of these three States, in numbers pro 
 portioned to their population respectively, and the 
 conclusion will be nearly as follows : 
 
 Population, 1,000,000 
 
 Paupers, 8,000 
 
 Illiterate paupers (totally), 45,000 
 
 Illiterate paupers, 4,800 
 
 Thus of the whole population, there are illiterate 
 between four and five per cent. ; of paupers, illiterate, 
 sixty per cent. These results clearly demonstrate that 
 
40 EDUCATION. 
 
 the want of education is the want of facilities to ac 
 quire employments, and to work profitably in them. 
 
 The evil, therefore, which society suffers from illiter 
 acy in its relation to crime and pauperism, has not been 
 exaggerated in our reports, and its influence upon com 
 mon labor is not less prejudicial, and presents the most 
 surprising and suggestive lesson. This is so well pre 
 sented by Dr. Edward Jarvis in his contribution to the 
 recent report of the National Bureau of Education, that 
 we shall adopt his clear statements and their practical 
 application to almost every department of industry. 
 
 Dr. Jarvis says: "Beyond the mere knowledge of 
 facts and principles, there are other advantages equally 
 important and valuable, that grow out of the process 
 of study and acquisition. The training and discipline 
 of the school quicken and energize the mind, and 
 give it a facility of applying itself and its varied facul 
 ties to manifold purposes." 
 
 " Thus boys and girls who are educated and trained 
 to reflect by the studies of the school, carry their power 
 and habit of mental action with them to whatever pur 
 suit they may address themselves. In the various 
 employments of their maturer life, whether they are 
 laborers, farmers, mechanics, or workers in any other 
 sphere, whatever may be the material on which they 
 operate, whatever may be the transformation they may 
 desire to effect, or results they may attempt to produce, 
 they enlist the co-operation of their sharpened percep 
 tions and disciplined reason in the plan and perform 
 ance of their undertakings." 
 
 " Muscular force alone is not sufficient to fulfill the 
 just demands of labor. It needs to be directed and 
 
EDUCATION. 41 
 
 measured, so that a blow shall be given, aimed aright 
 in the proper direction, reach the intended point, and 
 produce the desired effect. The hammer must hit the 
 head of the nail, the axe the place where the wood is 
 to be divided. The blow must not be so strong as to 
 crush and injure, nor so weak as to fail of effect and 
 be lost." These principles are applied in an analysis 
 of various processes of labor, from the sawing of wood 
 and the weaving of cloth to the most delicate opera 
 tions of the skilled mechanic and the plain artist ; and 
 the conclusion is reached, that education is the econo 
 my of force, and gives it a greater power to create 
 value. It creates skillfulness which has the ability to 
 add to the value of material, which cannot be attained 
 by ignorance. 
 
 " The cost of educating a laborer of setting him 
 to think and fitting him to expend his forces to advan 
 tage is very small. The few years of youth, when the 
 body is comparatively weak, the expense of teachers, 
 books, &c., are but small expenditures compared with 
 the gain. The return in increased productive power 
 is great and permanent. It is the difference between 
 the large and certain and the small and uncertain 
 produce." 
 
 It is clear, then, that the interests of the State are 
 promoted by the education of the people, and that no 
 class can be safely excluded from its beneficial influ 
 ences. But are the provisions which the legislature 
 has heretofore made, or will be allowed to make under 
 the amended Constitution, sufficiently comprehensive 
 to embrace all ranks and conditions, or rather, will not 
 those who most need the wholesome discipline and the 
 
42 EDUCATION. 
 
 enabling influences of education be practically ex 
 cluded ? 
 
 The meeting of the Constitutional Convention during 
 the past year, has been an occasion of especial interest 
 to this board ; for wise and prudent as are many of 
 the measures it has offered in amendment of the late 
 Constitution, it has, we think, greatly embarrassed a 
 question, in whose solution lies one of the highest 
 interest to every community, and of the State herself, 
 in a most eminent degree. 
 
 We refer to certain provisions which passed that 
 body, restrictive upon the education of the poor chil 
 dren of the State. While the animus of the Convention 
 seemed more favorable to universal education, and 
 some of its acts afford a larger opportunity for certain 
 classes of youth of the Commonwealth to enjoy more 
 securely, and perhaps more largely than in the past, 
 the advantages of education, it practically overturned 
 both the injunction and spirit of the late Constitution, in 
 curtailing the rights of the poor to the enjoyment of 
 State aid in their education ; and in positively forbid 
 ding it on the part of the several municipalities of the 
 Commonwealth in combination with the aid of any 
 private agency. The education of the most ignorant 
 of the children of the State has been practically cut 
 off, unless a more liberal action on the part of the 
 legislature shall counteract the ill effects of the constitu 
 tional provision in this behalf. 
 
 If education is needed, it is needed by the illiterate. 
 It was the prime object of the convention which framed 
 the late constitution to provide an education for the poor 
 gratis. The well-to-do will effect this in some respect- 
 
EDUCATION. 43 
 
 able manner, whether the State helps them or not. 
 But the destitute child of the State cannot obtain it 
 without the State s aid, or the aid of the particular 
 municipality which owns it. Such child is most sig 
 nificantly a ward, and to the ward of the State or the 
 municipality, as the case may variously be considered, 
 has the convention denied all practical relief from the 
 evils of ignorance. We say, " practical relief," for that 
 relief cannot be given effectually without combining with 
 the provision made by the public the aid of private 
 efforts and private benefactions. This, the nature of 
 the case, and all experience, combine to demonstrate. 
 
 This board took an early interest in this matter as it 
 came before the convention, and we are entirely con 
 vinced that its action in relation to it was caused by an 
 inadequate consideration of the subject. 
 
 The idea that "charity" must attend upon any pro 
 ceeding or device to draw the destitute and neglected 
 children of the State out of the abyss of ignorance, 
 and consequently of uselessness, and of vice and crime, 
 for which they furnish the main material, seemed to be 
 the effectual motive in inducing the passage of the 
 restrictive measures referred to. By the provision of 
 section seventh of the article on taxation and finance, 
 municipalities are forbidden to appropriate money for 
 any corporation, association, institution, or individual. 
 None of the cities or counties of the State may aid 
 private effort in the rescue and amendment and in 
 struction of the debased and ignorant and vagra nt 
 children within their borders ; and they are precluded, 
 also, by the same provision, from contributing to the 
 education of the blind and the deaf mute and the 
 
44 EDUCATION. 
 
 imbecile ; or to appropriate money to the houses of 
 refuge or schools of reform, because they are private 
 corporations. This is the plain and obvious con 
 struction of the section referred to. 
 
 By section eighteen of the article on " legislation," 
 the legislature is forbidden to make any State grant to 
 any charitable or educational institution conducted by 
 religious bodies, and by section seventeenth it is for 
 bidden to aid any charitable and educational work con 
 ducted in any institution which is not " absolutely 
 under State control," excepting by a vote of two- 
 thirds of all the members elected to the legislature ; so 
 that in case of every grant to either of what are called 
 the State institutions, excepting the two penitentiaries 
 and the hospitals for the insane at Harrisburg and 
 Danville, an overwhelming majority must always be 
 secured in order to obtain support to the institutions, 
 or for their extension, if desirable. And, as respects 
 the destitute and orphan children of the Common 
 wealth, a like restriction is placed upon the State s 
 affording aid in their education, although private benefi 
 cence may be offered to feed and clothe them, while 
 pursuing an educational and industrial training. Is it 
 probable that the State will expend the millions of 
 money necessary to purchase these " private corpora 
 tions," or establish State schools for vagrant children ? 
 Or, even if she should do so, would she not fail in their 
 administration ? Has it ever occurred that the defect 
 ive classes were effectually benefited, without the 
 co-operation of that warm humanity which stimulates 
 private zeal and benevolence ? 
 
 The subject of the training and education of the 
 
EDUCATION. 45 
 
 destitute and neglected children of the State has been 
 presented to the legislature very fully in our previous 
 reports. 
 
 Its importance is not less grave than that of the most 
 momentous questions of state concern, which can en 
 gage your attention. There is absolutely no provision 
 made for the "education" of this class by the legisla 
 ture or by any municipality within the bounds of the 
 Commonwealth. The almshouses are of course open 
 to them, and such education as is found in them, but 
 they would go there only by constraint, and neither 
 themselves nor the community would be the gainers by 
 their residence in such refuges. Still the fact that the 
 various municipalities of the State make certain provi 
 sion for the needs of their indigent population, is an 
 argument with many legislators, that the State is not 
 called upon to provide for the education of this desti 
 tute class of the youth of the Commonwealth, who can 
 never avail themselves of her legislation and her bounty 
 in behalf of universal education. That this class of 
 children is not reached by the public schools is undeni 
 able. It is manifest wherever free schools exist, and 
 wherever even "compulsory education" obtains. The 
 Prussian system, it is true, has become so thoroughly 
 established by long usage, and its influences have so 
 permeated all ranks and conditions of the people, that 
 it has made the most salutary inroads upon the habits 
 of the debased and vagrant population of youth, and 
 larpfe accessions of this low element have in a course 
 
 o 
 
 of years become prepared for reception into the com 
 mon schools. In England the elementary education 
 act of 1870, which is of a compulsory character, has 
 
46 EDUCATION. 
 
 been found entirely ineffective in reaching the destitute 
 children of the land. Like the blind and the deaf mute, 
 they remain " outside " because of some deficiency, 
 which is as despotic and restraining as the want of 
 speech or sight is to the former. 
 
 It is the deficiency of home care and guardianship, 
 and for this they are no more responsible than are 
 other defectives. To this class they belong. They are 
 of the " unfortunates " of the State, wherever the State 
 exists, in Europe or America, in New York, New Eng 
 land, or Pennsylvania ; and they must have some kind 
 of substitution for the lost parent or the abandoned 
 parent or the degraded parent, as the raised letter 
 must be resorted to in the instruction of the blind, and 
 the manual alphabet for the deaf mute, in order to 
 make it possible for them to receive the benefit of 
 school education. Thus their destitution may be cared 
 for by private benevolence, and thus they may be pre 
 pared to receive from the State the educational advan 
 tages which more favored youth obtain without such 
 supplementary aid. 
 
 If private bounty will feed and clothe them, shall not 
 the State aid in their education ? If the poor should 
 be taught gratis, shall these, the poorest of the poor, 
 be excluded ? If neither private bounty nor public aid 
 relieve them, they must beg or steal or do some uncer 
 tain or degrading work, in order to obtain the food 
 whereby to live and the clothing to cover their naked 
 ness, for they must be fed and clothed, however meanly, 
 whether they are taught or not. Must they starve or 
 go naked in order that they may avail themselves of 
 the educational provisions of the law ? We say em- 
 
EDUCATION. 47 
 
 phatically, No ! and take the ground that where this 
 want of parental guardianship is supplied by private 
 effort and private benevolence, the State should do her 
 part in their educational work, by making moderate 
 per capita allowances to schools or homes established 
 by private and philanthropic enterprise, wherever they 
 are needed, for the industrial training and education of 
 the class referred to. The State should, as a matter of 
 course, exercise a right of inspection, and see that the 
 money she grants is not squandered or misapplied, and 
 should reserve the power of revoking its sanction and 
 withholding its aid, whenever she judges that there is 
 occasion for such course. 
 
 This fundamental evil, which, if not met and over 
 come, will render abortive all attempts at an appreci 
 able reduction of crime and pauperism, and all efforts 
 towards an increasing and healthy amendment of the 
 morals of the lower classes, has been appreciated in 
 many of our American communities, and in countries 
 where the necessity is less paramount than it is in a 
 democratic land. The system above recommended for 
 its abatement and suppression has received in England 
 a recognized status from the government, and the 
 schools established by it are aided by government 
 grants, and are practically employed as a part of the 
 machinery of the educational work of the state. By 
 this course of procedure (which, it is true, was long 
 denied by the authorities and adopted only after it had 
 been commended to their favor by the surest evidences 
 of its efficiency in aiding the government to fulfill its 
 desire and its duty), it was made manifest at the late 
 International Congress, by indisputable testimony, 
 
48 EDUCATION. 
 
 namely, by authenticated returns from prisons and 
 reformatories, that the condition of the whole juvenile 
 population of England has been changed ; and, in the 
 language of a distinguished member of that body, "the 
 system has cut up juvenile vagrancy by the roots, and 
 has almost destroyed juvenile crime in many localities." 
 It surely cannot be said that in such a work as that 
 referred to, the utilization of private benevolence and 
 economy for the public good, in the manner suggested, 
 need compromise any doctrine or principle of any citi 
 zen or any party in the State, or excite the antagonism 
 of any person or community whatever. But, looking 
 from the standpoint from which this board is bound to 
 survey the subject, namely, in its relations to human 
 degradation, pauperism, and crime, it is believed that 
 great danger is threatened to the State, in denying 
 opportunites of education and improvement to the 
 neglected classes of her children, and that a wrong is 
 inflicted upon them and will be perpetuated until full 
 and practical legislation is effected to rescue them from 
 the fetters which restrain their mental and moral 
 improvement. Charity is not involved at all in the 
 measure proposed to your honorable bodies. It is only 
 a right which is commended to your protection and 
 vindication. 
 
 In a communication to your honorable bodies, made 
 last year, which accompanied our report on the appli 
 cations for State aid, we proposed to submit a scheme 
 to the present legislature, which should present a uni 
 form system of State policy and State aid to a class of 
 institutions which might be beneficially encouraged by 
 moderate per capita grants towards the education of 
 
EDUCATION. 49 
 
 the class of children who should be received into 
 them. 
 
 This subject has been thoughtfully considered by us, 
 in the interval, and we have exhausted, as we believe, 
 the field of investigation and of thought, which is at 
 tainable. We have reached the conclusion, which we 
 have set forth and recommended in this report, and 
 present a scheme to your honorable bodies, of an im 
 partial and general character, which is intended simply 
 to place a class of children, whose condition needs the 
 strengthening and ameliorating influences of education 
 more than that of any other class, upon a like, though 
 by no means an equal, footing with the less dependent 
 children of the State. 
 
 We perfectly understand that it will require a fuller 
 vote to accomplish the aid we seek for these abandoned 
 children, but we trust that the apparent disfavor which 
 the Constitutional Convention has seemed to cast upon 
 this just and rightful work, will not be responded to by 
 your honorable bodies, but will rather stimulate you to 
 more earnest desire and effort to do justice to those 
 whose neglect will assuredly be avenged upon the 
 honor, the purity, and also the material wealth of the 
 community. 
 
 The board submitted a memorial on this subject to 
 the convention, while in session, and by resolution 
 ordered it to be incorporated in this report, as com 
 pletely expressing their views, and sustaining them by 
 arguments, which they think should have been conclu 
 sive with the convention. The following letters from 
 Mary Carpenter, the noble gentlewoman and distin 
 guished philanthropist, and from Dr. Wines, well 
 
50 EDUCATION. 
 
 known for his labors in measures for the prevention of 
 crime; who, expert themselves in questions of reforma 
 tory discipline, have also witnessed the practical opera 
 tion and have seen the demonstrated results of such a 
 scheme for the education of neglected and abandoned 
 children as we now recommend; give unsolicited ex 
 pression to the views of strangers to our borders ; 
 views which we happen to know are fully endorsed by 
 many statesmen and philanthropists, who have known 
 of the efforts of the Board of Public Charities in favor 
 of the measure of public policy proposed. The letters 
 are as follows : 
 
 Geo. L. Harrison, Esq., 
 
 President of the Board of State Charities, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : I thank you most sincerely for the 
 copy of your memorial in behalf of the education of 
 neglected and destitute children, lately submitted to the 
 Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania. I cannot 
 but hope that an argument so cogent, so thoroughly 
 unanswerable indeed, as your paper embodies, will 
 have its effect upon the enlightened body to which it is 
 addressed. It is only to-day that I received a letter 
 from Mr. E. Carleton Tuffnell, inspector of the *pauper 
 schools of England, in which he speaks of the excel 
 lent fruits of these institutions. 
 
 Among other things, he says, " there are in the 
 pauper schools of London alone eight thousand chil 
 dren, all of the lowest class, who, under the system 
 now pursued, are not only saved from a life of vice and 
 
 * One branch of the system of industrial schools of Great Britain. 
 
EDUCATION. 51 
 
 crime, but turn out among the most valuable and pro 
 ductive members of society." These schools are all 
 strictly industrial, and under the supervision of the 
 " local government board." To me it seems the most 
 natural thing in the world that your Constitutional Con 
 vention should not only encourage but welcome the 
 co-operation, and especially the initiative of private be 
 nevolence, in the work of removing from the body 
 politic the terrible plague-spot which you have so 
 clearly and forcibly called to its notice and recom 
 mended to its consideration. If the convention fail to 
 take the action recommended by your board, or some 
 action equivalent, such failure can, it seems to me, be 
 attributed only to the want of a thorough grasp and 
 comprehension of the question. It is really a question 
 of the healthy and vigorous action, if not indeed in the 
 end of the very existence, of republican institutions. 
 The instinct of self-preservation, it would seem, should 
 lead the convention in the direction indicated by your 
 memorial. 
 
 That God may help you in this work is the wish and 
 prayer of 
 
 Yours, truly and faithfully, 
 
 E. C. WINES. 
 
 320 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, October 2Oth, 1873. 
 
 RED LODGE HOUSE, 
 BRISTOL, ENGLAND, November ryth, 1873. 
 
 Geo. L. Harrison, Esq., President, &c., 
 
 DEAR SIR : I have just completed the perusal of 
 the very important documents which you have just sent 
 
52 EDUCATION. 
 
 me, respecting the course taken by the convention, 
 concerning neglected and destitute children. I am 
 perfectly astonished at the retrograde proceedings 
 adopted by that body, in obstructing or almost pre 
 venting the past course of voluntary benevolence, and 
 absolutely ignoring the just claims of the children of 
 your Commonwealth, every one of whom has an abso 
 lute right to justice and equal advantage with every 
 other. Your arguments are admirably developed ; 
 they are virtually the same as those which we have 
 been bringing before the Committee of Council on 
 Education for a quarter of a century, with respect to 
 the same neglected class ; and our appeal has not been 
 unheeded. 
 
 I trust that you will rouse public opinion to support 
 you. It will be a great misfortune to your State to 
 pass laws so contrary to the spirit of the age. I re 
 joice to see the tone of the public press, and hope you 
 will kindly keep me informed of progress. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 MARY CARPENTER. 
 
 There are two classes of these vagrant and aban 
 doned children which demand the educational care and 
 training claimed for them; otherwise they become the 
 enemies of order and good government. One of these 
 classes is perpetually replenished from the other, as it, 
 in turn, swells the ranks of maturer vice and crime. 
 Those who have absolutely fallen into crime may be 
 suitably provided for in our houses of refuge, especi 
 ally if they be made less like juvenile jails, and be 
 
EDUCATION. 53 
 
 administered by a less repressive and penal system of 
 government. But amongst these criminal youth, many 
 of them graduates in wickedness, there are numbers 
 whose faults are slight and venial, and whose trans 
 gressions have occurred solely through parental neglect 
 or orphanage, and multitudes of these throng the alleys 
 and courts and streets of all our larger communities, 
 and become tenants, at length, of the hospitals and 
 poor-houses and jails of every portion of the State. 
 This is the class of children which is not reached by 
 the State provision for universal education, and which 
 that system never will or can reach. They do not 
 need the exacting and constraining discipline which is 
 necessary in houses of refuge, but they need to be 
 touched and impressed by a guardianship assimilated 
 to proper home training, and strengthened by the 
 discipline of school and industrial education to resist 
 temptations and learn to realize the enjoyment of 
 earning a support by honorable employments. 
 
 The system which has been successfully adopted in 
 Great Britain has proved itself adequate to this end. 
 It is the system of day industrial schools, into which 
 certain classes of children are received, either volun 
 tarily or by commitment, if they will not or cannot 
 attend the ordinary elementary schools. These classes 
 embrace, first, children found begging, receiving alms 
 habitually, living in the streets or about public places ; 
 second, those found in vagrancy having no home, nor 
 fixed dwelling-place, nor guardianship ; third, the des 
 titute, either who are orphans or whose surviving parent 
 is in prison, or w r ho will not submit to parental or 
 other authority; fourth, children under twelve years of 
 
54 EDUCATION. 
 
 age, accused of crime, but who have never been con 
 victed of a felony. 
 
 These schools are all conducted on the family 
 system, and are in all respects schools and do not at 
 all resemble penal establishments. They give element 
 ary instruction and industrial training, the object being 
 to provide for the children an education which will 
 enable them to earn for themselves a living, and 
 become useful members of society. The school boards 
 have power to establish these day industrial schools, 
 and to certify them as fit and proper, when established 
 by voluntary effort, and also to make certain per capita 
 allowances to the managers. The English law has 
 decided that education should be compulsory, but not 
 in all cases gratuitous, and power is given to recover 
 from the parent, when he can afford it, the whole or 
 part of the cost of the education of the child ; and 
 from the guardians of the poor the whole expense of 
 food and education, if the child is chargeable. The 
 religious question is not involved at all in the case of 
 these schools. Where the entrance is voluntary they 
 can choose the schools conducted by managers of 
 their own religious creed ; and when sent by the 
 magistrates the child s " religion " is first ascertained, 
 and he is sent to a school of the same persuasion. 
 
 Such is the outline of the British method of accom 
 plishing the education and industrial training of the 
 neglected and destitute children, and, as already shown, 
 it has been eminently successful. We recommend the 
 adoption of a similar system for this Commonwealth. 
 We shall not err in following any good example. It 
 would be folly to reject a scheme because it has been 
 
EDUCATION. 55 
 
 projected and carried to success by strangers. We 
 therefore ask legislation which shall establish a plan, 
 kindred to what we have described, for the education 
 and industrial training of our own vagrant and aban 
 doned children, which shall prove effectual in prevent 
 ing the crime and the pauperism that result from 
 ignorance and idleness. As the maintenance of a 
 convict costs, upon an average, $200 a year, and as 
 he generally remains a criminal, it is clearly the part 
 of true wisdom to adopt the more economical method 
 of a preventive measure, which will save the State s 
 money, and reduce its proportion of crime. 
 
 At the session of the British Local Science Asso 
 ciation, recently convened in England, Miss Carpenter 
 proposed the subject, " How can education be brought 
 to bear on the hitherto untouched portion of the 
 population." It was demonstrated that notwithstand 
 ing all the provisions made by the government and by 
 private individuals, interested for the protection and 
 education of young offenders and destitute children in 
 reformatories, in certified industrial schools (which are 
 private reformatories, accepted as such by the govern 
 ment), and in workhouse schools, a large residuum 
 remained, who are untouched by any educational insti 
 tutions, and who furnish a constant supply to these 
 expensive boarding-schools. These neglected children 
 still remained, although the school board had for three 
 years endeavored to reach all. Such has been our 
 own experience. It is clear and indisputable, then, that 
 a fresh agency is needed. These children are half- 
 civilized and half-fed. They cannot be admitted into 
 the common schools. They require special schools 
 
56 EDUCATION. 
 
 where they will be taught industry as well as learning, 
 and where they will receive some food which will enable 
 them to remain the greater part of the day. These 
 schools can be maintained at a very moderate cost to 
 the State, probably not over twenty dollars a year for 
 each child ; and they would extend the benefits of a 
 suitable education and training to the lowest in the 
 Commonwealth; from whom prisons and workhouses 
 and reformatories are constantly recruited at a great 
 loss to the State. 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 From the President of the Board of Public Charities to 
 the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania. 
 
 On behalf of the Board of Public Charities, the 
 undersigned begs to present to the Constitutional 
 Convention some considerations bearing upon the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth sections of the proposed 
 article on "legislation," containing certain restrictions 
 upon legislative appropriations. These sections, it is 
 understood, have already been passed to a third read 
 ing, but were so passed before the article on education 
 had been definitely acted upon. 
 
 The attention of the convention is, in the first place, 
 respectfully invited to the present state of its constitu 
 tional provisions in reference to popular education, 
 (i) The constitution is to require in general the main 
 tenance of a thorough and efficient system of public 
 
EDUCATION. 57 
 
 schools, offering the opportunity of an elementary 
 education to all the children of the State. (2) A 
 constitutional provision for compulsory education has 
 been rejected by the convention. (3) A provision for 
 the establishment by the legislature of special schools 
 for " neglected children " has also been rejected. (4) 
 The municipalities as well as the legislature are to be 
 forbidden to aid such private institutions as now exist 
 for that purpose (section seven, taxation and finance).* 
 That is to say, with the exception of this last restric 
 tive provision, the common-school system of the State 
 will be left substantially as it was before, the legisla 
 ture being required to continue without diminution its 
 annual appropriations. 
 
 In the second place the attention of the convention 
 is respectfully recalled to a few of the simple facts of 
 the case : 
 
 i. According to the returns of the census of 1870, 
 there are within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
 more than two hundred and twenty-two thousand 
 persons above ten years of age unable to read or write, 
 and probably the true number of such is not less than 
 three hundred thousand or four hundred thousand, of 
 which from seventy-five thousand to one hundred 
 thousand are under the age of twenty-one, and of these 
 last, twenty thousand or more are congregated in the 
 single city of Philadelphia. 
 
 * SEC. 7. The General Assembly shall not authorize any county, city, borough, 
 township, or incorporated district to become a stockholder in any company, 
 association, or corporation, or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its 
 credit to, any corporation, association, institution, or individual. 
 
58 EDUCATION. 
 
 2. This large army of neglected children, growing 
 up in idleness, ignorance, vice, and crime, who are not 
 only destined to increase our taxes, to endanger our 
 property, and disturb our peace, to infest our highways 
 and streets with mendicancy, pillage, and violence, to 
 crowd the docks of our court-rooms and fill our alms- 
 houses, jails, and penitentiaries, but who are soon to 
 exercise with us and over us the sovereignty of the 
 elective franchise, marching up to the polls with added 
 thousands of new recruits every year these are the 
 cancerous source of what is probably the greatest 
 peril to which our Commonwealth and free institutions 
 are exposed. 
 
 3. This evil the common-school system, as at present 
 organized, can never reach and remedy. It is to be 
 understood that under the description of " neglected 
 children " are meant to be included not only those who 
 lose the benefit of the free public schools from the 
 carelessness or willfulness of parents, but those also 
 and theirs is the greater number who are deprived 
 of those benefits in consequence of their destitution of 
 any parental guardianship ; of their vagabond lives, 
 and their want of the very means of subsistence if they 
 should go to school ; of their ragged and filthy condi- 
 dition, or their depraved and vicious habits, or their 
 intractable characters, rendering them unfit to be re 
 ceived at school with the other children, or making it 
 improper or impossible for them to be retained there. 
 The reclaiming" and education of these children could 
 
 o 
 
 not be secured even by any law of compulsory attend 
 ance at school merely, but means must also be 
 
EDUCATION. 59 
 
 provided to supply them with food and clothing and 
 proper domestic guardianship while they may be re 
 ceiving their education at school. If compulsion is 
 needed elsewhere, charity also is needed here. Our 
 schools may be ever so open and free, and sufficient 
 for all, but these children will still remain outside. 
 This is the lesson not only of our own past experience, 
 but wherever the system of free schools has been tried 
 whether in Europe or America, in Old England or in 
 New England, in New York or any other of our sister 
 States. It has been found necessary to supplement the 
 system either by private benefactions or public appro 
 priations for the care and support of this class of desti 
 tute and neglected children. It is clear that they have 
 not yet been reached by our system of public schools, 
 admirable and thorough as has been its management 
 for several years past. Nor are they likely to be 
 reached by it, for it would seem by the superintend 
 ent s last report that the chronic evil of absenteeism 
 from the schools has of late increased rather than 
 diminished. Unless some modification or enlarge 
 ment of the present instrumentalities is adopted, there 
 is no reason to hope that the public schools will ever 
 remedy the evil. 
 
 4. But to reach and remedy this evil is precisely 
 the chief end of the common-school system. These 
 children are precisely those whose education the State 
 needs to care for. Most of the children of well-to-do 
 parents, and who have good domestic care and train 
 ing, will be tolerably well educated whether the State 
 provide schools for them or not. It must not be 
 
r >^ EDUCA T1ON. 
 
 supposed, therefore, that the public schools have very 
 nearly accomplished their purpose, while only this 
 residuum remains unaffected by them. Rather we 
 must remember that while this remains and remains 
 in its present enormous proportions they have en 
 tirely failed of attaining their principal object. 
 
 Now the legislature may do either or both of those 
 things which the convention has refused to require or 
 recommend, (i) It may adopt the principle of com 
 pulsory education for the whole Commonwealth, or 
 may authorize its local adaption. (2) It may establish 
 either directly or indirectly, through the local authori 
 ties, special schools for neglected children. Otherwise, 
 under the proposed section seventen,* if adopted, such 
 children must be left to be cared for, if cared for at 
 all, exclusively by private agencies, without any aid, en 
 couragement, or co-operation whatever from the State 
 in any case, or from the local authorities, unless such 
 agencies should be organized outside of the influence 
 and control of all religious bodies. So that, in this 
 case, the State would either have to do the whole 
 work, at the public expense, or would have no guar 
 antee that such children would be cared for at all ; for 
 the aid of religion is not invoked, and private benevo 
 lence, unprompted and unsustained by the religious 
 sentiment, even though receiving a questionable and 
 precarious support from municipal bounty, can hardly 
 be sufficient for the whole reliance. 
 
 * SEC. 17. No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational 
 institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth, other than nor- 
 mal schools established by law for the professional training of teachers for the 
 public schools of the State, except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members 
 elected to each home* 
 
EDUCATION. 6 1 
 
 Under such circumstances, what is the wisest course 
 to take ? Shall the legislature, by the adoption of this 
 section seventeen, be practically required to do the 
 whole work or nothing ? Or, by a modification of this 
 section, shall it be left untrammeled to adopt the inter 
 mediate course of encouraging the partial efforts of 
 private benevolence by its fostering aid ? This is the 
 question. 
 
 But is the legislature, in any event, likely to under 
 take the whole work ? Is there not reason to fear that 
 should the convention finally adopt this section seven 
 teen, as it is proposed, they will, under all the circum 
 stances, practically give the full weight of their authority 
 and influence in favor of leaving these neglected chil 
 dren absolutely to their fate, without the slightest effort 
 to help or save them, and thus suffer this plague-spot of 
 the body politic to grow and fester, and spread its 
 pestilential infection without restraint or remedy? Is 
 it said that the legislature will still have the power to 
 introduce the system of compulsory education, either 
 universally or partially, and thus to reach and remove 
 the evil ? But by this course, by this means alone, the 
 whole evil cannot be reached and remedied ; and be 
 sides, the convention has solemnly refused to require 
 or recommend such a course, stamping it with its im 
 plied disapproval. Is it said that the legislature may 
 establish or authorize the particular municipalities to 
 establish special schools for the care and instruction 
 of this class of children ? But the convention has 
 positively frowned upon such a plan. Is it said that 
 the local civil authorities may aid the efforts of private 
 benevolence in supporting such schools ? But the 
 
62 EDUCATION-. 
 
 convention has sternly forbidden them to aid any such 
 institutions as now exist for that purpose, and has not 
 proposed the establishment of any others. Is it said 
 that at least the State itself may afford such aid by 
 direct appropriations ? The convention will have for 
 bidden it unless a full vote of two-thirds can be ob 
 tained for it. 
 
 That is to say, even though a large majority of the 
 people, through their chosen representatives, may for 
 years and years seek to do it, they shall not, so long as 
 one-third remain opposed ; in other words, the ante 
 cedent probability that it is wrong or unwise to do it, is 
 held to be as two to one ; so that to effect it shall require 
 that sort of earnest zeal and public agitation, and that 
 overwhelming majority which might be required to 
 change the fundamental law or revolutionize the form of 
 government. But is it said that, at all events, the con 
 vention will not have forbidden private benevolence to 
 exert itself to any extent, and under the impulse of 
 any motives whatever, for the rescue and amendment 
 of these poor, neglected outcasts ? This is true ; but 
 then the convention had no power to make such a for 
 mal prohibition. And yet it may seriously be asked 
 whether, if section seventeen be adopted with the rest, it 
 will not appear that the whole moral influence of the 
 action of the convention will tend to dampen any sym 
 pathy that might be felt for this class of children, and to 
 paralyze any efforts that might be made in their behalf 
 in any quarter or in any form. But be this as it may, 
 there seems, as a matter of fact, but little reason to 
 expect that for some time to come, and until a great 
 pressure of public opinion can be concentrated on the 
 
EDUCATION. 63 
 
 subject, the legislature will be induced to adopt a thor 
 ough system of compulsory education or to establish 
 special schools for this class of neglected children, to 
 be exclusively supported at the public expense. The 
 undersigned, as is well understood, is in favor of both 
 of these plans, and for himself knows of no sufficient 
 reason against them ; but the reasons, whatever they 
 may be, which have weighed with the convention 
 against them, and have led to a decision which 
 precludes their further discussion here, will be likely, 
 it is presumed, to weigh with a majority of the legis 
 lature, backed up, as they may seem to be, by the 
 authority of the convention itself. And may it not 
 pertinently be asked, why it is that while both of these 
 plans of doing the whole work by State authority 
 and at the public expense though liable to such ob 
 jections that they are not likely soon to command the 
 support of a majority of the legislature are never 
 theless left untrammeled to the discretion of that body ; 
 yet this other plan of encouraging and supplementing 
 private efforts by State aid, not being liable to the same 
 objections, and being at any time likely, it may be pre 
 sumed, to have a majority of the legislature in its 
 favor, should be absolutely forbidden, or compelled to 
 secure the support of full two-thirds of all the mem 
 bers of both houses ? Why not trust a majority of the 
 people and their representatives in one of these cases 
 as well as in the other ? Why not allow them, if they 
 will, in order to abate an enormous and crying evil, 
 and to accomplish a great public good, to adopt a course 
 which is felt to be less liable to popular objection, as 
 well as another which is felt to be more so ? 
 
64 EDUCATION. 
 
 Is it said that special restriction is required in this 
 case, because such legislative action is liable to abuse? 
 But all legislative power is liable to be abused or ex 
 ercised unwisely, and we must take this risk or abolish 
 government altogether. The true questions are, first, 
 is the proposed action, in matter and form, a proper 
 subject of State legislation? and, second, is it demanded 
 for the public welfare ? As to the former question, that 
 this is a proper subject of legislation is indirectly admit 
 ted by its being allowed on a two-thirds vote ; and as 
 to the latter question, it is admitted on all sides that the 
 rescue and education of these neglected children would 
 be a great public benefit ; many of us think it essential 
 to the very existence and permanence of our free in 
 stitutions. Shall we then commit political suicide lest 
 the legislature should make a political blunder ? Shall 
 we abdicate the very power of promoting the public 
 weal because that power may be abused ? Shall the 
 public good be neglected or even put under the ban, 
 because the legislature cannot always be trusted to do 
 what is best? Shall the people not be allowed to 
 manage their own affairs according to their own dis- 
 
 o o 
 
 cretion, because, through their representatives, they 
 may not always manage them wisely ? Shall we once 
 for all acknowledge the experiment of representative 
 self-government a failure? 
 
 But perhaps this particular form of legislative action 
 is thought to be specially liable to abuse. Is it so ? 
 Has such a disposition been shown by the Legislature 
 of Pennsylvania or of other States to squander the 
 public money in educating or aiding to educate desti 
 tute children, that it should need to be specially guarded 
 
EDUCATION. 65 
 
 against in the very constitution ? Even if religious or 
 ecclesiastical bodies should come forward and offer to 
 establish schools for the education of such children, 
 adding moral and religious instruction, it is difficult to 
 see why that in itself should be a bar to the bestow- 
 ment of State aid towards the support of such schools; 
 and probably if there was but one form of religious 
 belief and profession in the State, it would not be so 
 considered. But where there is a variety of religious 
 creeds among us while there are several sects and 
 denominations in earnest rivalry and conflict with one 
 another, and while religious partisanship remains so 
 strong as it is so strong as often to override all other 
 motives and considerations it may freely be admitted 
 that for the legislature to make appropriations from 
 the public funds in aid of sectarian institutions, how 
 ever excellent their general objects and tendencies, 
 would be an exercise of power especially liable to 
 abuse. But this form of abuse being effectually 
 guarded against in this section eighteen as well as in 
 section two of the article on education,* is there any 
 such special liability to abuse in making the appropri 
 ations contemplated in section seventeen as should 
 require the special prevention of the two-thirds vote ? 
 The institutions to be aided will not be sectarian, not 
 under the control of any religious denomination, not 
 
 * SECTION 18. No appropriations, except for pensions or gratuities for mili 
 tary services, shall be made for charitable, educational, or benevolent purposes, to 
 any person or community, nor to any denominational or sectarian institution, 
 corporation, or association. 
 
 SEC. 2. No money raised for the support of the public schools of this Com 
 monwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian 
 school. 
 
66 EDUCATION. 
 
 for private gain or emolument, not addressed to the 
 special interests of any party, ecclesiastical or politi 
 cal ; they will simply aim, by private efforts and bene 
 factions, to accomplish some of those charitable and 
 educational purposes in which the highest interests of 
 the State are most deeply involved, and for which the 
 State makes no adequate provision by her general 
 system of public schools. Shall the legislature be 
 permitted freely to aid such institutions ? 
 
 If attention is called to the great cost of the institu 
 tions, whether schools, refuges, or homes, here contem 
 plated, and if the danger of their demanding exorbitant 
 drafts from the public treasury is urged in favor of a 
 restriction of appropriations in their behalf, the answer 
 is, those institutions will not hold the purse-strings, and 
 those who do hold them are not likely to give more 
 than, in their judgment, the public good requires. The 
 question is, shall they be restrained from giving as 
 much? For the State to impose such restraint upon 
 itself seems little short of absurdity. Indeed, this is 
 the last of all directions in which to limit the public 
 expenditure. Economy here is eventual extravagance, 
 and extravagance the surest economy. The public 
 benefit resulting from a removal of the evil in question 
 would abundantly repay all the cost, even though the 
 whole were drawn from the public treasury. But it is 
 to be especially noted that the plan here in view is one 
 which is contrived to relieve the public treasury instead 
 of burdening it, always presuming one thing, that the 
 end contemplated is acknowledged to be demanded by 
 the general good, and that the State recognizes her 
 interest in the removal of so great an evil. The State 
 
EDUCATION. 67 
 
 might justly and wisely assume the whole expense, but 
 the present suggestion is, that, in case the establishment 
 and support of the remedial institutions be thrown, in 
 the first instance, on private benevolence, the legisla 
 ture, without being hampered by any special restric 
 tions, should then be permitted to make, from time to 
 time, such appropriations in encouragement and aid of 
 such institutions as should be deemed wise and reason 
 able, and consistent with the most rigid economy of the 
 public funds. And it is respectfully suggested that the 
 same economical motives which weigh in the minds of 
 the members of the convention may be confidently 
 counted upon to weigh in the legislature with quite 
 sufficient force to keep its appropriations for such 
 objects, and under such circumstances, within due 
 bounds.* At all events, the State would pay but a 
 part of the price for the benefit which it would receive. 
 If it be objected that the evil is local, and that the 
 whole State ought not to be taxed for the relief or 
 benefit of certain particular communities, the answer 
 is three-fold : 
 
 i. Then surely those communities should be allowed 
 to tax themselves for the removal of the evil, and to 
 economize in that taxation, by availing themselves, as 
 far as they should see fit, of all the aid they could ob 
 tain from private sources. 
 
 * The total sum appropriated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania to local 
 charities, embracing hospitals, homes, dispensaries, asylums, &c., &c., from 
 1752 to 1872, exclusive, a period of one hundred and twenty years, amounts 
 to $377,000, including the sum of $70,000 granted by the Provincial Assembly 
 to the Pennsylvania Hospital, during the latter half of the last century. 
 
68 EDUCATION. 
 
 2. By far the greater part of all taxation is for the 
 direct benefit of others than those who pay the taxes. 
 The very idea of a state involves the principle of 
 mutual protection and helpfulness, in which, after the 
 analogy of a mutual insurance, the stronger parts give 
 the weaker more than they receive. The state is built 
 upon a community, a solidarity, but not a perfect 
 equality of individual interests. When the different 
 parts, instead of consenting in mutual co-operation, 
 fall into dissensions, and jealousies of section with 
 section, marshaling east and west, or city and country, 
 or agriculturist and manufacturer, or rich and poor, 
 against each other, the very existence of the state is 
 endangered, and its proper purpose and object are 
 annulled. But if the State is not to be taxed for the 
 removal of the evil because it is local, how large a 
 community is to be taxed for that purpose a county, 
 a whole city, a ward, a precinct, or each individual on 
 his own account? The evil is not equally distributed 
 over any area, however small, short of each individual s 
 domicile ; a^id when that is reached it is precisely some 
 other individual or individuals that must be taxed for 
 its removal. Besides, the whole common-school system 
 is especially liable to the objection in question. Here 
 the rich are taxed for the education of the poor ; those 
 who have no children for the education of the children 
 of others ; and the State taxes herself by the million 
 to distribute her aid to the different localities and com 
 munities, giving most to those places where the most 
 children are found to need the appropriation. 
 
 But the evil is, after all, by no means so purely local 
 as seems to be generally assumed. It exists and is 
 
EDUCATION. 69 
 
 formidable in all the counties of the State. If the evil 
 is greater in one part of the State than in another, it 
 cannot be confined to that portion, but will spread its 
 effects far and wide. And if one portion of the State 
 remedies the evil within itself, the beneficial conse 
 quences of such remedy will be shared by all the other 
 parts of the State. This dangerous element is, of 
 course, found mainly in the thickly-settled communities, 
 and there it must be encountered and dealt with. 
 Eventually it is found in maturity all over the State, 
 spreading its corrupting influences, filling our prisons 
 and almshouses, and festering with disease in the 
 hospitals. Under proper State inspection, surely the 
 legislature should be allowed to aid, say by a per 
 capita allowance, industrial and other schools, conducted 
 by private individuals for the rescue of such children 
 from the ruin which, in nine cases out of ten, is sure 
 otherwise to overtake them and the State, from the 
 blighting influences of their degraded and criminal 
 lives. If, for example, there are twenty thousand 
 neglected children in Philadelphia, and if, in the rest of 
 the State, there are fifty or sixty thousand instead of 
 the more exact proportion of seventy or eighty thou 
 sand, is this a reason for regarding the evil as in such 
 sense local, that the State has no common interest in 
 it? It is undoubtedly more concentrated where the 
 population is more concentrated, and there, from its 
 very concentration, it becomes not only more conspicu 
 ous, but more fearfully dangerous. But are not the 
 safety and prosperity of the State largely bound up in 
 the safety and prosperity of the city ? May not the 
 corruptions of the city spread their contaminating 
 
70 EDUCATION. 
 
 influences into the State ? May not the accumulation of 
 ignorant and unprincipled voters in the city control the 
 elections and revolutionize the political character of the 
 State ? Does not the State assume to govern the city 
 and bind it by the constitution and laws which it 
 makes ? And would the State allow the city to pro 
 tect itself, for instance, from the increase of this 
 dangerous element, by prohibiting the ingress into its 
 limits of the families of ignorant and destitute 
 foreigners? If the city should remedy this evil within 
 its own boundaries, won 13 not the State reap a double 
 benefit, in the first place, so far as the city is a part 
 and a large part of the State, and secondly, by the dis 
 tribution from the city into other parts of the State of 
 great numbers of industrious and well-educated and 
 respectable, instead of idle and ignorant people ? And 
 will the State refuse to pay anything for the common 
 benefit ? For it is again to be observed that, on the 
 plan now proposed, the city, through its private bene 
 factions, together, perhaps, with its municipal appropria 
 tions, would assume the principal weight of the burden, 
 and the State would come in with only such aid and 
 encouragement as it might see fit to bestow. Shall all 
 such appropriations by the State be forbidden or hamp 
 ered with such restrictions as may practically amount 
 to a prohibition ? 
 
 The legislature, it may be finally said, cannot be 
 trusted with an arbitrary control of the people s treas 
 ury ; die people cannot be sure of having honest and 
 intelligent legislators. \Yhat, then, is the true remedy ? 
 Will you, by constitutional provisions, secure as far as 
 possible the thorough education of all the people in 
 
EDUCATION. 71 
 
 knowledge and virtue, and guard with ever} possible 
 barrier the purity of elections? Or will you leave 
 thousands and tens of thousands of children to grow 
 up in ignorance and vice and thus assume the elective 
 franchise, only providing constitutional barriers against 
 any aid being given to the State for their education ; 
 and then proceed to restrain the legislature and strip 
 it of its accustomed powers, and thus and so far deprive 
 the very people of the functions of self-government? 
 That the legislature cannot be trusted means that the 
 
 o 
 
 people cannot be trusted. To restrain the legislature is 
 to restrain the people. If the legislature may not make 
 laws, the people cannot make them ; for the people 
 have no other organ than the legislature whereby to 
 perform that function. Is it not inverting the order of 
 things to leave the people in ignorance, and then re 
 strain their legislature? Would it not be better to 
 secure the intelligence of the people and the purity of 
 their elections, and then trust their chosen representa 
 tives ? It is true that the legislature may be once for 
 all constitutionally restrained from meddling with mat 
 ters where experience has shown that their interference 
 is productive of more harm than good to the State. 
 But the education of the people the thorough educa 
 tion of all the people is admitted on all hands to be 
 pre-eminently a matter of high public concern, and a 
 proper subject of State legislation. It is submitted, 
 therefore, that this is a case in which, beyond all others, 
 the legislature should be left free. 
 
 A draft of section seventeen, modified in accord 
 ance with the views thus imperfectly expressed, is with 
 great diffidence herewith submitted. To require the 
 
72 EDUCATION. 
 
 inspection of the institutions in question, and the special 
 recommendation of aid to them, by a board of commis 
 sioners appointed for the purpose by the governor, the 
 legislature, or the department of the interior, if such 
 a department should be created, is thought to furnish 
 a sufficient guarantee against improper or wasteful ap 
 propriations. It is presumed that the wisdom of the 
 legislature could easily frame a law, by which private 
 beneficence, municipal co-operation, and State aid, 
 might all be combined and concentrated upon the same 
 great end, leaving the institutions in question, so far as 
 they should require no compulsory or penal action, to 
 the simpler or cheaper methods of private manage 
 ment ; thus utilizing private benevolence and economy 
 for the public good. Shall the Constitution of Penn 
 sylvania, instead of encouraging and facilitating such 
 a result, only throw obstacles in the way of its accom 
 plishment ? 
 
 A modified draft of section eighteen is also ap 
 pended, in which the prohibition of appropriations to 
 sectarian institutions is made absolute, the clause for 
 charitable, educational, or benevolent purposes being 
 omitted. It is not perceived why against just those 
 purposes there should be an expression of such special 
 antipathy. Shall the legislature be allowed to make 
 appropriations to anything and for anything, provided 
 only that it should not propose thereby to aid any 
 charitable, educational, or benevolent purposes ? May 
 the legislature make appropriations, for example, for 
 a peculiarly ecclesiastical or religious purpose, for 
 building a church, or paying the salary of a clergyman 
 of any denomination ; and yet shall it be forbidden to 
 
EDUCATION. 73 
 
 aid in the education of its own outcast children in a 
 school established and supported by such a denomina 
 tion ? It is not supposed that such a distinction was 
 intended. It is therefore suggested, as most consonant 
 with the presumed purpose of the section, and the pro 
 hibition against all such appropriations be made once 
 for all absolute and universal. 
 
 It may be well to mention here for the fact is not 
 generally known even to legislators that but four of 
 what are called " State institutions," of a permanent 
 character, are "absolutely" under "State control." 
 These are the Eastern and Western Penitentiaries, the 
 Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, at Harrisburg, 
 and the Hospital for the Insane of the Northern District 
 of Pennsylvania, at Danville. All the others are pri 
 vate charitable corporations, to which the legislature 
 has been in the habit of orranting- State aid at each 
 
 o o 
 
 session, in the same manner precisely as it has done 
 to the former. Shall the education of the blind and 
 the deaf and dumb be restricted by a two-thirds 
 rule, because private beneficence originally founded 
 these institutions and continues to share the expense 
 of maintaining them ? Is it well to curtail the oppor 
 tunities of the insane poor to admission into that noble 
 asylum at Dixmont, because it exists under the same 
 conditions? or to prejudice the claims of delinquent 
 children to the reforming influences of the refuges of 
 Allegheny and Philadelphia counties, or feeble-minded 
 children to education and maintenance in that model 
 training-school of Delaware county? The supposed 
 impolicy of encouraging and aiding private zeal and 
 benevolence, in the work of the education and reform of 
 
74 EDUCATION, 
 
 neglected children, has long been practically disavowed 
 by those enlightened governments of Europe which 
 have shown any interest in the improvement of 
 this juvenile class as a measure of philanthropy or 
 political concern. More especially has this been 
 the case in Great Britain, which has given all such 
 schools a recognized status, supports them largely, 
 and allows, in the case of the private reformatories, 
 the magistrates to send children for detention in 
 them. The government accepted this policy, how 
 ever, only after it had been incontestibly shown that 
 reformatory schools could be thus established and 
 their objects most successfully attained. It had been 
 found there, as it is most lamentably the case in this 
 State, that the refuges or reform schools, which main 
 tain the unelastic character of State establishments, 
 and which mingle together, as they must, the highly 
 criminal youth with the barely offending ones, guard 
 ing them all as criminals by strict surveillance and 
 within high walls, take more or less the form and com 
 plexion of prisons, and that the children discharged 
 therefrom are regarded with some such distrust as at 
 taches to discharged convicts, and the disposal of the 
 inmates to eligible situations is exceedingly difficult 
 as a rule, almost impossible. " The results of this 
 (the later) system," writes the Rev. Sydney Turner, 
 inspector of the reformatory and industrial schools of 
 England, " have been very encouraging," In many 
 schools of either class, eighty per cent, and upwards 
 have turned out well after their discharge ; and these 
 
 o 
 
 results are taken from the returns which the managers 
 of each school have to make for the three years succeed- 
 
EDUCATION. 75 
 
 ing each inmate s discharge, of his character and circum 
 stances. The results are seen still more decidedly in 
 the diminution of the numbers of the younger class of 
 criminals, and the lighter character of the crimes of 
 which our juvenile offenders are now more commonly 
 found guilty. 
 
 "In the year 1856, when this system began to be in 
 more active operation, the number of juvenile of 
 fenders committed for one year was 13,981 ; in 1858, 
 when the system had spread and taken root, the num 
 ber sank to 7622; and in 1870, in spite of the very 
 large increase of our population, the number of young 
 offenders committed was but 9998." 
 
 Submitted with great respect by your memorialist 
 and humble servant, 
 
 GEO. L. HARRISON, 
 
 President. 
 PHILADELPHIA, September i5th, 1873. 
 
 SECTIONS 17 AND 1 8 MODIFIED. 
 
 SECTION 17. The legislature may make appropria 
 tions to such normal schools as may be established by 
 law, for the professional training of teachers for the 
 public schools of the State ; and in aid of schools or 
 homes which maybe established under provisions of a 
 general statute for the care and education of such 
 vagrant or abandoned or destitute and neglected chil 
 dren as cannot be gathered into the public schools ; 
 but no appropriations shall be made to any charitable 
 
7 6 EDUCATION. 
 
 or educational institution not under the absolute con 
 trol of the Commonwealth, except upon the special 
 recommendation of a board of commissioners ap 
 pointed by law to visit and inspect such institutions. 
 
 SEC. 1 8. No appropriation shall ever be made to 
 any ecclesiastical, denominational, or sectarian institu 
 tion, corporation, or association, nor shall any appro 
 priation (except for pensions or bounties for military 
 service) be made by way of gratuity to any person or 
 community whatever. 
 
 REFORMATION OF NEGLECTED, DESTITUTE, 
 AND VICIOUS CHILDREN. 
 
 Our suggestions hitherto have related only to the 
 amelioration of poverty and the cure of crime in the 
 community. We have reached now the more import 
 ant and hopeful subject of the prevention and final 
 eradication of both ; vice and misery are not limited to 
 the adult classes who fill our prisons and almshouses ; 
 if they were, the certainty of their extirpation would be 
 but a matter of time. But behind these poor wretches 
 range their children, line after line, from youth to 
 infancy, the " serried ranks of woe," with the sign of 
 their heritage of want and guilt upon their faces, 
 pressing forward to take their turn in the prisoner s 
 dock, the poor-house, or the jail cell. 
 
 Common sense tells us every day that each of the 
 hungry, vicious, filthy children, that we pass in our 
 streets or alleys, is driven inexorably by want and 
 
EDUCATION. 77 
 
 ignorance, year by year, nearer to one or the other 
 of the dead-locks in life ; driven there to become 
 not only a burden upon the State, but an active evil 
 influence in it ; and, more than this, the most tragical 
 of all spectacles the world can offer, a depraved human 
 soul, charging before God its loss and ruin upon 
 society. To busy ourselves alone with mature and 
 developed crime, and to ignore the breeding mass of 
 embryo vice beneath, from which it is steadily supplied, 
 is to attempt to dam the river at its mouth when it has 
 grown into an irresistible torrent, which but a trifling 
 effort would have dried up at the fountain. 
 
 The present generation is learning wisdom slowly 
 in this matter. In England, Germany, France, and in 
 the local and private efforts for their instruction and 
 reform in this country, the weight of influence is 
 brought to bear upon the children rather than the 
 adults of our dangerous classes. The reform of the 
 hardened convict, weighted with the habits and asso 
 ciations of half a life-time, will usually do no more than 
 make him passive in either good or evil, while the 
 education and moral training of a child gives us an 
 active element of good in the State. 
 
 Such efforts for prevention of crime among us are, 
 as we stated, but local or private. The Common 
 wealth of Pennsylvania has been especially tardy and 
 languid in her recognition of their utility. Her total 
 contribution to the homes, asylums, hospitals, &c., 
 through which these lowest classes of the poor are 
 reached, has been, for the one hundred and twenty 
 years ending in 1871, but $377,000, while the first 
 cost of one of her penitentiaries for crime exceeded a 
 
7 8 EDUCATION. 
 
 million and a half. Nor is the interior machinery of 
 government in the Commonwealth employed as yet 
 in the rooting out of this quick-growing crop of crime. 
 Vice matured is cherished and cared for, with so little 
 attempt at reform, that it would seem as if its genera 
 tion rather than regeneration were the object to be 
 attained. Every county has its jail and poor-house 
 filled with idle paupers and prisoners, a dead weight 
 on the working, honest tax-payer, while there are but 
 two schools of reform in the State where the immature 
 pauper or prisoner can be stopped short in his career, 
 taught habits of thrift and industry, and given a handi 
 craft which will enable him to become a useful and 
 self-supporting citizen. 
 
 The blind folly of this preference for the punish 
 ment rather than the prevention of crime is equaled 
 only by that of the farmer, who should expend his 
 time and strength, year after year, in cutting down per 
 petually renewed crops of weeds, instead of occupying 
 his ground with wholesome grain, which would yield 
 him fair and abundant harvests. 
 
 What, then, is the first step in the prevention of 
 crime ? We answer, education ! The statistics of 
 every country prove the large proportion which the 
 illiterate bear to the whole number of criminals. 
 
 It is estimated that in the sixteen Southern States 
 two-thirds of the prisoners are illiterate, while in the 
 rest of the Union more than one-third are so ; which 
 gives us about one-half the whole number of prisoners 
 as without education. In the prison statistics of New 
 York City (where crime, its causes and results are con 
 densed with photographic clearness for the expert) it 
 
EDUCATION. 79 
 
 is reported that in 1871, in a population of 942,242, 
 there were 62,238 persons unable to read and write; 
 but of 51,466 prisoners in that year 19,160 were illiter 
 ate, showing that, of the ignorant class, one in three 
 committed crimes, while of those who could read or 
 write the proportion of offenders was as one in twenty- 
 seven. 
 
 There is no need, however, to multiply such statis 
 tics as these ; the experience of every man tells him 
 that the ignorant are weak and fall stupidly and easily 
 into error. 
 
 In Massachusetts, in the same year, out of 97,742 
 illiterate, 4791 were criminals that is, one in twenty, 
 while the proportion of criminals in the class who had 
 received a primary education was as i to 126^. In 
 the penitentiaries and county jails of our own State, 
 practically one-half of the inmates are illiterate. 
 
 We are aware that it is often declared that " merely 
 to read and write will not diminish crime or make 
 better citizens." But the practical alternative is not 
 between a knowledge of reading and writing on the 
 one hand, and habits of morality and religion on the 
 other; but between so much knowledge as is involved 
 in reading and writing and no education at all ; be 
 tween so much knowledge as that or blank ignorance 
 or a training only in habits of vice and crime. 
 
 But we believe that there is a natural affinity be 
 tween knowledge and good morals ; between the 
 normal culture of the intellect and of the heart ; be 
 tween truth and rectitude; and that even the mere 
 knowledge of reading and writing increases both the 
 means and the tendency to acquire both the knowledge 
 
8o EDUCATION. 
 
 and the habits of virtue and good morals. And, be 
 sides, such instruction is not obtained to the exclusion 
 of moral and even religious training. Ninety-nine in 
 a hundred of the teachers in the public schools of 
 Pennsylvania are and will continue to be moral, and 
 nine-tenths are religious persons. Such instruction 
 and training radiate constantly, in an unconscious in 
 fluence, from the person, bearing, and example of the 
 teacher, even where formal lessons and special exer 
 cises are not employed to promote them. 
 
 Any scheme for the redemption of neglected and 
 vicious children, however, is incomplete which simply 
 aims to quicken their brains ; the habits of thought 
 must be made wholesome and pure, just as cleanly 
 habits of body are inculcated; their moral sense must 
 be awakened, and self-respect cherished ; and their 
 conceptions of God elevated and vitalized by being 
 brought to bear on their daily life. 
 
 There is a vague belief in the public mind (and a 
 consequent apathy thereon) that this moral training 
 ought to reach a child through domestic influences, 
 and that the State is only responsible for the intellect 
 ual instruction which the public schools supply. These 
 schools, it is argued, are amply sufficient to educate the 
 eighty thousand to one hundred thousand persons in 
 the State under the age of twenty-one who are unable 
 to read and write. Acting under this conviction, the 
 constitutional convention refused to extend to them 
 any other relief, and hindered the action of the legisla 
 ture by requiring a two-thirds vote before further aid 
 from the State could be extended to them. The argu 
 ment appears plausible. The State provides a costly 
 
EDUCATION. 8 1 
 
 machinery of education, and if certain classes will not 
 avail themselves of it the loss and punishment must 
 be theirs. 
 
 We present the plain facts of the case. The schools 
 are, as a rule, so admirable that they are used not only 
 by the working but wealthier classes. Rules of clean 
 liness, neatness in dress, &c., are established which 
 effectually exclude the ragged, filthy hordes who need 
 this training most ; and the demands upon the intel 
 lectual exertions of the children in the schools of the 
 large cities are so great, and the display at the "exhi 
 bitions" so costly, that it requires the most wholesome 
 and plentiful food to enable a child to bear the physi 
 cal strain of the one, and no small expenditure of 
 money to meet the demand of the other. It sounds 
 well in theory to point to our school-houses as a gift 
 of the State to the poor, but the actual fact is that the 
 hungry little beggar at their doors has no more chance 
 of admission than Lazarus into the gates of Dives. 
 
 Of this class there are some twenty thousand in the 
 city of Philadelphia alone, and a like proportion in the 
 other large cities. Even if they were accepted they 
 would not enter the schools, as they are either utterly 
 homeless or the children of parents unable to feed and 
 clothe them, and they are obliged to keep up their 
 wretched lives by either begging or theft. We point 
 you to this army of destitution and vice and ask what 
 shall we do with it? Barred out from the public schools; 
 barred from the trades by the stringent laws of the 
 trades-unions; in lack of food and clothing, what is 
 left to them but crime ? Paris, in the hands of her neg 
 lected, ignorant poor, gives us a suggestive warning. 
 
82 EDUCATION. 
 
 Ignore their condition but a few years longer, and 
 with the ballot-box in their control, the problem of the 
 hour may be, what will they do with us ? 
 
 We propose as a remedy for this evil, first, the con 
 tinued aid of the State to reformatory schools, and the 
 alteration of these schools into institutions bearing less 
 of a penal and more of a domestic and educational 
 character. In connection with this point we highly 
 commend the contemplated change of place and char 
 acter in the Pennsylvania Reform School, which is to 
 be removed from Allegheny City to a large farm, the 
 family system in lieu of the congregate having been 
 adopted, and the inmates instructed in agricultural 
 work. The tilling of the soil offers in this country the 
 surest chance of employment and the certain removal 
 to a distance from the temptations of city life. The 
 percentage of children trained into good citizens by 
 these schools is set down at sixty at the lowest. These 
 reformatory schools are intended, however, only for the 
 treatment of the real or quasi criminal. There is a 
 large number of children in them whose sole fault is a 
 refractory temper or vagrancy, and whose association 
 with the openly vicious can only result in their cor 
 ruption. 
 
 This class and the swarms of youthful beggars out 
 side of the schools have offered a sad and terrible 
 problem for the consideration of thoughtful men in 
 every country. The problem has been solved in Scot 
 land, England, and in some parts of our own country, 
 by what means and with what success a few brief state 
 ments will effectually demonstrate. 
 
 The first industrial school was opened in the loft of a 
 
EDUCATION. 83 
 
 blacksmith s forge, in Aberdeen, under the direction of 
 Sheriff Watson, who originated the plan in 1841, "with 
 half a dozen boys dragged in by the police." The re 
 sults of the industrial school system thus established 
 were : 
 
 1840. 1870. 
 
 Children supported by theft or beggary, . . . 280 None. 
 
 Adult vagrants in rural districts for five years, 2,230 349 
 
 Children, ................ 370 79 
 
 Thefts reported from 1845 to l &5> one thousand 
 one hundred and forty-two; 1865 to 1870, three hun 
 dred and sixty-one. 
 
 These schools in Aberdeen were the prototypes of 
 all industrial schools in Great Britain. In order to 
 insure the attendance of the street Arabs, dependent 
 for food on their own thefts or begging, a soup kitchen 
 was attached to the schools and the police were author 
 ized to arrest all children begging and bring them in. 
 
 Reformatory schools received the sanction of Parlia 
 ment, in Great Britain, in 1853, and industrial schools 
 in 1854. By subsequent acts they were placed under 
 the control of the home office, and an allowance 
 granted, per capita, for the education and maintenance 
 of the inmates. There were one hundred of the cer 
 tified industrial schools in 1872 in successful operation 
 in England and Scotland, under control of different 
 religious or charitable associations, and they are sup 
 ported in part by voluntary contributions, by govern 
 ment grant, by payment from parents, who send their 
 children voluntarily, and by profits in the industrial 
 department. 
 
84 EDUCATION. 
 
 In some of these schools the children are fed during 
 the day and return to their homes at night ; in others 
 they are fed, clothed, and lodged. The children are 
 governed by the family system, educated as their future 
 position requires, and trained to be practical farmers, 
 sailors, shoemakers, carpenters, bakers, weavers, &c. 
 
 The girls are educated in the use of the needle and 
 sewing-machine, in laundry work, cooking, house 
 wifery, &c. 
 
 The total number admitted into these schools 
 amounted at the last official returns to 25,376. Of 
 those discharged, the percentage was 
 
 
 Boys. 
 
 Girls. 
 
 Doing well, 
 
 75.2 
 
 73.7 
 
 Doubtful, 
 
 6.18 
 
 8.8 
 
 Convicted 
 
 7.1-2 
 
 2.2 
 
 Unknown 
 
 I -5. "2 
 
 i?. 6 
 
 Died, 
 
 2.2 
 
 2.q 
 
 
 
 
 In 1856, before the reformatory and industrial sys 
 tem was put into operation, the number of commit 
 ments to prison of children under sixteen was 13,981. 
 
 In 1870, with a fourteen years increase of population, 
 the commitments were 9998. 
 
 Mr. Barwick Baker, who founded the first reforma 
 tory school in England, on his own estate, thus testifies 
 to the success of the system : 
 
 " In Gloucester, in 1844, we had seven jails and eight 
 hundred and seventy persons. In 1872, we have pulled 
 down six out of the seven, and have but one hundred 
 and seventy inmates in that." 
 
EDUCATION. 
 
 An example of the benefit derived from a system of 
 industrial schools, differing in detail from those in Eng 
 land, is found near at hand. 
 
 In 1852 and 1853, special attention was directed in 
 the city of New York to the subject of juvenile va 
 grancy and crime, and associations were formed for the 
 prevention of crime. The machinery put in motion by 
 these societies were industrial schools and the removal 
 of children to homes in the West. Of these schools 
 thirty-six are maintained by one society alone. The 
 aggregate attendance at the whole of them reaches 
 13,606. 
 
 The action of these associations is unaided by the 
 State, and unenforced by law. There is, therefore, a 
 lack of thoroughness and force in the system which 
 that of Great Britain possesses, yet the result in ten 
 years of their vigorous and humane efforts, which we 
 append below, is startling in its success. 
 
 Arrests for vagrancy, 
 
 1860. 
 
 Girls. 
 
 2, 
 
 1871. 
 
 Girls. 
 
 Arrests for petty larceny, 
 
 J7 
 QCQ 
 
 o 
 
 82? 
 
 
 
 
 Decrease, 
 
 3^79 
 1,858 
 
 i,3 
 
 
 
 
 
 1860. 
 Girls. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Girls. 
 
 Commitments for vagrancy, 
 
 5,880 
 
 671 
 
 Commitments for petty larceny, 
 
 800 
 
 746 
 
 
 
 
 Decrease, 
 
 6,770 
 
 .5,3.53 
 
 1,417 
 
86 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 
 
 
 1860. 
 
 Boys. 
 
 1870. 
 Boys. 
 
 Arrests 
 
 for 
 
 vagrancy. 
 
 i, 800 
 
 I ^^I 
 
 Arrests 
 
 for 
 
 pocket-picking 
 
 4O 7 
 
 ^JOO- 1 - 
 
 461871 
 
 Arrests 
 
 for 
 
 petty larceny, 
 
 2,087 
 
 7 I7T 
 
 
 
 
 
 O> A / A 
 
 5,194 [4,548 
 
 
 
 1860. 
 
 Boys. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Boys. 
 
 Commitments for 
 
 vagrancy, 
 
 2,708 
 
 1,^78 
 
 Commitments for 
 
 petty larceny, 
 
 2.C7C 
 
 2,241 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5>28 3 
 
 3.619 
 
 According to the increase of population, the increase 
 of crime should have been twenty per cent., instead of 
 which the commitments of girls for vagrancy, as we see, 
 diminished in ten years five thousand. " Nothing, * 
 says Mr. Brace, who presents this record, " can account 
 for this diminution of crime but moral and preventive 
 measures ; for during that time a terrible war has oc 
 curred with all its necessary evils, and several panics 
 and prostrations of business." 
 
 We need adduce no further proof of the efficiency 
 of the plan which we propose, viz., that industrial 
 schools shall be introduced and assisted by the State. 
 The support of a child in one of these, as we stated in 
 our last report, will cost the State twenty dollars per 
 annum. The support of the same child matured into a 
 criminal will cost her $200 per annum. " Our system 
 of industrial schools," says a Swede, "is costly, but not 
 dear. We cannot afford to let a child grow up in 
 ignorance and vice." 
 
 Still less can we afford it when the ignorant and 
 
EDUCATION. 87 
 
 vicious adult will shortly help to make the laws which 
 are to govern us. 
 
 The plan we offer is neither costly nor difficult. 
 Considered from the lowest point of view, that of 
 economy, by the statistics given above, it will save the 
 Commonwealth in ten years the expense of at least 
 one-third of her present number of criminals; con 
 sidered in regard to its humane aspects, we believe it 
 to offer the only means, at once rational and Christian, 
 by which the seething mass of ignorance and crime 
 which underlies society, here as elsewhere, may be 
 reached, and greatly reduced or wholly eradicated. 
 
 Profoundly impressed by the truth of the sugges 
 tions which we have made to your honorable bodies 
 on this highly important subject, this board has ven 
 tured to prepare a bill for your consideration, which 
 will not only effect the purpose of the suggestions, but 
 which will also establish an impartial and uniform 
 system respecting all those classes of institutions which 
 provide for the maintenance and education of destitute 
 and neglected children. 
 
 We append to our report on this subject a state 
 ment of the numbers, ages, &c., of the inmates of the 
 two houses of refuge or reform schools in the State. 
 
 STATE REFORMATORIES. 
 
 Of this class of institutions there are two in Penn 
 sylvania, viz., the Philadelphia House of Refuge, and 
 the Pennsylvania Reform School in Allegheny county. 
 The number of juvenile delinquents confined in them 
 
88 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 on September 3Oth, 1874, was respectively as fol 
 lows: 
 
 SEX AND COLOR. 
 
 House of 
 Refuge. 
 
 Reform 
 School. 
 
 Recapitula 
 tion. 
 
 White boys, 
 
 271 
 
 2OO 
 
 ^71 
 
 White girls, 
 
 o / A 
 
 87 
 
 66 
 
 / x 
 1C? 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total white 
 
 /u8 
 
 266 
 
 72 A 
 
 Colored boys, 
 
 *r3V 
 
 00 
 
 2C 
 
 **t 
 
 I 24 
 
 Colored girls, ... 
 
 40 
 
 J 
 IO 
 
 CTQ 
 
 
 
 
 j w 
 
 Total colored, 
 
 139 
 
 35 
 
 174 
 
 Aggregate of white and colored, 
 
 597 
 
 301 
 
 898 
 
 The number in both institutions on September 3Oth, 
 1874, was eight hundred and ninety-eight, the white 
 being in proportion to the colored as eighty-one to 
 nineteen. It will be observed that but few colored 
 delinquents are confined in the "Reform School," their 
 proportion to the white being but twelve to eighty- 
 eight. In the "House of Refuge, " which has a special 
 department for the colored inmates, we find that their 
 ratio to the white is as twenty-three to seventy-seven. 
 The average age of those committed during the year 
 was 13.9 years, or white delinquent 14.5 years; colored, 
 1 3. 4 years. 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 PRISON ECONOMY 
 
 PRISON DISCIPLINE. 
 
 PRISON discipline is one branch of the science of 
 government, and, like every other department of that 
 science, it is progressive. New ideas respecting its 
 purposes and new methods of reducing them to prac 
 tice will, of course, be developed by patient observa 
 tion of facts and careful deduction of the principles 
 which they teach. 
 
 The moral and physical evils of incarceration have 
 been much abated as Christianity and civilization 
 have advanced. Prisons are spoken of as existing at 
 the times of the patriarchs, seventeen hundred years 
 before the Christian era; but it is believed that they 
 did not become an established part of the organism 
 of the state until the rise of the baronial or feudal sys 
 tem, in the tenth and eleventh centuries. A writer 
 says : " The prison, as we know it, is as entirely an in 
 stitution of modern Europe as the church, the school, 
 and the poor-house. Words occur connected with 
 events and customs in the eastern world which we can 
 only translate into modern language or thought by the 
 use of the word prison; but the thing, as we now 
 know it, in the shape of the county jail or the convict 
 
 (89) 
 
90 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 prison, was, then, neither known nor anticipated. A sys 
 tematic committal to prison, as a specific punishment, is 
 a thing of which it may be safely said that no trace can 
 be found in the practices of ancient nations that have 
 come down to us." In early times "prisons" were often 
 excavations in the earth, encased with solid masonry, or 
 dug out in the living rock, and men were dropped into 
 them as into huge bottles, or placed in recesses in the 
 sides and built in with stone and mortar, to drag out a 
 miserable and, sometimes, protracted existence ; death 
 offering the only hope of relief. 
 
 In despotic countries, the policy of the government 
 has often been to cut off all facilities for the identifica 
 tion of prisoners. When they fell into the hands of 
 power they lost all connection with the living world, 
 and their actual death was known only to the subal 
 terns to whose keeping they were committed. 
 
 In the reign of Louis XIV. ( one of a race of kings 
 who assumed that states existed for the support of 
 royalty in luxury and self-indulgence ) the French 
 Parliament was aroused to do something for the pro 
 tection from the law s delay of persons seized and in 
 carcerated on charges (sometimes altogether futile and 
 malicious) for which they had not been tried, and to 
 secure for their cases an early investigation ; and at 
 length extorted a promise that the case of every im 
 prisoned person should have judical cognizance within 
 twenty-four hours after his arrest. But the fact of im 
 prisonment without trial, and often without guilt, was 
 scarcely a greater cruelty there and elsewhere than 
 the treatment of those adjudged guilty and sentenced 
 to incarceration. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 91 
 
 In the reign of George II., through lack of govern 
 mental control, and the irresponsibility of the wardens 
 of prisons, greater cruelties were practiced than were v 
 common under the most absolute despots. Hogarth s \ 
 picture of the grated window in one of the dungeons 
 of Fleet street, records better than words of descrip 
 tion the miseries of imprisonment in his time. 
 
 When these outrages were exposed, Parliament com 
 mitted itself so far to their correction, that the prison- 
 keepers became more cautious, and abstained from the 
 infliction of unlawful cruelties. But the very prisons 
 themselves were so constructed as to be instruments 
 of mental and physical torture to their inmates, and 
 so continued until the time of Howard. At that very 
 period the prisons of the Dutch (shame to our English 
 ancestors !) far excelled theirs in order, cleanliness, 
 and industry, and were nearly assimilated in these 
 respects to the best establishments of modern times. 
 But the pre-eminent evil of the English provision for 
 the care of prisoners, even to so late a period as 
 the year 1859, was the promiscuous mingling of cul 
 prits, great and small. The corrupting influence of 
 such a system can hardly be overstated. The most 
 atrocious and hardened criminals, with such facilities, 
 impart their own measure and type of iniquity to 
 novices in vice, so that the higher measure of wicked 
 ness is often reached by these latter almost at a bound. 
 
 Even now, in most countries, while the supreme 
 authority has some oversight, and, at will, exercises 
 some restraining power upon the inferior officers of 
 justice, so that they are liable to be checked in the 
 pursuit of any arbitrary or vindictive courses, yet there 
 
92 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 is no hand to lay restraint upon the chief executive 
 himself, and to protect the prisoner against his caprices 
 or mistakes. England and the United States possess 
 the habeas corpus act. These are the only countries 
 in which is any power, adequate to the object, that can 
 interpose between the ruler and the alleged culprit and 
 i open the prison doors. 
 
 These are steps in the way of righteous dealing 
 towards those who have fallen under the condemna 
 tion of the law, which do not arrest the course of 
 justice, but only secure its equal administration. They 
 are tokens of a higher civilization, and of a Christianity 
 which has leavened even the civil economy of the 
 state. 
 
 The reformation of the prisoner is now, in enlight 
 ened communities, no less an object of incarceration 
 than is punishment : so that, in great measure, reforma 
 tories and prisons are kindred institutions. The diffi 
 cult problem which we are now most concerned to 
 , solve is, how to maintain the condign severity of the 
 law, and yet to encourage the culprit to attempt, with 
 a hopeful spirit, a new and more honorable mode of 
 life. He must never be suffered to forget that he is 
 under the rebuke of society for his crime. To his pro 
 clivities for self-indulgence and evil company, the prison 
 should in no wise give indulgence. Restraint must be \ 
 a present consciousness all the time. Constraint to meer 
 reasonable exactions of work, and of punctuality and 
 obedience to rule, must be as certainly a part of his 
 daily regimen as the supply of his frugal and homely 
 meals. And yet, in the exercise of this quiet strictness 
 and severity, there should be always in the administra- 
 
ECONOMY. 93 
 
 tion the spontaneous evidences of humanity, and, in the 
 apprehension of the culprit, the sense that simple 
 justice is dealt out to him. Facilities for improvement 
 must be given ; commendation on duties well per 
 formed kindly bestowed ; and the possibilities of a 
 better life, in after years, suggested and put within the 
 reach of hope. No merely hireling functionary is fit 
 to have the charge of imprisoned culprits. The work 
 of a warden in a penitentiary can be well done only by 
 one who believes in the susceptibilities of manhood, 
 even when brought to the deepest abasement, and who 
 aspires to make an effort to lift it up and help its 
 restoration. He must not be of hasty temper or 
 easily discouraged, but must pursue his undertaking 
 with a quenchless zeal and perform his work in the 
 same spirit of sacrifice with which a missionary of 
 religion leaves his country and gives his life to the re 
 claiming of men groping in the darkness and degrada 
 tion of heathenism. 
 
 To secure this manner and spirit of administration 
 the most vigilant oversight is required. Very much of 
 what transpires in the various public institutions of our 
 country is secure enough from actual abuse by the 
 publicity of their proceedings. Times of free visita 
 tion are appointed, at which whosoever will may pass 
 through them and inspect their arrangements. And 
 this public supervision, supplemented by the official 
 inspection of their board of managers, affords an ordi 
 narily effective mode of bringing to light any grievous 
 wrongs that are practiced upon their inmates. But the 
 walls of prisons are as effectual in keeping critics out 
 as in keeping culprits in. It is especially desirable that 
 
94 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 impartial men, holding office not for fee or reward, but 
 from motives of philanthropy alone, appointed by an 
 authority which shall possess the highest confidence for 
 its wisdom and its independence, should be invested 
 with powers of oversight and direction, enabling them 
 to look into the inner prisons and the whole economy of 
 treatment and the animus with which it is conducted. 
 
 In his first report, after the adoption of our Pennsyl 
 vania system of separate imprisonment, the chief offi 
 cer having oversight of such matters in England 
 wrote : " I find the result at present to be not only the 
 entire suppression of the corrupt and demoralizing 
 effects of indiscriminate association, but a peculiar 
 seriousness of demeanor is produced by separate con 
 finement, which, except in a few instances, I never wit 
 nessed before." 
 
 Isolated and temporary experiments of the solitary 
 system had been attempted in Great Britain before ; as 
 in the Gloucester Penitentiary, near the close of the 
 eighteenth century, and afterwards, in a modified shape, 
 in the Bridewell of Glasgow. 
 
 In 1786, through the influence of the Society of 
 Friends, the solitary system was distinctly developed 
 in the management of the prison in Philadelphia. All 
 punishments of a corporal nature, such as branding 
 and the lash, were at the same time abolished. Altera 
 tions were made in the Walnut Street Prison with re 
 ference to this new regime. Thirty cells were set 
 apart for separate confinement. Continuous solitude, 
 without labor, books, or manual occupatiorTof any sort, 
 was at first enforced. And the same system was 
 adopted, in some degree, by Maryland, Massachusetts, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 95 
 
 Maine, New Jersey, and Virginia. But perpetual soli 
 tude was found to be unendurable, unless some em 
 ployment might be given. A culprit, having small 
 resources of knowledge, and, therefore, meagre mate 
 rial for thought, shut up to brood only upon his folly 
 and crime and punishment, will, if of passionate tem 
 perament, be driven to insanity, and, if of sluggish 
 mould, will sink into idiocy. Labor interrupts and 
 mitigates the anguish of remembered guilt and its 
 tribulation. The hands can do nothing unless the 
 
 o 
 
 mind be more or less engaged in directing their move 
 ments, and any diversion of the thoughts from one 
 perpetual, painful subject of reflection, is an unspeak 
 able relief. It is the law of our intellectual, as it is of 
 our physical, nature, that if some faculties be withheld 
 from exercise, others are intensified into abnormal 
 power and activity. As, if the eyes be blinded, the 
 hearing becomes more acute; so, if the operative func 
 tions of the mind be repressed, the reflective action is 
 excessively and morbidly increased. He who cannot 
 apply his thoughts to any matter of present interest, 
 recoils upon the past with a fearful energy of memory, 
 of which men in their natural freedom of observation 
 and action are incapable. The American experiment, 
 which, separating prisoners from one another, modified 
 the severity of such solitude by requiring them to 
 labor, gave the first demonstration of the value of 
 those two elements in prison discipline. 
 
 But laboiMs advantageous not only in that it makes 
 solitary confinement endurable, but that it teaches, what 
 most criminals have never learned, the duty of service. 
 41 Idleness is the parent of vice." A little investigation 
 
96 PX1SON ECONOMY. 
 
 would convince any one that in nearly every instance 
 the crimes which consign men to prison have been com 
 mitted by those who have never acquired habits of 
 industry, who have either obtained a precarious liveli 
 hood by leaning on others for support or by occasional 
 spasms of effort to work, or have lazily, with perpetual 
 reluctance, and with evasion of duty whenever possible, 
 maintained a sham occupation. For such men, espe 
 cially if they reach prison (the goal of crime) early in 
 life, steady, compulsory labor is a most wholesome dis 
 cipline. Industry becomes thus a necessity of their 
 situation, both because irresistible authority exacts it of 
 them, and because, in solitude, their own comfort of 
 mind requires it. It is the nearest approach they have 
 to positive pleasure, and so it grows to be agreeable, 
 until a diligence which began under constraint at length 
 ripens into a habit. The criminal who, paying the pen 
 alty of a past offense, gains meanwhile this item of 
 personal training, for the lack of which he became a 
 criminal, returns to the world, when his sentence of in 
 carceration is fulfilled, a wiser and a better man, imbued 
 with such new ideas of life that, through industry, he 
 will escape relapse into crimes. But prison labor, to 
 be beneficial in its effect upon the prisoner, must be 
 productive. The crank and the tread-mill only weary 
 the body and vex the spirit. Where a particle of man 
 hood remains, the soul revolts at a mere muscular oc 
 cupation, which gives no exercise to the understanding, 
 and might as well be done by an ox or an ass. These 
 inflictions are merely penal. Dr. Wines reports of a 
 recent visit to the city prison of London, where as 
 many as seven or eight hundred of the inmates were 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 97 
 
 found " exercising"" on the tread-wheel, which is the 
 largest in the world : " The governor of the prison 
 testifies to the bad effects of this kind of prison labor." 
 They humble the transgressor, indeed, but they destroy 
 his self-respect. They may serve to make the prison 
 odious, and thus operate to make the viciously-inclined 
 more careful to avoid it, but they do him no good 
 rather positive harm, when once he is lodged in prison 
 as a culprit. 
 
 The system of separate imprisonment, with useful 
 labor, avoids alike the danger of contamination by the 
 intercourse of the bad with the worse, and the danger 
 of insanity or imbecility when the guilty are kept idle 
 and alone. Under the old common-jail arrangement 
 the novice in crime was almost sure to go forth, when 
 discharged, an adept. The leisure allowed in the 
 prison-yards, and in the rooms where culprits were 
 herded together, was employed in recounting past ex 
 ploits in crime and hair-breadth escapes, and in plan 
 ning future acts of villainy ; so that, not infrequently, 
 men were graduated from these schools of vice with a 
 programme of further depredations upon society care 
 fully prepared and determined on. 
 
 To preclude communication between prisoners is the 
 paramount idea of the separate system. It does not 
 contemplate the exclusion of ministers of religion ac 
 cording to the denominational preferences of those in 
 confinement ; they may come to the wretched exile as 
 often as his spiritual wants require. It does not hin 
 der the access of other conscientious persons whom it 
 may be agreeable and edifying for them to see. In 
 some places it is not thought to impair the efficacy of 
 
98 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 this system to allow the prisoners to meet for worship 
 and instruction. In the Western Penitentiary of this 
 State, under a recent law, prisoners come together for 
 labor, restricted, however, from all conversation with 
 one another. 
 
 This absolute prevention of all intercourse between 
 the vicious, and exclusion of all outside visitors except 
 those who come to lead them to repentance and a 
 better life, must add great moral force to the influences 
 of religious truth with which they are approached. 
 The privacy of these errands of mercy gives the 
 consciously guilty encouragement to unburden his 
 heart, and to indulge and express feelings of contri 
 tion, without the danger of being scoffed at for his 
 weakness. If there be any tender memories, they are 
 likely to be awakened and made impressive and profit 
 able under such circumstances. And besides, undis- 
 tracted by other objects of interest and topics of 
 conversation, the mind of a prisoner, judiciously guided 
 by conscientious advisers and concentrated upon the 
 recovery of a lost relation of amity with God and man, 
 will most surely reach wise and abiding conclusions. 
 
 The dietary arrangements of a prison may be made 
 to promote its reformatory influences. A large pro 
 portion of those who are incarcerated as criminals have 
 before imprisonment led dissolute lives. Addicted to 
 intoxicating drinks, their food has been, for the most 
 part, poor and innutritious and taken at irregular times. 
 Surfeited occasionally with inordinate quantities of 
 hearty food, and then almost starved by its meagreness 
 and infrequency, they become worn and sickly, and 
 ordinarily improve in bodily condition after they are 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 99 
 
 put in durance. This improvement results partially 
 from the uniformity of material of their food, and of 
 the times at which they receive it. It is attributable, 
 also, in some degree, to the constrained inactivity of 
 their lives. And so it often happens that improved in 
 health prisoners come out at the expiration of their 
 sentence presenting an appearance not only in ludicrous 
 contrast with that which they wore when taken into 
 custody, but more indicative of good living than the 
 aspect of honest laborers, who have earned, at liberty, 
 the means of their daily subsistence. A difference so 
 marked ought not to appear, lest poverty be tempted 
 to crime by the seemingly better fare of those who 
 have been convicted of it. Culprits should not be too 
 well fed. They are usually persons in whom the ani 
 mal nature is predominant, and out of that fact their 
 vices have grown. Repletion of food is often attended 
 with a mental indifference to other things, and a pride 
 and haughtiness of spirit unfavorable to moral im 
 provement. Nor, on the other hand, should the prison 
 be used as a place of physical torture by the withhold 
 ing of necessary food. It is a nice point to be fixed 
 upon, and it should be determined after the most 
 careful observation, and the exercise of the highest 
 professional skill. What is the lowest quantity of 
 plain food which will preserve a human being, in his 
 normal condition, is the law of subsistence which should 
 find place in prison economy. A certain measure of 
 abstinence is not unfavorable to the best dicipline of 
 the spirit. 
 
 Truth is better apprehended when the body has not 
 been satiated with overmuch food ; the carnal passions 
 
100 PJKISON ECONOMY. 
 
 are less likely to predominate. Such experience is a 
 hint for the management of those who, by the indul 
 gence of wicked propensities, have become dangerous 
 to the community, and are in its hands for chastise 
 ment and reform. The regimen of their subsistence 
 should be such, that without detriment to the physical 
 constitution, their whole nature should be kept in the 
 best condition for receiving and appropriating what 
 ever good and reformatory influences may be brought 
 to bear upon them. Especially should there be avoid 
 ance of such dietary profusion as could by any possi 
 bility make the prison a place of chosen refuge for 
 the idle and thriftless drones of society. 
 
 BENEVOLENCE IN PUNISHMENT AND IN PRO 
 VISION FOR THE POOR. 
 
 Society needs to realize more sensibly than it now 
 does that benevolence, not only towards the stricken 
 and unfortunate, but towards the vicious who fall into 
 its custody, is both its duty and its interest. And they 
 who serve society as custodians of these classes need 
 still more to feel it and to practice it in the administra 
 tion of their trusts. The perfunctory and heartless 
 care of human beings, whether in asylums or prisons, 
 is a deprivation of that ameliorating influence of sym 
 pathy which is at once the right of the persons in ward, 
 and the interest of the community which has them to 
 provide for. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. IOI 
 
 In suggesting a benevolent administration of justice 
 even to convicted criminals, we would not be under 
 stood as favoring that weak lenity which would deprive 
 discipline of all its punitive power. The hope of 
 evading arrest, and, if arrested, of escaping conviction ; 
 the relief from wearisome labor, and the certainty of 
 good fare in prison, the chances of having the term of 
 incarceration shortened by executive clemency, strip 
 our penal code of almost all its terrors. Through one 
 or more of these loopholes the minions of vice take 
 assurance that they shall escape from the full measure 
 of punishment which the law decrees, and so they 
 venture on crime with the chances, as they think, in 
 their favor. Certainly if condign punishment would 
 be a proximate preventive of crime, uninviting but 
 wholesome food, labor enough to produce daily fatigue, 
 strict but perfectly humane treatment, should be the 
 experience of every convict. In dealing with crime, 
 the public should aim, not only at its own protection 
 by placing the guilty under restraint, but also at the 
 moral reformation of the offender, if for no other 
 reason, for this, that w T hen released he may be of some 
 service to society by his influence and his industry, 
 rather than infect it with the pestilence of his vices and 
 weaken it by his depredations, intensified by hatred and 
 vindictiveness engendered through what he conceives 
 to be the despotism of his restraining imprisonment. 
 
 The family relation is the natural one, and should be 
 the type of those larger communities which result from 
 the commercial habits of mankind. The state is a 
 great family, and the animus of its administration 
 should accord with that idea. The father, in no stage 
 
102 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 of his child s waywardness and alienation, may forget 
 his parental bonds. He deals most wisely with a rec 
 reant child who, not sparing the rod of chastisement, 
 makes his offspring to feel, at every stroke, that he is 
 smarting, not under the malignant vengeance of out 
 raged power, but under the effort of aggrieved love to 
 enforce the conviction that the way of the transgressor 
 is hard, and to bring back the offender to duty and 
 reconciliation. 
 
 No one, put in durance by the strong hand of society, 
 unless, perhaps, he has committed that extreme offense 
 by which the sentence of death is incurred, should be 
 made to esteem himself an utter and hopeless outcast, 
 whom all men are conspiring to hunt down. When it 
 appears that nobody else has a vestige of hope that a 
 man may be reclaimed, he, himself, loses all hope and 
 abandons all effort of amendment. What is wanted in 
 prison discipline is, not a mawkish tenderness, not a 
 weak consideration for prisoners, as if they were mere 
 unfortunates; but a gracious humanity which recog 
 nizes manhood as still existent in the vilest culprit, and 
 would fain do something to bring it out of degrading 
 bondage, and restore it to supremacy. The manual of 
 our religious faith teaches, that while the Supreme per 
 mits a transgressor to live, He continues to him the 
 power and the opportunity to return and forsake his 
 evil ways. 
 
 But if it be both just and politic to deal even with 
 criminals in a humane and merciful spirit, how much 
 rather should they be stimulated with manifestations of 
 sympathy and encouragement to effort, who have been 
 disabled, by the visitation of God, from earning their 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 103 
 
 own living, and are unwillingly forced upon the com 
 munity for maintenance. We now speak of the worthy 
 paupers, not the professional who oscillate between 
 the county jail and the county almshouse, infected with 
 a double degradation. We may concede that the care 
 less lenity which so generally indulges these consuming 
 lazzaroni, with abundant provision and light labor, is to 
 be deprecated, offering, as it does, a premium for idle 
 ness and vice. If such be proper subjects for public 
 maintenance, they should be sternly taught, that " if 
 they will not work, neither shall they eat." 
 
 The unfortunate and the guilty are all alike integral 
 parts of the community. Whatever dejects them, en 
 feebles it. The effective force of society is made up of 
 the power of its individual members, and the confi 
 dence of each in all, is one of the elements of that 
 power. The deterioration of any member of the com 
 munity, even though he be a pauper or criminal, to a 
 certain extent lowers the moral standard of the whole. 
 A modern English writer says : " It is not to be sup 
 posed that the criminal population is a creation apart. 
 No, it springs from, it is a part of, the community ; it is 
 composed of the weaker and more excitable part of 
 every class. 
 
 "The weak, the careless, the vicious of every class 
 find themselves gradually and steadily crushed out of 
 the conflict for that wealth, which every effort made 
 around them by men of higher capacities than their 
 own, tends to exalt their imagination, while it removes 
 them from its legitimate acquisition. The appetite for 
 wealth, which is a disease even among the educated 
 and high-toned of a nation, becomes a foul leprosy in 
 
104 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 that portion of it, in whom weakness of intellect and 
 strength of passions have not found a compensating 
 control in sound education and early training." 
 
 Pauperism, ^specially, requires to be lifted out of the 
 downward steeps of hopelessness. Our self-respect is 
 largely dependent on our consciousness that others 
 respect us, and loss of self-respect almost certainly 
 leads its desolate victim to the commission of crime. 
 In all almshouses, every inmate should be required to 
 exert his or her ability to labor, however feeble it be, 
 and to that end, diversities of work should be furnished 
 adapted to their individual strength and skill. And 
 this should be exacted, not as a burden or penalty, 
 whose tendency would be still further to crush out the 
 manliness of its victim, but as a stimulus to self-reliance 
 and a proof that the power of self-maintenance may be 
 regained. 
 
 This we submit as one method by which the state, 
 the embodiment and executive power of society, may 
 characterize its administration of those departments in 
 the great household, where the transgressing, the in 
 efficient, and the unfortunate members are provided for, 
 under rules of the firmest discipline, but by a generous 
 and wholesome benevolence. And through an agency 
 of its own charged with this mission, and imbued with 
 a right spirit, it is believed that much may be done to 
 repress evil, alleviate misery, and promote future im 
 provement in those restraining methods and influences 
 which are now in practice. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 105 
 
 CRIME AND PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 It is a trite maxim, that the prevention of evil is bet 
 ter than its cure ; and nowhere is the maxim more true 
 than in relation to crime. To destroy its seeds or hin 
 der their germination to dry up its sources or turn 
 their flow into some harmless or useful direction to 
 eradicate or neutralize its causes is better than all 
 efforts at its repression or even its reform. It is easier, 
 as well as better, to throw off the incipient fever than 
 to stay its full-grown progress. It is easier and wiser 
 to guard against or extinguish the first kindling of the 
 fire than to stem the sweeping conflagration. Both 
 processes, the preventive and the remedial, will always 
 be needed; for neither disease nor conflagration nor 
 crime will ever be utterly abolished among men ; but 
 each process should be applied in its proper place and 
 in its due proportion. In the former reports of this 
 board, therefore, attention has already been most earn 
 estly called to the unspeakable importance of adopting 
 effectual measures for securing the universal education 
 of the young in learning, industry, and good morals; 
 for hindering truancy and vagrancy, idleness and 
 intemperance, and for furnishing the destitute poor 
 with such shelter and support as may preserve them 
 from either miserably perishing or preying upon the 
 peace and property of society, as well as giving occa 
 sion to still greater multitudes of idle vagabonds to 
 impose upon its charity. Such preventive measures 
 cannot be too urgently pressed and pushed forward. 
 They are the most humane, the most beneficent, the 
 most effective, and, in the end, they will prove the 
 
106 PR 1 SON ECONOMY. 
 
 cheapest. Still, measures of repression and reform, 
 to which it is now proposed to invite attention, will 
 always be necessary; and they will continue to tax the 
 highest wisdom of the legislature. Indeed, no subject 
 connected with the science of legislation or of public 
 economy possesses a deeper interest than this. After 
 due preventive enactments, no other has a more 
 momentous bearing upon the welfare and progress of 
 society. No other demands profounder consideration 
 or more patient inquiry, as a condition of wise and 
 beneficent legislation. Beneficent legislation, we say 
 advisedly and purposely; for humanity and charity are 
 concerned in it as well as policy and wisdom ; or, rather, 
 in this case, they are both policy and wisdom. 
 
 Not that the inspection and examination, which this 
 board has made, of the penal and reformatory institu 
 tions of the Commonwealth, even from the special point 
 of view suggested by its very title, have tainted the 
 minds of its members with any mawkish sentimental- 
 ism over "the poor, suffering" criminal, or inspired 
 them with any frenzy of philanthropy, or with any 
 sympathy for the imprisoned convict as a mere " victim 
 of misfortune." Far from it. We look upon crime 
 with horror and detestation, and we regard the crimi 
 nal as richly deserving punishment; often severe, 
 grievous punishment, punishment sometimes greater 
 than man can inflict. But all this does not hinder that 
 he should be an object of humane, kindly, and be 
 neficent regard. In wrath, mercy may be remem 
 bered by man as well as by his Maker; by the state as 
 well as by the individual. The criminal is still a man. 
 He is a criminal and must be punished, ought to be 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 107 
 
 punished; he is a man and must be treated, must be 
 punished, as a man. 
 
 This board does not forget that it is the creature, the 
 agent, the representative of the legislature; and that it 
 has no proper functions or aims which lie beyond and 
 outside of the functions and aims of the legislature. 
 Its business is to represent the true character and spirit 
 of the legislature, and no more. But it rejoices to 
 remember that it has been constituted and designated 
 to represent that character and spirit in their most 
 generous, their humane, and benevolent aspect. Such 
 an aspect it is firmly believed they have and, of right, 
 ought to have. That such an aspect of character and 
 spirit is not alien to its functions the legislature has 
 formally acknowledged and declared in the very act of 
 creating the board itself. Let it not be supposed that 
 it is intended to push the inference too far. This 
 board fully recognizes the fact that the state is not a 
 mere benevolent association, or the legislature a phi 
 lanthropic club; that the state looks with a calm, large 
 view at general results and the common weal, rather 
 than with a sentimental absorption at the relief of par 
 ticular cases of hardship and suffering; looks at politi 
 cal interests rather than at moral and religious ends; 
 that the public good is the fundamental condition and 
 aim of all legislation; and, particularly, that punish 
 ments are inflicted upon criminals in order to prevent 
 the further commission of crime by others as well as by 
 themselves. But these general doctrines are some 
 times misunderstood and misapplied ; are overstretched 
 on their exclusive or negative side, and in their anti 
 thesis to views supposed to be conflicting; or are 
 
108 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 urged in a manner quite too bold and peremptory. It 
 may not be irrelevant, therefore, in introdueing the 
 general subject which has been proposed, to premise a 
 brief preliminary consideration of what is meant by the 
 general good as a principle of legislation. 
 
 What does this principle involve, and what does it 
 exclude, as considerations proper or improper to be 
 taken account of in making laws ? 
 
 Here the broad statement may be ventured, that a 
 regard for popular intelligence and virtue, that senti 
 ments of justice and honor, of humanity and charity, 
 are proper motives for legislators, and their promotion 
 and prevalence in the community proper objects of 
 legislation, as well as the protection or advancement 
 of the common physical well-being, or the increase of 
 the pecuniary wealth or resources of the state; they 
 are included under the idea of promoting the general 
 welfare. 
 
 In regard to intelligence and virtue, most Christian 
 states have, in their legislation, practically acknowledged 
 the truth of the statement. Our own State in partic 
 ular has emphatically acknowledged it in providing the 
 elements of instruction for all, and in encouraging and 
 fostering the higher institutions of science and learn 
 ing, as well as those for the moral and religious train 
 ing of the community. 
 
 The claims of justice, too, are generally admitted in 
 practice. It is admitted that the state may not commit 
 injustice herself, however much it might seem to pro 
 mote the public good, and that it is a principal part 
 of her office to administer justice between man and 
 man, to redress wrongs and to prevent injuries. This 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 109 
 
 is admitted to be involved in the idea of promoting the 
 general -welfare; and, if so, surely a nice sense of honor 
 and keen sentiments of justice cannot be unfitting mo 
 tives to sway the mind of a legislator ; or, to secure 
 their prevalence in the community, an improper object 
 of legislation. 
 
 Thus far there is no considerable dispute. The 
 great conflict occurs at another point. It seems to be 
 very generally thought and assumed that at all events 
 the sentiments of humanity and charity have nothing 
 to do with statesmanship and legislation ; that here the 
 legislator is bound to look directly, strictly, and exclu 
 sively at the public interest. But if the helpless poor, 
 the deaf, the blind, the idiotic, the decrepit, were left to 
 perish, and if the insane were forthwith put to death, 
 society might be relieved of a great burden, and its 
 physical well-being greatly improved. Only humanity 
 and charity forbid. And all civilized and Christian 
 states have in their legislation recognized the authority 
 of these sentiments; have recognized their exercise 
 and prevalence in these relations as being of more im 
 portance to the general welfare than mere dollars and 
 cents. How is it possible, then, that those who act for 
 the state in making its laws should find it unfitting to 
 be themselves influenced by the same sentiments and 
 motives in framing their enactments ? 
 
 In like manner, in the treatment of criminals, it is 
 believed and maintained that regard should be had to 
 the claims of humanity, to the good and reformation 
 of the offender, as well as to the claims of justice or to 
 the security of the state, in the removal of burdens or 
 the deterring of men from the commission of crime. 
 
l I O PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 Otherwise, all criminals of whatever age, under what 
 ever circumstances, guilty of crimes of whatever de 
 gree, might upon conviction be straightway put to 
 death. If the legislator is to look simply with a cold 
 blooded regard to the public interest, why should they 
 not be? If it should be thought that public justice, or 
 the public good, in any point of view, forbid it, because 
 they require a gradation of punishments according to 
 the enormity of offenses, that requisition might be met 
 by marking the greater crime with the more excruci 
 ating mode of execution, or by the infliction of various 
 degrees of preliminary torture. Thus society would 
 be summarily relieved of an oppressive burden of ex 
 pense, and men would most effectually be deterred 
 from the commission of crime, so far as severity of 
 punishment could deter them. But not the spirit of 
 Christianity alone, the voice of humanity and the 
 genius of civilization, cry out against the Draconian 
 code. Such a society, a society with such a code, a 
 society thus discarding all the sentiments of humanity, 
 would be a society of savages. And shall the customs 
 of savages furnish the purest illustration of the high 
 est ideal of human legislation, of a wise and single- 
 minded aim at fat public good? 
 
 It may perhaps be suggested that in a civilized com 
 munity such a code would, in fact, encourage instead 
 of preventing crime, and thus defeat its own object and 
 operate against the general good ; because, with such 
 a code, judges and juries would not convict or sentence 
 men guilty of crimes, especially in the case of minor 
 offenses, and thus the great mass of evil-doers would 
 actually escape punishment altogether. If this sug- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 1 1 1 
 
 gestion is made, it is cheerfully and frankly admitted ; 
 but, in the same breath, the whole point here con 
 tended for is admitted also ; for it is thus admitted that 
 legislators, in their penal enactments, cannot safely 
 ignore the sentiments of humanity and charity ; they 
 cannot safely so look at the public good as to leave 
 these sentiments altogether out of account as motives 
 in shaping their action. 
 
 Nor can the force of this argument be parried by 
 saying that these sentiments must, indeed, be recog 
 nized by legislators as existing facts in the community, 
 but not as proper motives in their own minds ; that, 
 rather, they are to be regarded as unfortunate external 
 impediments which they are compelled to take account 
 of, while they seek, as directly as possible, and in spite 
 of these hindrances, to reach their proper end the 
 general interest of the state. This implies that, from 
 a legislative point of view, it would be desirable that 
 all such sentiments should be abolished in the com 
 munity, and thus a great impediment removed from 
 the direct path to the accomplishment of the proper 
 purpose of legislation, in short, that the savage is 
 superior to the civilized state. But this is too absurd 
 to be openly maintained for a moment. No Rousseau 
 can longer be found ingenious and hardy enough to 
 defend the thesis. Rather, it is unquestionably in the 
 highest degree desirable, that sentiments of humanity 
 and charity should pervade the community; their preva 
 lence is a most important condition and element of 
 the general welfare. If it is the duty of legislators not 
 to be influenced by these sentiments, it is equally the 
 duty of judges and juries not to be influenced by 
 
1 1 2 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 them ; and still more emphatically is it their duty, if it 
 is made and declared such by positive law. Are the 
 oaths of judges and jurymen less binding than those 
 of legislators ? And if not, why is it to be assumed 
 that the former are more likely to disregard the solem 
 nity of their oaths than the latter ? Are legislators the 
 only honest and trustworthy part of the community ? 
 But why are legislators called upon to abdicate their 
 humanity, while judges and jurymen are allowed to 
 retain it? If this "humanity" is a weakness and a 
 vice, both in the makers and the administrators of 
 public law, would not consistency require that, while 
 seeking to abolish it in one department, we should aim 
 at its abolition in all other departments, instead of yield 
 ing to it in any ? The fact is, this ignoring of humanity 
 by statesmen is, after all, a lesson not so easily learned 
 or practiced. Men cannot easily make themselves 
 mere abstractions or mere legislative machines : they 
 will still be men. And if men are to govern men, the 
 governors must not only retain their own humanity, 
 but must also recognize the manhood of those whom 
 they govern. 
 
 Nor does the principle here contended for rest on 
 merely theoretic grounds; it is no matter of mere specu 
 lative sentimentalism ; it has been practically confirmed 
 by actual legislation. The claims not only of justice, 
 but of civilization and humanity have been distinctly 
 recognized by the modern state in the abolition of all 
 forms of torture and of ignominious inflictions for 
 crimes; in arranging a due gradation of punishment; in 
 consulting for the comfort and health of prisoners, by 
 providing for them warmth, ventilation, and wholesome 
 
PRISON E CO NO MY. 1 1 3 
 
 diet, and in establishing reformatory institutions for 
 juvenile offenders, as well as in providing or aiding 
 from the common treasury hospitals and asylums for 
 the poor, for the blind, for deaf mutes, for the aged, 
 the feeble-minded, the insane, and the inebriate. As a 
 matter of fact, and to a large extent, the Christian state 
 has adopted, in her legislation, the principle of hu 
 manity and charity, instead of unadulterated social 
 selfishness. 
 
 The simple question now is, will the state Repudiate 
 her own practical principles out of deference to an ex 
 treme, purely speculative, and savage doctrine of the 
 " public good ;" or, retaining them, will she carry them 
 out in a thorough and consistent manner ? 
 
 In the progress of Roman civilization, it came to be 
 felt that a Roman citizen, however criminal, was a per 
 son too sacred for scourging or crucifixion ; these were 
 punishments reserved for slaves. In modern civiliza 
 tion, till quite too late, have lingered the pillory and 
 the rack and bloody whipping-posts, the mutilations of 
 noses and eyes and ears and hands, the slow pressing 
 to death of recusants and the cutting out of the hearts 
 of traitors, while the ingenuities of inquisitorial torture 
 and burning at the stake have been reserved for the 
 holiday amusement of religious bigotry. That bigotry, 
 alas, is not quite extinct, but in general it has learned 
 to be content with less horrible modes of gratifica 
 tion. Some remnants and relics of those other cruel 
 and ignominious inflictions still disgrace the statute- 
 books and judicial usages of some Christian states ; 
 but even when they were in full operation, under the 
 brutal codes of feudal institutions, they were usually 
 
114 PR J SON ECONOMY. 
 
 accompanied with what was at once an insult to hu 
 manity and an acknowledgment of its claims, in the 
 shape of an exemption from them in favor of the mem 
 bers of the governing aristocracy. Modern civilization 
 has, for the most .part, entirely outlived them. With 
 us, especially, they are quite obsolete. We have no 
 slaves, on the one hand, and no aristocratic exemp 
 tions on the other. Every American citizen is, as 
 such, a person as sacred and respectable as the Roman 
 citizen of ante-Christian, or the feudal baron of mediae 
 val, times ; and American laws will not discriminate 
 against the persons of those who come to us as guests 
 or as prospective citizens. In short, it has been found 
 that contempt and contumelious treatment of our fel 
 low-men is not good, either for them or for us; that the 
 spirit of wanton and vindictive cruelty cannot promote 
 the general good and happiness of society, and, least 
 of all, when organized, sanctioned, and executed by the 
 authority of the state, as an act of the whole body 
 politic ; that the state cannot afford, by the ignomini 
 ous degradation of humanity, even in the person of 
 the grossest criminal, or by the infliction of any pun 
 ishment whatever for the mere purpose of inflicting 
 pain or suffering on the offender, to encourage or 
 sanction the spirit of inhumanity or cruelty in the 
 community. A sacred regard for human kind, or 
 respect for the dignity of man as man, a prevalent 
 spirit of forbearance and kindness, and a prevailing 
 horror of cruelty, are better safeguards of personal 
 rights and the public good than all the tortures and 
 scourgings and pillories and bloody mutilations that 
 ever were invented. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 1 1 5 
 
 Men will often, if not always, best promote their pri 
 vate interest, not by a course of pure selfishness, not 
 by making that interest the direct and exclusive end of 
 all their plans and conduct, but by cherishing and act 
 ing upon the sentiments of justice, humanity, and 
 charity. If a farmer, a merchant, or a manufacturer, 
 having a number of men in his employ, would have 
 them serve him most heartily, faithfully, and efficiently, 
 he must show that he takes a cordial interest in them 
 and in their welfare ; they must be made to believe 
 that he has such an interest ; and the best, the only 
 honest, if not the only possible way to make them be 
 lieve it, is, actually to have it and cultivate it. In like 
 manner individuals, if not legislators, will often best 
 promote the public good, not by seeking it as the di 
 rect and absolute end, but by consciously aiming at the 
 ends of justice and charity, of humanity and civiliza 
 tion, of morality and religion. And even legislators 
 will wisely aim at these ends so far as the public good 
 requires, and seek the public good only in such ways as 
 these higher ends permit. The public good is too closely 
 interwoven with those ends to be separated from them, 
 either in fact or in purpose, even by the most abstract 
 and imperturbable legislative coolness. 
 
 For example, whatever a crude idea of the public 
 good might seem to require or sanction to the con 
 trary, the sentiments and the ends of humanity and 
 equity evidently require a gradation of penalties accord 
 ing to the enormity of offenses. In the end, the public 
 good requires it too, and so, as already said, all civilized 
 legislation has practically recognized the principle. 
 For if the theft of a dime were visited with the 
 
1 1 6 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 same punishment as the commission of murder even 
 though that punishment were death the petty theft 
 might indeed come to be regarded with greater horror, 
 but the crime of murder would certainly be most 
 perilously cheapened. For this the highest punish 
 ment should be reserved ; on this the extreme penalty 
 should be inflicted, and the infliction of the extreme 
 penalty in this case is demanded quite as much by the 
 natural sentiments of humanity as by any regard to the 
 public welfare. Yet even this extreme penalty should 
 be executed, not with any adjuncts of needless ignominy 
 or cruelty, not in malignity or vindictiveness, but in as 
 mild a form as possible, and with every token of re 
 luctance, of sympathy and humane regard. If the 
 pricipal end of all punishment should be the preven 
 tion of crime and the restraint of criminals, capital 
 punishment should remain to deter men by the highest 
 penalty from the greatest of crimes, and to restrain the 
 criminal absolutely, i. e., to remove him, once for all, 
 beyond the possibility of repeating his offense. While, 
 then, the sentiments of humanity and charity undoubt 
 edly require that the infliction of capital punishment 
 should be reduced to a minimum, the same sentiments 
 of humanity and charity, with a due regard to the 
 demands of justice and the welfare of society, require 
 that it should be retained at the apex of any system 
 of penal jurisprudence. But it is no part of our pres 
 ent purpose to discuss the right or the expediency of 
 capital punishment. We only desire to disavow any 
 advocacy of its abolition, and to protest that a consist 
 ent regard to the claims of humanity and charity, which 
 we do advocate, does not require its abolition, but just 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. I 1 7 
 
 the contrary. The fact that the reformation of the 
 offender ceases to be an object of this extreme punish 
 ment, does not at all hinder that it should be a proper 
 and most important end to be sought in all those cases 
 and modes of punishment in which there are room and 
 opportunity for seeking it. A due regard for the 
 public good will itself make the distinction in these 
 cases. The public good may not require the reforma 
 tion of the criminal who is once for all put out of the 
 world, and yet it may imperatively require that refor 
 mation in the case of those who, after thein term of 
 punishment is fulfilled, are to be restored to the bosom 
 of society. 
 
 Take another example on the other side. Laws en 
 forcing by penalties the duties of inward and private 
 morality, or the profession and practice of true religion, 
 are not to be enacted by the state, because, on the 
 whole, they would subvert instead of promoting the 
 highest good ; and that, although the prevalence of the 
 strictest personal morality and conscientiousness, and 
 the profession and practice of the true religion, must be 
 in the highest degree beneficial to the whole commu 
 nity, and the prevalence of their opposites the greatest 
 of public calamities. So, too, with sumptuary laws ; 
 although the prevalence of temperance, frugality, and 
 economy cannot fail to be most desirable and salutary, 
 yet the state cannot undertake to enforce them by le 
 gal penalties without occasioning more harm than 
 good. Thus the ends of the public good on one hand, 
 and the ends of humanity, charity, morality, and justice 
 on the other, are co-ordinate motives for the states 
 man, and neither can be safely followed to the entire 
 
I 1 8 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 disregard of the others. Such a following of the public 
 good would often fail to reach it ; and in legislation 
 such a pursuit of the ends of humanity or morality 
 would often be the surest way of missing them. By the 
 wise statesman the two must be combined in one view. 
 
 As the board are about to suggest certain changes 
 and reforms in the prison economy of the Common 
 wealth, they have ventured upon these preliminary 
 statements in order to " define their position," to place 
 in front the principles upon which they proceed, and to 
 forestall the too-prevalent objection that all such 
 schemes of prison reform are the mere dreams of a 
 very respectable but unstatesmanlike philanthropy, of 
 an amiable but ignorant and unpractical sentimental- 
 ism ; having no basis in the public weal, and undeserv 
 ing the attention of enlightened legislators. These 
 preliminary statements have been entered upon, not to 
 instruct the legislature, but to explain ourselves. We 
 shall ask for no reform which cannot be shown to be 
 demanded by the public good, taken in any large and 
 statesmanlike sense ; but we shall not hesitate to urge 
 in support of reforms so demanded all the motives 
 of justice and morality, of humanity and civilization. 
 
 We may as well make up our minds that great re 
 forms will be made in this department of our legisla 
 tion and public policy. The movements in this direc 
 tion, which have been going on in the civilized world 
 during the last twenty years or more, and which have 
 been annually increasing in vigor and volume, show 
 beyond mistake that such must eventually be the re 
 sult. In former times Pennsylvania took the lead in 
 prison reforms and improvements; and much real 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 119 
 
 progress was made. Since then she has been too 
 much disposed to rest upon her early laurels, while 
 vastly more yet remains to be done. The question is, 
 will she, in the further progress of this great work, fol 
 low up in the rear or take the lead ? Will she allow 
 Russia and Turkey to get the start of her, or will she 
 again give her lessons of example to all western as 
 well as eastern Europe ? 
 
 I. THE REFORMATORY USE OF IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 That the protection of society or the prevention of 
 crime, in a large sense, is the whole object of imprison 
 ment, is freely admitted. That it should aim at the 
 exemplary punishment of crime, and the restraint of 
 the criminal as well as his reformation, though by some 
 extreme philanthropists it may be denied, yet is here 
 assumed to be so generally admitted that it is not felt 
 necessary to attempt any formal argument in its proof. 
 It is deemed more to the purpose, in the present state 
 of jurisprudence and of prison economy, as well as of 
 public opinion, to emphasize the other side of the posi 
 tive statement, and to claim for the reformation of the 
 criminal its rightful, but much forgotten and neglected, 
 and often contested, place among the proper pur 
 poses of penal restraint. It is claimed on four distinct 
 grounds : First, 
 
 Of Humanity. Even the criminal, as already said, 
 has not ceased to be a man ; and those must be ex 
 treme cases in which we have a right to assume that 
 any man is so degenerate and utterly corrupt that no 
 efforts for his amendment can be of any avail. Even 
 
120 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 in the worst and most abandoned of men, there almost 
 always remain some relics, some feeble echoes, at least, 
 of right feeling ; some susceptibility to good on one 
 side or another; some avenue to some buried and 
 dormant sparks of ingenuous and manly emotion; of 
 right and virtuous affection. Shall all these be neg 
 lected ? and shall the poor wretch, by the solemn legal 
 action and systematic arrangements of a civilized and 
 Christian community, be heartlessly cast out, consigned, 
 unaided and unfriended, like a wild beast, to the unal- 
 leviated and unsoftened influence of mere penal in 
 fliction infliction which, as he is not a beast but a 
 man, with human sensibilities and resentments, must 
 ordinarily tend to harden him more and more in the 
 recklessness and desperation of inveterate crime ? 
 Every generous and honorable and kindly feeling of 
 human nature cries out against it ; against mere vin 
 dictive punishment ; against cool and unmitigated 
 cruelty ; against the infliction of one particle of pain 
 beyond what is necessary for the protection and well- 
 being of society ; and demands, that if the reformation 
 and restoration of the offender be by any reasonable 
 methods possible, such methods should be sought out 
 and applied. 
 
 It is claimed, secondly, on the ground of 
 Simple Right and Justice. Society, in electing the 
 penalty of a term of imprisonment instead of capital 
 punishment, has acknowledged that, in her judgment, 
 the offender is not a person of such a desperate char 
 acter that her safety requires him to be summarily and 
 once for all put out of the way ; she has acknowledged 
 that he may not be incorrigible. As imprisonment, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. I 2 1 
 
 personal restraint, and detention are a necessary prac 
 tical condition of any reformatory measures or disci 
 pline, so such measures are a necessary logical result 
 or concomitant of imprisonment. In depriving the 
 man of his own free choice and self-guidance, and 
 taking his control into her own hands, society has as 
 sumed an unavoidable responsibility for his future 
 moral course and character. He has become her 
 ward, and she owes him a duty analagous to that which 
 the parent owes to the children whom he retains under 
 his government. While she chooses to maintain this re 
 lation to him, she has no right to neglect any means in 
 her power for his reformation and moral improvement, 
 and, in general, for his preparation to discharge his 
 duties as an industrious and virtuous member of so 
 ciety, when he shall be restored to its bosom and placed 
 again under his own control. This simple justice re 
 quires, and whatever it may cost to meet it, the state 
 cannot rid itself of this responsibility. But, in fact, to 
 meet it manfully will be found to save the public more 
 than it costs. 
 
 It is claimed, then, in the third place, as demanded 
 by the public good, and this in a threefold way : 
 
 i. As a most effective example deterrent to vice 
 and encouraging to virtue. The spectacle of penal 
 inflictions, severe and persistent, yet adapted to and 
 resulting in the reformation of the criminal, must have 
 an unspeakably greater power to deter men from crime 
 than the mere infliction of mere punishment, though 
 tenfold more rigorous, and however sanguinary and 
 cruel. It shows, clear as the sun, the unutterable 
 
I 2 2 PRISON E CO NO MY. 
 
 folly of crime ; it cows down all its defiant bravado, 
 and quells all its bitter hatred against society ; it turns* 
 by a flank movement, the last intrenchments of its 
 dogged spirit of martyrdom and its pride of heroic 
 endurance. Every reformed criminal, returned to the 
 bosom of society, while he is thus a living and constant 
 lesson of rebuke, of repression, and of humiliation to 
 the criminally disposed, must be also a monument of 
 encouragement and strength to the feeble endeavors 
 of those who, in the midst of temptation, and after 
 many failures, would gladly persevere in the effort to 
 raise themselves from the moral degradation into 
 which they have fallen. 
 
 2. Every criminal reformed is a positive diminution 
 of the number of criminals to infest society; and this, 
 though such cases should be but few, is no insignificant 
 gain, when compared with the process of returning the 
 criminal, who has served out his imprisonment, hard 
 ened in crime, hardened by the very punishment he 
 has sullenly endured, and" rankling with revengeful 
 malignity against that society which inflicted the pun 
 ishment; returning him to reinforce and marshal the 
 ever-swelling army of malefactors who are pressing on 
 in his footsteps. 
 
 3. Such reformations, to the full extent to which they 
 take place, tend powerfully to prevent the education of 
 others in crime. That education comes very largely 
 from the old adepts, both in prison, where they are 
 promiscuously mixed up with the other prisoners, from 
 the youthful novice to the hoary offender, as they natur- 
 
PRISON E CON O MY. I 2 3 
 
 ally will be when no account is made of the reformation 
 of convicts, and out of prison, after they have been 
 discharged unreformed from their term of punishment. 
 Prisoners discharged without reformation have taken 
 their doctor s degree as teachers of crime. 
 
 It is claimed, in the fourth place, as necessary to 
 consistency in our legislation. 
 
 The principle of making the reformation of the con 
 vict one of the chief objects of his imprisonment, has 
 been distinctly engrafted upon the legislation of this 
 Commonwealth. In connection with county jails it is 
 provided by the act of I4th April, 1835, that the matron 
 should give the (female) convicts under her charge 
 "such instructions as may tend to their reformation, 
 and to render them useful members of society." And, 
 in connection with the State penitentiaries, it is pro 
 vided, by the act of 23d April, 1829, that "it shall be 
 the duty of the instructor to attend to the moral and 
 religious instruction of the convicts in such manner as 
 to make their confinement as far as possible the means 
 of their reformation, so that when restored to their 
 liberty they may prove honest, industrious, and useful 
 members of society." In establishing her reformatories 
 for juvenile offenders, the State has also most clearly 
 recognized reformation from crime as a proper object 
 of public legislation. In thus selecting juvenile offend 
 ers she has undoubtedly selected both the easiest and 
 the most important portion of the work. But reforma 
 tion, if possible, is also desirable in the case of adults ; 
 and, if not possible, at what precise age did the possi 
 bility cease? In the very name of "penitentiary," 
 which the State has given to some of her prisons, 
 
I 2 4 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 she presupposes that it does not cease with adult 
 years. 
 
 The reformation of the criminal, therefore, is solemnly 
 acknowledged by the State to be an important end of 
 his penal restraint, and at the same time it is acknowl 
 edged that restraint will not of itself effect the purpose, 
 but that some other special provision is required for its 
 accomplishment. Now, these points being conceded, 
 consistency plainly demands that the law should not 
 stop until it has found some effectual provision for so 
 important an end, if any such provision is possible con 
 sistently with the other ends of imprisonment and the 
 requirements of the public good. 
 
 At all events, when the reformation of the criminal 
 is urged as one of the ends of penal legislation, let it 
 be remembered that the existing statute endorses the 
 demand; and when such arrangements of prison disci 
 pline and management are proposed as shall most 
 effectually accomplish this end, the proposer is not to 
 be bluffed off with any polite allusions to sentimental 
 philanthropy, or the easy utterance of any mere phrases 
 of disparagement. It is to be seriously and candidly 
 inquired and earnestly considered whether such pro 
 posed plans are feasible, and are consistent with the 
 other ends of public justice and with the public good. 
 If so, they should be forthwith adopted. 
 
 II. LABOR OF CONVICTS. 
 
 We here take for granted that the reformation of 
 the convict is one of the objects of his incarceration; 
 while fully admitting that punishment is another for 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. I 2 5 
 
 incarceration is punishment. It is accordingly assumed 
 that, so far as possible, such means are to be joined 
 with the punishment as will render that punishment 
 itself reformatory, which alone would not be so. Labor 
 is believed to be such a means; and it is now proposed 
 to set forth, in some degree at least, how this means 
 may be made most effectual to that end. 
 
 i. There are, first, certain important questions as to 
 the proper character and conditions of convict labor; 
 among them are the following: 
 
 (a.) The labor itself may be considered a part of the 
 punishment; but should it be purely punitive, or also 
 productive ? 
 
 It is believed that labor of a merely punitive character 
 can have no reformatory and little deterring effect. It 
 sours, irritates, hardens. It seems to be now generally 
 conceded that the tread-mill, as a form of labor or a sub 
 stitute for it, is productive of little if any good, but rather 
 of much harm ; and it is to the credit of French prison 
 discipline that, though French history has had its Bastile, 
 the French language has no term whereby to trans 
 late the name of this engine of punishment. In its 
 expensive uselessness, it is a merely vindictive and de 
 grading infliction. It is, moreover, unjust and unequal, 
 imposing what may be an easy exertion for one and a 
 most exhausting, if not dangerous, exertion for another. 
 And finally, the tread-mill system taken instead of pro 
 ductive employment is a manifest and wanton waste of 
 what might just as well be utilized as thrown away. If 
 employed at all in prisons, it should not be as a constant 
 
I 2 6 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 thing, or as a general substitute for proper work, but it 
 should be reserved for some special and extraordinary 
 occasions, as a punishment for gross violations of order, 
 or for the health of the prisoner who positively declines 
 to work. If labor is to be made even a wholesome 
 punishment, still more if it is to be made a means of 
 reformation, it must be productive. However grievous, 
 it must be attended with the apprehension that it has 
 some other object than merely to punish, and with the 
 encouragement that it accomplishes something. It 
 must have so much the character of ordinary labor as 
 to tend to form habits of mind and body which will be 
 of service to the prisoner after his release. 
 
 (6.) Shall the labor be performed in cells or in 
 common workshops, in individual separation or in 
 groups ? 
 
 This might bring up the whole vexed question be 
 tween the solitary and the congregate systems of peni 
 tentiary discipline, which it is not proposed now to 
 discuss; nor is it necessary, for reformatory labor can 
 be appropriately combined with both. But, as will be 
 seen in the sequel, there are weighty reasons for the 
 conclusion that it cannot completely answer its best pur 
 poses if confined exclusively and throughout the whole 
 period of discipline to either. 
 
 To this subject we have already referred in our 
 former reports. In that of 1870 we alluded to " a 
 change in the Pennsylvania system which has recently 
 taken place in one of the penitentiaries of the State, 
 under the sanction of law. By recent legislation, 
 namely, under date 8th April, 1869, the congregate 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. 1 2 7 
 
 system is allowed in the Western Penitentiary for the 
 several purposes of labor, learning, and religious in 
 struction. The government and officers are unani 
 mous in the approval of the system thus introduced." 
 In regard to this partial introduction of the congregate 
 system, we added : " There are embarrassments which 
 oppress every unprejudiced mind in its reflections upon 
 this grave subject. It cannot fail to discover, with 
 other advantages, vigorous and remunerative labor, 
 which is always morally healthful, accomplished on the 
 one side, and a discipline exerted under circumstances 
 accordant with man s nature and condition ; and on 
 the other side, it sees as plainly, baleful exposures of 
 convicts to mutual acquaintanceship and probably con 
 tamination the possibly innocent, the certainly un- 
 hardened, with the obdurate and insensate criminal ; 
 and the want, also, of that opportunity of intro-reflection 
 which, if not enforced, may never come, and which is 
 a necessary foundation for a trustworthy reform." 
 
 In the report of last year, having pointed out the ex 
 treme peril of " relieving a man from solitude after a 
 few months of effort for his reformation, by transfer 
 ring him from an apartment in which he had no so 
 ciety, except when visited by the benevolent for his 
 good, to the common receptacles for men convicted of 
 crime," we added : " Prevention of intercourse be 
 tween convicted criminals, from first to last, we esteem 
 indispensable to successful effort for their reform. Let 
 them have stated and, so far as may be, diversified oc 
 cupation ; let them have carefully selected books for 
 entertainment ; let them receive visits from judicious 
 friends and counselors seeking their good; but keep 
 
I 2 8 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 them away, while in the custody of the State, from in 
 tercourse with each other." 
 
 We beg now to observe that, in that connection, we 
 could not be supposed to mean that no intercourse what 
 ever between any two convicts, however carefully se 
 lected at any period in their course of reformation or for 
 any purpose or under any circumstances whatever, 
 would be safe or should be allowed ; but that they should 
 be kept away from that sort of general or indiscriminate 
 intercourse which prevails ordinarily under the congre 
 gate system ; to which system, conducted in any such 
 way as we have had the opportunity of observing, we 
 remain, as in the past, thoroughly opposed. Besides 
 which, as we have said in another place, we must 
 "take things as they are," and as they have been 
 qualified and determined by public sentiment and 
 legislation founded thereon, if our views are to be 
 made practically suggestive. 
 
 Thus, after the earnest advocacy of the strictly 
 "separate" system of imprisonment by some of the 
 best and most philanthropic minds of the State, often 
 against strenuous opposition ; and after an example of 
 its practical application for nearly half a century in 
 what may be called model establishments, designed in 
 all their appliances for the perfect carrying out of the 
 system, what do we find ? Not one prison or peni 
 tentiary in the State in which it is conducted in its en 
 tirety. We find the authorities of one penitentiary 
 repudiating it and demanding its overthrow there, and 
 the legislature acquiescing in their demand ; while, at 
 the same time, it denies to the other the full realization 
 of the opposite views held with equal tenacity by 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 129 
 
 high, even exceptional ability, influence, and experi 
 ence by keeping the penitentiary accommodations so 
 restricted as effectually to prevent, in many cases, the 
 separate confinement of its prisoners. 
 
 And the " separate system " is equally neglected in 
 the county establishments. In these, with the excep 
 tion of an inconsiderable number, where it partially 
 obtains, there is no attempt to follow the system in any 
 one respect. Premising this we proceed : 
 
 Strictly solitary confinement for a long period, with 
 out labor, is a punishment altogether too cruel to be 
 imposed ; it is more than human nature can bear ; it 
 must undermine and break down the health both of 
 body and mind ; it is killing by inches, inflicting capital 
 punishment by slow degrees ; or if the convict survives, 
 and is at length released, he is let out upon society 
 vastly more unfit and more unlikely to discharge his 
 duties then, and earn an honest livelihood, than he was 
 before his incarceration. And even if solitary labor 
 be added to such confinement, continued through the 
 entire period of penitentiary discipline, while all must 
 admit that much of the cruelty, and many of the physi 
 cal and moral evils may be avoided, it maybe seriously 
 questioned whether the prospect, upon the convict s 
 release, will be most favorable to the discharge of 
 these duties. It is at least fair to inquire : Is he likely 
 to continue such labor when restored to liberty and to 
 the influence of free society ? What training has it 
 furnished him for meeting the accumulated trials and 
 difficulties and temptations that surround and oppress 
 him the moment he is thrown again upon society and 
 his own resources ? His labor has not been pursued 
 
130 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 under the ordinary circumstances, motives, and in 
 fluences. His discipline may have made him an 
 excellently well-behaved convict, but has it prepared 
 him to meet the perils, and perform the duties, of a. 
 free and industrious member of society ? 
 
 On the other hand, if the congregate system of labor 
 is applied indiscriminately, and throughout the whole 
 period of imprisonment to all grades and classes of con 
 victs alike, mixing all up together in working gangs, 
 young and old, novices and adepts in crime ; those 
 committed for greater and those for lesser offenses, 
 for longer and for shorter periods ; those convicted 
 for the second or the third time, and those under 
 punishment for their first offense ; the old long-wonted 
 inmates of the prison and the new-comers, it will 
 scarcely be possible, by any methods or contrivances 
 for enforcing silence and shutting off communication, 
 to prevent such companies from becoming schools of 
 increasing corruption and wickedness, instead of amend 
 ment and reformation. The only preventive must be 
 a free and familiar use of the lash; a mode of punish 
 ment so inhuman and degrading that it is scarcely 
 allowed by enlightened and civilized jurisprudence to 
 be inflicted for any crime, even upon the sentence of 
 any magistrate or judge, high or low ; a punishment, 
 therefore, one would suppose still less to be left to the 
 daily discretion of mere prison-keepers or underling 
 overseers. And if all objections were removed, labor 
 under such circumstances is, as we shall endeavor 
 further on to show more fully, little fitted to train men 
 to earn their subsequent livelihood in habits of free 
 and virtuous industry. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 131 
 
 In order to approximate the desired reformatory 
 result, would it not be better that the two systems the 
 separate and the congregate should be combined, 
 each at its proper season, in its proper degree, and with 
 a due regard to the natural disposition and habits, the 
 temper and character, of the different prisoners ? It is 
 believed they may be so combined most effectually 
 and advantageously. Indeed, the latter system, under 
 any tolerable existing arrangement, is so far combined 
 with the former as to provide for the distribution of 
 the prisoners into separate cells by night. How the 
 two systems may be best combined in connection with 
 the different periods of the term of imprisonment and 
 the different classes and characters of the prisoners, it 
 is proposed to develop under another head. 
 
 The importance of labor as an element of corrective 
 discipline, as well as the importance of combining the 
 two systems of labor, is thus set forth by one of the 
 earliest and most earnest advocates of the separate 
 system, Mr. Edward Livingston : 
 
 "Of all the crimes in the catalogue of human de 
 pravity, four-fifths are, in different forms, invasions of 
 private property ; and the motive for committing them 
 is the desire of obtaining, without labor, the enjoy 
 ments which property brings. The natural corrective 
 is to deprive the offender of the gratifications he ex 
 pects, and to convince him that they can be acquired 
 by the exertion of industry. The remaining propor 
 tion of offenses are such as arise from the indulgence 
 of the bad passions, and for those also solitude and 
 employment are the best correctives. But whatever 
 corrects the desire or the passion that prompts the 
 
V 
 
 132 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 offense, acts in the double capacity, first of punishment, 
 and, afterwards, when it is effected, of reformation. 
 * The prisoner who labors lessens the 
 expense of his support ; he who works skillfully and 
 diligently may more than repay it. The advantage of 
 this beneficial result must be felt by the prisoner as well 
 as by the state ; if the proceeds of his work should not 
 be sufficient to cover his expenses, it yet produces for 
 him a better diet ; and if preserved in and accom 
 panied with good conduct, for certain probationary 
 periods of six and twelve months, during which he is 
 permitted, in the day, to leave his cell and pursue his 
 solitary employment in the court, he is indulged with 
 the privilege of working and receiving instruction in a 
 small class, not exceeding ten."* 
 
 (c.) Another question is, should convict labor be 
 purposely made servile and degrading, or as cheerful 
 and elevating as possible ? 
 
 To answer this question, we have only to propose 
 and answer to ourselves another question : is it our 
 purpose, by the temporary incarceration of criminals 
 to make them worse, and then turn them out upon 
 society again ; or to make them better fitted and better 
 disposed, upon their return, to discharge the duties of 
 virtuous and industrious citizens ? Our means must 
 be adapted to the end we have in view ; and we are 
 responsible for the end to which our means are adapted. 
 But what right have we forcibly to seize upon a bad 
 man and make him worse ? What right have we to 
 
 * Livingston s Criminal Code, pages 309 and 337. 
 
Pit I SON E CONOMY. 1 3 3 
 
 deprive an erring" fellow-mortal of his own free choice, 
 unless we, at the same time, use all the means in 
 our power so to control and guide him as to reform 
 his errors and turn him into the paths of virtue and 
 rectitude ? The man is dejected, desponding, distrust 
 ful of his power of self-control or of virtuous living ; 
 shall we discourage him s.till more ? Shall we drive 
 him to desperation ? He is degraded, degraded in 
 fact, degraded in his own eyes ; shall we degrade him 
 still more ? He is reckless and malicious ; shall we 
 sink him to lower depths of recklessness, and add a 
 new fund of venom to his malice ? If not, if we pro 
 pose to raise and reform him, shall we make the very 
 labor on which we rely for that end a badge of degra 
 dation ? Let it be understood, once for all, that no 
 degrading inflictions whatever can restore a spirit of 
 manliness to the corrupt and depraved. Labor, im 
 posed under such a category, is not likely to be con 
 tinued after release, nor can it be regarded by the 
 released convict with complacency or respect. And 
 yet that complacency in labor, that respect for labor, 
 are precisely what it was above all things necessary to 
 associate with it in the convict s mind ; so that, after 
 release, he might be weaned from his evil courses and 
 disposed to resort, to the proper methods of obtaining 
 an honest livelihood. To this end his labor, while in 
 detention, should be made, as far as possible, cheerful 
 and attractive, a constant means of encouragement and 
 elevation. That this need not be inconsistent with his 
 severe and terrible punishment, will, in the sequel, be 
 made sufficiently clear. 
 
134 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 (d.) Should convict labor be enforced or voluntary ? 
 
 This question covers the principle which controls the 
 case ; it embraces and sums up most of the other in 
 quiries. 
 
 The effort to get the benefits without bearing the 
 burdens of labor is the occasion of most of the of 
 fenses committed against society. To correct this dis 
 position is the grand business of penitentiary discipline. 
 Enforced labor may do something towards this end by 
 forming certain physical habits, and imparting or rather 
 impressing a certain degree of training to orderly rou 
 tine and manual dexterity ; but the motives and asso 
 ciations under which this is done are such that there 
 must be the greatest danger that the best-behaved and 
 most industrious and skillful convict will lose his good 
 habits, and disuse or misuse his skill, as soon as he is 
 committed again to his own control. 
 
 We venture to retrace here somewhat at large Mr. 
 Livingston s plan of voluntary convict labor. 
 
 " No succession of involuntary acts to which adults 
 may be coerced is likely to produce permanent habits 
 of reformation ; they must be the effect of the will, 
 operated upon by the judgment, producing a con 
 viction that such acts are beneficial ; and experience 
 must enforce this conviction by giving the actual en 
 joyment of some, and the certain hope of other, bene 
 fits that are the result of these acts. With evil habits 
 it is different ; for the most part they are acquired by 
 the repetition of acts procuring sensual enjoyment ; 
 and the judgment has so little agency in procuring 
 them, that it must be silenced or perverted before the 
 acts of indulgence are done or repeated. It is for this 
 
PRISOA? ECONOMY. 135 
 
 reason that the work of reformation is more difficult 
 than that of perversion ; the one requires intellectual 
 power sufficient to prefer a distant and moral good 
 to a present and physical enjoyment ; the other coin 
 cides with the natural propensity for present enjoy 
 ment, reckless of what an uncertain futurity may pro 
 duce. And for this reason, also, it is that the work of 
 reformation is slower in its operation than that of cor 
 ruption. The spring which sets in 
 motion my whole machinery for producing reform is 
 this : That all the acts which, by their succession, are 
 to produce habits of good, are to be performed volun 
 tarily, and are offered as alleviations of the severity of 
 the sentence ; the will must act or the repetition will 
 produce no effect. But, to operate on the inclination, 
 sufficient inducements must be held out to overcome 
 the natural repugnance to labor. 
 Privation of employment is denounced as a part of 
 the punishment ; and this circumstance alone would, 
 with most men, cause it to be considered as an evil, 
 and the experience of its effects will soon cause it to 
 be felt as such ; of course it will be connected with the 
 idea of suffering ; and occupation being denied, will, 
 from the propensity to wish for that from which we are 
 expressly debarred, be estimated as a good, and 
 desired with an intensity proportioned to the stric 
 tures and length of the privation. To strengthen 
 this natural desire .other inducements are offered. 
 If the prisoner acquires such pro 
 ficiency in the business as to make the proceeds of his 
 industry exceed the expense of his support, he is al 
 lowed the immediate enjoyment of a part, to be laid 
 
136 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 out in books or such other articles as he may desire. 
 Those of food or drink are excepted, in order to avoid 
 irregularities that otherwise would be unavoidable ; and 
 the residue of the surplus is an accumulating fund to 
 be paid to him on his discharge. To give the greater 
 effect to these inducements, they are not offered to the 
 convict on his commitment to the prison ; first, he must 
 know and feel the unmitigated punishment ; his own 
 reflections must be his only companions for a prelimi 
 nary period, during which he is closely confined to his 
 cell ; he must live on the coarse diet allowed to the 
 unemployed prisoner ; he must suffer the tedium aris 
 ing from want of society and occupation, and when he 
 begins to feel that labor would be an indulgence, it is 
 offered to him as such ; it is not threatened to him as 
 an evil, nor urged upon his acceptance as an advantage 
 to any but to himself; and when he is employed, no 
 stripes, no punishment whatever are inflicted for want 
 of diligence ; if not properly used the indulgence is 
 withdrawn, and he returns to his solitude and other 
 privations, not to punish him for not laboring, but 
 merely because his comduct shows that he prefers that 
 state to the enjoyment with which employment must 
 always be associated in his mind, in order to produce 
 reformation. If it has been shown that involuntary 
 acts will not produce a lasting habit, then, if there be 
 any such as will not accept these alleviations of their 
 imprisonment upon them the imprisonment must ope 
 rate solely as a punishment. But experience shows 
 that these exceptions will, if any, be very few, for 
 employment, even under the lash, is in most cases pre 
 ferred to solitude." (Pages 336, 337.) 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 137 
 
 To this we might propose to add, as will be seen, a 
 further but cautious introduction of social labor (still 
 voluntary), with increasing degrees of liberty, as the 
 process of reformation goes on, until the reformed 
 convict passes into society in full freedom, by an easy 
 step, with habits ready formed for his new condition, 
 prepared to act upon the same motives after his re 
 lease as before, and without any great shock either to 
 society or to himself. 
 
 It maybe objected that, in the plan above described, 
 the labor is, after all, enforced ; that the remanding to 
 the solitary cell, without occupation, is coercion as much 
 as the lash. We answer, first, that it involves no deg 
 radation ; secondly, it is self-inflicted a deliberately 
 chosen alternative ; thirdly, in its nature it leads not to 
 passion but to consideration ; fourthly, when the labor 
 comes it comes not as a punishment, but as an allevi 
 ation of punishment ; and, fifthly, the labor, if enforced, 
 is enforced by the same sort of motives by which it is 
 enforced in ordinary life, /. e., as a means of obtaining 
 certain objects of desire, of comfort, and gratification. 
 
 It may be objected that, in its ultimate working, this 
 plan leaves punishment out of account altogether, and 
 aims exclusively at reformation. We answer, no ; the 
 proper punishment yet remains in full force imprison 
 ment, solitude, want of occupation either for the mind 
 or body, coarse aliments, hard lodging, clothing of the \ 
 roughest kind. These are the evils of which punish 
 ments are composed ; their duration, their intensity, their 
 cumulation, are the means of adapting them to differ 
 ent offenses, and are to be duly prescribed in each sen 
 tence ; their alleviation in different degrees and after 
 
138 PXISOA T ECONOMY. 
 
 the prescribed interval, by permitted and encouraged 
 labor, is the means of producing- reform. 
 
 It may be objected that thus the deterring power of 
 punishment is destroyed. Again we answer, no ; the 
 punishment, with all its terror, still remains, in such 
 degree and for such period as the law judges neces 
 sary ; but the remedial system is added, a system 
 which, itself also, teaches all criminals and criminally- 
 disposed persons that the only way to escape the pun 
 ishment is to resort to that very labor, the hope of 
 avoiding which is their most ordinary temptation to 
 crime. 
 
 (e.) Is the reformatory labor to be performed under 
 the immediate oversight and direction of the prison 
 authorities, or by the intervention and under the con 
 trol of contractors ? 
 
 The answer is, emphatically, the former and not the 
 latter. Nothing has led to greater deterioration of 
 prison discipline, corruption of the prison-keepers, and 
 demoralization of the prisoners than this system of con 
 tract labor, wherever it has been adopted. It com 
 pletely annuls the idea of reformation as an object of 
 prison labor, and makes it merely a means of petty 
 profit or pecuniary relief to the state (in which it some 
 times signally fails), and of untold and irresponsible 
 oppressions and cruelties on the part of the interested 
 and unfeeling overseers and drivers. The labor should 
 be performed under the eye and control of responsible 
 parties, who have no selfish ends to accomplish by it, 
 and who will take a humane and personal interest in 
 the welfare and amendment of the convicts. Not the 
 
PRISON ECONOMY, 139 
 
 present profit of the labor, but its bearing upon the 
 future good of the laborer is the absorbing concern. 
 The health, strength, and previous habits of prisoners 
 are to be considered ; not the amount of product, but 
 faithfulness and diligence are to be rewarded. 
 
 (f.) And here the general question may be raised, 
 whether the products of convict labor should inure 
 exclusively to the benefit of the state, or also to the 
 present and future benefit of the convicts. 
 
 In answer, we have no hesitation in saying that if it 
 is to accomplish its reformatory function to any consid 
 erable degree, its profits must be permitted to inure in 
 part and sensibly to the benefit of the convict. This 
 is an essential point. The state should undoubtedly 
 have the first and largest portion of the proceeds, not 
 from any petty economical motive, but because it is 
 highly important for the convict to learn and feel that 
 he owes a debt for his past iniquity and for his present 
 support, which he is bound in reason and honesty to 
 pay. The next largest portion should be appropriated, 
 if needed, towards the relief or support of his de 
 pendent family during his detention, that he may learn 
 the blessing which labor confers of making others 
 happy whom we desire to benefit. The next part, to 
 be determined according to fixed rules, in a certain 
 proportion to industry and good conduct, should be 
 set aside to accumulate, if not forfeited in whole or in 
 part by misconduct, as a fund to be used and enjoyed 
 after his liberation ; that he may learn the next lesson 
 of honest and thrifty labor to deny himself for the 
 present in order to provide for the future. And, 
 
140 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 finally, a certain small surplus, to be determined in 
 like manner, should be placed at his immediate control, 
 as a means of purchasing such present alleviations and 
 comforts as are consistent with his state of detention 
 and punishment; that he may learn the final lesson of 
 labor that all the alleviations and comforts of a hard 
 life are the proper rewards of a patient and persistent 
 toil. Thus his convict labor will powerfully tend to 
 his practical and permanent reformation. 
 
 2. It may be proper, in the second place, to present 
 in one view the benefits of such reformatory convict 
 labor. 
 
 (a.) It will promote the health and well-being of the 
 prisoners, both in mind and body. Without some 
 labor bodily health and without such labor, mental 
 health must terribly suffer ; a kind and degree of 
 suffering which we have no right to inflict. 
 
 (6.) It will promote their moral improvement, gradu 
 ally developing the power of self-control, and forming 
 habits of provident and voluntary effort in industry 
 and toil. It will prepare them to become virtuous and 
 useful members of society. 
 
 (c.) It will facilitate the preservation of good order 
 and discipline in the prison. The wise management of 
 the reserve fund and of the present reward for dili 
 gence and good conduct will enable the prison-keepers 
 to dispense, in almost all cases, with all other means of 
 enforcing in the prison the rules of good government. 
 
Pit I SON ECONOMY. 141 
 
 Thus prison life will be divested of most of those hor 
 rible abominations which so often render it a means of 
 much greater evil than good. 
 
 (d.) It will give the convicts the essential prepara 
 tion for gaining a livelihood after their release ; first, 
 by forming habits of voluntary industry; secondly, by 
 securing a little fund to aid them during the critical 
 period of transition from prison to social life ; and, 
 thirdly, by instilling a moral character which will enable 
 them to resist the temptations of their old associates 
 and commend themselves to the confidence of the 
 community. 
 
 (e.) It will promote the good of the state ; first, in 
 presenting the most efficacious example to deter or 
 wean others from crime ; secondly, in diminishing the 
 expense of maintaining prisons ; thirdly, in preventing 
 the relapse of the criminal ; and, fourthly, in adding to 
 the resources of the state the industry, and to its well- 
 being the virtue, of another citizen. 
 
 3. It is sometimes objected to productive convict 
 labor that it interferes with the rights and interests of 
 labor in general. 
 
 One hardly knows where to begin or end in showing 
 the absurdity of such an objection. It belongs to the 
 category of the exploded outcries against the intro 
 duction of labor-saving machinery, or of any improve 
 ments in the processes of production, whereby it was 
 said the demand for laborers would be diminished 
 and their wages reduced ; whereas it has turned out 
 
142 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 that just the contrary has been, in the long run, the 
 uniform and natural result. 
 
 We have seen that, whatever may be the effect upon 
 the wages of labor, or upon the price of its products, 
 we have no right, instead of hanging or shooting our 
 fellow-men, to inflict upon them the outrageous punish 
 ment of incarcerating them for years in solitary cells 
 without any occupation, or, still worse, of shutting them 
 up in mixed congregate masses of all sorts of crimi 
 nals and leaving them in sheer idleness to make one 
 another as thoroughly corrupt and diabolical as human 
 nature is capable of becoming ; and, if we have the 
 right, it would be the most egregious political folly to 
 do it. Moreover, we have seen that labor, to serve 
 any good purpose, must be productive. We meet the 
 objector, then, at this point ; and we say that, accord 
 ing to him, when this labor has resulted in creating a 
 certain amount of valuable products, it would be more 
 for the interest of society if the interests of labor and 
 society are identical that all those products should 
 forthwith be committed to the flames or cast into the 
 sea, than that they should be preserved and applied to 
 their appropriate uses ! If it is rejoined that the com 
 petition of such labor is unfair because, unlike the or 
 dinary laborer, the convict is supported independently 
 of his work ; we have only to say, let the products of 
 prison labor be disposed of at public auction or at 
 market rates, and no one has a right to complain of 
 the competition for its tendency to reduce prices. 
 Every addition to the supply might be complained of 
 for the same reason. The state, not the convict, is the 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 143 
 
 owner of the articles ; and the state is as directly inter 
 ested in getting the highest price for these articles, 
 that thus she may meet the expense of maintaining 
 the convict, as any laborer is in getting the highest 
 price for his products to meet his own expenses. 
 
 The plain state of the case is this : all in the com 
 munity must be supported ; the fewer idlers, therefore, 
 to be supported by the rest, the better for the rest ; 
 and if this alleged reduction of price in consequence 
 of this competition of convict labor exists, and is a tax, 
 it is the smallest tax possible, if convicts are to be sup 
 ported at all, upon the labor of the community and 
 upon that labor all taxes must ultimately fall. 
 
 v 
 
 4. The laws of Pennsylvania actually require pro 
 vision to be made for the labor of all convicts, whether 
 in the State penitentiaries or in the county prisons. 
 
 For the penitentiaries, it is required, by the act of 
 3 ist March, 1860, that " whenever any person shall be 
 sentenced to imprisonment at labor, by separate or 
 solitary confinement, for any period not less than one 
 year, the imprisonment and labor shall be had and 
 performed in the State penitentiary for the proper 
 district: Provided, That nothing in this section con 
 tained shall prevent such person from being sentenced 
 to imprisonment and labor, by separate or solitary con 
 finement, in the county prisons now or hereafter author 
 ized by law to receive convicts of a like description." 
 And, by the act of 23d April, 1829, it is required of 
 the inspectors that " they shall direct the manner in 
 which raw materials, to be manufactured by the con 
 victs in said prisons, and the provisions and other 
 
144 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 supplies for the prisons shall be purchased, and also the 
 sale of all articles manufactured in said prisons." 
 
 For the county jails, it is declared, by the act of 5th 
 April, 1 790, that " the malefactors sentenced to hard 
 labor as aforesaid, in the several counties of the State, 
 other than the county of Philadelphia, shall be em 
 ployed in the several jails and workhouses in the 
 respective counties, in such hard and servile labor, and 
 fed and clothed in such manner as is hereinbefore di 
 rected ; and the duty of the said 
 keepers shall be to superintecd and direct their labors ; 
 and they shall have authority to con 
 fine, in close durance, apart from all society, all those 
 who shall refuse to labor, or be idle," &c. 
 
 " The keepers of the jails and workhouses or houses 
 of correction, shall, once in every three months, or 
 oftener, if required, furnish the commissioners of their 
 respective counties with a complete calendar or list of 
 all persons committed to their respective custody, 
 under sentence of such servitude, &c. ; * 
 and the said commissioners shall, at the charge of the 
 proper county, provide such arti 
 
 cles and materials of labor and manufacture as shall be 
 most suitable for the employment of all those who are 
 capable of labor or manufacture, and deliver the same 
 to the said jailor or workhouse-keeper, taking a re 
 ceipt therefor ; and the jailor or workhouse-keeper 
 shall render an account quarterly, or oftener, if re 
 quired, to the commissioners, of the work done by the 
 said malefactors, and dispose of the same in such man 
 ner as the commissioners shall direct." 
 
 " If any jailor shall neglect or refuse to give notice 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 145 
 
 or furnish a complete calendar, &c., * 
 
 he shall forfeit and pay, for every such neglect or re 
 fusal, the sum of one hundred dollars; and if the said 
 commissioners of any county, after the receipt of such 
 notice or calendar, shall neglect or refuse to procure 
 sufficient articles and materials of labor and manufac 
 ture, such commissioners, or any 
 of them, so neglecting or refusing, shall forfeit and pay 
 the sum of one hundred dollars for every such neglect 
 or refusal." 
 
 In relation to the Philadelphia County Prison, similar 
 provisions are made by special statutes. 
 
 Now we must confess that the language of the stat 
 utes seems rather harsh ; yet we have a right to pre 
 sume that the terms "hard " and " servile " labor mean 
 no more than manual labor carried to the extent of 
 bodily fatigue. We admit, also, that it is enforced 
 labor for which provision is made by the law ; but 
 even enforced labor, whether with solitary or social 
 confinement, is unspeakably better than sheer idleness, 
 both for body and mind, for the morals and the future 
 prospects of the convicts. But when the prisons are 
 so wretchedly constructed or mismanaged or over 
 crowded, that the system of separate confinement is 
 practically abandoned, and the convicts are mixed pro 
 miscuously together, or thrown into cells by pairs or in 
 companies of three, four, or half a dozen, and these left 
 without employment, we have as bad a system as could 
 well be conceived. If the worst enemy of mankind 
 were to invent a school for the propagation of vice 
 and crime, he could invent no better. And, alas, not 
 withstanding the stringent provisions of the statute, 
 
146 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 this is, to an alarming extent, the condition of the 
 county jails of this Commonwealth. The labor de 
 signed by the statute is not provided for, is not re 
 quired, is not performed. The convicts are defrauded 
 of the employment to which they have a statutory right. 
 They suffer the consequences, and the State must suf 
 fer them too. 
 
 The State provides for labor enforced labor, as we 
 have said ; but this is not all. The State provides 
 also for reformatory, voluntary labor, both in the 
 jails and in the penitentiaries. The State declares 
 that " it shall be the duty of the inspectors, sher 
 iffs, or other persons having charge of any peniten 
 tiary or jail within this Commonwealth, to transmit 
 to the secretary thereof, on or before the first day 
 of February, in each and every year, a full state 
 ment in detail of the condition of such penitentiary 
 or jail, and whether an oppor 
 
 tunity is afforded to the prisoners for doing overwork, 
 or for receiving in any other manner the profits of their 
 labor" Now this implies that the "hard and servile 
 labor " enforced is not intended to be of so extremely 
 exacting a kind as might be imagined ; for it is not 
 to be supposed that the State would mock her convicts. 
 The enforced labor leaves time and strength for more 
 work. Certain reasonable tasks being presumed, pro 
 vision is made for " overwork," for voluntary work ; 
 and even for the convict receiving in other ways, as 
 an encouragement, a portion of the profits of his labor. 
 The statute recognizes the principle for which we con 
 tend, the beneficent end we would accomplish. 
 
 What is needed is : First, that the statute should 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 147 
 
 be enforced, so that its beneficent purpose may not be 
 frustrated by neglect and abuse ; and secondly, that 
 further provision should be made for carrying out the 
 principle recognized, by improving the structure and 
 enlarging the capacity of the county prisons, and by 
 expanding the sphere of voluntary labor, and systema 
 tizing its operation, so as to render it a means of 
 general and permanent reformation. Such a means 
 we firmly believe it might be made, and the State might 
 rather gain than lose by the arrangement, even in the 
 lowest pecuniary point of view. If voluntary were 
 substituted systematically for enforced labor, fixed 
 rations might be abolished altogether, and the prisoner 
 required to earn his food, as well as his other privileges 
 and comforts. 
 
 III. INSTRUCTION TO CONVICTS. 
 
 For the general protection of the community against 
 crime, the importance of instruction in the case of the 
 young and of juvenile offenders, is, at least in theory, 
 commonly admitted. One after another, civilized states 
 are waking up to the necessity of a more thorough ap 
 plication of the theory in practical legislation. Our 
 own State has done much in this direction, although it 
 must be admitted much more remains to be done. 
 
 The case of adults, and of adults already criminal, 
 is more difficult and less hopeful. They have habits- 
 it may be inveterate habits of evil to be eradicated; 
 they need habits of good to be initiated and confirmed ; 
 they are slow to apprehend and receive the lessons of 
 instruction, and quick to lose what they have learned ; 
 
148 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 in them the valvular system has been inverted so that 
 the avenues for the entrance of knowledge and of good 
 influences are almost closed, while the passage for 
 egress and leakage are open and free ; they resist 
 good impressions like a surface of flint, and discharge 
 them like gum-elastic. All this is extremely discourag 
 ing ; and when the mass of criminals is looked upon 
 as they pass through the hands of the police and the 
 dock of the criminal court into the prison cells, no 
 wonder that most men shake their heads incredulously 
 at the idea of their possible restoration to the paths of 
 manly virtue and the companionship of good society. 
 
 There is much truth, though quite too little of hope 
 fulness, in the nervous utterance of an Edinburgh 
 police detective : 
 
 "The simple truth is, that punishment hardens. It 
 is forgotten by the hopeful people that it is clay they 
 have to work upon, not gold ; and, therefore, while 
 they are passing the material through the fire, they are 
 making bricks, not golden crowns of righteousness. 
 Enough, too, has been made of the evident-enough 
 fact, that they must continue their old courses, because 
 there is no asylum for them. You may build as 
 many asylums as you please, but the law of these 
 strange nurselings of society s own maternity cannot be 
 changed in this way. I say nothing of God s grace- 
 that is above my comprehension ; but, except for that, 
 we need entertain no hope of the repentance and 
 amendment of regular thieves and robbers. They 
 have, perhaps, their use. They can be made examples 
 of to others, but seldom or never good examples to 
 themselves. That they will always exist is, I fear, fated ; 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 149 
 
 but modern experience tells us that they may be dimin 
 ished by simply drawing them, when very young, within 
 the circle of civilization, in place of the old way of keep 
 ing them out of it." 
 
 We would not say a word to diminish the motives 
 for carrying out this last suggestion, or to detract from 
 its force. It presents the true, radical remedy for the 
 appalling evil. But the exception which the policeman 
 has made may have a wider and deeper significance 
 than he seems to suppose. That " grace," however 
 incomprehensible to him or to us, furnishes the true 
 point aappui for all our efforts it is neither to be 
 despised nor ignored. We have no right to despair 
 of the salvability of the most depraved and degraded 
 men. We must try all possible means more than 
 one plan, and that a hackneyed and fruitless plan- 
 before we give up all hope. We must remember that, 
 if these "strange nurselings of society s own maternity" 
 are what and where they are, not so much by their 
 own fault as because we have failed to draw them or 
 to attempt "to draw them, when young, within the cir 
 cle of civilization," the blame for their condition is after 
 all more our own than theirs. They are to blame, no 
 doubt; they have sinned; they must be punished; 
 society must be protected. But, if society punishes 
 them, she must punish them, not with pharisaic inso 
 lence, disgust, and contempt, but in a spirit of regretful 
 kindness, and with an earnest and honest endeavor to 
 make amends to them for her past neglect. She will 
 best protect herself by reforming them. Hitherto pun 
 ishment alone, or almost alone, has been tried and 
 "punishment hardens." Now let patient instruction 
 
150 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 and a scheme of reformatory influences be tried 
 I Isystematically, consistently, and perseveringly tried 
 : before we hopelessly abandon them to their "fate." 
 The appeal to " fate " is quite out of place. Because 
 disease and death are " fated " always to remain in the 
 world, we do not abandon the use of remedies. Some 
 sick men may be cured, though many die. Which 
 may be saved we know not ; but our general principle 
 is, that while there is life there is hope. Hitherto 
 prisoners, upon their discharge, have been compelled 
 to " continue their old courses, because there was no 
 asylum for them." Let us then provide an asylum for 
 them, and try it. Hitherto, if we have had no experi 
 ence of drawing back to the circle of civilization adult 
 men who had wandered from it, it is because the effort 
 has not been seriously and patiently made upon any 
 principles or methods affording a reasonable promise 
 of success. But we have some " experience " of men 
 being thus drawn back ;, and it remains for us to study 
 and apply the principles and the method on which it 
 has been done. 
 
 The shrewd and striking statement above cited has 
 been thus enlarged upon, because it has been felt that 
 it contains, in a condensed and pointed form, an ex 
 pression of the desponding judgment, which is quite 
 too prevalent in the mass of the distant and unobserv- 
 ing community, sustained by the dicta of some of the 
 keenest and coolest proximate observers. It certainly 
 needs to be carefully reconsidered. 
 
 As ignorance and the want of a right education are 
 the concomitant causes of most offenses against 
 society, so instruction is a necessary condition of the 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 151 
 
 efficiency of any scheme of reformation. Any scheme 
 having reformation for its principal or even incidental 
 object is imperfect, if not utterly useless, if it do not 
 contain a regular and permanent provision for educa 
 tion in knowledge and virtue. The old rubbish must 
 be removed and a new foundation of principles must 
 be laid ; a new set of motives must be brought into 
 play; the intellect must be aroused, and such knowl 
 edge imparted as will qualify the recipient for intelli 
 gent and manly occupation. One great point to be 
 reached in the process of reformation is to counteract 
 in the will the natural preference of present enjoyment 
 to future good. To produce this effect the mind must 
 be improved by intellectual instruction ; it must be 
 taught that there are other pleasures besides those of 
 sense. The conscience must be awakened and quick 
 ened, and religion must be brought to bear its part in 
 the work of amelioration. Her lessons must furnish 
 the basis for all the rest ; but her lessons will be offered 
 to the greatest advantage, when, combined with in 
 struction in useful knowledge, they are offered as they 
 should be; not as a part of the sentence of punish 
 ment, but as an alleviation of its rigor. Bodily exer 
 cise will profit little. It is the mind, the soul, of the 
 convict that is to be gained. 
 
 " Let it not be said that the idea of moral reclama 
 tion is too refined to be adapted to depraved and 
 degraded convicts. Convicts are men. The most de 
 praved and degraded are men ; their minds are moved 
 by the same springs that give activity to those of 
 others ; they avoid pain with the same care and pursue 
 pleasure with the same avidity that actuate their fellow- 
 
I5 2 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 mortals. It is the false direction only of these great 
 motives that produces the criminal actions which they 
 prompt. To turn them into a course that will pro 
 mote the true happiness of the individual, by making 
 him cease to injure that of society, should be the great 
 object of penal jurisprudence. The error, it appears, 
 lies in considering them as beings of a nature so in 
 ferior as to be incapable of elevation, and so bad as to 
 make any amelioration impossible ; but crime is the 
 effect principally of intemperance, idleness, ignorance, 
 vicious associations, irreligion, and poverty, not of any 
 defective natural organization ; and the laws which 
 permit the unrestrained and continual exercise of these 
 causes are themselves the sources of those excesses 
 which legislators, to cover their own inattention or ig 
 norance or indolence, impiously and falsely ascribe to 
 the Supreme Being, as if he had created man incapable 
 of receiving the impressions of good. Let us try the 
 experiment before we pronounce that even the de 
 graded convict cannot be reclaimed. It has never yet 
 been tried." 
 
 When, in spite of ample knowledge and instruction 
 before received, men have committed crimes and be 
 come hardened in wickedness, and we must admit 
 that this is sometimes the sad and chilling fact, their 
 case is indeed almost, but not quite, desperate. All 
 possible remedies must be tried before we give them 
 up for lost ; and can we tell when the bounds of pos 
 sibility have been reached ? Line upon line, line 
 upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept ; 
 the same old means must be renewed and repeated 
 under a change of circumstances, which we may hope 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. I 5 3 
 
 to be more favorable. And if, after years of earnest, 
 kindly, faithful, and patient trial, all means fail to ac 
 complish the hoped-for and hopeful amendment of the 
 hardened convict, what then ? Having served out a 
 certain term of imprisonment in sullen obstinacy or 
 with increasing irritation of malice against society 
 for if he has not been made better by his incarcera 
 tion, he has probably been made worse, shall he be 
 forthwith discharged upon the community to renew his 
 career of crime and iniquity? What folly or incon 
 sistency could be greater ? Let those, therefore, who 
 so readily set convicts down as irreclaimable, remem 
 ber that if such be the fact, then the only reasonable 
 course to pursue with them is, either to put them to 
 death and be rid of them, or to keep them under 
 restraint as long as they live, and that without 
 wasting the slightest thought or effort for their re 
 formation. If we shrink from thus summarily deciding 
 their destiny for time and eternity, either by taking 
 their lives or by shutting them up in the dungeon 
 of despair, what remains but that leaving a ray of 
 hope to penetrate to the mind of the convict, which we 
 ourselves may fail to perceive we should keep him in 
 restraint, not until he shall die, but until he shall be 
 reformed ; and then faithfully use all possible means 
 for his reformation as long as his incarceration lasts ? 
 At all events, such a convict should not be released 
 until he is reformed. To suppose that his imprison 
 ment, without such a result, is going to deter him or 
 others from the commission of crime in the future, is 
 one of the greatest and strangest of mistakes. For 
 himself, such a released convict may have become more 
 
154 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 cunning, but will not be less persistent in his career of 
 crime ; and by his busy and crafty efforts, and bravado 
 of heroism, he will do incomparably more to incite and 
 encourage and train others in similar courses, than all 
 that his temporary incarceration will do to deter them. 
 Let us not be too ready to pronounce any criminals 
 absolutely incorrigible, until we have made a fair trial 
 for their reformation ; or, if we really have such in- 
 corrigibles on hand, let us by no means turn them 
 loose again to prey upon society. 
 
 The proper view of the case is that all convicts are 
 the wards of the state, and when they are discharged 
 are to be discharged better than they came, prepared 
 to be good citizens. To this end they must be in 
 structed, and the state having deprived them of their 
 liberty, and assumed the control of them to herself, is 
 morally bound to give them such instruction as is 
 fitted and needed to attain that end. Such instruction 
 
 1. Will instil and enforce good principles, the great 
 est need of all. 
 
 2. Will awaken the hope of something better to be 
 attained in the future. 
 
 3. Will give birth to a sentiment of self-respect, a 
 feeling in the convict s mind that, after all, there is 
 something in him too precious to degrade and lose, a 
 feeling which is one of the mightiest levers of moral 
 and social elevation. 
 
 4. Will furnish or increase the power of honest self- 
 support after his release. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 155 
 
 The subjects of such instruction will be found 
 
 1 . In some trade or handicraft, if needed. 
 
 2. In the elements of learning ; in reading, writing, 
 &c., if needed. 
 
 3. In further intellectual training and employment, 
 as there may be a capacity and a readiness for it. 
 
 4. In habits of economy and of good morals. 
 
 5. In religion ; which alone must furnish the funda 
 mental and crowning motives for a reformed and useful 
 life. 
 
 The method of instruction must be adapted to the 
 peculiar case we have to deal with. It is not children 
 but adults that are to be taught ; it is with the pervert 
 ed minds of criminals and not with the ingenuous minds 
 of virtuous men that we have to do ; our lessons are 
 addressed to persons under restraint and not to free 
 men. Under such circumstances the ordinary methods 
 of school instruction must be expected to prove failures; 
 prisoners will not perform literary tasks like children. 
 Teaching by lectures, too, cannot be successfully used 
 without many special cautions and modifications. We 
 must be prepared in any event for unusual and extreme 
 trials of patience. Our methods must be largely in 
 formal and different for different cases ; there must be 
 a vast deal of labor in detail, of individual, personal 
 effort. And especially must the method of instruction 
 vary according to the progressive stages of general 
 
I 5 6 PRISON E CO NO MY. 
 
 improvement, and to the degree of confidence which may 
 already be reposed in the different classes of prisoners. 
 No particular rules of method, therefore, can be laid 
 down. We can only say that, while ordinary scholastic 
 methods are mostly out of place, a person of good sense 
 and discretion, of kind feelings and patient temper, 
 penetrated with a deep interest in the personal welfare 
 of the convicts, and possessed with an earnest faith in 
 his work, an assurance and a determination that it shall 
 succeed, such a person will not be long in finding the 
 true method, and cannot fail in the use of it. The spirit 
 is everything, here, as an element of success. 
 
 We must again repeat that such kindly reformatory 
 instruction is not at all incompatible with the idea of 
 restraint or punishment. It leaves that punishment 
 and restraint just as they were ; it is itself based upon 
 them as its own necessary condition ; and one of its 
 greatest lessons is to impress upon the mind and 
 conscience of the convict the justice of his penalty. 
 Nor is such instruction incompatible with the fullest 
 deterring power of punishment ; for, if unsuccessful, 
 that punishment should still be continued ; it is only 
 when the instruction is successful and ends in the con 
 vict s reformation, that he is released. And surely 
 nothing could more effectually deter the criminally dis 
 posed from the commission of crime than the practical 
 assurance that in case of its commission, he will be 
 placed under penal restraint from which there is no 
 release until, by a course of instruction and discipline 
 accompanying it, he is transformed into a virtuous man 
 and fitted for the duties of free society. 
 
 The particular principle of instruction, as well as the 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 157 
 
 general principle of reformation and the two run into 
 each other as elements of prison discipline has been 
 already recognized by the statutes of this Common 
 wealth. 
 
 The statute in regard both to jails and penitentiaries 
 requires an annual report to be rendered as to " what 
 provision is made for the instruction of prisoners in 
 such penitentiary or jail." The statute already cited, 
 relating to the duties of the matron in the Philadelphia 
 County Prison, recognizes and enjoins the duty of 
 giving to prisoners " such instruction as may tend to 
 their reformation, and to render them useful members 
 of society." In the penitentiaries the statute estab 
 lishes the distinct office of " religious instructor ; " and 
 we repeat its declaration, that " it shall be his duty to 
 attend to the moral and religious instruction of the 
 convicts, in such a manner as to make their confine 
 ment, as far as possible, a means of their reformation, 
 so that when restored to their liberty, they may prove 
 honest, industrious, and useful members of society." 
 
 With such principles avowed, what is needed is a 
 faithful and thorough enforcement of the existing law, 
 with such an enlargement of the statutory provisions, 
 such an increase of appliances, such improvements of 
 method, and such a consistent, systematic, and perse 
 vering working out of the whole scheme, as shall 
 not leave it a mere barren excrescence, but shall secure 
 to it that degree of success which we have reason 
 to expect, and which the public good imperatively 
 requires. 
 
158 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 IV. KIND TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. 
 
 This is due from officials, and is commonly accorded, 
 even to prisoners guilty of the most shocking crimes 
 and condemned to suffer the severest punishment, and 
 even in the very act of inflicting upon such persons the 
 extreme penalty of the law. There are none of us 
 who would not be scandalized at the conduct of any 
 warden or jailor or sheriff or other officer, were he 
 wantonly to indulge in any violent or taunting acts or 
 words towards such a convict under such circumstances, 
 or in any harsh or opprobrious treatment, one hair s 
 breadth beyond the strict requirements of the law and 
 the sentence of the court. This is sufficient to show 
 that kind and humane treatment on the part of officials 
 is perfectly compatible with the infliction of condign 
 punishment. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that when a man 
 has been condemned to imprisonment for his crimes, 
 his jailor is required to carry out the analogy of the 
 lazv, by the most unfeeling, rigorous, and contumelious 
 treatment ; that he is conscientiously bound to shut up 
 his bowels of compassion, if he has any ; to abstain 
 from any kindly personal interest in the convict, from 
 all the amenities, courtesies, and charities of human 
 intercourse, and, instead of recognizing in his ward a 
 fellow-man, to hold him at a distance as a detestable 
 outcast, a venomous viper, or a malignant fiend. The 
 truth is, the law neither requires nor sanctions any 
 such duties by way of analogy, any such discretionary 
 and arbitrary inflictions, or methods of re-enforcing its 
 own inflictions. It prescribes the precise punishment 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 159 
 
 it would impose, and does not authorize any man to 
 aggravate it by "one jot or tittle." The wardens and 
 keepers of prisons are no more to add, directly or in 
 directly, properly or constructively, in kind or degree, 
 to the punishment denounced by the law, than to 
 release from it or relax its severity ; and any unneces 
 sary exercise of acerbity or rigor in the mode of 
 administration, any unfeeling exhibition of scorn or 
 contempt, is as much an addition to the punishment as 
 an increase of its term would be. 
 
 Nor, on the other hand, are prison-keepers mere 
 heartless or soulless machines, to execute with mechani 
 cal precision the punishment imposed; but they are 
 moral agents, human beings, of like passions with those 
 placed under their charge, and it is intended by law 
 that they should, by all means, retain and not put off 
 this character, for they are to represent, not so much 
 the majesty or the severity, as the spirit of the state in 
 punishing, and this is a spirit of kindness and good 
 will, not of vindictiveness or contempt or unfeeling 
 cruelty. The punishment is necessary and must be 
 inflicted inflicted in its full measure and rigor, yet 
 more in sorrow than in anger, and with a manifest 
 desire, not to degrade and crush, but to encourage, 
 elevate, and save. 
 
 The evil consequences of the harsh and unfeeling 
 treatment of prisoners can scarcely be exaggerated. 
 By it every movement towards good in them is re 
 pressed, and everything that is bad in them is excited 
 and provoked to its fullest intensity. At best they are 
 cowed down and lose the last remnants of manly 
 aspiration which crime had left in their bosoms. Their 
 
160 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 worst passions are kept in exercise or only under 
 sullen constraint, and it will be well if through constant 
 irritation, and the pent-up accumulation of revengeful 
 feelings, the discontent with society and with them 
 selves, with which they entered the prison, is not 
 changed to a fixed and inveterate malignity or despe 
 ration before their release ; so that they will be dis 
 charged upon the community hardened, infuriated, 
 and intensified in wicked purposes, to pursue with 
 tenfold earnestness their career of vice and crime. 
 Thus our prisons become gymnasia and seminaries 
 for the most thorough discipline and development of 
 criminal character. Thus punishment hardens." 
 
 It may be said that the crushing and unmitigated 
 punishment thus inflicted, with all these circumstances 
 of contumely, opprobrium, of repellent scorn and 
 unfeeling rigor, of cruel and insolent asperity, will 
 be the more fearful example to deter others from the 
 commission of crime. But is that punishment likely to 
 deter others from crime, which does not deter him who 
 suffers it? that punishment which rather confirms and 
 hardens him in wickedness ? If so, it must be because 
 those others are more afraid of becoming confirmed 
 and thorough-bred criminals than they are of the pun 
 ishment; and thus our simplest plan would be to make 
 every criminal that should fall into our hands as bad as 
 possible in the shortest way, and then hold up the re 
 sult as an example to frighten others from entering 
 upon a course which should lead to such an end ; 
 somewhat as the ancient Spartans are said to have 
 made their slaves drunk that the degrading spectacle 
 might deter their children from intoxication. But then 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 161 
 
 who would be responsible for the education of those 
 adepts and inveterates in crime ? The state cannot 
 afford to incur such a responsibility, especially since in 
 curring it would, according to the known principles of 
 human nature, infallibly fail of the ulterior end referred 
 to. Such a punishment, with such a result, would 
 deter nobody from crime. Both duty and interest 
 equally and imperatively require that the state should, 
 if possible, secure the reformation of the criminals 
 whom it punishes. 
 
 But if reformation is to be made at all an end of 
 prison discipline, humane treatment, a spirit of kind 
 ness and sympathy towards the convicts, the practical 
 manifestation of a real personal interest in them and 
 their improvement, is the essential condition, the very 
 key to any effectual scheme for that purpose. Without 
 it, all other appliances and contrivances will be in vain ; 
 success is impossible. Whatever other qualifications a 
 prison-keeper may have, he is unfit for his place unless 
 he possesses a genuine kindliness of nature, a spirit of 
 compassionate sympathy, faith in humanity, a profound 
 respect and regard for man as man, however fallen and 
 degraded, an earnest, patient, indomitable purpose to 
 reclaim and raise the wretched and guilty outcasts com 
 mitted to his care. The precise point is to rekindle 
 the dormant spark of humanity in the breast of the 
 criminal, to develop a spirit of manliness and of human 
 kindness ; and to this end he must be treated with hu 
 man kindness, and his manhood must be recognized. 
 
 The want of proper interest in the prisoners com 
 mitted to their charge, if not so great a fault as posi 
 tively cruel treatment, is a much more general defect, 
 
1 62 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 and one, therefore, which may practically result in a 
 much greater amount of evil. Prisoners probably suf 
 fer more from mere neglect than from harshness or 
 personal abuse. The sheriff or the jailor puts the con 
 vict into the cell or the common prison, locks the door ? 
 sees that he is kept safely and is properly fed ; and, for 
 the rest, leaves him "to make the best of it." 
 
 Prisoners need positive and kindly attention ; and 
 that positive efforts be made for their present well- 
 being and their eventual reform. The consciousness 
 of this on their part will furnish the strongest support 
 in the struggle for their reformation. They are not 
 likely to work it out by their own suggestions, or from 
 the mere influence of detention. 
 
 Criminals are not ordinarily beyond the reach of 
 good influences, yet criminals in crowds are annually 
 discharged through mere flux of time, who are pro 
 claimed altogether incorrigible. But it has been de 
 nied, on the ground of actual experiment, that there 
 are any such whatever. The preliminary report of the 
 United States Commissioner to the late International 
 Prison Congress contains the following just and weighty 
 suggestions : 
 
 " There are many prisoners weak, and some de 
 plorably wicked ; but so long as Divine Providence is 
 pleased to retain men in this world of probation at all, 
 our right may well be disputed to regard or pronounce 
 any to be irreclaimable. Our duty is first to try some 
 new method ; to try indeed any and all hopeful methods 
 to reclaim them. But under present notions we reject 
 all rational means of promoting their recovery ; and, 
 then failing (rather the means we do use failing), we 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 163 
 
 quietly pronounce them irreclaimable ; just as an en 
 gineer might do, who, when charged to reduce a strong 
 fort, should fling away his trenching tools and pronounce 
 it impregnable. In such a case, with whom really lies 
 the blame, the prison officers or the prison inmates ? 
 And which are the irreclaimable, while such a system 
 is persisted in ? It was the opinion of an able writer, 
 and equally able as well as successful prison manager, 
 that prisoners could be saved to a man by the applica 
 tion of right principles and methods in prison adminis 
 tration. He feared neither bad habits nor any other 
 difficulties. He believed that while life and sanity are 
 spared, recovery is always possible, if properly sought. 
 There is infinite elasticity in the human mind if its fac 
 ulties are placed in healthful action, and neither dis 
 eased by maltreatment nor locked up in the torpor of 
 a living grave." 
 
 We have the assurance of this same prison manager 
 that his remarkable success was not the mere result of 
 peculiar personal qualities : " My task," says he, " was 
 not really as difficult as it appeared. I was working 
 with nature and not against her, as all other prison 
 systems do. I was endeavoring to cherish, and yet 
 direct and regulate, those cravings for amelioration of 
 position, which almost all possess in some degree, and 
 which are often strongest in those otherwise most 
 abused. Under the guidance of right principles, they 
 rose easily to order and exertion. I did not neglect 
 the object of punishment in my various arrangements, 
 but I sought it in the limits assigned alike by the letter 
 and spirit of the law, not by excesses of authority be 
 yond them. The law imposes imprisonment and hard 
 
1 64 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 labor, and these, in the fullest sense of the words, my 
 men endured. Every one of them performed his 
 government task," and, besides, his other voluntary 
 labor as he could catch opportunity. " But he was 
 saved, as far as I could save him, from unnecessary 
 humiliation, and encouraged to look to his own steady 
 efforts for ultimate liberation and improved position. 
 And this not the efforts of an individual, zealous as 
 they certainly were was the real secret of success." 
 
 Such are the views of the most intelligent, experi 
 enced, and close observers of prison discipline, in ref 
 erence to its existing deficiencies, and the proper 
 principles and methods of reform. Such are the pre 
 vailing tendencies of opinion among the most thought 
 ful men. Such are the results at which our advancing 
 
 o 
 
 civilization evidently aims, and which it will eventually 
 and that at no distant period accomplish. That is 
 to say, the attempt will be made, and, if made, there 
 can be no doubt of a reasonable degree of success. 
 Absolute success may not be attainable, and should 
 neither be promised nor expected. 
 
 The best and wisest of prison-keepers will still be 
 imperfect intellectually and morally ; and the best and 
 wisest are but few. Even if they were many and, 
 besides, were perfect, some criminals might not be 
 saved by their treatment, however kind and judicious. 
 We need not hold that there are absolutely no " incor- 
 rigibles." But more will be reformed in this way than 
 in any other. 
 
 The experiment has been repeatedly tried by Maco- 
 nochie, by Crofton, and many others ; and always with 
 the most encouraging degree of success. That per- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 1 65 
 
 feet success is unlikely is no objection to any plan for 
 the government or improvement of mankind. If it 
 were, then one thing is plain : our whole cumbrous 
 system and expensive machinery of penal jurispru 
 dence should be instantly and utterly abolished ; for it 
 is patent and notorious that it has ever fallen far short 
 of perfect success. Legal penalties have never swept 
 away crime from human society ; but we do not, there 
 fore, propose their abolition. They may have done 
 something towards the desired end. We propose an 
 improvement of their mode of administration, whereby 
 they would accomplish vastly more. But, after all, 
 much will undoubtedly remain unaccomplished ; much 
 that will lie quite beyond the power and ingenuity of 
 man to effect. " Let us do what we can. 
 
 V. CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS. 
 
 Classification is not needed so long and so far as the 
 separate system of confinement is absolutely adhered 
 to. Each prisoner is then dealt with by himself, and 
 on his own separate merits. But separate or solitary 
 confinement has never been practically introduced, nor, 
 so far as we know, has it ever been, even in theory, 
 seriously proposed, for all persons under penal re 
 straint, whatever their sex, age, or degree of crimi 
 nality. Houses of correction for adults, and houses of 
 refuge for juvenile offenders, have always been ar 
 ranged on a different principle. Usually, convicts 
 confined for minor offenses and for shorter periods are 
 allowed more or less of companionship ; and if so, the 
 sexes are separated, or ought to be. Some degree of 
 
1 66 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 classification, therefore, seems to have been generally 
 admitted to be proper and necessary. In the Western 
 Penitentiary of this State, the separate system is by 
 law allowed to be modified. The inspectors of the 
 Philadelphia County Prison, in their last report, tell us 
 that " the separate system, once the pride of Pennsyl 
 vania, has been long abandoned in every department 
 of the prison, and even in the convict corridors two, 
 three, and even four prisoners are placed together 
 in a single cell." The history of the past and the 
 present state of facts compel us to assume that the 
 separate system will not, in the future, be thoroughly 
 and universally carried out in this State. And if not, 
 the classification of prisoners becomes a matter of most 
 serious moment. Taking- things as they are, its wider 
 application would, in our judgment, be productive of 
 the most important and beneficial consequences. From 
 this point of view we propose to pursue the discussion 
 of the subject that is to say, taking things as they are, 
 and supposing that the separate system will not be uni 
 versally and thoroughly carried out. 
 
 Not a word need be said to show the unutterable 
 absurdity and the terrible consequences of the free 
 mingling together of all sorts of prisoners, or of thrust 
 ing them, indiscriminately, by the couple or the half 
 dozen, into the same cell. Nothing could be more 
 utterly subversive of all the purposes of punishment, 
 whether exemplary or reformatory. No better con 
 trivance could be invented for giving vice the fullest 
 opportunity for fermenting and festering and propa 
 gating its contagion. Prisons thus become training- 
 schools for crime. As far as reformation is concerned, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 167 
 
 such prisons are like hospitals in which all sorts of pa 
 tients, with all sorts of diseases, from the plague, the 
 small-pox, the cholera, the typhus and yellow fever, 
 down to the rheumatism, asthma, catarrh, gout, or dys 
 pepsia, should be indiscriminately huddled together in 
 the same wards, and even in the same cots. 
 
 Leaving aside, therefore, this extreme case of the 
 neglect of classification, which finds no defenders, we 
 proceed to say that this same neglect is the occasion of 
 many and capital defects in the "congregate system" of 
 prison discipline, as it ordinarily exists, even under its 
 best methods of management, and under the most fa 
 vorable circumstances. To remedy these defects, not 
 only must the labor of the convicts be made voluntary, 
 instead of being enforced by the lash, but their classifi 
 cation must be carried out so far that the members of 
 the several parties or companies or squads shall be 
 left, and safely left, to very great, if not perfect, free 
 dom of intercourse, as in ordinary social occupation. 
 
 Such a classification has sometimes been alleged to 
 be impossible consistently with the purpose of refor 
 mation. By no one has the objection been placed in a 
 stronger light than by Mr. Livingston. His views are 
 thus expressed : 
 
 " To remedy this evil (i. e., the corrupting conse 
 quences of indiscriminate intercourse), what is called 
 classification was first resorted to ; first, the young 
 were separated from the old ; then the analogous divi 
 sion was made between the novice and the practiced 
 offender. Further sub-divisions were found indispen 
 sable, in proportion as it was discovered that in each 
 of these classes would be found individuals of different 
 
1 68 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 degrees of depravity, and, of course, corruptors, and 
 those ready to receive their lessons. Accordingly, 
 classes were multiplied, until, in some prisons in Eng 
 land, we find them amounting to. fifteen or more. But 
 all this while the evident truths seemed not to have 
 had proper force : First, that moral guilt cannot always 
 be discovered, and, if discovered, so nicely appreciated 
 as to assign to each one infected with it its compara 
 tive place in the scale ; and that, if it could be so dis 
 covered [appreciated], it would be found that no two 
 would be found contaminated in the same degree. 
 Secondly, that if these difficulties could be surmounted, 
 and a class could be formed of individuals who had 
 advanced exactly to the same point, not only of offense 
 but of moral depravity, still their association would 
 produce a further progress in both, just as sparks pro 
 duce a flame when brought together, which, separated, 
 would be extinguished and die. % It is not in human 
 nature for the mind to be stationary. It must pro 
 gress in virtue or in vice. Nothing promotes this 
 progress so much as the emulation created by society; 
 and from the nature of the society will it receive its 
 direction. Every association of convicts, then, that 
 can be formed, will, in a greater or less degree, per 
 vert, but will never reform, those of which it is com 
 posed ; and we are brought to the irresistible conclu 
 sion that classification once admitted to be useful, it is 
 so in an inverse proportion to the numbers of which 
 each class is composed, and is not perfect until we 
 come to the point at which it loses its name and nature 
 in the complete separation of individuals. We come, 
 then, to the conclusion that each convict is to be sepa 
 rated from his fellows." (Page 309.) 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. 1 69 
 
 But even Mr. Livingston seems elsewhere to modify 
 this absolute rejection of the principle of classification, 
 and to admit the association of prisoners with very 
 cautious provisions. 4 We have already seen that he 
 proposes classes of not more than ten for working and 
 receiving instruction together. Again he says: " I dis 
 card the use of the lash, therefore, being firmly con 
 vinced that, as an instrument of punishment, it is not 
 only defective and dangerous, but that it cannot be 
 brought to produce that reformation which is one of 
 the essential parts of my plan. But social labor, 
 whether general or in classes, if these classes are at all 
 numerous \i. e., if each is numerous in individuals], 
 cannot be carried on without it, unless the security 
 and order of the prison be put to hazard. Social labor, 
 therefore, must be abandoned, or so modified and ad 
 mitted with sitch precautions as to render this anomaly 
 [the use of the lash] unnecessary." (Page 334.) 
 
 That these modifications and precautions can be in 
 troduced has been demonstrated by successfel experi 
 ment. The importance of the end to be attained by 
 adopting them, and of adopting them in order to attain 
 that end, can scarcely be over-estimated. The difficul 
 ties and the cost may be great, but success will abund 
 antly repay the expenditure. Those who have tried 
 the experiment also triumphantly defend their plan, 
 even on general and theoretic grounds. 
 
 It must be plain, on a little reflection, that the oppo 
 site plan necessarily leads to absolutely " separate " or 
 solitary confinement or segregation, through the whole 
 term of imprisonment; for the other alternative the 
 indiscriminate association of the prisoners for all or 
 
I 70 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 any of the time, is out of the question. Such a plan, 
 therefore, is inconsistent with the non-application of such 
 confinement to less gross offenders, or to those sen 
 tenced to shorter periods of incarceration, as in houses 
 of correction or workhouses, or even to juvenile con 
 victs, provided the idea of reformation in those cases 
 of greater criminality is admitted at all, for, if these 
 last are ever reformed, they must reach reformation 
 gradually, and must, therefore, before it is complete, 
 reach stages of advancement in which they can be 
 trusted with mutual companionship, as well as those 
 whose original criminality was less. 
 
 But if criminals even the grossest offenders, the 
 most corrupt and desperate are to be reformed and 
 discharged at all, they must be so reformed as to be 
 prepared to live, and to live safely, in society. They 
 must be fitted for society, its motives, its processes, its 
 trials, and its temptations. Can they be so fitted 
 wholly outside of these tentative and experimental 
 influences ? Certainly solitary or separate confine 
 ment should have its place at the beginning, and as 
 much of it as is thought necessary in each case. It is 
 invaluable to secure a period for serious reflection and 
 quiet instruction, and for preparing the prisoner to 
 accept, with further instruction, society and even labor 
 and all reformatory agencies, as great benefits and 
 privileges. It may also have an appropriate use for 
 temporary punishment afterwards, instead of resorting 
 to the lash, or other degrading or violent remedies. 
 If, by itself, it really succeeds in reforming the crimi 
 nal, so as to be prepared for his full discharge at once 
 into society at large, he will certainly be prepared, with 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 171 
 
 entire safety to himself and others, to be transferred 
 to the system of social discipline here suggested. If 
 he leaves the solitary cell with good resolutions, in 
 deed, but with resolutions not sufficiently strengthened 
 by practical trial, that system will need to be added to 
 to confirm and complete the work already begun. In 
 any event, the social system is important to be applied 
 as a test, before the hopefully-reformed convict receives 
 his full discharge. 
 
 It will be understood, as a matter of course, that the 
 classification here recommended must not be made on 
 an arbitrary basis, as of age, length of the term of im 
 prisonment or portion of that term elapsed, supposed 
 criminality, identity, or similarity of temperament, or 
 the like. 
 
 " Like all other exercises of mere authority, authori 
 tative classification will prove a pure delusion ; and in 
 fact very few practical men, even now, are not ready 
 to pronounce it such. There is no rule by which to 
 regulate it. If by offense, this is the mere accident of 
 conviction ; if by age, the youngest criminals, born and 
 cradled in sin, are very often the most corrupt ; if by 
 supposed similarity of temper or antecedent character, 
 no one can certainly pronounce on this, and men are 
 as often and oftener improved by associating with their 
 opposites as with those who resemble them. It is im 
 possible to attain real benefit by such means. One 
 general difference between prisoners at the same time 
 does exist, which it will be important, on many occa 
 sions, to keep in view, but not with the aim of sepa 
 rating them ; it is this : The difference between men 
 who have erred from having more than an average 
 
I 7 2 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 amount of physical energy, and men who have sinned 
 from having less than an average of moral principle. 
 The treatment of the two should very considerably dif 
 fer, and it might not be impossible or unwise to subject 
 this to regulation." The classification, which alone this 
 writer approves, is based on character, conduct, and 
 merit, as shown in the daily routine of prison life. 
 
 Such a classification undoubtedly requires, on the 
 part of the prison managers and keepers, a great share 
 of knowledge of human nature, of good judgment and 
 sound discretion, a habit of close observation and con 
 stant watchfulness, patient and indefatigable effort, and a 
 deep, whole-souled, devoted interest in the work in hand. 
 
 The hypocrisy of criminals is proverbial, and must 
 be carefully guarded against. Meanwhile this social 
 system is one of the best tests that can be applied to 
 the evil, and, if the evil exists, will infallibly lead to its 
 seasonable exposure. 
 
 To render this scheme of classification systematic, 
 self-working, and not merely discretionary or perhaps 
 capricious, the " mark system," as it has been called, 
 may be made an important accessory. The working 
 and character of this system will be more fully con 
 sidered further on. 
 
 But. with the exercise of all possible discretion and de 
 votion, and with the use of all possible helps, it must be 
 expected that mistakes will sometimes be made ; it will 
 sometimes be necessary to retrace steps that have been 
 taken, and even ultimate failure will sometimes ensue. 
 But these means will accomplish what can be accom 
 plished; they will accomplish much; and we have no right 
 to rest satisfied until these have been tried to the fullest 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 173 
 
 possible extent. The experiment has been made by Cap 
 tain Maconochie, to whose suggestions we have already 
 referred, and by others; and wherever it has been fairly 
 and faithfully tried, it has proved eminently successful. 
 
 VI. SELECTION AND TRAINING OF PRISON-KEEPERS. 
 
 Nothing is so important in prison economy as the 
 right spirit and style of administration ; to it every 
 thing else is subordinate ; without it everything else is 
 unavailing, whether structure of prisons, structure or 
 arrangement of cells, ventilation, diet, labor, instruc 
 tion, separate system, or whatever else, all may be 
 spoiled by a wrong method of treatment. Everything, 
 therefore, hinges upon the character of the wardens or 
 keepers. 
 
 It may be thought an insuperable objection to the 
 plan thus far developed, that the qualifications indicated 
 as requisite in these functionaries are quite extraordi 
 nary and exceptional ; in short, that enough of such 
 men cannot be had. It may be said that a Macono 
 chie, a Montesinos, a Crofton, or a Pilsbury may indeed 
 accomplish wonderful effects in the way of reforming 
 criminals, or rendering them orderly or industrious, by 
 personal and moral influences, but that it is a mere 
 Utopia to think that such a plan can be carried out as 
 a general system. The genius, the magnetic power, 
 the extraordinary personal qualities cannot be made to 
 order, or collected in sufficient quantities to meet the 
 demand. This may be said, plausibly said, and so men 
 may turn away quite self-satisfied, as if the whole ques 
 tion had thus been settled and foreclosed, and prison 
 
174 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 discipline must be left to go on in the future substan 
 tially as it has gone on in the past. " The whole plan 
 is a mere theory a philanthropic dream," was the first 
 cry. It was thereupon put to the test of experiment, 
 and succeeded, and then we are told " ah, but the 
 men who tried it were extraordinary men, and one 
 swallow does not make a summer." Let the experi 
 ment, we reply, be faithfully and earnestly continued ; 
 let the attempt be made to find more such men ; let 
 this too be tested by trial, and they will be found. 
 What man has done, man can do ; and where there s 
 a will there s a way. These are the true mottoes for 
 all good undertakings. 
 
 What we have to do is, first, to make up our minds 
 what are the proper qualifications for the keepers and 
 managers of prisons, what are the qualifications which 
 the public service and the highest ends of prison econo 
 my require, and then with that degree of earnestness 
 and diligence which the case demands to proceed to 
 find and judiciously select those who approach nearest 
 to the standard. Perfection, of course, is not to be 
 attained, and, therefore, should neither be demanded 
 nor expected. But surely it does not follow from this 
 that it is reasonable to proceed without any standard 
 or system, at pure hap-hazard, and with no effort at 
 discrimination, flattering ourselves, and endeavoring 
 to persuade the community, that such are the difficulties 
 of the case we and they must be content with what 
 ever material may chance to fall in our way. 
 
 In making the selection there is one point which 
 must be laid down as absolutely essential ; no political 
 influence must be allowed to sway or interfere in the 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. 1 7 5 
 
 slightest degree to impede or determine the choice. It 
 should be a matter of religion with all parties to exclude 
 such influence altogether from the case. Political con 
 siderations have no more proper bearing upon this 
 function than they have upon that of a professor of 
 mathematics. Moreover, no men who have been 
 elected or appointed for quite different functions should 
 be suffered ex officio to be employed in this. County 
 sheriffs, for example, are no more likely to be fitted 
 for this office, or for determining who possess the 
 proper qualifications for it, and, perhaps, on the whole, 
 are less likely to be so fitted, than the general aver 
 age of intelligent men. And yet the sheriffs of the 
 several counties have, by law, the exclusive control 
 of almost all the county jails or prisons, holding in 
 their hands the appointment of all the keepers and 
 under officers, which appointments they have the 
 opportunity, and are under the temptation, to dis 
 tribute to themselves or their friends, as petty political 
 prizes, or as a matter of private and family patronage. 
 While such a system is allowed to continue, what right 
 have we to expect that the keepers of such prisons 
 should have the spirit of a Howard, or emulate the 
 example or exhibit the tact and talent of a Pilsbury 
 or a Crofton ? If we cannot expect this, is it because 
 of the inherent difficulty of the case, or because of 
 the egregious and stupendous folly of the method we 
 persist in applying to it ? 
 
 This is a special function and requires special apti 
 tudes of mind and qualities of character ; and if enough 
 men fitted for it by nature, or by their own efforts 
 and experience, cannot be found, provision should be 
 made for the special training of others. 
 
176 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 Considering the direct and important bearing of this 
 business upon the public weal, what good reason can 
 be given why men should not be especially trained for 
 this function, in a sort of normal institute, as well as for 
 the function of school teachers? Indeed, as there is a 
 best way of managing prisons and prisoners, and as it 
 is not only a peculiar, but a very complex and intricate 
 business, involving most important principles of mental 
 and moral philosophy, as well as infinite practical de 
 tails, it is a serious question whether any one should 
 undertake so delicate and responsible a task without 
 a special training for it. The distinguished warden of 
 the Albany Penitentiary, to whom allusion has several 
 times been already made, undoubtedly owes much of 
 his remarkable power of efficiently working a prison 
 and that in spite of grave defects of general principles 
 in his system to the training he received from his 
 father and to his own life-long experience. Mr. Pils- 
 bury and other men of similar ability and knowledge 
 of their profession could in no way turn their powers 
 and acquirements to better account or make them in a 
 higher degree subservient to the public good than by 
 training and instructing others who may succeed them 
 in the exercise of their art, and thus bequeathing to 
 posterity the secret they have mastered. And by 
 concentrating upon such an institution the reflection, 
 experience, and wisdom of the country in this depart 
 ment, further secrets would be discovered and the art 
 would be developed as well as propagated. We ven 
 ture to recommend the establishment of such a school 
 by State authority, with such a system of regulations 
 in regard to examinations, to the choice of prison 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 177 
 
 wardens and keepers and to 1 their systematic promo 
 tion, upon experience, from lower to higher grades and 
 from less to more responsible positions, as will speedily 
 secure the enjoyment of its benefits to all the jails and 
 penitentiaries in the Commonwealth. 
 
 The dismissal of prison-keepers should not be left to 
 be determined solely upon specific charges of miscon 
 duct or ill-treatment, good reasons though these are ; 
 but the proportion of the convicts discharged from the 
 care of each, who should prove to be reformed or 
 otherwise, or who should be re-convicted for crime, 
 should be ascertained by careful statistics ; and, the 
 cases having been carefully considered, in connection 
 with all the circumstances, incompetent or unsuccessful 
 keepers should he forthwith dismissed. 
 
 There is one object of the highest moment, to facili 
 tate the accomplishment of which the training-school 
 would most powerfully contribute, and that is the ele 
 vation of the position of prison-keepers in the social 
 scale and in the public regard. This profession should 
 be as honorable, and should be made to be held as re 
 spectable, in general esteem, as that of school teachers 
 or college professors, or superintendents of asylums 
 for the insane or the blind. In the nature of the case, 
 there is no reason why it should not be so. The reason 
 why it is not so regarded is twofold : first, the want of 
 training and culture and high character in so many who 
 exercise the profession, the prevalent notion that men 
 of mere ordinary or inferior abilities and qualities are 
 quite equal to this work ; but secondly and chiefly, it 
 is because the business of a prison-keeper is supposed 
 to be, and, hitherto, to a large extent, has been, merely 
 
I 78 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 to secure and superintend the infliction of punish 
 ment an office of unfeeling coldness and sternness, 
 of heartlessness and cruelty ; an office calling for no 
 exercise of the higher and kindlier human affections, 
 but rather requiring their repression. Such an office 
 cannot command the sympathy or respect of mankind. 
 It is not in human nature to look upon it otherwise 
 than with repugnance and a recoil of disgust, the 
 human heart can apprehend no elements of honor in 
 it. Let us recognize and weigh well this verdict of 
 humanity. Let us be thankful that, though led astray 
 by the principles of a mistaken policy, our prison econ 
 omy is sunk so low, yet our common human nature is 
 not sunk so low with it as to regard it with compla 
 cency or reverence it with honor, but instinctively 
 repudiates it with a sense of loathing. 
 
 But let our prisons be made and looked upon as 
 schools for reformation rather than dungeons of pun 
 ishment, as institutions for raising the fallen victims of 
 vice, instead of crushing and trampling them deeper 
 into the earth ; and let the managers and governors of 
 such penitentiaries receive a thorough culture and train 
 ing for such an office, and they will soon come to be 
 regarded as one of the most unselfish, high-minded, 
 honorable, and elevated classes of human society. So 
 ought they to be regarded. 
 
 VII. COMMUTATION, OR THE SUBSTITUTION OF REFORMA 
 TION FOR LAPSE OF TIME, AS THE CONDITION OF DIS 
 CHARGE. 
 
 All the punishments of criminal jurisprudence being 
 imposed for the good of society, within the limits of 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. I 79 
 
 justice and under the guidance of humanity, as we 
 trust has already been shown, reformation must be 
 included among the ends of punishment, and, moreover, 
 its inclusion must be an important condition of the 
 right and complete accomplishment of any other proper 
 ends. It must, therefore, be the highest end of all. It 
 is not denied that punishment should have reference to 
 the past ; but we have no right to punish our fellow- 
 men for the past in utter and heartless neglect of their 
 future. It is not denied that punishment should be 
 inflicted as a vindication of justice and a deterring ex 
 ample to others ; but it will accomplish these purposes 
 only or, at least, thoroughly accomplish them only 
 on condition of its having a reformatory character. 
 
 If, then, punishment looks to the future rather than 
 the past ; if the imprisonment of criminals is for the 
 protection of society rather than for vengeance upon 
 them, it follows that the mere lapse of time is no proper 
 measure for prospectively determining the length of its 
 continuance. Until the reformation aimed at is accom 
 plished, the same reason exists for the continuance of 
 the detention which existed for its beginning. If 
 society is to be protected from the further crimes of 
 the particular offender, and his imprisonment was 
 mainly intended to secure that protection, what is it 
 short of folly to dismiss him from that imprisonment 
 while he is as ready and able to assume and pursue 
 his career of violence or depredation as when he was 
 first incarcerated ? If, by the example of his punish 
 ment, others are to be deterred from similar, or from 
 any, crimes, how else could this purpose be more 
 effectually accomplished than by their seeing that, if 
 
1 80 PRISON E CO NO MY. 
 
 convicted of such crimes, there is no way of their 
 escape from perpetual imprisonment, but by giving 
 satisfactory evidence, through a severe process of long 
 and searching test and trial, of sincere and thorough 
 reformation ? Surely nothing could be more effectual 
 than this ; but it may be suggested that something 
 short of this may accomplish something, or even much, 
 in the same direction. But it is doubtful whether any 
 punishment of offenders can have much effect in deter 
 ring others from crime, when those offenders are 
 released more hardened and defiant than they were 
 before ; and still more doubtful whether any punish 
 ment can, on the whole, diminish the general amount, 
 or check in the community the growth, of crime, unless, 
 by that punishment, the offenders are absolutely pre 
 vented from returning to their old courses and their 
 old associates. 
 
 The true plan, therefore, would seem to be, either 
 the imposition of much longer time-sentences than the 
 statutes now impose, with greatly increased opportuni 
 ties to secure a commutation; or, what is more consis 
 tent in principle, the conditioning of every discharge 
 from prison at least in cases of felony or gross 
 offenses simply and absolutely upon good conduct 
 and evidence of repentance and reformation. 
 
 In determining the weight of this evidence, the 
 character and history of the parties previous to their 
 incarceration should be taken into the account ; and 
 the estimation of good conduct should not depend 
 simply upon orderly behavior, obedience to prison 
 regulations, and the punctual performance of imposed 
 tasks, but much more upon such habits of voluntary 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. l8l 
 
 and provident industry, and such constant faithfulness, 
 under circumstances of increasing exposure and temp 
 tation, as may guarantee a preparation of character 
 for the labors, burdens, and trials of free life in actual 
 society. 
 
 The idea of reformatory punishment is apt to be 
 thought quite too mild and gentle for dealing with the 
 rough and reckless characters of the mass of depraved 
 and hardened criminals ; it is apt to be dismissed with 
 a quiet sneer as an unstatesmanlike and unpractial 
 Utopia of men, very kind and humane, but very ignor 
 ant of human nature. It would not be surprising, how 
 ever, if now, upon a full development of the idea, its 
 opponents should entirely change their tune, and 
 charge it with an excessive and intolerable severity 
 a severity quite inconsistent with the rights and privi 
 leges of the free citizens of a free state. 
 
 We must defend it, therefore, against this other 
 charge ; and we say that such severity is just that 
 which offends against no principle of justice, humanity, 
 charity, or religion ; and which, at the same time, is 
 needed for the full protection of society against the 
 encroachments of the dangerous classes. 
 
 As the population multiplies and cities are thronged, 
 as civilization advances and wealth increases, and 
 poverty, too, crime, unless checked by special means, 
 will also increase in a still greater ratio ; roughs and 
 rowdies and desperadoes, gamblers, swindlers, and 
 knaves, thieves and pickpockets, garroters and robbers, 
 murderers and assassins, will multiply apace, until the 
 courts are overwhelmed and the prisons crowded ; and 
 yet the vast army is recruited and filled up faster than 
 
182 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 it is depleted by all the efforts of sheriffs, judges, and 
 juries. The continual passing of a few through the 
 pains-taking process of arrest, trial, and brief imprison 
 ment, only to return with increased skill and malignity 
 as heroic leaders to their old associates, as instructors 
 to the host of novices gathered in their absence, will 
 never remedy or remove the evil. It is but the labor 
 of Sisyphus. When one looks at this immense and 
 swelling host of the " dangerous classes," and considers 
 how capable they are, in these days of guilds, brother 
 hoods, and associations, of a much more thoroughly 
 organized combination than they have yet betrayed, 
 one trembles for the future of modern civilization. 
 There are only two remedies for the appalling evil, 
 and the second is only supplementary to the first. 
 These are, first, the universal training of the children 
 in knowledge, morals, and religion, including, especi 
 ally, the outcast, vagrant, and neglected classes of 
 children ; and, second, insisting upon the reformation 
 of all those who are duly convicted of crime before they 
 are again let loose upon the community. Both these 
 remedies are, in our judgment, imperatively required 
 for the public welfare and safety. And if what the 
 public safety and welfare require is ever to be enacted 
 into a law, it would seem to be when the voice, both 
 of justice and humanity, both of rigorous right and of 
 gentle charity, joins in the requisition. 
 
 Besides the common demand of reformation in all 
 cases, the different degrees of criminality may need to 
 be distinguished by a graduation of punishment. 
 
 For this purpose there might be imposed, in the 
 original sentence, longer or shorter terms of strict 
 
P1SOA T ECONOMY. 183 
 
 solitary confinement, or of rigorous hard labor ; and it 
 might be provided that, in any event, the discharge of 
 the prisoner should not take place before the lapse of 
 a certain prescribed period of time, and this, especially, 
 in the case of re-convictions. 
 
 Short terms of simple imprisonment might still 
 be imposed, as the whole punishment, for misde 
 meanors and lesser offenses, without any violation of 
 the principle contended for, which applies only to 
 crimes in the stricter sense. But persons so impris 
 oned should either have a house of detention entirely 
 separate from that of convict felons, or should be 
 retained in solitary or separate confinement during 
 the whole period of their punishment. 
 
 There is a class of crimes which some may think it 
 incongruous to treat under this idea of reformation as 
 an absolute condition of discharge : it is the case of 
 those persons who are guilty of acts of personal 
 violence in sudden brawls or intemperate excitements, 
 but who do not belong habitually to what are called the 
 " dangerous classes." But we think their cases suffi- 
 cently provided for by the foregoing remark, that, in 
 estimating the character and standing of convicts, their 
 habits and history previous to conviction must be duly 
 taken into account ; and, indeed, the scheme of prison 
 discipline which is here in view seems to us, in this 
 connection, to have a special advantage, to which 
 we cannot refrain from directing particular attention. 
 
 Most of the felonious acts just referred to are 
 occasioned by habits of ungovernable passion, or of 
 intemperance in the use of stimulants. The temp 
 tations of this class of persons are chiefly social, hence 
 
1 84 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 they cannot be presumed fit to be intrusted again 
 with the control of themselves in free society until 
 they have stood the test of some degree of freedom of 
 choice in the companionship of their fellows. The 
 remedy must be social. Enforced abstinence, quiet re 
 flection in solitude, theoretic instruction, and good reso 
 lutions, with the removal and absence of all temptation, 
 can hardly give sufficient reason to trust in the perma 
 nence of the promised amendment, when the prisoner 
 is suddenly liberated from his solitary cell, and returns 
 to the actual temptations and trials of social life. 
 
 The scheme suggested would require the progres 
 sive classification of convicts according to their pro 
 gressive and various developments of conduct and 
 character greater privileges and greater degrees of 
 freedom being accorded in proportion to their grade 
 of advancement, and all to be earned and purchased 
 by their own efforts. Such a scheme, of course, re 
 quires, in its managers, close observation and a nice, 
 discriminative judgment. To secure the fair and 
 proper working of the scheme, leaving as little as pos 
 sible to arbitrary determination and loose general 
 judgments, a complete, detailed, and constant record 
 of each prisoner s conduct and character from day to 
 day should be made and preserved, to be to the prison 
 manager what his u log" is to the mariner. This is, 
 substantially, what is called the "mark system" a full 
 description of which is not here required. 
 
 Nor is it essential that any particular, precisely pre 
 scribed " system " should be adopted. What is essen 
 tial, or, at least, extremely important, is, that some 
 detailed daily record should be regularly kept, of every 
 
Pit I SON ECONOMY. 185 
 
 prisoner s character and conduct, merits and demerits, 
 and of all rewards and punishments. There should be 
 some system and some definite record, for the inspection 
 of official visitors, for the information and encourage 
 ment of the prisoner, and as a guide and check for the 
 prison managers. 
 
 But, after all, a great responsibility must rest upon 
 these managers and the inspectors, and what some 
 may think an excessive power must be committed to 
 their hands a power no less than that of practically 
 determining, by the recorded estimates and judgments, 
 the term of imprisonment for every convict. Passion 
 ate severities, favoritism, and other abuses of power, 
 must be, by law, guarded against in every possible 
 way. The detailed record above mentioned would do 
 much as a guide and as a check a guide to correct 
 loose and general impressions ; a check against sud 
 den and passionate judgments. The results in the case 
 of discharged prisoners would serve to expose and 
 correct over-laxity ; and the frequent visits of official 
 inspectors would, with the aid of the record of marks 
 and the personal examination of the prisoners, be the 
 means of detecting any undue severities. 
 
 We have only to add, under this head, that the prin 
 ciple of modifying time-sentences, by allowing the com 
 mutation here advocated, has been already adopted in 
 the legislation of this Commonwealth. 
 
 The statute of ist May, 1861, enacted that "every 
 prisoner or convict, sentenced as aforesaid, who shall 
 have no such infraction or violation of the said rules 
 recorded against him or her during any month of the 
 first year of his or her imprisonment, shall be entitled 
 
1 86 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 to a deduction from the term of his or her sentence, 
 &c. * * Provided, That it shall be law 
 
 ful for the inspectors of said penitentiaries or prisons, 
 if any such convicts or persons shall willfully infringe 
 or violate any of said rules or regulations, or offend in 
 any other way, to strike off the whole or any part of 
 the deduction which may have been obtained previous 
 to the date of such offense. 
 
 "The said inspectors shall have full power and 
 authority to discharge the said criminals, whenever 
 they have served out their term of sentence, less the 
 number of days to which they are entitled under the 
 provisions of this act." 
 
 And then it is further provided that a certificate 
 shall be given to such discharged prisoner. This 
 act applies alike to county jails and State peniten 
 tiaries. 
 
 What we ask is, that the principle here involved 
 should have a much wider, higher, and more consist 
 ent application ; that instead of being the exception 
 it should become the rule ; and, instead of the com 
 mutation being based merely upon obedient submission 
 to prison regulations, it should be based upon industry, 
 diligence, moral conduct, and progress in practical re 
 formation. The greater benefits which would then 
 ensue may be judged of by the benefits which have 
 followed upon the partial application of the principle. 
 In their last report, the inspectors of the Philadelphia 
 County Prison testify that " the commutation act, by 
 which prisoners, who conduct themselves without charge 
 of misconduct, are entitled to a deduction in the terms 
 of their sentences, has been in operation in the prison 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 187 
 
 since May, 1870. Its effect upon the discipline of the 
 prison has been apparent, and we see no reason to 
 doubt that its general reformatory influence has been 
 good." 
 
 VIII. INTERMEDIATE PRISONS OR DISCHARGING-HOUSES. 
 
 The reformation of criminals is the object in view ; 
 and this object is presumed to be eventually attained. 
 The process is in its nature gradual ; and the course of 
 progressive classification adapts itself to the advance 
 ment from stage to stage, both recognizing and pro 
 moting it. But something more distinct and decisive 
 seems necessary to mark the highest and final stage. 
 Those who have reached this point are supposed to be 
 already substantially reformed. Like the piece of ord 
 nance before its transfer to actual service, they need 
 only a final testing to ascertain whether they will bear 
 the strain of free society. They are really in a tran 
 sition state, not quite ready to be trusted with entire 
 freedom, and yet not to be treated simply as convicts. 
 It seems eminently proper, therefore, that, at this stage, 
 they should find themselves in a new atmosphere, sur 
 rounded by new associations, under new circumstances 
 of recognized respectability as well as of responsibility, 
 where the character of the man should begin quite to 
 overshadow and efface that of the convict. For this 
 purpose new quarters, quite separate and distinct, both 
 in character and in name, from those of the less 
 advanced prisoners, would be required. Such quar 
 ters we venture to call " intermediate prisons," or, 
 better, perhaps, "discharging-houses." They should be 
 
1 88 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 regarded not so much in the light of prisons as of simple 
 reformatories. In them the idea of punishment should 
 give place entirely to that hopeful, voluntary amend 
 ment, or confirmation of amendment. Only in case of 
 misconduct the right would remain to the superintend 
 ents or controlling managers of a summary remand 
 ing of the offender to the prison proper. 
 
 As the reformation, so the transfer to entire freedom 
 would thus be made by degrees. And this last degree 
 is a most important preparation for the full discharge. 
 We do not propose to suggest the details of arrange 
 ment for these houses or prisons ; they may be greatly 
 varied, according to circumstances, and according to 
 the personal judgment and peculiar aptitudes of the 
 superintendents. The general principles to be carried 
 out should be to give much greater freedom of action 
 than in former stages, perhaps entire freedom within 
 certain limits of time, to manifest much greater per 
 sonal confidence in the men, retaining the feature of 
 mutual watch and responsibility, and the absolute re 
 quirement upon all to be at their quarters before a 
 certain hour in the evening. 
 
 Some may think it a crushing and final objection to 
 any such scheme that, in their opinion, many, if not all, 
 the prisoners under such treatment would make their 
 escape and disappear. But such an objection is the 
 child of despair. It proceeds from an entire want of 
 hope that criminals can ever be reformed. For only 
 those who are presumed to be substantially reformed 
 whether under the separate or the social system are 
 to be placed in these circumstances and allowed these 
 liberties ; and, when placed here, should they all make 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 189 
 
 their escape, it would be no worse than if, instead of 
 being placed here, they had all been forthwith dis 
 charged. But they will not all escape ; some may ; it 
 is to be presumed that some will. Still, we shall retain 
 this advantage, that they will be escaped prisoners, and, 
 upon arrest, can be restored to their incarceration 
 without being arraigned, tried, and convicted for some 
 new crime against society. Most of such runaways 
 would be arrested. 
 
 If it be thought that, while the fear of such arrest 
 and its consequences might be a restraint, yet such 
 restraint would, after all, be a sort of compulsion, and 
 would not prepare for a state of entire freedom ; we 
 answer that such an objection proceeds upon the idea 
 that nothing but entire freedom can prepare for entire 
 freedom ; it rejects all approximation, and annuls the 
 idea of preparation altogether. Whereas, we believe 
 that self-control, exercised under such a motive, would 
 not only test its own power, but would confirm a habit 
 of self-control, with a view to the future, which would 
 be one of the most powerful preservatives from a re 
 sumption of criminal courses, after the full discharge 
 and restoration to entire freedom. 
 
 It may be thought that this plan would require a 
 multiplication of prison establishments, and thus entail 
 upon the State a great additional expenditure. But, 
 even though this were the case, still, provided the plan 
 were liable to no other valid objection, and provided it 
 would be productive of the benefits proposed, no such 
 petty objection of expense should weigh for a moment 
 against them. Such an outlay would be a good invest 
 ment. It would go to prevent the waste of much of 
 
1 90 PRISON ECONOMY, 
 
 the other expenditure which crime entails upon the 
 State. Penuriousness is often the greatest extrava 
 gance. But no multiplication of prisons need result, 
 even temporarily, from the plan proposed, but only a 
 special distribution of them ; for, while we should con 
 fidently believe and maintain that, in the long run, it 
 would tend to diminish the number of prisoners, it 
 would not, even at the first, necessarily increase their 
 number ; for prisoners might naturally be transferred 
 to these intermediate houses of detention somewhat 
 sooner than, without them, it would be thought proper 
 to risk their complete discharge. 
 
 As for the current expenses of these establishments, 
 our idea is that with the exception, of course, of the 
 sick and the infirm all prisoners, both here and in the 
 former stages of their confinement, but especially here, 
 should by their own industry pay for their main 
 tenance. 
 
 Under a judicious management they would not only 
 do this, but would rapidly accumulate their reserve 
 fund, to be received by them upon their release. As 
 a general rule, none would be transferred to this inter 
 mediate position who should not already have earned 
 and accumulated such a fund ; and this fund being still 
 at risk, and liable to be forfeited for misconduct, would 
 be a further pledge for good behavior, as well as a 
 guarantee for their current expenses. Here is another 
 motive of restraint which some may stigmatize as of 
 the nature of compulsion ; but it is the same sort of 
 compulsion as that under which all men are called 
 upon to act in ordinary life. It is, therefore, most ap 
 propriate as a final preparation to return to that life, 
 with its temptations and its responsibilities. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 191 
 
 IX. REFUGES AND OTHER PROVISION FOR DISCHARGED 
 PRISONERS. 
 
 This is an indispensable part of every effectual 
 scheme of prison economy. It is the clincher of the 
 whole. Without it the rest of the scheme, however 
 perfect in itselfj will largely fail to accomplish its end. 
 The State, therefore, cannot afford to leave this por 
 tion of the process entirely, as is commonly proposed 
 and has hitherto been done, to the kindly but uncertain 
 and inadequate efforts of private charity. 
 
 To cause the stream of criminal life to circulate 
 through the penitentiary, without change or improve 
 ment in its character, must be to small purpose. It is 
 only a brief arrest of the current s rapidity. It is as a 
 dam thrown across a river ; the waters are checked 
 and accumulated for a time, but in the end just as 
 much is discharged below as is received from above. 
 
 And scarcely to any more purpose will it be to 
 reform the prisoners before returning them to society, 
 if upon being so returned they are to be treated as 
 outcasts. 
 
 Yet hitherto they have been so treated, whether 
 reformed or unreformed. There has prevailed in the 
 community an almost unconquerable, and, as things 
 have been managed, a not unnatural or unreasonable, 
 feeling of distrust and aversion, of shrinking repug 
 nance and even of fear and horror, towards discharged 
 convicts. They have found no sympathy, no encour 
 agement, no helping hand, no shelter, no employment, 
 no means of honest subsistence. Every man s hand 
 has been against them, every back turned upon them, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 every door shut in their faces and barred against their 
 intrusion. They have been turned out of prison into 
 a dark passage, walled up to heaven on either side, 
 their only alternative either to lie down in it and perish, 
 or to follow it out to its only exit among their old 
 associates and in their old trade. 
 
 Shall this continue? And what is to be the end of 
 these things ? Surely these questions address them 
 selves, not merely to philanthropic sentiment, but to 
 the coolest and most calculating regard for the public 
 interest. No wonder that under the present system 
 the proportion of re-convictions should be very large. 
 We know it to be large ; but it is unquestionably much 
 larger than can ever be ascertained, owing to the great 
 extent of our territory and the distribution of our 
 penal administration among so many independent 
 States. 
 
 With our present prison management and with the 
 circumstances of discharged prisoners left as they are, 
 it may be seriously questioned whether it is reasonable 
 or just to condemn re-convicted criminals, as is so often 
 strenuously urged, to an aggravated severity of punish 
 ment. The first step in remedying the evil must be 
 the full and frank adoption in prison discipline of the 
 principle of reformation, carried out through the inter 
 mediate trial above recommended and supplemented 
 by the refuges here suggested. Let this course be 
 adopted, and while, in accordance with the very nature 
 of the reformatory plan, the re-convicted criminal would 
 be placed under a severer and more cautious course 
 of discipline and trial, it would also be both manifestly 
 reasonable and highly important that the absolute or 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 193 
 
 minimum length of his time-sentence or task-sentence 
 should likewise be increased. 
 
 While the present plan and working of prison dis 
 cipline continues, it will also continue impossible to 
 revolutionize or greatly to modify the public sentiment 
 in regard to discharged convicts, to remove or sensi 
 bly to mitigate the feeling of distrust and repugnance 
 towards them. Nor if it were possible would it be 
 reasonable to attempt it, for to a very great extent the 
 feeling is well founded. 
 
 The revolution must begin in the policy of the state. 
 Her treatment of imprisoned convicts must be changed 
 before the reception of discharged convicts on the part 
 of the community can be changed. Let it not be sug 
 gested that this state of degradation, in which released 
 convicts find themselves and this repulsion which they 
 meet with on all sides, is their own fault, is a natural 
 and proper part of their punishment. If so, the state 
 ought to take their lives or shut them up in perpetual 
 incarceration. She has no right to turn them out and 
 spurn them from her and say, " Steal or die ; and it is 
 your own fault." Here again the first step for the 
 state is the adoption of the principle that reformation 
 is the great end of the detention of criminals in prison. 
 If this principle is once adopted and successfully car 
 ried out, it will tend most powerfully toward removing 
 the popular prejudice against discharged convicts. 
 
 Still, in order to facilitate the healthy re-absorption 
 of such convicts into the mass of society, there would 
 remain for a long time, and perhaps always, a necessity, 
 or at least important office, for such establishments or 
 refuges as we here propose. It has sometimes been 
 
194 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 suggested and attempted to secure their re-admission 
 to the bosom of society by carefully concealing their 
 character as discharged convicts. What we propose 
 is, an open admission of that character, by an acknowl 
 edged connection with a public establishment expressly 
 kept up for their resort. This is the open and honest 
 course of dealing with the community, without subter 
 fuge or deception. Discharged convicts are thus not 
 smuggled into society under a mask, or thrust in an 
 underhand way on those who employ them. They are 
 not called upon to hide or deny the fact that they 
 are discharged convicts, while all the time fully aware 
 that if this fact were known they would be rejected 
 and refused employment, thus beginning their new 
 lives with the practice of a lesson in swindling and 
 falsehood. 
 
 These refuges or establishments for the resort of 
 discharged prisoners should contain : 
 
 1. The means of lodging and maintenance for such 
 numbers as would be likely to resort to them, with 
 considerable elasticity as to enlargement or contrac 
 tion. 
 
 2. They should be supplied with workshops, im 
 plements, and materials for the employment of such 
 as should not find opportunity for employment else 
 where. 
 
 3. They should be supplied with means of good 
 advice and instruction, of mental and moral improve 
 ment, as reading-rooms, &c. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 195 
 
 4. It should be understood that those who can find 
 employment elsewhere should have their lodging here 
 as long as they desire it. 
 
 5. All should be required to pay for their board, 
 lodging, and other expenses by their own earnings or 
 out of their reserve fund. 
 
 6. The reserve fund, accumulated by each prisoner 
 before his release, should be held on deposit at the 
 refuge, to be set against his current expenses if nec 
 essary ; and the whole to be paid up to him, not at 
 once, but in installments within such time (whether he 
 remains in the refuge or not) as may be judged expe 
 dient and established by a fixed rule. Such arrange 
 ments could easily be made in respect to the plan of 
 his receiving the several installments as he should 
 desire ; and such precautions could be taken as should 
 be necessary to secure against their undue or their 
 premature transfer to other parties, to the prejudice of 
 the original claimant. 
 
 7. Should the reserve fund, in any case, be exhausted, 
 and the man seek to remain an idle hanger-on at the 
 refuge, it would simply be proved that the reformatory 
 discipline had, in his case, failed of the hoped-for effect. 
 Such instances might of course occur. It would not 
 be very difficult to devise the proper means of dealing 
 with them ; and we are quite confident that they would 
 be but few. But we shall pursue them no further. 
 
 We have merely to add that the suggestions here 
 made have in some form or other received the support 
 
196 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 of almost every writer on prison economy in the pres 
 ent century, their voices only increasing- in earnestness 
 as the years roll on. Indeed, it may justly be claimed 
 that the general consent of all experienced and thought 
 ful men for the last ten or fifteen years has been pitched 
 in one key " longer sentences, steadier discipline, re 
 wards for good conduct, and assistance to discharged 
 prisoners." 
 
 X. THE PARDONING POWER. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this power has some 
 times been grossly abused. And this abuse has been 
 fruitful of some of the greatest evils that beset the 
 economy of penal jurisprudence. Men have been 
 pardoned, because they had influential friends, or from 
 mere caprice. Men have been pardoned in view of 
 private and personal, and not of general and public, 
 considerations. Men have been pardoned, and that by 
 no means unfrequently, who have soon found their 
 way back to prison again ; and sometimes these same 
 men have been pardoned out a second time. Men 
 have been pardoned without any proper evidence 
 either of innocence, or of any mitigation of crimi 
 nality, or of reformation. Men have been pardoned, if 
 not from corrupt, yet from altogether improper and in 
 sufficient motives. In short, men have been pardoned 
 in such numbers, and with such entire disregard of 
 fixed principles, as to encourage the commission of 
 crime, breaking down the certainty of punishment even 
 after conviction, and opening to the most abandoned 
 criminals, when receiving their sentence, a door of hope, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 197 
 
 that very likely, after all, they will not be obliged to 
 serve it out. 
 
 Still, the pardoning power must be retained ; it must 
 be lodged somewhere ; it cannot be dispensed with. 
 There may be cases of persons who, after having been 
 sentenced and committed to prison, are found to have 
 been convicted on false testimony or by some mistake ; 
 others in whose cases circumstances greatly miti 
 gating their offense are subsequently discovered ; 
 others whose enlargement may be required for the 
 ends of public justice, as that they may be qualified 
 to testify as witnesses ; and others, whose offenses 
 having been committed in some scene or occasion of 
 great public or political excitement, their release is 
 afterwards demanded, before the expiration of their 
 sentence, by considerations of state policy and expe 
 diency ; and so on. 
 
 What is needed, therefore, is not that the pardoning 
 power should be abolished, but that, in the first place, 
 it should be hedged about as far as possible by consti 
 tutional limitations ; and, for the rest, it should be held 
 in constant check by an awakened and watchful public 
 sentiment. This is needed as a safeguard against the 
 abuse of all discretionary and irresponsible power; and 
 too much cannot be said and done to keep such a sen 
 timent always alive and in vigorous exercise. 
 
 But we dismiss this point with these brief remarks, 
 not because it is unimportant or irrelevant to our gen 
 eral subject, but because, not being a matter of legis 
 lation, it is, strictly speaking, aside from our proper 
 office. 
 
198 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 XI. IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a case of crime in which 
 imprisonment for life would be an expedient or appro 
 priate punishment. This judgment may seem strange 
 or paradoxical ; but we believe that the grounds upon 
 which it is founded are entirely tenable. 
 
 Imprisonment for life as a constant substitute for 
 capital punishment is scarcely defensible, for if rigor 
 ously carried out it involves unnecessary lingering 
 cruelty, and at the same time has not the deterring 
 power which belongs to the dread penalty of death. 
 It is really killing by degrees, while it seems not to 
 kill at all, and so far as the punishment is to operate 
 upon others, the seeming is of more consequence than 
 the reality. It is a protracted execution, yet so pro 
 tracted that the terrible impression, for want of con 
 centration, is dissipated. On the other hand, if not 
 rigorously carried out always rigorously carried out, 
 it is plainly, as regards its exemplary influence, a still 
 more perfect failure; and it will not be rigorously car 
 ried out unless death, before the lapse of many years, 
 should intervene to cut short its duration.* One gene 
 ration will not consent to be the executioners or jailors 
 for another. The convict whose crimes have faded 
 from recollection will be pardoned and released. 
 
 Such imprisonment, as an occasional substitute for 
 capital punishment, is still more awkward; for if capital 
 punishment should ever be inflicted, its infliction is ap 
 parently required in those cases of crime in which it 
 
 * We believe that the average term of imprisonment for " life sentences " is 
 about ten years. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 199 
 
 is judged absolutely unsafe for the guilty man ever 
 again to live at large in human society. 
 
 Looking at the subject, in the next place, in relation, 
 not to the direct external effect, but to its bearing upon 
 the convict himself, and upon the good of society as 
 indirectly involved in his good, imprisonment for life 
 must be condemned on other grounds. 
 
 It is utterly and manifestly inconsistent with the idea 
 of reformation as the object of penal detention. It 
 cuts off at once all hope, all stimulus to effort, all mo 
 tive for self-denial or self-control. 
 
 If the hopes of a future life are suggested, how 
 weak must be their influence ; how dim and distant 
 their view, unsupported by nearer and lower motives, 
 under circumstances of aggravated temptation, and 
 especially with a sense that there is time enough yet, 
 and more than enough; that time, indeed, is the great 
 est burden, and that the principal object is to find out 
 how to kill it as fast and effectually as possible ; and 
 how inconsistent to urge a man, in the name of the 
 state, to be good, and at the same time to tell him that, 
 even if he should become a saint, you will still treat 
 him as a scoundrel as long as he lives. 
 
 If the hope of a discharge at last, through executive 
 clemency, is suggested, this removes the idea of 
 reformation still farther from the prisoner s mind, and, 
 besides, annuls the very fact of imprisonment for life, 
 and, of course, all the influence that the anticipation of 
 such a fact could have upon the prisoner s mind, or 
 upon the minds of others. 
 
 If, finally, the hope is suggested of a discharge in 
 case of manifest reformation, this, to have its full effect, 
 
200 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 or to be at all reasonable, must not be uncertain or 
 capricious a mere may be but must be on system 
 and by fixed rules ; and if so, then it is manifest that 
 the imprisonment has ceased, even in theory, to be for 
 life ; it is placed upon a new principle ; it is simply 
 imprisonment terminable upon reformation, and upon 
 reformation only. As such, we have not a word to 
 say against it. It is precisely the kind of imprison 
 ment whose systematic adoption we have ventured to 
 suggest as the best of all remedies for crime. 
 
 XII. COUNTY JAILS AND MUNICIPAL PRISONS AND STATION- 
 HOUSES. 
 
 We here touch upon one of the most important, be 
 cause among us the most neglected, departments of 
 prison economy. Our State prisons or penitentiaries, 
 and a few of the principal county prisons, which, from 
 their connection with large cities, belong, in a manner, 
 to the same class, have attracted and absorbed almost 
 the whole attention of those who have interested them 
 selves in the improvement of prison discipline. Upon 
 what has been done in these have been exclusively 
 based our too-confident boasts and over-weening self- 
 satisfaction in view of the supposed vast progress by 
 which we have flattered ourselves with having out 
 stripped the rest of the world. In them some progress 
 has unquestionably been made. They have been bet 
 ter constructed. Their management has been raised 
 
 o 
 
 to a much higher standard. Their wardens and keep 
 ers are generally most respectable, zealous, and intelli 
 gent men. They are visited, watched over, and 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 2O1 
 
 managed by faithful and judicious inspectors. They 
 are kept before the eye of the public, which takes in 
 them a lively interest. Much earnest effort is made 
 though not always successfully to preserve them from 
 confusion, over-crowding, negligence, and abuse. In 
 short, the system which they have adopted, such as it is, 
 is worked with most commendable fidelity and large 
 efficiency. 
 
 When we turn from these and look at the average 
 of county jails and city lock-ups, the scene changes. 
 Here the grossest abuses keep uninterrupted carnival. 
 Bad construction, bad ventilation, bad management, 
 reckless treatment, indiscriminate mingling of prison 
 ers, with no separation at all, except that of the sexes, 
 and not always even that, intolerable crowding of 
 cells, no kindly sympathy, no moral or religious in 
 struction or influence, disregard of health and cleanli 
 ness, no provision or opportunity for labor, in plain 
 violation of the statute, the practice of all sorts of 
 petty tyranny, these are their characteristics ; and the 
 people love to have them so, or pass by them on the 
 other side, or look upon them as places too low, rough, 
 and foul to be approached or meddled with. Few 
 besides the sheriff, the policeman, or the alderman 
 and the inmates know anything about their interior 
 condition or history ; and the officers, even though 
 endowed with much natural goodness of heart, grow so 
 thoroughly accustomed to the abuses and abominations 
 that reign around them, that they become hardened to 
 the scene, and lose all idea of the possibility or desir 
 ableness of reform. And as for the keepers, they 
 must often be not much superior, either in intellectual 
 
202 PR 1 SON ECONOMY. 
 
 or moral character or culture to those who are placed 
 under their care. Many of these city establishments, 
 if inspected at an early morning hour, would suffer in 
 comparison with the prisons of Turkey or Persia or 
 Hindostan. Yet through them, as a kind of heart, 
 the criminal, the vagrant, the drunken and quarrelsome 
 part of the population, is continually circulating fester 
 ing and fermenting together. In comparison with the 
 number of persons who are annually locked up in these 
 establishments, and detained for a longer or shorter 
 period, the number of those sentenced to the State 
 penitentiaries is as nothing. It is true some of the 
 county jails are not so crowded as the city prisons and 
 lock-ups ; and in general, the same abuses and evils 
 do not exist to the same extent in all these institutions 
 alike ; but they exist to an alarming extent, and more 
 or less, almost everywhere. 
 
 What is absolutely required in all these places of 
 detention is : 
 
 1. Such an enlargement of the accommodations 
 at whatever cost as may furnish for every inmate a 
 separate, well-aired, cleanly, and healthy lodging for 
 the night, and proper distribution for companionship 
 by day (if companionship is allowed), with wholesome 
 and well-served food; and, 
 
 2. Such a provision of keepers, of high, respectable, 
 and responsible character, as will insure the humane 
 and judicious treatment of the prisoners. 
 
 But, in connection with these jails and ward-houses, 
 the greatest evil and most crying injustice of all re- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 203 
 
 mains to be considered. It relates to the detention of 
 witnesses, of vagrants, and of persons charged with 
 crime. 
 
 Not only are persons charged with crimes of all 
 kinds and degrees, in company with idlers, drunkards, 
 vagabonds, and rioters, all crowded and mingled to 
 gether, for a night, and sometimes longer, in these 
 municipal Bridewells ; but, in the jails, all these are 
 thus huddled in, sometimes for many months, with per 
 sons detained as witnesses added to the company ; and 
 all, in many cases, left in perfect idleness, or busy only 
 in deepening their own depravity or imbibing that of 
 others ; the old adepts maturing their plans of crime, 
 and inoculating all around them with their pestilent 
 corruption. If all these were convicted felons to 
 gether, it would not only be most unwise and impolitic, 
 but most inhuman and abominable, to subject them to 
 such a regimen ; but who can express the enormity of its 
 injustice, as well as its folly, when it is added that to it 
 are subjected persons acknowledged to be perfectly in 
 nocent, who are detained by the highest stretch of the 
 civil authority, merely in order to secure their testimony, 
 which is presumed important to the ends of public jus 
 tice ; and persons charged with crime, indeed, but 
 either charged upon suspicion, which may prove most 
 foul and unfounded, or committed upon ex parte testi 
 mony, which may prove prejudiced or malicious ! The 
 witnesses, we say, are confessedly innocent, it may be 
 virtuous men, whose only fault is that they are poor 
 and friendless, and therefore cannot furnish a satisfac 
 tory guarantee for their appearance at the required 
 time. The state may have a right to detain them 
 
204 PRISON ECONOMY, 
 
 she may have a right temporarily to deprive them of 
 their liberty, as she has a right to take private property 
 for the public good ; but what right has she to thrust 
 them in to herd with vagrants, thieves, pickpockets, 
 and murderers, as their associates day and night ? If it 
 be thought that as virtuous men they will be in no 
 great danger of being harmed, but may do some good 
 in such society, it must be remembered that some of 
 them may be young and inexperienced, or intellectually 
 or morally weak ; in any event, that an honest man or 
 woman must look upon the imposition of such society 
 as a gross and horrible infliction ; and that to compel 
 men to be missionaries has never been recognized as 
 one of the rights of the state. 
 
 As to persons committed or detained under a charge 
 of crime, the phrase of the law is that all such persons 
 are " presumed innocent until they are proved guilty." 
 Is this phrase a mere magniloquent sham, mere sound, 
 meaning nothing, keeping the promise to the ear but 
 false to the hope ? When persons are thus incarce 
 rated, which are they treated most like, the innocent or 
 the guilty ? It is true this maxim of the law could 
 never be reasonably supposed to be taken in that ab 
 solute and sweeping sense in which it is perhaps popu 
 larly understood, and is often urged by over-zealous 
 attorneys and advocates. It cannot be meant that, in 
 the case of a person charged with crime, it is to be 
 presumed, until his guilt is proved, that his innocence 
 is proved and established ; for, if that were so, he 
 ought at once to be acquitted and discharged. His 
 case is a case of doubt. Strictly speaking he is to be 
 treated neither as innocent nor as guilty, but, accord- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 205 
 
 ing to the true state of the case, and just as what he is 
 a person charged with crime. And the legal maxim 
 referred to, if it means anything, must mean as much 
 as this, that a man charged with crime presumably 
 may be innocent, that such a man is not to be treated 
 as guilty until he is proved so, and that the burden of 
 proof is on the side of the prosecution. Such a man 
 the state has a clear right temporarily to restrain 
 of his liberty, to detain before trial, a r ; long as neces 
 sary, and no longer. But the state can have no right 
 to add to that detention one particle of hardship or 
 discomfort, of exposure or privation, of contempt or 
 ignominy, beyond what is reasonably required to se 
 cure his person and prevent his escape. In all other 
 respects he has a right to be treated with all possible 
 consideration, respect, and kindness. 
 
 It must be observed, and the state must be pre 
 sumed to know it, from past experience, that a certain 
 percentage of persons thus detained are bad and cor 
 rupt men, guilty of crimes of greater or less enormity, 
 and most dangerous, as well as most repulsive, com 
 panions for the far greater percentage, who, it is 
 equally known, will prove to have been innocent, or 
 nearly so. A proper concern for her own protection 
 and welfare, as well as a just regard for the feelings, 
 the rights, and the moral safety of the latter parties, 
 should forbid the state to thrust all these into one in 
 discriminate company, before ascertaining which are 
 the bad and which the good. She knows that both 
 bad and good are there, and that, by companionship, the 
 bad will make themselves and others worse ; yet she 
 leaves the business to take its course. And what, in 
 
206 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 connection with the city of Philadelphia, adds unspeak 
 able outrage to unspeakable folly, is the temptation 
 which, by law, is thrown in the way of police magis 
 trates, and to which they are notoriously and con 
 stantly yielding, to commit large numbers of persons 
 to prison on the most trivial charges, for the mere 
 purpose of blackmailing them unless the explanation 
 is that they make a wholesale business of compounding 
 felonies and thus swelling the fees, and perhaps other 
 perquisites, of the committing and discharging magis 
 trate ; yes, " the magistrate," we are obliged to say ; 
 but, in such a case, which is the magistrate and which 
 the thief? 
 
 The inspectors of the Philadelphia County Prison, in 
 their last annual report, have again urged this subject 
 most earnestly upon the attention of the legislature. 
 This is their statement: " Of the prisoners committed 
 for trial during the past year (nine thousand eight 
 hundred and twenty- three), six thousand six hundred 
 and ninety-seven were discharged by the committing 
 magistrates, and in the cases of four hundred and fif 
 teen the bills of indictment were ignored by the grand 
 jury. These figures show a larger than usual propor 
 tion of persons discharged without being brought to 
 trial (nearly three-fourths of the whole number com 
 mitted), who, as a general rule, settled their cases, as it 
 is termed, with the committing magistrates. It is 
 obvious that so long as the income of these officers 
 depends directly upon the fees accruing from cases 
 brought before them, commitments for trivial or un 
 necessary cases will be multiplied." 
 
 The board again desires to express its opinion of the 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 207 
 
 necessity of a reform in the police magistracy of Phila 
 delphia, and in view of the proposed convention to 
 reform the State Constitution, it would invoke the aid 
 of all good citizens to secure the necessary change 
 in our organic law for this purpose. As has been often 
 urged in these annual reports, we would here again 
 submit, that the great and foremost evil in the criminal 
 department of Philadelphia is the system of police mag 
 istracy ; and no reform is so much needed as a change 
 at least in the mode of compensation of our committing 
 magistrates. So long as their receipts are directly 
 dependent upon and swollen by what must be stated 
 to be simply a traffic in the manipulation of petty crime, 
 it is idle to anticipate radical improvement in the treat 
 ment of this class of prisoners. It is difficult to believe 
 that such a system of magistracy can be tolerated in a 
 city like Philadelphia, and that her citizens can sit 
 quietly under so great a reproach. If our police 
 magistrates were removed from the sphere of politics, 
 by a change in the mode of selection ; if they held their 
 offices by a good-behavior tenure ; were required to 
 be learned in the law, and were compensated by ade 
 quate fixed salaries, in place of fees, a reform would 
 be accomplished the effects of which upon social im 
 provement can scarcely be estimated.* 
 
 Here, then, is one per cent, of all the population of 
 Philadelphia subjected annually to this scandalous pro 
 cess, this organized system of arbitrary oppression and 
 plunder. How we should pity the darkness and deg 
 radation of Turkish or Egyptian society, if such a 
 
 *See report for 1871, pages 17 and 1 8. The Constitutional Convention made 
 the change suggested. (1877.) 
 
208 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 shameful system of abomination, under color of the 
 administration of justice, were allowed to be prac 
 ticed among them from year to year. Yet such is the 
 system of police magistracy in the city of Philadelphia. 
 There is a very common feeling, it is true, that these 
 persons, though not actually convicted of crime, are 
 yet in all probability guilty of it ; or, if not guilty of 
 the precise crime alleged, are guilty of some other 
 at all events, are bad men, keeping bad company, sus 
 picious and dangerous characters that, therefore, -they 
 deserve little consideration in their treatment, and that 
 no great mistake can be committed in consigning them 
 at once and together to a common prison. This feeling 
 ignores the fact, just brought to view, that by far the 
 larger part nearly three-fourths of those who are 
 committed to prison charged with some violation of law, 
 are actually released without trial; while of those who 
 are brought to trial more than three-fifths are acquitted. 
 Now, whatever deductions may be reasonably made 
 from the magnificent largeness of the legal maxim above 
 referred to, that "a man is to be presumed innocent 
 until he is proved guilty;" and whatever may be the 
 loose estimates in the private judgment of individuals, 
 or in the popular mind, in regard to probable moral 
 turpitude in any cases, the state is bound, and it is the 
 state that is here the responsible agent, for it is she 
 that arranges prisons and detains prisoners, the state 
 is bound, to presume those to have been innocent 
 whose guilt she has failed or not even attempted to 
 prove, or who, upon solemn trial, have been acquitted. 
 Indeed it would seem not unreasonable for the state, 
 which holds herself bound to pay for the private prop- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 209 
 
 erty which she takes for the public good, to make to 
 such parties some amends, if possible and still more 
 in the case of detained witnesses for the mere deten 
 tion which they have suffered, even though that 
 detention had been attended with no unnecessary 
 aggravations. If such aggravations, and that to a 
 most outrageous extent, have been needlessly added, 
 how ought the state to be visited with compunctions, 
 as well as with a desire to make all possible repara 
 tion, yet no reparation is ever made. 
 
 It is true that the large and increasing class of sus 
 picious characters, of idle, desperate, and dangerous 
 men that congregate especially in large cities, and 
 prowl about the streets by day as well as by night, may 
 need to be dealt with in some specia! and more effective 
 way than has yet been invented. It is indeed very 
 difficult to contrive any such way of dealing with them 
 consistently with the principles of our common law and 
 our free institutions. But, whatever method is adopted, 
 it should not be by indirection or caprice, it should be 
 straightforward, square, open, regulated. If these men 
 are to be punished, they should be punished as being 
 just what they are, and should not be mixed up indis 
 criminately with men fully indicted for definite crime, 
 on the one hand, and, on the other, with men charged 
 with no crime or suspicion. 
 
 We venture the following general suggestions : 
 
 i. All persons sentenced to jail to be imprisoned at 
 hard labor, should either be kept in strict solitary con 
 finement, or, when they desire it, being properly classi 
 fied, should have the means of employing themselves 
 
210 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 daily in productive labor. Their being allowed to herd 
 together in idleness is one of the gross abuses of some 
 of our county jails. 
 
 2. Persons committed as idlers and vagrants should 
 be treated in the same manner, only in entire separa 
 tion both from convicts and from all other classes of 
 
 prisoners. 
 
 % 
 
 3. Persons detained as witnesses should also have 
 entirely separate quarters from all others, whether 
 convicts, vagrants, or suspected persons. They should 
 have the means of perfect privacy or of mutual associa 
 tion at pleasure ; also, the means of reading and 
 writing and of such employment at labor as they may 
 choose. With these might be joined another class, 
 which fortunately is likely to be but small, viz., persons 
 committed for contempt. Such persons may be highly 
 respectable men, guilty only of some impropriety of 
 conduct or bearing or of declining to perform some 
 legal mandate, and that sometimes from high though 
 mistaken motives of duty; and it is most unreasonable 
 that they should be thrust into prison among felons 
 and vagabonds. The restraint of their liberty and 
 that for an unlimited time, for, curiously enough, this 
 is the only class of persons whose period of imprison 
 ment is, under present law and usage, terminable only 
 upon reformation, such restraint is leverage enough 
 wherewith to act upon their wills, without forcing upon 
 them the grievous alternative of submission or of 
 "rotting" in such a jail. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 211 
 
 4. Persons committed under charge of crime should 
 also have their separate quarters and should be treated, 
 in general, as the last-mentioned classes of prisoners ; 
 but with some important modifications, such as, that 
 those charged with graver crimes should be secured 
 with the greater caution, and that they all should be 
 more or less rigorously confined to their separate cells 
 or classified for mutual association, if they so prefer, 
 according to their conduct, known history, and ascer 
 tained characters. 
 
 5. We most heartily and earnestly endorse the 
 recommendation of the inspectors of the Philadelphia 
 County Prison, above cited, in reference to the reform 
 of the police magistracy of that city. 
 
 Now we are aware that all this may be met and 
 smothered in the cold blanket of a calculating economy. 
 
 It may be avoided by running away. It may be 
 buried and forgotten under arithmetical estimates. 
 The cost, the huge outlay, the enormous expense of 
 making such immense and sumptuous provision for 
 the entertainment of prisoners ! We answer that here 
 we will not enter into any petty calculation of dollars 
 and cents. If this thing ought to be done, if it is due 
 to the classes of men whom the state thus takes into 
 her custody, then is the state bound to do it at what 
 ever cost. The state cannot afford to practice inhu 
 manity. The state cannot afford to commit injustice, 
 still less can she afford to commit it systematically and 
 on an enormous scale, deliberately and from year to 
 year, and talk of saving a few paltry dollars. 
 
2 1 2 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 The truth is, and we repeat it, this mixing together 
 in the society of one common prison, and often crowd 
 ing into the same cells, by night as well as by day, all 
 these various classes of persons in custody thrusting 
 them, like so many swine, into one pen is nothing less 
 than a burning disgrace to the police and jurisprudence 
 of a civilized state. It is an outrageous injustice, an un 
 speakable abomination. It is simply astounding that 
 it should have been allowed to continue, without a 
 thorough remedy, to the present day. 
 
 But this is not all. Such a state of our prisons is 
 not only an injustice to the individual, it is a great 
 public evil ; it is one of the most fruitful sources of 
 crime, furnishing the most admirable contrivances for 
 inviting and facilitating its propagation. Thus the 
 wrong reacts upon the wrong-doer ; and the penu 
 rious system of injustice costs more than the generous 
 remedy. It turns out here, as it always will, that the 
 course of humanity and right is the cheapest in the end. 
 
 So far as the " generous remedy " has been tried, it 
 has proved abundantly successful. Say the inspectors 
 of the Philadelphia prison : " The decrease in the 
 number of the commitments of females is much greater 
 than in that of males, and is so large during the four 
 years that have elapsed since the extension of the 
 female department, that it may be fairly attributed to 
 the increased accommodation for female prisoners, that 
 was secured by the transfer of the old debtors apart 
 ment to the female department. The separation of 
 female prisoners, which was thus accomplished, with 
 the greater facilities for the enforcement of prison dis 
 cipline, has resulted in a marked diminution of vagrancy 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 213 
 
 and crime in the female population of our city. The 
 expenditure originally involved in the extension of the 
 female department has proved a true economy, and 
 the results attained support the arguments which have 
 been so repeatedly urged in favor of an extension of 
 the more important and over-crowded male depart 
 ment of the prison." They add : 
 
 "The board would here repeat the views expressed 
 in previous reports, upon the subject of an extension 
 of the prison, and again call the attention of the legis 
 lature to the incapacity of the prison for the proper 
 confinement and employment of its large male popu 
 lation. In every aspect, sanitary, moral, and economi 
 cal, the injurious effects of its over-crowded condition 
 are manifest. The results of improved accommodation 
 in the female department, previously cited, have shown 
 that the great growth of crime and vagrancy is directly 
 stimulated by the undue congregation of prisoners. 
 It can scarcely be doubted that the collection of a 
 number of prisoners in a single cell soon reduces all 
 to the moral level of the worst prisoner; and the un 
 ceasing intercourse which results from the original 
 construction of the prison, with a view to the separate 
 system, fosters the moral contagion more actively than 
 in prisons not designed for this system. * 
 The board feels that this subject can be no longer 
 overlooked, and that either the extension of the convict 
 blocks, or the construction of a new prison, has become 
 a necessity." 
 
 Hitherto convicted felons have been the heroes of 
 our prison economy. They have been treated with 
 great respect. They have been a sort of little standing 
 
214 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 army. Their discipline has absorbed the almost ex 
 clusive attention of all parties, while the organizing 
 and training of the militia has been neglected. We 
 need now to turn our attention emphatically to the 
 municipal bridewells and all the over-crowded houses 
 of primary detention ; to the police arrangements which 
 precede the processes of trial and conviction, or which, 
 perhaps, through gross abuse and mismanagement, 
 not only never lead, but are never even intended to 
 lead to such a conclusion. 
 
 XIII. SUMMARY. 
 
 The board begs now to resume and recapitulate the 
 principal points which they have endeavored to make, 
 in relation to the whole subject of crime and prison 
 economy, including, with those which have passed 
 under discussion, some which have been merely al 
 luded to as preliminary, and presenting all in one 
 connected view. 
 
 i. For dealing with crime preventive rather than 
 remedial measures to be chiefly relied upon among 
 these : 
 
 (a.) A thorough system of universal education. 
 
 (6.) Special and effective measures for the care of 
 truant, vagrant, neglected, and over-tasked children. 
 
 (c.) Reformatory schools and houses of correction to 
 be provided to a much larger extent for the various 
 grades of juvenile offenders. 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. 2 1 5 
 
 (d.) Due provision for the proper care of all the 
 poor and helpless. 
 
 (e.) Effective laws for the suppression of intemper 
 ance, which is one of the most prolific sources of crime. 
 
 (f.) Due provision for the restraint and employment 
 of all idle vagrants. 
 
 (g.) Due provision in the county and municipal 
 prisons for the separate and proper treatment of 
 vagrants, detained witnesses, and persons charged with 
 crime, as well as convicts. 
 
 2. The remedial system, or prison economy proper. 
 This should be based upon the fundamental principle 
 of reformation through punishment, and not of punish 
 ment only as its proper end. It should contain, 
 among others, the following features : 
 
 (a.) Sufficient provision for the separate confinement 
 of each convict. 
 
 (b.) After a longer or shorter period of separate con 
 finement, and the performance of certain prescribed 
 tasks, provision made for the employment of the con 
 victs in voluntary, productive labor, as a means of 
 moral improvement, as a preparation for their future 
 self-support, and as necessary for their present health 
 of body and mind. 
 
 (c.) Unless solitary labor should be preferred, this 
 labor to be performed in small companies or families, 
 
21 6 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 properly selected, the members having free intercourse 
 together, and ultimately being mutually responsible for 
 one another s conduct. 
 
 (d.) The proceeds of the labor to be appropriated : 
 First, to defray the current expenses of the convict 
 and indemnify the state ; secondly, to contribute to the 
 support of the convict s family if necessary ; thirdly, to 
 the convict himself, to go partly to form a reserve fund 
 against the time of his release, and partly as he may 
 choose, for procuring present alleviations and comforts. 
 
 (e.) Instruction should be given to all the convicts, 
 as they may need : First, in some trade or handicraft; 
 secondly, in the elements of learning and knowledge ; 
 and, thirdly, in the principles and practice of morality 
 and religion. 
 
 (f.) Considerate and humane treatment to be em 
 phatically insisted on, using, as far as possible, moral 
 influence instead of physical force, and endeavoring, 
 above all things, to develop the self-respect and man 
 hood of the prisoners, and their better and kindlier 
 natures. 
 
 (g.) A careful classification of the prisoners to be 
 constantly kept up, and from time to time corrected ; 
 not based upon any external or arbitrary considera 
 tions, but upon character and conduct. 
 
 (//.) Provision to be made for securing a corps of 
 judicious, trained, and, eventually, experienced keep 
 ers, for rendering their profession honorable and re- 
 
PRISON E CONOMY. 2 I 7 
 
 spectable; and, to this end, a special school for their 
 training to be established. 
 
 (z.) A commutation of meritorious conduct and prob 
 able reformation for mere lapse of time, as the ground 
 of final discharge. That is to say, convicts may earn 
 their releas e by such evidence of meritorious conduct 
 and habits as will imply their probable permanent re 
 formation. 
 
 (/.) That there shall be, in the case of each convict, 
 a certain time-sentence, graduated according to his of 
 fense, but, in each case, for a much longer period than 
 at present, so as to leave full opportunity for the effect 
 of the commutation and the working out of the reform 
 atory process; premising that the ideal perfection of 
 the plan, which makes the discharge of every prisoner 
 absolutely dependent upon his reformation, would re 
 quire too great a revolution in legal and popular ideas 
 to be as yet expected or asked for. 
 
 (/.) Some definite and detailed record or system of 
 marks to be kept, which, under fixed rules, may be a 
 guide for classification and rewards, as well as for the 
 final judgment ; having a debit as well as a credit side, 
 and -providing for loss of standing and class, or even 
 for a remanding to the cell, in case of misconduct. 
 
 (/.) Intermediate prisons or houses of discharge to 
 be provided, where the prisoners still remaining un 
 discharged from their sentence may be finally tested, 
 by being trusted with a great degree of liberty, and 
 left in large measure to control themselves, under most 
 
2l8 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 of the ordinary temptations of social life, yet liable, for 
 unfaithfulness, for misconduct, or attempted escape, to 
 be degraded and sent back to begin their work over 
 again. 
 
 (m.) Refuges to be provided for released prisoners, 
 to facilitate their re-introduction to the bosom of society, 
 and where they can have, at their own expense, lodging 
 and maintenance and means of employment, until they 
 can procure employment elsewhere. 
 
 Such are the outlines of a general plan of criminal 
 police and prison economy. It is by no means pre 
 sumed that every point is unquestionably established, 
 still less that the plan is complete for working pur 
 poses. No name is given to it of any system, whether 
 old or new. It is not denominated the separate or the 
 congregate or the mixed system, the English, the Irish, 
 the Belgian, the Massachusetts, or the Pennsylvania 
 system. It must stand, not upon the prejudices or the 
 associations, whether favorable or unfavorable, con 
 nected with a name, but upon its own intrinsic merits, 
 in detail as well as in gross. In view of these, then, it 
 is respectfully submitted for dispassionate considera 
 tion. If it shall have the effect to awaken such an 
 interest in the subject and its discussion as shall lead 
 to systematic practical action, this board will be more 
 than rewarded, more than satisfied. 
 
 What is especially needed in this matter is a well- 
 considered, complete, and consistent system. Our 
 whole scheme must be remodeled to meet the de 
 mands of the times, the state of our modern civili- 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 219 
 
 zation, and the progressive ideas of free, popular 
 government. Partial expedients and reforms lead 
 only to eventual disappointment and discouragement. 
 They are only a piece of new cloth patched upon an 
 old garment, wasting the good and making the whole 
 worse. 
 
 Such a complete system would, of course, require 
 unity of control. 
 
 All the prisons and houses of detention in the Com 
 monwealth, whether State, county, or municipal, should 
 be placed under the supervision and direction of one 
 head, or of one board of management, representing the 
 authority of the State. In respect to all matters of 
 prison construction and prison discipline, the county 
 and municipal authorities should be required to act 
 under the direction of this central and supreme au 
 thority. 
 
 That something must speedily be done in the path 
 of reform seems to be beyond question. To judge of 
 any mode of prison discipline, four tests have been 
 proposed : 
 
 1. Does it secure the custody of the convict? 
 
 2. Does it pay its own expenses ? 
 
 3. Does it check and diminish crime ? 
 
 4. Does it reform the criminal ? 
 
 Of these tests the first is of prime importance as a 
 necessary condition of all the others. If prisons are 
 not secure they are useless for any purpose. The 
 
220 PJtlSON ECONOMY. 
 
 second test is of some incidental importance, but of 
 no essential consequence. The third and fourth bring 
 out the great objects of imprisonment. The fourth is 
 of the highest importance, practically as well as mor 
 ally, for on it the third also is largely dependent. 
 Now our prisons, with a few exceptions, are places of 
 secure custody, and so far our present system suc 
 ceeds. But in view of the other three tests, and par 
 ticularly of the last, we fear it must be pronounced a 
 failure ; and if so, where is the fault, and how can it be 
 remedied? These are the questions to be earnestly 
 pondered. We have endeavored, though in a very 
 fragmentary and imperfect way, to show how they 
 should be answered ; and while our suggestions have 
 been, for the most part, the result of our independent 
 observation and reflection, and must stand upon their 
 own merits, and no man s authority, it may yet be of 
 interest to add that, according to the report of our 
 highly respected fellow-citizen, Joseph R. Chandler, 
 Esq., the International Prison Congress lately assem 
 bled in London reached the following propositions or 
 general results, as stated in the concluding report of 
 their executive committee : 
 
 " First. Recognizing, as a fundamental fact, that the 
 protection of society is the object for which penal codes 
 exist, the committee believe that this protection is not 
 only consistent with, but absolutely demands, the enun 
 ciation of the principle, that the moral regeneration of 
 the prisoner should be the primary aim of prison dis 
 cipline. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 221 
 
 " Second. A progressive classification of prisoners 
 should be adopted in all prisons. 
 
 " Third. In the treatment of prisoners all disciplin 
 ary punishments that inflict unnecessary pain or hu 
 miliation should be abolished. 
 
 "Fourth. To impel a prisoner to self-exertion should 
 be the aim of systems of prison discipline, which can 
 never be effective unless they succeed in gaining the 
 will of the convict. 
 
 " Fifth. Work, education, and religion are the three 
 great forces on which prison administrators should 
 rely." 
 
 The board conclude this branch of their report with 
 earnestly and formally recommending to the legislature 
 the prompt appointment of a commission of prudent and 
 cautious men, learned in the law, fully abreast with the 
 times, and imbued with the spirit of progress, as well 
 as of conservation, who shall not only make thorough 
 inquiry into the principles and practice of penal juris 
 prudence and prison economy, but shall be empowered 
 and directed to revise all the existing statutes on these 
 
 o 
 
 subjects, and to mature and present for adoption by 
 the legislature a scheme of legislation based upon the 
 principle of the prevention of crime, and the reforma 
 tion of criminals, as its fundamental ends. 
 
 The board recommends the appointment of a spe 
 cial commission, not for merely making a report to be 
 read and printed and forgotten ; not for mere curious 
 
222 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 inquiry or idle investigation ; but for immediate prac 
 tical action. 
 
 Let Pennsylvania once more take the lead of the 
 civilized world in this great and pressing reform. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 By order of the board. 
 
 GEO. L. HARRISON, 
 
 President. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 To show how far the views above set forth have 
 approved themselves upon further investigation and 
 experience, and to bring the state of the question down 
 to the present time, the following brief statements are 
 added : 
 
 In Ireland, the progressive system of imprisonment 
 is still prospering. Denmark has adopted it in its 
 entirety. Sweden and Norway are pressing towards 
 the same goal. Switzerland is following fast. In 
 several of the cantons the whole system has been 
 adopted, with the exception of the intermediate prison. 
 Neufchatel is upon the point of introducing it com 
 plete intermediate prison, provisional or preparatory 
 liberation, and all. In Italy, similar arrangements have 
 been inaugurated. Progress in this direction has been 
 made in England, especially in respect to the patron 
 age of discharged prisoners. In Belgium and Hol 
 land, the cellular (separate) system still maintains its 
 ground ; though in Holland the progressive principle 
 has found numerous adherents. In Germany and 
 
. PRISON E CON O MY. 223 
 
 Austria, the subject of prison economy and reform is 
 undergoing a general investigation and discussion. 
 The result cannot be doubtful. Great reforms have 
 been made and are in progress in France and Russia. 
 Several of the States of our own Union, and particu 
 larly New York, have been making great progress in 
 the same direction. Pennsylvania, it must be acknowl 
 edged, has done little as yet to maintain or recover 
 her ancient prestige. 
 
 At the meeting of the International Penitentiary 
 Commission at Bruchsal (Baden), three questions were 
 distinctly raised : (i) Can criminals be reformed? If 
 so, (2) on what principles should reformatory treat 
 ment be based ? (3) By what agencies or methods 
 should such a system be worked ? And they were 
 distinctly answered in favor of the progressive system, 
 as outlined in the foregoing report of 1872. 
 
 M. Guillaume, commissioned to prepare a draft for 
 a penal system in several cantons of Switzerland ; M. 
 De Fleury, commissioned for a like purpose in Brazil ; 
 Messrs. Michaux and Marsangy, members of the great 
 French parliamentary commission on penitentiary re 
 form, all, without consultation or concert, have, in 
 elaborate reports, reached substantially the same con 
 clusion. 
 
 1 . Proper care and training of the young is premised 
 in forefront of all measures for the prevention of crime. 
 
 2. Cellular separation is recommended for short 
 terms of imprisonment, as a preliminary detention for 
 long terms, and as an occasional corrective. 
 
224 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 3. They all earnestly support, for long-term prison 
 ers, a system of progressive classification, with labor 
 and instruction, in which the fate of the criminal is 
 largely placed in his own hands, and which is gradually 
 relaxed and softened as he earns increased indulgence 
 and privilege ; until, 
 
 4. Through the intermediate prison, with little more 
 than moral detention, he passes into 
 
 5. Conditional liberation, with kindly supervision ; 
 and thus, finally, to his complete discharge, a reformed 
 and useful and happy man, " redeemed, regenerated, 
 disenthralled." 
 
 The International Prison Congress in New York, in 
 1876, besides a general approval of these same princi 
 ples in regard to the management of prisons and 
 treatment of prisoners, very strongly and distinctly 
 endorsed the views of this report, in the matter (i) of 
 the imprisonment of witnesses, (2) of county jails, (3) 
 of the treatment of discharged prisoners, and (4) of 
 reformatory institutions, especially for juveniles. 
 
 PRISON REFORM. 
 
 In presenting again to your honorable bodies the 
 subject of prison reform, the board ask for your 
 thoughtful consideration of a question the most mo 
 mentous and grave which can be laid before you. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 225 
 
 Temporary matters of law or polity submitted for 
 your decision, are in comparison but of local and 
 superficial importance, but the problem of the lessen 
 ing of the mass of crime and vice and ignorance in 
 our penitentiaries and prisons and reformatory schools, 
 the alleviation of the cankering sore, never to be 
 cured in the body politic, is one which touches not 
 only the moneyed interest, but the civilization, the 
 vitality, and the religion of the state. 
 
 We have grown apathetic to the existence of the 
 criminal classes. Nothing so dulls the moral sense 
 as custom, and we have seen the barred windows of 
 the county jail, or the massive walls of the peniten 
 tiary since childhood ; have learned to look upon the 
 miserable wretches behind their bolts and gratings as 
 human beings, perhaps, but as alien to ourselves, as 
 creatures of another race and age. 
 
 These strongholds of misery, and the thieves and 
 murderers who tenant them, have come to appear to 
 us as commonplace, though inexorable a fact, as the 
 ground on which the prisons are built. It is difficult 
 for the best man actually to realize that he personally 
 has a duty to fulfill to them. The thief, the murderer, 
 the degraded woman, are here ; but why they are here, 
 by what strange mischance they missed their place in 
 nature s wise economy in this life, or where they are to 
 go when this life is over, are questions with which 
 society has hitherto troubled itself too little. The or 
 dinary citizen has no uneasy doubts that part of the 
 guilt of their existence rests on himself, and shows no 
 anxiety for their sake or his own, that they should be 
 brought, if possible, to the same level of decency, 
 
226 PXISON ECONOMY. 
 
 honest living, and chance of elevation. If one of these 
 wretches jars against his own orderly life, he promptly 
 locks him in jail or penitentiary, or hangs him, and 
 then washing his hands in self-righteousness, declares 
 himself, like Pilate, "free from the blood of this man." 
 
 After a year, or term of years in prison (during 
 which the orderly citizen is taxed for his support), the 
 convict is released, to become, through crime or pauper 
 ism, a yet heavier burden upon the tax-payer, and 
 hardened and embittered by punishment, to spread 
 more widely his virulent moral poison. 
 
 Here, in plain words, is the ordinary history of the 
 treatment of crime ; and there is assuredly no function 
 of government in which society has proved itself so 
 willfully blind to its own interests, putting aside all 
 question of humanity. When a fatal epidemic is abroad, 
 doing its deadly work upon our bodies, all the skill and 
 foresight and care which we can command are brought 
 forward to foil or banish it. Municipalities and indi 
 viduals alike bestir themselves with eager zeal to 
 purify the air, to remove every trace of stagnant water, 
 carrion, or other foul deposit which may breed disease ; 
 the medical science of the growth of centuries is sum 
 moned to detect the secret agents of these subtle 
 poisons, and to counteract them. But since society 
 was organized this contagion of crime, fatal alike to 
 soul and body, has been at work, and what has been 
 done to combat it? 
 
 The sole remedy suggested by the wisdom of ages 
 was the locking up of the criminal, and at a given 
 period, his release, with whetted appetite for his un 
 wholesome work. It is precisely as though we should 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 227 
 
 cover over a malarious swamp for a certain time until 
 its vapors had gathered fresh malignant venom, and 
 then set them free on their death-dealing errand. 
 
 It should be observed here that, in the examination 
 of this question, we are not to consider special cases 
 of wise and beneficent administration of prison or 
 penitentiary ; or on the other hand the most besotted 
 and barbarous treatment; but we must look at the 
 general character and condition of prison economy and 
 discipline, as we find it in our own State, and as we 
 know from personal observation or other knowledge 
 that it exists anywhere. 
 
 We can point to examples of most just and credit 
 able concern for the welfare of the incarcerated hu 
 man beings under certain management, and again to 
 the grossest neglect and abuse of these unhappy crimi 
 nals in the other direction. It is the terrible fact that 
 stares us in the face that, at least in every moral point 
 of view, the latter is the general characteristic of the 
 prisons of the whole world. 
 
 As a means of improvement in the administration of 
 our own county jails, we strongly recommend now, as 
 in the past, the enactment of a general law, which will 
 take from the sheriffs of the counties the control of 
 the prisons, and provide for boards of inspectors, who 
 will appoint suitable persons as wardens to administer 
 these institutions. 
 
 In consideration of the progress made by mankind 
 in science and knowledge of every sort, the cruelty, 
 and in many cases the barbarity, of its modes of deal 
 ing with crime appear almost incredible to the student 
 of political economy. Something has been done within 
 
228 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 a few years to solve the problem with the broad and 
 enlightened truths and sound practical sense which it 
 deserves, but the success has been but meagre, consist 
 ing so far more of attempt than execution. That Penn 
 sylvania may at least endeavor to keep pace with that 
 little, is the motive of your board in bringing the sub 
 ject thus urgently before your honorable bodies at the 
 present time, We will summarize as briefly as pos 
 sible the present status of the reformatory effort, and 
 its desired promotion at your hands. 
 
 The motive idea of the treatment of criminals was, 
 until a comparatively recent date, simply punitive and 
 deterrent, not unmixed, in coarser grades of society, 
 with the sentiment of revenge. The ill-doer was to 
 be driven to repentance, or at least terrified from a 
 repetition of his offense, by actual physical suffering. 
 One hundred years ago this mode of treatment had 
 reached its full development even in Christian Protestant 
 England. Capital punishment was inflicted for two 
 hundred different offenses ; men were hanged for steal 
 ing a loaf of bread, for breaking a hop-pole, as cer 
 tainly as for murder ; debtors suffered the same treat 
 ment in the jails as other prisoners, and this treatment 
 consisted in the herding of men and women promis 
 cuously in cells reeking with filth, and wet with the foul 
 damps oozing from the ground, with only an aperture 
 of four inches by eight to admit the already poisoned air 
 from the dark passage-way. " Debtors in gangs were 
 padlocked by the leg to the different links of a long 
 chain stapled to the wall, and at night the prisoners 
 were laid on their backs and caged by iron bars passing 
 over their bodies, while spiked iron collars about their 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 229 
 
 necks prevented any movement of the head." The 
 sole employment of these prisoners was gambling and 
 drinking ; a bar for prisoners being kept by every 
 jailor, whose interest it was to lead them into de 
 bauchery and excess. 
 
 The labors of John Howard removed many of the 
 abuses of this system. Prisoners no longer rot out 
 half their lives in English and American prisons from 
 inability to pay the extortionate demands of brutal 
 keepers. They are not suffered to die in darkness, 
 filth, and foul air, of jail-fever or starvation ; but while 
 the physical discipline is ameliorated by reason and 
 humanity, the moral treatment in our jails is founded 
 on the same principle as in the days of Howard. The 
 prisoner is punished precisely as a dog is made to feel 
 the lash to deter him from ill-doing, while no more 
 attempt is made to convince him of his guilt, or to put 
 in his hands the means, when discharged, of avoiding 
 his evil courses, or gaining an honest livelihood, than 
 if he were in reality a brute. 
 
 Even in the penitentiaries where the labor has been 
 made part of the punitive and reformatory discipline, 
 there is still large limit for reform. In many state 
 prisons the contract or leasing system is in use, by 
 which the convict is regarded simply as a money-mak 
 ing machine for the contractor. 
 
 In the most humanely governed of these institutions 
 the application of moral influences is but occasional 
 and unsystematic. The exhortations of a chaplain, 
 however zealous and faithful, to several hundred pris 
 oners, must necessarily prove less efficacious in prompt 
 ing the individual convict to the exertions which will 
 
230 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 give him his lost place among honest men, than a legal 
 ized, unalterable system which will affect all his hourly 
 and daily work and thoughts, and, through them, 
 inspire with hope in the future and that faith in himself 
 and in the humanity of his fellow-men, of which a long 
 course of crime has robbed him. 
 
 There is such a system, conceived in the purest 
 spirit of humanity, and based upon a profound knowl 
 edge of the needs and requirements of human nature. 
 It has already been tested thoroughly, and we present, 
 or rather re-present, a modification of this system for 
 your consideration. Having submitted it heretofore 
 with much amplification, we shall not dwell upon its 
 details at any length, but touch only upon a few points, 
 readily attainable, and which furnish a sure outlook, 
 as we believe, to salutary results. 
 
 The ideal plan in its entirety is probably impractica 
 ble in the present condition of public sentiment. Its 
 plain idea was to generate in the convict s mind the 
 incitement of hope rather than the sullenness of despair, 
 which is the slow outgrowth of an inevitable punish 
 ment. It was devised and partially carried into exe 
 cution by Captain Maconochie in a penal colony in 
 Australia, and the jail at Birmingham, England. 
 
 This method was briefly as follows: The convict 
 was not to be sentenced for any given time, but until 
 he should have earned a certain number of marks 
 according to his crime. These marks were given for 
 good conduct, industry, neatness, &c. They were 
 reckoned as money, and with them he was required to 
 pay first for his clothing, food, &c.; out of the surplus 
 only could he buy his release. The prisoner also 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 231 
 
 passed through certain stages or conditions, being 
 subjected at first to solitary confinement, low diet, 
 absolute idleness, with but a small opportunity of gaining 
 the marks of approval by his patience and obedience. 
 The permission to labor was received as a relief. 
 From this period the way lay open to him to earn 
 better food, lodging, and, finally, freedom. 
 
 The principle of this method will, we are confident, 
 be recognized by you as that which underlies every 
 wise system of government. It is simply the attach 
 ment of inflexibly certain rewards and punishments to 
 good and bad conduct. This is the outline of the 
 great scheme of polity established by the Creator for 
 His rational creatures in this life, and we can not 
 assuredly act unwisely in imitating it, however feebly, 
 in our dealings with those of our unfortunate brethren 
 who, from mischance of birth or education, are thus 
 made dependent upon us to gain their knowledge of 
 Christianity, or faith in its teachings. 
 
 A modification of this system has been practiced for 
 nearly twenty years in Ireland by Sir Walter Crofton. 
 Here there are three prisons through which each con 
 vict passes. The first penal, with solitary confinement ; 
 the second reformatory, where the inmates are divided 
 into classes, earning their advancements by good 
 marks. " The majority of persons," we are told, " earn 
 the maximum of marks and secure their promotion 
 within the shortest period allowed." The third "prison" 
 is in fact no prison, but an open farm, where there is 
 neither bolt nor bar to prevent their escape, the deten 
 tion being simply that of moral influence. Yet during 
 the twenty years in which this experiment has been 
 
232 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 tried, not more than a dozen escapes have been made. 
 Lusk, is, in fact, an intermediate halting-place, where 
 the men have an opportunity to test the value of the 
 moral and other teachings which they have received 
 during their confinement. They work together, or 
 singly, and " their constant thought is what they shall 
 do when they are liberated, what wages they will be 
 likely to obtain, how they can win honest bread and 
 an honorable position." Nor in these twenty years 
 has there been cause for a single complaint from any 
 of the farmers living in the vicinage, although there is 
 neither restraint nor discipline at Lusk other than that 
 maintained over ordinary farm laborers. 
 
 We cite these facts as proof, if any is needed, of the 
 wisdom and expediency of appealing to the more hope 
 ful and higher elements of manhood in our dealings 
 with even the most degraded of human beings. 
 
 Make treaty with the ill-doer as with a fellow-creature, 
 and it is more than probable that he will stand to his 
 agreement ; but treat him as a brute and he will 
 promptly fulfill your expectations by acting as a brute. 
 
 We have referred thus briefly to these experimental 
 efforts for the reform of the dangerous classes, believ 
 ing that Pennsylvania is fully aroused to the necessity 
 of such efforts, and, through her legislature, is prepared 
 to take a leading part in them. That the necessity is 
 urgent, the very name given by popular consent to the 
 class which we approach signifies, conveying at once 
 their history and the ominous presage of their future. 
 Nor is it only in this country that the grave attention 
 of governments and of thoughtful men has been 
 anxiously directed to this fatal element in the body 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 233 
 
 politic. The International Prison Reform Congress, 
 although it had its inception in the United States, 
 numbered, also, at its late meeting in London, delegates 
 (scientific and learned men, experts in dealing with 
 crime, and philanthropists) from every nation in Europe 
 but one, and from Chili, Brazil, Australia, and India. 
 
 Nor need we wonder at the startled surprise and 
 alarm with which the world regards the criminal mem 
 ber of, or rather outlaw from, society. At no period 
 in history has his existence been so perilous to the best 
 interests of civilization ; never before has so much 
 education been given to him, an education, however, 
 abused for want of moral truth to guide or give it 
 the proper direction. The criminal is no longer the 
 brutalized boor of two centuries ago, whose passions, 
 needs, and ambitions were almost wholly animal ; he 
 wears no collar of serfdom now, no ineffaceable mark 
 of caste ; he lives in an age when luxury is attainable 
 by the most ignorant, by means of money ; in an age 
 when information is abroad in the air ; when the inces 
 sant friction of man against man, the quick modes of 
 transit and communication, offer opportunities for crime, 
 and especially organized crime. To win money or 
 power by any means other than that of slow, patient 
 industry is the temptation that besets him at every 
 turn. Civilization has put her aids and appliances into 
 his hands without teaching him how to use them, and 
 they become murderous weapons ; and now civilization 
 demands for her own sake what is to be done with 
 him ? How is he to be tamed and softened and 
 brought to look at the world and God with clear 
 rational comprehension of his relations to both ? The 
 
234 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 time of his imprisonment is the only opportunity when 
 society can work her wholesome regenerating will 
 upon him; he is there unable to avert discipline, be it 
 wise or foolish ; he has proved the bitterness of evil- 
 doing, and, whether remorseful or not, has learned that 
 its wages are misery ; he has reached, in short, a halt 
 ing-place in his journey, where he is forced to look 
 upon the two paths before him and to choose between 
 them. Instruction or discipline from society to the free 
 man must necessarily be infrequent, irregular, and 
 unauthorized, but the convict is in the grasp of society 
 as helpless as a child in its mother s hands. " He can 
 not choose but hear." The period of his imprisonment 
 is the golden opportunity, therefore, to supply him with 
 the moral truths which are lacking in his training : to 
 teach him, through his daily habits, by the very neces 
 sities of his body for food and warmth, that labor 
 steady, faithful labor is the only means by which com 
 fort can be made certain and the respect of his fellow- 
 man insured. 
 
 To this end we would strenuously urge that pro 
 ductive labor should be made sure and constant in 
 every prison as a positive reformatory measure, and 
 that the criminal shall be taught to regard it as a relief 
 and a reward for meritorious conduct, rather than as a 
 compulsory infliction ; that the prisoner be taught some 
 trade or handicraft (if he have not already skill in one), 
 in order to qualify him for gaining on his discharge an 
 honest livelihood ; and, also, that he be given as far as 
 practicable the elements of practical learning, accom 
 panied always with such moral and religious instruction 
 as shall give vital power to all knowledge. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 235 
 
 In conjunction with this general scheme of training, 
 that the treatment of each convict in detail should 
 appeal to his higher rather than his lower nature, and 
 develop the saving principles of self-respect and the 
 recognition of a constant overruling power. 
 
 The proceeds of the labor of the convict to be used 
 first to defray the expenses of the state on his behalf. 
 In the New England States, where the contract system 
 is generally used, the excess of earnings of the con 
 victs over their expenses was $39,000, in 1871, Massa 
 chusetts reporting an annual excess ranging as high as 
 $20,000 per annum. In Ohio the excess amounts to 
 $40,000 per annum. When such gains as these are 
 attainable, while the price ^\& per capita for contract 
 labor is but from fifty to eighty cents a day, there 
 would be, it is reasonable to conclude, a much larger 
 surplusage if the prisoners were working with the 
 knowledge that they were themselves to be the gainers 
 by their industry. After the indemnity of the state 
 from their earnings, we therefore suggest and respect 
 fully urge that the remaining sum be appropriated 
 
 1 . To the convict s family, if such aid be necessary. 
 
 2. To form a sum in reserve for the use of the con 
 vict himself on his discharge. Many discharged pris 
 oners are tempted to crime from the lack of means to 
 support life until they can obtain work. It is almost 
 impossible (with the prison ban upon him) for the dis 
 charged prisoner to find employment, and he is driven 
 to steal by the actual necessity for food. The surplus 
 of his own earnings would be a sure preventive of this 
 
236 PJtISOJV ECONOMY. 
 
 immediate peril. Nor do we perceive the justice of 
 applying the product of the convict s labor to the 
 service of the state, beyond the sum which indemnifies 
 it for his maintenance. The punishment inflicted on 
 him for his misdemeanor is imprisonment for a stated 
 time and such hardships of lodging, fare, &c., as may 
 be deemed suitable. To appropriate his earnings 
 during that time (beyond the sum requisite for his 
 maintenance) is to impose a fine upon him, in addition 
 to the punishment of the body, a fine not contem 
 plated by law or embraced in his sentence. 
 
 Changes in the primitive and remedial systems such 
 as we suggest are of necessity dependent upon you 
 for execution, and once enforced will directly affect the 
 condition of the convict without influence from the 
 agents who are deputed to enforce them. But there 
 is much of the treatment of the criminal, the mental 
 and moral regimen which he shall receive from day to 
 day, which depends wholly on the character, convic 
 tions, or even mood of his keeper. Laws devised 
 with the profoundest knowledge of human nature and 
 the broadest humanity, and schemes tempered with the 
 tenderest chanty, can be converted into cruelty by an 
 unjust, vindictive, or even coarse jailor. Greater care 
 should therefore be exercised in the choice of these 
 officials ; a certain standard of culture and moral attain 
 ment should be established by which their fitness for 
 their duties may be measured. 
 
 Political usefulness, popularity, or brute strength 
 are scarcely to be regarded as qualifications for the 
 post of guardians over hospitals filled with the men 
 tally and morally unsound, invalids whose ailments 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 237 
 
 are of the soul, and which require even wiser and more 
 skillful and humane treatment than those of the body. 
 
 The appointment of women of discreet and cultured 
 minds as visitors and supervisors of the female wards 
 of our prisons, jails, and reformatory schools would, as 
 we believe, tend much to their improvement. We do 
 not conceive that this point requires argument other 
 than those which will readily suggest themselves to 
 every thoughtful mind. 
 
 The tenderness of nature, the intuitive sense of jus 
 tice and fitness which characterize women, qualify them 
 to detect disorder and discrepancies in the administra 
 tion of any scheme of reform, while a certain tact and 
 gentleness of expression enable them to approach the 
 weak and erring with peculiar success. We owe our 
 own improved method of dealing with crime and in 
 sanity largely to the counsel and suggestion of one 
 good woman, and there are many others employed in 
 practical work of prison reform in Europe with the 
 most positive and enduring effect. There are many 
 questions concerning the control and treatment of 
 women prisoners, of which inspectors of an opposite 
 sex can take but superficial view and incomplete cog 
 nizance. It is conceded that the prisoners should be 
 under the management of a matron, and if it be proper 
 that such control be accorded to women of inferior 
 mental status, it is assuredly just and proper that the 
 supervision of their labors should be placed in the 
 hands of women of high character for intelligence and 
 humanity. 
 
 We would call your attention, finally, to the success 
 ful labors of the Prison Reform Association, which had 
 
238 PRISON E CONOMY. 
 
 its birth in this country, although greater progress has 
 been made in foreign countries in the wise and humane 
 treatment of crime and pauperism than in the United 
 States, and a larger amount of research and practical 
 experiment have there been brought to bear on these 
 difficult problems. 
 
 The formation of this association, for whose exist 
 ence and development all praise is due to Dr. E. C. 
 Wines, was the first step towards concentrating these 
 separate discoveries and researches, giving them a 
 world-wide publicity, and, by the force of union, en 
 dowing these hitherto scattered efforts of a few philan 
 thropists with the dignity of a science and the authority 
 and power of an international movement. 
 
 The conventions in London, Cincinnati, Baltimore, 
 and St. Louis included men (eminent for their philan 
 thropy) of widely-differing nationalities. The majority 
 of members, too, were men employed for years in the 
 management and supervision of prisons or institutions 
 of reform, and the controllers of widely-extended 
 schemes for the amelioration of the extreme conditions 
 of humanity, whether those conditions be induced by 
 crime or poverty. 
 
 The association, therefore, brings to the elucidation 
 of these problems not only the most earnest, almost 
 religious enthusiasm of the work of rehabilitating their 
 fallen brethren, but a clear and long-tested knowledge 
 of the most practical methods of accomplishing this 
 work in both its outline and detail. 
 
 The reformatory scheme of work proposed by the 
 members of this International Congress is, briefly : 
 " Penal laws and institutions to be brought into fuller 
 accord with reason and humanity. 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 239 
 
 " Police systems to be rendered so efficient that few 
 criminals can escape detection and punishment. 
 
 "Crime capitalists to be hunted, dispersed, and 
 crushed. Preventive agencies to be made so compre 
 hensive and perfect as greatly to diminish the number 
 of criminals. 
 
 " The mass of adult criminals to be brought to a 
 healthier condition of mind and habit, and restored to 
 the walks of useful industry."* 
 
 The association is, however, a council, not an execu 
 tive body ; a parliament without constituencies, unless 
 we call such the weak and degraded of mankind, for 
 whom it labors. 
 
 It can design and submit schemes of reform, but it 
 remains for the governments of countries and of states 
 to make them of practical benefit. The results of the 
 conferences of this association are already apparent in 
 many European states. In Switzerland, the congress 
 in London aroused public attention to penal reform 
 and effected a change in the constitution by which 
 capital and corporal punishments were abolished. 
 
 A house of correction, a society for the care of dis 
 charged prisoners, an asylum for neglected and vicious 
 children have been introduced in different cantons, 
 while, in two, a modification of the Crofton plan has 
 been adopted in their penitentiaries. 
 
 In Sweden radical changes in the penitentiary sys 
 tem have been made in accordance with the advanced 
 views of the congress. 
 
 Discharged prisoners associations have been formed, 
 and two reformatory schools founded, modeled after 
 
 * Prison Congress, St. Louis, page 44. 
 
240 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 the admirable institution at Mettray. To these last 
 the royal family and nobility have contributed liberally. 
 
 In Italy an institution for the education of prison 
 officers has been founded. 
 
 It was to his school for prison officers, it will be 
 remembered, that Demetz owed his signal success in 
 the reform of criminals. 
 
 In Holland a modification of the cellular system and 
 other progressive measures of reform are now before 
 the legislature. 
 
 In France an earnest interest in penal and prevent 
 ive reform has been awakened by the congress. 
 
 Throughout the civilized world attention has been 
 aroused and the minds of sincere, practical, and thought 
 ful men turned towards the most vital of all the prob 
 lems which affect the well-being of humanity. 
 
 In the United States, where the movement origi 
 nated (but which, as we have said, lags behind several 
 other nations in her application of the best modes of 
 reform), the endeavor of the association is at present 
 to secure the erection of a national prison, to which 
 shall be removed the convicts sentenced by United 
 States courts, and where the association will be en 
 abled to illustrate the highest and most successful sys 
 tem. Such a prison would offer an example which 
 would doubtless be speedily imitated by the several 
 States and by other governments. 
 
 It is in accordance with the general progressive 
 movement in this reform throughout the world that we 
 address you on the subject of the aid you have here 
 tofore extended to the reformatory and other chari 
 table institutions of the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania, 
 
PRISON ECONOMY. 241 
 
 through her late Constitutional Convention, has taken 
 a retrogade step in this matter. The whole of her re 
 formatory and charitable institutions, with the excep 
 tion of the Eastern and Western Penitentiaries and the 
 State Lunatic Hospitals at Harrisburgand Danville, are 
 deprived of State aid unless it is given to them by a 
 two-thirds vote of your houses. We appeal to you to 
 support them liberally as heretofore ; an appeal which 
 we have little doubt will prove effectual. When nations 
 which we have been accustomed to regard as but half- 
 civilized urge the movement of reform, Pennsylvania 
 will assuredly not resign herself passively to the gov 
 ernment of the already encroaching forces of ignor 
 ance and crime. 
 
 We here present a descriptive table of the number 
 of the several classes of " criminals " in the State. 
 The statement may be relied upon as accurate : 
 
 POPULATION OF THE CRIMINAL CLASSES. 
 
 The estimated population of the State on September 
 3Oth, 1874, is three million eight hundred and twenty- 
 one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven, and the 
 following statement will exhibit the number of convicts 
 in the penitentiaries, Allegheny county workhouse, and 
 county jails or prisons ; the number of persons under 
 sentence of justices of peace; number awaiting trial 
 and otherwise in prison on September jOth, 1874, the 
 aggregate forming part of the above-estimated popu 
 lation : 
 
242 
 
 PRISON ECONOMY. 
 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Aggregate. 
 
 Convicts In State penitentiaries, . 
 
 !>53 
 
 IO 
 
 1,063 
 
 
 
 Workhouses, .... 
 
 134 
 
 9 
 
 143 
 
 . . . 
 
 County jails, .... 
 
 787 
 
 90 
 
 877 
 
 . . . 
 
 Total of convicts, 
 
 
 2,083 
 
 Otherwise in prison In county jails for payment 
 
 
 
 of fines and costs, &c., 
 
 
 67 
 
 Summarily convicted In county jails, under sen 
 
 
 
 tence of justices of peace, 
 
 24? 
 
 
 In workhouse, under sentence of justices of 
 
 
 
 peace. 
 
 354 
 
 . . . 
 
 
 In house of correction, under sentence of jus 
 
 tices of peace, 
 
 Total summarily convicted, 
 Awaiting trial in county jails, 
 
 Total in prison September 3oth, 1874, . 
 
 593 
 
 1,190 
 449 
 
 3.789 
 
 As above stated, the number of convicts in the peni 
 tentiaries, workhouses, and county jails on September 
 3Oth, 1874, was 2083, or one to 1835 f tne population; 
 67 were in county prisons under sentence of court for 
 payment of fine and costs, &c. ; these can hardly be 
 considered as convicts, and are not, therefore, included 
 with them; 1190 were in prison, summarily convicted 
 under sentence of magistrate or justices of peace, for 
 disorderly conduct, breaches of peace, &c. The num 
 ber awaiting trial on September 3Oth, 1874, was 449. 
 
 As the most powerful and direct method of combat 
 ing these forces in society, we entreat your brief con 
 sideration of the subject of neglected and destitute 
 children. (See Education, page 76.) 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE 
 
 INSANE HOSPITALS. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 WE have shown, in a previous report, the "census 
 statistics of the insane in each county of the State, the 
 total number in 1870 being stated at three thousand 
 eight hundred and ninety-five ; the ratio, one insane to 
 nine hundred and four inhabitants. This enumeration, 
 indeed, is not accurate the fact being sufficiently 
 proved by the impossible discrepancy which appears 
 in a comparison of the several counties the ratio 
 varying from one in two thousand to one in twelve 
 thousand, in places where there are no asylums for 
 their reception. The general ratio is, of course, re 
 duced by computing the insane in asylums, hospitals, 
 &c. But erroneous as the statement is, falling short 
 of the reality, it is sufficiently suggestive. It manifests 
 the unhappy fact that the State makes provision for 
 about one-fourth only of these hapless wards to 
 which, if we add the number cared for in incorporated 
 or private hospitals, it will appear that at least five- 
 eighths of these are in almshouses, or uncared for in 
 any institution whatever. What the condition of the 
 
 (243) 
 
244 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 insane is, as a general rule, in the poor-houses of the 
 State, we set forth clearly in our earliest report ; and 
 although there has been since then a manifest improve 
 ment in their condition and treatment, in several of 
 the county establishments, it is impossible, from the 
 circumstances which characterize the whole arrange 
 ment, discipline, and government of such institutions, 
 that these invalids can be otherwise than grossly 
 neglected and foully wronged ; for at the best they are 
 merely confined in places of detention, under the 
 guardianship of a respectable overseer, who is wholly 
 ignorant of their disease, and of the means necessary 
 for its alleviation or its cure. We say, at the best. We 
 hesitate to describe the reverse of the picture. It 
 would exhibit a scene of as cheerless and uncomforted 
 misery as the most bitter misanthrope could desire to 
 look upon. It is hardly fair to claim that we have 
 passed beyond the ignorance and barbarity of the 
 middle ages, in our consideration and care of this class 
 of unfortunates, so long as we suffer the glaring abuses 
 which are prevalent in our midst to continue unre- 
 dressed. 
 
 It is inconceivable to every reflecting mind, that 
 abuses can be heaped upon the defenseless victims of 
 this saddest of disorders, who should rather be the ob 
 jects of the most spontaneous sympathy, and the most 
 willing kindness and consideration. The fact that the 
 chances of exposure are too remote to be estimated, 
 and, as in the case of the child and the brute, that re 
 sistance is impossible, no doubt gives impunity to the 
 foul wrong-doing which the insane frequently suffer. 
 But the most fruitful cause of this evil is the incompe- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 245 
 
 tency of those who are set over them. It is an evil 
 almost irremediable, under the present system of ap 
 pointments in the county almshouses. It generally 
 happens that these are based solely upon political con 
 siderations. Some useful partisan must be rewarded, 
 or in some way helped, and he is given an office, the 
 duties of which he feels in no wise called upon to dis 
 charge ; having earned its perquisites by political ser 
 vices before he received it, and feeling his position 
 secure, he is quite naturally led to neglect his trust, by 
 ignoring its most essential requirements. Unfitness 
 of the highest measure is the character of such ap 
 pointments generally ; and the victims in this case are 
 a class of defenseless invalids, whose circumstances 
 appeal with especial urgency to every sentiment of hu 
 manity and justice. This mode of appointment should 
 be abolished, rather than extended, and we earnestly 
 invoke the action of your honorable bodies to revoke 
 all legislation which favors it. The institutions estab 
 lished by the State and the counties at so great a cost, 
 and supported from year to year by large expenditure 
 of the public funds, extracted often by onerous taxa 
 tion, should be managed after a principle which will 
 secure those objects, to accomplish which they were 
 respectively founded. Wherever this does not obtain, 
 just so far have waste and failure been realized instead 
 of gain and success. This may not always be appar 
 ent to the general observation, for we are not quick to 
 scrutinize matters of this nature ; but the results will 
 not be questioned if the premises are well-founded, 
 and it needs but slight investigation to establish the 
 verity of our report in this behalf. The same danger 
 
246 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 exists, though much more remotely, in establishments 
 specially designed for the reception and cure of the 
 insane ; and we consider it to be the solemn duty of 
 the superintendents of all institutions for this class, to 
 know, from patient investigation and inquiry into the 
 antecedents of the applicants, that none are employed 
 for nurses or attendants who are not adapted to the 
 service, by the characters they possess for patience and 
 forbearance and strict conscientiousness. They should 
 also take pains to instruct them in their duties, and 
 should know they are fulfilled. We think that a clear 
 responsibility rests upon the directing head of every 
 institution, to know that his subordinates fulfill their 
 proper duties. If the appointments are not allowed to 
 them, it would seem that the danger of ignorance and 
 incompetency is greater, and, therefore, closer scrutiny 
 becomes essential. But superintendents should have 
 the authority, at least, to nominate their subordinates. 
 They know better than others the requisites for the 
 office; and the responsibility would be felt and authority 
 more readily maintained. 
 
 Inattention to these requirements has subjected in 
 stitutions of hitherto high repute to severe public 
 odium, not in our own but in other communities, and 
 it is a just cause for condemnation. We shrink at the 
 recital of occasional cruelties visited upon malefactors, 
 even where insubordination or other grievous miscon 
 duct has merited punishment ; and philanthropy is 
 expending itself largely in contriving schemes of pun 
 ishment for crime, by which the offender may be 
 saved from wanton cruelties ; but for these, innocent 
 victims of a providential dispensation, the chief 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 247 
 
 causes of whose mental derangement have been 
 " anxieties, domestic griefs, reverses of fortune," the 
 trust of the general public in the effective and humane 
 protection provided in any asylum where they may be 
 placed, seems fixed and unwavering. We believe that 
 the State and private institutions of this Common 
 wealth are commendably free from the reproach we 
 have suggested. We are familiar with their work 
 ings. We know the direction of all of them with 
 entire familiarity, and we respect the earnest humanity 
 and high intelligence which characterizes them ; but 
 we cannot too firmly impress even upon these the 
 supreme necessity of insisting, for themselves and for 
 those to whom they owe their appointment, upon the 
 employment of subordinates of every degree who have 
 the ability and the disposition to carry out the instruc 
 tions which they receive from their superiors. The 
 very fact that seclusion from the public eye is the 
 characteristic of these institutions should be the 
 strongest influence with high-minded and conscien 
 tious men to interpose the broadest shield of gentle 
 ness and humanity between their wards and the 
 slightest injustice. Insanity should have a better and 
 a truer name than madness. To "mistake ideas for 
 truths " does not mean so much as this ; and although 
 such perversion not infrequently influences the patient 
 to dangerous violence, it is equally true that this irri 
 tation may be tranquilized and subdued by quiet, firm, 
 judicious gentleness. Scarcely any are wholly insane. 
 There exists somewhere, and almost invariably, a phase 
 of their intellect which is not clouded, and their delu 
 sions do not even unfit them always for the ordinary 
 duties of life. 
 
248 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 We think we have a right to present this class of de 
 fectives in a favorable light. The general view exposes 
 them unfairly to the public eye ; and that eye is too 
 well satisfied to look complacently upon the house of 
 detention in which they reside as the summum bonum 
 for all their needs. Houses of detention, simply as 
 such, misrepresent the real demand of an enlightened 
 public mind, in relation to all classes of unfortunates. 
 They ignore the principle of the dignity of the human 
 person, which should govern the consideration of these 
 classes. This discrimination is lost whenever the 
 thought prevails that the chief good to be attained is 
 to restrain to save the public, in some sort, from in 
 convenience or damage or depredation. This should 
 surely be looked after and secured ; but its complete 
 attainment may be better accomplished by considering, 
 at the same time, the duty of humanity in the care and 
 custody of every class of defectives. There are noble 
 examples and exponents of this theory, in this age, in 
 all parts of the civilized world, and nowhere more de 
 voted to its realization than in our own country and in 
 our own State ; and we believe that a very large num 
 ber of the insane in this Commonwealth are not only 
 skillfully, but tenderly treated. But this is not so in 
 many of the county poor-houses. They have neither 
 the accommodations nor the medical care which are 
 suited to their wants. They are, for the most part, 
 wholly uncared for. Beyond the mere provision of 
 sustenance, often unfit and insufficient, they are kept 
 immured in cells (sometimes naked and often in in 
 describable filthiness), or tied to their cots, or intimi 
 dated by fear of punishment, to save the trouble and 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 249 
 
 expense of adequate oversight. They are in the hands 
 of attendants as unfit to minister to them as they would 
 be to govern a vessel in a hurricane ; and so they are 
 stranded or wrecked for want of good and skillful man 
 agement. The condition of such as these is little bet 
 ter than the sad lot of the same class whose misfortune 
 it was to exist during what we call the " middle ages" ; 
 and, indeed, to the time when Pinel set the splendid 
 example of liberating from mechanical restraints the 
 inmates of the Bicetre hospital, at Paris, one of whom 
 had been in chains for forty years, and which was the 
 first great step in the amelioration of the condition of 
 the insane. But are not the ignorance and stolidity 
 and want of principle which so often characterize the 
 attendants who now have charge of the insane, or per 
 haps their inaptitude and inexperience, practically 
 equivalent to the barbarous practices of the same class 
 who were their custodians in the dark ages ? It is true 
 they are not now " chained in the lowest dungeons," 
 but they are confined, and often bound, in loathsome 
 rooms. They are not " systematically beaten with the 
 lash, by direction of the most approved authorities," 
 but they are often punished by a process much more 
 painful and fatal, and frequently upon the slightest 
 provocation. They are not " exhibited for money, like 
 wild beasts," but they are brought forth from their 
 beds at midnight to dance and make grotesque dis 
 plays for the entertainment of the guests of their cus 
 todians. They are even statedly assembled, once a 
 week, to amuse the public at a maniac s ball. 
 
 The following case will stand for one of many similar 
 performances at county poor-houses ; and, as recent 
 
250 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 testimony proves, in establishments of higher preten 
 sions. It is the case of a maniac, whose condition 
 there was so alarming" that his removal to an insane 
 hospital was ordered. The physician of the latter 
 institution states that the patient was brought to the 
 hospital in a cart, with his limbs restrained. He was 
 feeble, but greatly excited. His condition at the time 
 of admission was so distressed that the usual practice 
 of bathing and re-clothing was dispensed with, and, 
 after administering a sedative, he was put to bed. As 
 soon as it could be done, an examination was made, 
 and numerous injuries to his person were apparent ; 
 but his exhaustion increased, and it was impossible to 
 ascertain the whole extent of his injuries. On the 
 eighth day the patient died, when an autopsy was 
 made, and the sternum and nine ribs were found to be 
 broken ; accumulations of pus were discovered in va 
 rious places, and extensive bruises of the most serious 
 nature. Such was the condition of this insane man, 
 poor, perhaps, and friendless, but, nevertheless, a man 
 and a citizen, when transferred from an almshouse to 
 a State hospital. 
 
 We cannot better express our own opinions on this 
 theme than by quoting the strictures of a journalist 
 upon recent abuses, fully proved in a neighboring 
 institution: "One of the noblest results of civili 
 zation has undoubtedly been the care and protection 
 extended to the insane. There is something so touch 
 ing in the spectacle of human beings deprived of their 
 reason that every one of right feeling must extend to 
 them the deepest sympathy. This sympathy brought 
 about the establishment of hospitals where the insane 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 251 
 
 could be properly cared for and sheltered from the 
 dangers that beset them. It was hoped that through 
 the instrumentality of these institutions these unfor 
 tunates would escape the neglect and brutality to 
 which they were exposed. This, at least, has been the 
 popular idea in connection with the guardianship of the 
 insane ^provided for by the public. But, however 
 humane may be the intention of the community in 
 creating these refuges, the brutality of the persons 
 selected as attendants entirely neutralizes the benevo 
 lent motive and turns them into places of torture, 
 from which death is looked on as a welcome release by 
 the sufferers. It would be idle to waste words on the 
 brutes in the shape of men, who are capable of inflict 
 ing torture and suffering on their fellow-creatures. So 
 long as the present vicious system is continued, the 
 abuses will go on unchecked ; and it is only when 
 some act of cruelty has been followed by fatal results 
 that public attention will be directed from the whirl of 
 business and politics and for the moment visit the 
 offense with a generous indignation." 
 
 It is a matter of history that even Egypt of old knew 
 and fulfilled her duty better towards these unfortunates, 
 and that her "priests" provided faithfully for their 
 comfort and enjoyment. Music, games, and recrea 
 tions, in short, whatever modern ingenuity has devised 
 to charm the diseased mind, was in vogue in this 
 earlier age." And in ancient Greece one of the 
 most distinguished alienists recommended that bodily 
 restraint should be avoided ; that none but the most 
 violent should be restrained. 
 
 We conclude this part of our report on this subject 
 
252 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 by presenting the wise conclusions of another, which 
 may well be entertained and realized by those who 
 have responsibilities to discharge in relation to this 
 interesting and serious matter: 
 
 "The patients of an asylum for the insane should be 
 surrounded by experienced attendants, allowed the 
 greatest liberty, and treated with the utmost amount 
 of indulgence compatible with their safety. The free 
 use of their limbs and abundant exercise in the open 
 air tend to carry off the superfluous energy and excite 
 ment of the malady. Everything which can employ 
 and interest a healthy mind, and which is apart in its 
 character and association from the morbid thoughts of 
 the patient, ought to be brought into exercise for his 
 recovery judiciously adapted to each case ; for the 
 insane hospital should be the isolation and safety of 
 the dangerous; a retreat and home for the hopeless 
 and incurable ; a hospital for their restoration to 
 mental and physical health; a house for mental, moral, 
 and physical education ; an industrial establishment, 
 where the busy crafts of artisans and gardeners and 
 all the homely employments which can occupy the 
 heads and hands of men and women, are called into 
 systematic and daily activity. Everything should be 
 avoided which would give the idea of a prison. They 
 should be made to feel themselves happy and con 
 tented in the prosecution of some purpose which 
 carries their mind away from the subject of their 
 disease, and which is adapted to their capacities, their 
 natural tastes, or the peculiar phase of their malady. 
 The qualifications of the medical superintendent and 
 every insane asylum should have such an officer are, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 253 
 
 indeed, of the rarest kind, but they are indispensable. 
 He must unite benevolence with firmness. He must 
 be good and humane and, also, just and inflexible 
 courageous and calm, tempering firmness with severity 
 and kindness with decision and impartiality. He must 
 have the tact to govern others with ease, to acquire 
 their confidence and esteem, and, at the same time, to 
 command their ready obedience and respect. Com 
 bined with these general qualifications, he must be 
 skilled in his own profession in all its departments, so 
 as to give the advantage of enlightened professional 
 skill to the medical treatment of his patients." 
 
 These requisites seem difficult to command ; but if 
 the natural elements are not wanting, the rest may be 
 acquired. And the same principle and the same rule 
 should apply here which we have insisted upon in our 
 notice of a different class of institutions. Almost the 
 whole hope of successful management of any one of 
 them depends upon the suitableness of the directing 
 head of the establishment. The power which appoints 
 this officer should see to it that he understands and 
 appreciates his work and its responsibilities. In such 
 case there is small chance of his subordinates being 
 ignorant or neglectful of their duties. 
 
 The law of commitment to an insane asylum would 
 seem to need revision. If it were carried out accord 
 ing to its spirit, it might be sufficiently protective of the 
 rights of the citizen, of which it behooves us to be 
 strictly jealous. This law provides " that insane per 
 sons may be placed in a hospital for the insane by 
 their legal guardians, or by their relatives or friends 
 in case they have no guardians, but never without the 
 
254 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 certificate of two or more reputable physicans, after 
 a personal examination, made within one week of the 
 date thereof, and this certificate to be duly acknowl 
 edged and sworn to or affirmed before some magistrate 
 or judicial officer, who shall certify to the genuineness 
 of the signature and to the respectability of the signers." 
 
 In the first place, the medical test is clearly insuffi 
 cient. If the two " reputable " physicians were in good 
 repute as alienists, there would be reason in submitting 
 to their judgment the liberty of a citizen. But it is 
 well known that insanity is the most unfamiliar of all 
 maladies ; that there is no chair in our schools for 
 instruction in this branch of medical science; that it 
 has always been a special study, and that not one in a 
 hundred of the "reputable physicians" know anything 
 about it, which should entitle them to the authority 
 conferred on them by the law. Still, we have instances 
 where commitments have been made by doctors by 
 diploma, who never had a patient of any sort to pre 
 scribe for, unless dentists be physicians, or chiropo 
 dists be classed with surgeons. 
 
 We would not cater to the sensational apprehen 
 sions of careless thinkers on this subject. We do not 
 believe that in our State there is at this time much real 
 danger, in this behalf, to the freedom of any sane 
 person ; for we happen to be favored with enlightened 
 experts in each of the important institutions, private 
 and public, of the State, who would undoubtedly take 
 means to redress a wrong perpetrated either by igno 
 rance or design. Still it is necessary to provide for 
 contingencies, and if the medical test is even uncertain, 
 the importance of amending it will be admitted without 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 255 
 
 reserve, for the authority is final when the require 
 ments of the law are even formally complied with, and 
 the " adjudged " lunatic must be received into the luna 
 tic wards. 
 
 The legal examination is equally unreliable. There 
 is no evidence received in behalf of the restrained 
 person. The charge is almost uniformly taken for 
 granted, and the " lunatic " almost never seen by the 
 magistrate. The reason is that the magistrate is quite 
 unable, of himself, to pass judgment on the case, and 
 he does not embarrass himself by the attempt. 
 
 We would, under these circumstances, recommend 
 that a lunacy commission, in each county, be appointed 
 by the officers of the medical society in conjunction 
 with the superintendents of the State hospitals for the 
 insane, which shall be substituted for the " two reputa 
 ble physicians " required by the present law ; and that 
 the magistrate be held to a penalty unless he complies 
 literally with the provisions which are set forth for his 
 action in the premises. In the counties where medical 
 societies are not organized, that the commissioners be 
 appointed by the superintendents alone. In cases of 
 sudden and violent mania, temporary detention in a 
 hospital should be provided for, the requirements of 
 the law to be complied with within reasonable time 
 thereafter. 
 
 Safe as we may fairly regard ourselves, it should be 
 our aim to improve, by the example of our legislation 
 and our practice under it, the insufficiency of what pre 
 vails in other States as well as to add to our own 
 security. We may thus effectually bar the personal 
 liberty of every citizen against unjust invasion. 
 
256 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 It is a superstition resulting from ignorant credulity, 
 which takes for granted every accusation of lunacy, and 
 which regards the disclaimer of the accused as added 
 evidence of his mental alienation. 
 
 Provision being made for present security, in ob 
 vious cases of mania, it cannot be denied that the 
 doubtful should be held in suspense until adequate 
 judgment be pronounced ; especially when the accused 
 denies the charge and demands investigation by an 
 arbitrament capable of pronouncing an intelligent de 
 cision. The most perverted and chronic criminal can 
 claim this right, and the bare possibility of mistake 
 should secure it for those whose liberty may be inno 
 cently lost. 
 
 We called the attention of your honorable bodies to 
 the condition of the insane poor in the first words we 
 addressed to you. 
 
 We did not speak in terms of reproach of the public 
 or the legislature, because there had been, until then, 
 no official commission, expressly delegated by your 
 own authority, to investigate their condition and make 
 suggestions of amendment. We then recommended 
 that the insane should be always under the care of a 
 medical superintendent ; that no recent case be admit 
 ted into an almshouse ; that the State hospitals be ade 
 quately extended that all might be provided for. But 
 we are concerned lest the unwillingness of the last 
 legislature to appropriate the money needed to com 
 plete even so much of the hospital for the insane at 
 Danville as would utilize the expenditures already 
 made there, and, what is more important, open a door 
 for the reception of the large number of insane de- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 257 
 
 -*v 
 
 manding admission, indicates a serious unconcern in 
 relation to this class of unfortunates, or a want of 
 appreciation of their claims upon the State s attention. 
 We earnestly renew our request to your honorable 
 bodies to furnish, with as little delay as possible, the 
 hospital room urgently needed for the accommodation 
 of all the insane of the Commonwealth, excepting only 
 those who are received into private hospitals, or cared 
 for by the larger cities, who propose to provide for the 
 insane of their particular localities. 
 
 We are prepared, upon a call of either branch of 
 the legislature, to report upon the whole subject, stat 
 ing the numbers and condition of this class ; how they 
 are now circumstanced; what proportion are probably 
 chronic and what curable cases ; what additional ac 
 commodations are needed, and, if required, a scheme 
 for realizing the demand which is made upon the State 
 for the complete fulfillment of this imperative duty. 
 
 It is a question with those who make the subject a 
 particular study, whether the incurable insane should 
 or should not be separately provided for, and many 
 specialists have given their opinion that the interests of 
 the class, as a whole, would be better maintained by 
 associating them in general hospitals for the insane. 
 It is not our intention to discuss this question at this 
 time ; what we declare now, we are entirely clear about, 
 namely, that it is a reproach to the boasted liberality, 
 humanity, and civilization of our honored State, that 
 such of her unhappy children as we refer to, should be 
 consigned to the hopeless wretchedness which they 
 suffer, and that it becomes us, without delay, to apply 
 an effectual remedy. It may be well, in this connection, 
 
258 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 to set forth the measures which the great State of New 
 York has adopted to relieve this crying evil, and by 
 which it is certain that every insane man, woman, and 
 child will, within a reasonable time, be provided with 
 a hospital home, furnished with every requisite for its 
 intelligent administration and management. The fixed 
 policy of that State is to separate the chronic insane 
 poor from the recent and curable cases. 
 
 A select committee of the senate, appointed for this 
 purpose, made report in 1856 as follows: " That as 
 insanity is a disease, which, in all its forms and stages 
 requires special means for the care and treatment of 
 its victims, the policy of the State to provide for their 
 safety, comfort, and care, when possible, is as wise as 
 it is humane. The duty of the government, thus to 
 provide for its insane, is acknowledged in all civilized 
 countries. 
 
 "That the State should make ample and suitable 
 provision for all its insane not in a condition to reside 
 in private families. 
 
 " That no insane person should be treated, or in any 
 way taken care of in any county poor or alms house, 
 or other receptacle provided for, or in which paupers 
 are maintained or supported." 
 
 It is a well-established principle that the insane can 
 not recover amid the ordinary circumstances and 
 influences of home, but they must be removed from 
 
 familiar associations and scenes to others which are 
 
 / 
 
 new and strange to them. This disease, instead/of 
 being a malady necessarily consigning its victims to 
 despair of recovery is, under favorable circumstances, 
 the most curable of diseases. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 259 
 
 Authorities upon the statistics of insanity state the 
 results of proper hospital treatment at about seventy- 
 five per cent, of recent cases in favor of recovery. It 
 is stated in a memorial to the legislature, emanating 
 from high official authority and medical experience on 
 the subject, that it may be expected that one in every 
 one thousand six hundred and ninety persons in Penn 
 sylvania will yearly become insane, and that under an 
 adequate system of treatment three-fourths of these 
 will annually recover, and the remainder become hope 
 lessly incurable. That, in the absence of such a system, 
 not over seven per cent, would recover, and the re 
 mainder sink into hopeless incurability. The perfect 
 accuracy of the estimate is not material, it is sufficiently 
 correct to sustain our argument. The calculation can 
 be readily made as to how the pecuniary interests of 
 the State would be affected in the two cases, and what 
 ever modification was made in the interests of the 
 insane would proportionally advance the interests of 
 the State, so that it can be easily inferred that the 
 insane become a public burden because of the neglect 
 of timely medical treatment. There is nothing more 
 true than that the State or the county must pay for the 
 support of the sufferer during life, unless suitable pro 
 vision for cure and treatment induce timely restoration. 
 It is, therefore, no more than the common wisdom that 
 is applied to the ordinary business of life, to take such 
 measures as will give them the best opportunity of 
 restoration that the age affords. 
 
 Assurances such as these, which could not fail to im 
 press the mind of every intelligent man to conviction, 
 induced the New York Legislature to pass an act 
 
260 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 instituting a commission to investigate the condition of 
 the insane poor in the various poor-houses, almshouses, 
 and insane asylums, and other institutions where the 
 insane are kept. The condition of the insane poor in 
 the counties of New York was, in a word, pronounced 
 " deplorable," and their report was the origin and base 
 of what is called the Willard asylum for the insane, 
 taking its name from the author of the report. The 
 law in reference to this subject was passed in 1865, and 
 its title declares it to be " an act to authorize the estab 
 lishment of a State asylum for the chronic insane 
 poor." 
 
 The intent of the law was further stated to be the 
 removal of every insane pauper from every county 
 poor-house to the Willard asylum, or to the State 
 lunatic hospitals, to the latter the recent or curable, 
 and to the former the chronic or incurable cases. 
 
 There has been no retreat from this determination 
 on the part of this great Commonwealth ; but an ex 
 tensive hospital has been built on a farm of about five 
 hundred acres, admirably located for health and beauty, 
 and the most liberal appropriations have been con 
 tinuously made by the legislature for the full develop 
 ment of the policy and intent of the law, by which every 
 one of the insane poor shall, in due time, be properly 
 provided for. 
 
 The policy of separating the curable from the chronic 
 need not enter into discussion. The point is, to furnish 
 hospital accommodations for this class, and the legisla 
 ture can investigate the subject through a separate 
 commission, or through the agency of this board. 
 Since the existence of the Board of Public Charities of 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 261 
 
 the State of New York, viz., since 1868, it has been, the 
 organ of communication with the legislature. Its last 
 report on this subject declares that no further provision 
 need be made for founding a new insane hospital ; that 
 when those now in course of construction are com 
 pleted, in accordance with the plans, provision will be 
 secured for every insane person in the Commonwealth 
 of New York. State of Pennsylvania, go and do like 
 wise ! 
 
 PLEA FOR THE INSANE. 
 
 Insanity in its relation to legislation and jurispru 
 dence, as well as to mental, moral, and medical science, 
 to its characteristics and the mode of determining its 
 presence, as well as the method of treatment for its 
 cure, to the best means of protecting society against 
 its violent or mischievous assaults, as well as to the 
 claims upon our humane regard and sympathy, is a 
 subject of great difficulty, but, at the same time, of 
 commensurate interest and importance. 
 
 It is not easy to give a clear definition of insanity, 
 and when we attempt it, the danger is that we run into 
 one extreme or another, and either allow none to be 
 insane but the raving maniac, or make all insane who 
 commit anything foolish or wrong. But we need not 
 attempt a definition here. 
 
 Whenever the condition of the raving maniac is so 
 
 o 
 
 far approximated, and the reason so far disordered or 
 dethroned, that the apprehension of the distinction be 
 tween right and wrong is lost, either wholly and in all 
 
262 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 relations, or partially and in relation to some particular 
 subjects, then insanity so far exists as to demand to be 
 specially recognized by the administration of justice, 
 in the means to be provided for the protection of 
 society, and in determining the treatment due to those 
 who are its subjects. 
 
 The diagnosis of such cases we may leave to ex 
 perts, and the determination of the facts to the proper 
 officials, judges, or juries. We have nothing here to do 
 with the question of insanity as it is presented to the 
 psychologist or to a petit jury or to a commission de 
 lunatico inquirendo, or to a board of medical examiners. 
 In the cases to which we propose to call attention, we 
 assume the fact of insanity to be established, and then, 
 looking at the insane man afterwards, we inquire what 
 is to be done. 
 
 But we must protest, at the outset, against a certain 
 form of mistaken feeling which, we suspect, may very 
 generally exist ; we refer to the disposition to regard 
 all persons who, being charged with crime, are acquit 
 ted on the ground of insanity, as at least highly sus 
 picious characters, to be classed with criminals without 
 reserve, because it happens that the greatest criminals 
 so often seek to evade the punishment due to their 
 crimes by setting up the plea of insanity. 
 
 But this sweeping generalization is no more reason 
 able especially in the case of the poor, who have no 
 powerful friends to work for them, and cannot pay 
 liberal fees for an elaborate defense than it would be 
 to regard all men as criminals and suspicious charac 
 ters who are charged with any crime, however clearly 
 their innocence may be demonstrated ; for this plea of 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 263 
 
 insanity is, by no means, the pnly plea which is abused 
 for the protection of knavery and violence. 
 
 As to the specious modern plea of moral insanity, 
 either it must be absolutely rejected, or, to be consistent, 
 all administration of penal jurisprudence must be aban 
 doned. Any insanity that can be recognized in law, 
 must include a derangement or loss of the rational 
 faculties, and by such derangement or loss it must be 
 measured. A " moral insanity " which consists merely 
 in an abnormal violence of vicious propensities, or of 
 some particular vicious propensity, while yet the light 
 of reason remains unabridged, and the conscious moral 
 judgment is clear and distinct, is only another expres 
 sion either for diabolical wickedness, or for the ordinary 
 condition of human temptation. 
 
 But, waiving all such discussions, the subject which 
 we desire to present to the practical consideration of 
 the legislature is this: What public provision should be 
 made for the care and treatment of the insane, especially 
 of the insane poor, including those who have been con 
 victed of crime or charged with its commission ? 
 
 In order to a clear exposition and apprehension of 
 the subject which we thus desire to present, it will be 
 advisable, and even necessary, to analyze it, and to 
 distribute the insane into their several classes, with 
 reference to the end we have in view, to the public 
 provision to be made for their safe-keeping, care, and 
 treatment. With this view, the insane may be dis 
 tributed into three different classes: 
 
 i. Those who have done no violence or public 
 harm the ordinary insane. These, again, fall into 
 
264 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 two sub-classes: i. The harmless, or those from 
 whom no harm is feared. 2. The harmful those 
 with manifestly dangerous and destructive propen 
 sities. 
 
 2. Those who have done harm have committed 
 crime while sane, but (i) have become insane before 
 trial or conviction ; or (2) have become insane after 
 conviction, " insane convicts " in the strict legal 
 sense. 
 
 3. Those who, having done harm having committed 
 acts of violence or mischief have been acquitted of 
 crime on the ground of insanity. 
 
 And first, of the insane who have done no harm. 
 Among these, the insanity may vary in character and 
 degree from some simple special hallucination down to 
 complete dementia. It may include both sexes and all 
 ages ; may proceed from a variety of causes, moral 
 and physical, may be recent or may have become 
 chronic, may be more or less violent or dangerous, may 
 be curable in various degrees, or may jfe absolutely in 
 curable. These varieties may call for various medical 
 classifications and modifications of treatment, all of 
 which we leave to medical men to arrange and deter 
 mine. The classification which more directly concerns 
 us, viewing the subject in its relation to the demand for 
 legislative interposition or State aid, is 
 
 1. Those who have the means of support, and 
 
 2. Those who are dependent and destitute. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 265 
 
 The first class can be cared for, either at home by 
 their friends, or at private asylums established for the 
 purpose. The only occasion for legislative interpo 
 sition in their behalf is, to see that they have proper 
 guardianship to secure them in the possession and 
 right use of their property. And the only occasion 
 for such interposition for the protection of the com 
 munity in this regard is, on the one hand, to see that 
 friends, who undertake their guardianship, do not 
 neglect it to the peril of the community, or abuse it to 
 the detriment of the sufferer ; and, on the other hand, 
 to provide lest by the criminal collusion or interested 
 misjudgment of relations and physicians, any sane per 
 son should, under certain circumstances of helplessness 
 or exposure, be condemned to the living death of incar 
 ceration in some private hospital for the insane, a 
 fate next in horror to that of being buried alive. As 
 to what legislation is required in relation to this class, 
 we have only to refer to the suggestions presented in 
 our last report. 
 
 But, however important the claims of this class may 
 be upon the public consideration, they are as nothing 
 in comparison with those of the other class of the 
 harmless insane, viz., the destitute and dependent. 
 
 To these and their sad fate we beg once more, 
 respectfully, but most earnestly, to urge the serious 
 and special attention of the legislature. In our former 
 reports, we have not overlooked the claims of these 
 helpless victims of the sorest of human maladies ; 
 but, in the discharge of our official duty, we have 
 repeatedly, though hitherto, perhaps, without sufficient 
 fullness and emphasis, presented those claims to the 
 
266 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 consideration of the legislature, and we now beg to 
 refer to our former statements and suggestions on this 
 subject. 
 
 In our report for 1870: "More especially do we 
 wish to denounce the cruel wrongs which the insane 
 suffer who are inmates of almshouses. These institu 
 tions are generally wholly unsuitable for their care or 
 even detention ; or, if suitable, are presided over by 
 persons who are entirely ignorant of the needs of this 
 class of the sick and infirm, and whose administration 
 is based on the crudest ideas of mental disease ; it is 
 limited to the discovery of the most available methods 
 of preventing them from harming anything or any 
 person but themselves. We could instance the most 
 glaring abuses, not as we believe intentionally inflicted, 
 but the result of incapacity and ignorance. The time 
 has gone by when a disturbed imagination or a disor 
 dered intellect should be held to have converted its 
 human victim into a distempered brute, whose home 
 should be akin to the sty or the stable, and whose 
 lightest restraint should be perpetual incarceration 
 within the limits of a cell. These wrongs demand 
 
 o 
 
 prompt redress. No hospital for the insane should 
 remain without the constant supervision of a medical 
 superintendent. The stewards of almshouses are 
 never selected from any consideration of the needs of 
 the insane." 
 
 The report was also accompanied with the following 
 formal resolutions of the board : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Board of Public Charities, having 
 witnessed the evils which result from the connection of 
 insane asylums with almshouses, and believing that a 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 267 
 
 wrong is done to the insane by classing them with 
 paupers, hindering the public from estimating aright 
 their claims to sympathy and remedial treatment, dis 
 approve of such an alliance, and believe that the best 
 interests of this afflicted class of people and the duty 
 of the State, concur in the establishment by the State, 
 within a reasonable time, of sufficient accommodations 
 for the maintenance and treatment of all the insane 
 who may not be cared for in private hospitals. 
 
 "Resolved, That in the judgment of the board all 
 superintendents of hospitals of the insane should be 
 members of the medical profession." 
 
 In [871 the following from our general agent was 
 laid before the legislature : 
 
 "In some of our prisons cases of insanity are found 
 which ought to be transferred to hospitals established 
 for the maintenance and treatment of this class of 
 persons. In the course of my inspection of these 
 institutions, as will be seen by a reference to my 
 report, instances of this character have been noticed. 
 It occasionally happens that insane persons have to be, 
 at least temporarily, committed to a prison ; but few 
 cases can arise where this necessity exists for any great 
 length of time. If they have been arrested for a 
 crime, the law has made ample provision for a proper 
 disposition of them without a protracted confinement 
 in a county jail, and the sooner they are removed there 
 from the better, whether their incarceration is the 
 result of crime or merely for the purpose of safe-keep 
 ing. All the better feelings of humanity, as well as a 
 sound philanthropy, concur in this sentiment. 
 
 "Among the various defects in our poor-houses 
 
268 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 none are to be more deplored than that which relates 
 to the provision made for the insane. Scarcely one 
 can be mentioned which is not deficient in this partic 
 ular. The sexes, as the custom is in the other depart 
 ments, are frequently allowed to mingle together; few 
 have suitable accommodations for their comfort, and 
 even in the best of them there is a lack of sufficient 
 attendance. New buildings have been erected in 
 several counties with a view to increased facilities for 
 the support of this class, but even here, in some cases, 
 persons have been selected who have no experience 
 and but little qualification for the duties to which they 
 have been assigned. 
 
 " The attention which I have given to this grave 
 subject induces me to believe that all cases of an acute 
 character should be placed in one of the public institu 
 tions which have been established in the State, city, or 
 county, with a view to their treatment. To place a 
 recent case where no suitable medical treatment or 
 other proper attendance can be had, is either simply to 
 leave it to nature or facilitate its passage into a chronic 
 condition. To render an institution suitable for the 
 successful management of such cases, nearly all the 
 means essential for such a purpose are wanting. A 
 proper construction of the building, where a favorable 
 classification of the inmates can be maintained; where 
 all the modern improvements for in-door comforts and 
 amusements and out-door exercise and recreation, and 
 where competent medical and other attendance can 
 always be procured, are necessary to attain the great 
 object in view a restoration to health and a sound 
 mind. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 269 
 
 " For the most part all that can be expected in our 
 county almshouses is to secure such provision for the 
 chronic and incurable insane as will meet the demands 
 of a Christian humanity. To confine them in close 
 and badly-ventilated apartments, with scarcely any of 
 the comforts which an enlightened philanthropy would 
 suggest a condition in which they are too often 
 found manifests such a failure of duty as to bring 
 odium and shame upon the civilization of the age. 
 
 " In New York, a State institution was established in 
 1865, under the name of the Willarcl Asylum for the 
 Insane, for the reception, care, and treatment of the 
 chronic insane poor, who were then provided for in the 
 several county poor-houses in the State. This institu 
 tion is reported to be in successful operation. Whether 
 the plan of separating this class of insane from the more 
 acute and hopeful cases, and keeping them in different 
 institutions, is best adapted to the successful treatment 
 of the insane population, is a question much discussed 
 among experts of the present day. The medical su 
 perintendents of our insane hospitals, after a full and 
 able discussion of the subject, came to the conclusion 
 that such a classification would be detrimental to the 
 interests of both classes. With such able authority 
 against such a measure, I am not prepared to endorse 
 the action of the New York Legislature, but prefer to 
 leave the subject for further experience, and the candid 
 consideration of philanthopists." 
 
 As to the statistics in regard to this class of un 
 fortunates, this board hereby renews the offer made 
 last year: "We are prepared, upon a call of either 
 branch of the legislature, to report upon the whole 
 
270 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 subject, stating the numbers and condition of this class, 
 how they are circumstanced, what proportion are prob 
 ably chronic and what curable cases, what additional 
 accommodations are needed, and, if required, a scheme 
 for realizing the demand which is made upon the State 
 for the complete fulfillment of. this imperative duty." 
 
 But as to the number of helpless sufferers, these de 
 pendent wards of the State, we may say beforehand, 
 and without reference to statistics, that, if the number 
 is some thousands, their moral claim upon the State, as 
 a matter of simple duty on her part, is multiplied so 
 many thousand fold ; and if the number is small, there 
 is the less excuse for shrinking from the performance of 
 that duty for making proper and complete provision 
 for the care and treatment of them all. 
 
 If these persons are to be allowed to live among us, 
 if they are not to be left, some to starve and perish, 
 and others to spread their mischief far and wide, it is 
 for the interest of the State that public provision should 
 be made for their detention and maintenance ; and if 
 they are to be detained and supported at the public 
 expense, it is for the interest the palpable pecuniary 
 interest of the State that they should have appropri 
 ate and comfortable accommodations, kind supervision, 
 and the most patient and skillful curative treatment. 
 This may be demonstrated in a few words. We may 
 take two facts as well ascertained, and we believe they 
 are admitted without a dissenting voice, first, that under 
 care and skillful treatment, as in our best hospitals, 
 about seventy-five per cent, of recent cases of insanity 
 will be cured in the first six or twelve months ; second, 
 in poor-houses not more than seven per cent, will be 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 271 
 
 cured in the first year. Assuming these premises, and 
 making the expense of each patient in the hospital 
 twice what it would be in the almshouse, the gain in the 
 first instance, under hospital treatment, is simply enor 
 mous. But this is not all. There are likely to be more 
 cures afterwards under the skillful treatment than under 
 the other. But suppose there were not, and that all the 
 remaining cases were incurable, there would remain, 
 on one side, ninety-three incurables to be maintained 
 for life, and, on the other, twenty-five; and if the ratio 
 of expense were still double, the result would be in 
 favor of hospital treatment as fifty tJ ninety-three. 
 That is to say, the latter method would be a continual 
 saving to the State for many subsequent years of more 
 than forty-six per cent, per annum. Nor is this all. 
 It must be remembered that the greater part of the 
 insane poor owe their poverty to their insanity, and 
 not their insanity to their poverty ; and that, in losing 
 their power to support themselves, they have lost, also, 
 in a very large proportion of cases, the power to sup 
 port families more or less numerous, who thus become 
 dependent upon the public for their maintenance. The 
 restored maniac resumes not only the enjoyment of a 
 man s consciousness but of a man s activity the power 
 of self-support ; and not only of this, but of support 
 ing by his industry those dependent upon him ; and 
 every man who, by his enterprise, skill, and labor, sup 
 ports himself and family, contributes also to the support 
 of other men and their families. Such are the eco 
 nomical advantages accruing to the State from a proper 
 treatment of the insane, poor and their consequent 
 restoration to mental health. 
 
272 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 But these unfortunate persons have claims upon the 
 State higher far than mere considerations of economy. 
 They are her wards, and she is bound by the dictates 
 of simple justice and imperative duty to secure to 
 them that humane, watchful, and patient care, and that 
 skillful treatment which will give the best promise of 
 their speedy restoration. If she choose to put them 
 out of the way, like noxious beasts, or to let them alone 
 to starve and die, she might say that charity and philan 
 thropy were no part of her mission, and ask who made 
 her their keeper. But when she has laid her hand 
 upon them, put them in places of restraint and deten 
 tion, and taken control and charge of them, she has 
 made herself their keeper, and has bound herself so to 
 treat them as shall most conduce to their future well- 
 being as well as to her own. 
 
 As to their actual condition in our county poor- 
 houses or prisons, we do not propose to weary the 
 patience or offend the sensibilities of the honorable 
 members of the legislature by the renewed recital of 
 the more than three-times-thrice-told tale of the woes 
 and sufferings of this sorely-stricken class of our fel 
 low-citizens. That the story, with all its touching and 
 terrible details, ranging from the intensely sad to the 
 unspeakably horrible, should have been so often re 
 peated, and yet the evil remain to so large a degree 
 unremediecl, instead of exciting our impatience, should 
 rouse our shame, and provoke us to immediate and 
 energetic action. The story can never grow old or 
 worn, as long as the subject-matter itself remains a 
 fresh and living reality. There is but one voice in this 
 case. No intelligent person has ever made a general 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 273 
 
 visitation of the prisons and almshouses of this State 
 without being startled and almost overwhelmed by the 
 forlorn and hopeless, and sometimes horrible, condition 
 of their insane inmates. Those who some years since 
 made a similar visitation in the State of New York, 
 pronounced their condition "deplorable," and that State 
 forthwith determined to apply an effectual remedy. 
 The impression made upon this board by similar visit 
 ations in our own State, have been laid before the 
 legislature in our reports from year to year. The 
 shocking and sickening revelations, so graphically set 
 forth in the memorial of Miss Dix, presented to the 
 legislature of 1845, are not Y et obsolete. There have 
 been some improvements since made in some of these 
 places. In the Philadelphia almshouse, since then, 
 there has been a great reform ; and in several other 
 counties, well-constructed hospitals for the sick and 
 insane have heen built ; but, with one or two excep 
 tions, there is no special medical supervision or paid 
 attendance at all. But in most parts of the State that 
 condition remains now substantially the same as then. 
 Indeed, without a total revolution of the system, it is 
 impossible greatly to improve it. There may be grave 
 faults in the management in these poor-houses, some 
 of which might be remedied, and others are probably 
 incapable of remedy ; but the great cause, the funda 
 mental cause of the evil, is in the system itself. If the 
 administration was made as perfect as human infirmity 
 allows, if the best superintendents or wardens and the 
 most faithful attendants were secured, while the evil 
 might be mitigated, it would remain substantially the 
 same, until the system itself is changed. The remedy 
 is not reform, but revolution. 
 
274 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 We take leave to insert here the report made in the 
 course of the present year by a member of this board, 
 of his personal inspection of one of our county poor- 
 houses: 
 
 " With respect to the strictly pauper department of 
 this almshouse, it bore a resemblance to other estab 
 lishments. There was a scene of listless idleness and 
 uselessness, without any superintending care. My 
 attention was particularly directed by the general agent 
 to the hospital for the insane, which was a separate 
 building, upon the same ground with the other depart 
 ments of the almshouse. I found these inmates suffer 
 ing for the want of almost every attention and con 
 sideration which are necessary to make life, even to 
 the strong and hardy, tolerable. They have sufficient 
 food, such as it is, at stated intervals, and the cells they 
 occupy are furnished generally with a rough bed and 
 bed-clothes. These cells, too, are tolerably clean, for 
 the cleaning of an establishment such as this can be 
 done without much difficulty, because there is always a 
 sufficient number of paupers to do the work. Where 
 the insane patients are considered violent or even dis 
 agreeable, it often happens that their cells are either 
 neglected, or forcible measures are resorted to for the 
 purpose of overcoming their interference, while their 
 cells are being cleaned by the paupers. Though the 
 board had previously called the attention of the direct 
 ors of this institution to the imperfect ventilation of 
 the insane hospital, I found that even the means avail 
 able for correcting the cause of this complaint had been 
 very imperfectly attended to. The consequence was 
 that the atmosphere of most of the cells had become so 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 275 
 
 vitiated and offensive that any person accustomed to 
 the open air would necessarily have fainted upon re 
 maining within the apartment for a moment of time. 
 The inmates seemed to have become used to this nox 
 ious atmosphere, and they did not complain of it. On 
 the contrary, the only complaint on their part was that 
 made by an old woman, when her window was lowered 
 a little to admit the fresh air. 
 
 "The responsibility for this chronic neglect of these 
 classes begins with the public and ends with the hum 
 blest attendant of the institution. So lost to all sense 
 of decency have the insane of this hospital become, by 
 reason of the failure on the part of those in authority 
 to encourage a proper appreciation of self-respect 
 among the inmates, that their habits are precisely like 
 those of a brute. Consequently many of them are 
 kept naked in their cells, from which they are drawn 
 out each morning to be cleaned and their rooms put 
 in order. The filthiest part of the litter for their 
 bedding consists wholly of straw is then removed 
 and its place supplied with a similar quantity of the 
 fresh material, when they are returned to their disgust 
 ing dens, there to pass another period of solitary 
 wretchedness in an atmosphere whose odor exceeds 
 in offensiveness anything which the imagination can 
 conceive. Through the gradual enfeebling of the 
 
 o o o 
 
 higher attributes of their natures, some of these people 
 come to be regarded by the other inmates as mere 
 animals, and the young girls of the establishment look 
 upon these naked men simply as they would look upon 
 a horse or a hog. I am told that frequently two of the 
 young female inmates of this insane hospital are called 
 
276 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 upon to clean these men each morning as they are 
 drawn out from their cells." 
 
 The following statement of the condition of the in 
 sane in another poor-house, is given on the well- 
 sustained authority of another member of the board: 
 
 " In February last, a visit was paid this almshouse, 
 and an insane inmate was seen, a young woman over 
 twenty years of age, whose whole dress consisted of a 
 thin chemise with short sleeves, a single skirt, and a 
 pair of shoes. When brought before the visitors a 
 borrowed cloak was thrown over her shoulders. She 
 was blue with cold and utterly filthy in person. Her 
 cell had the appearance of having undergone a recent 
 hasty washing, but was pervaded with an odor loath 
 some in the extreme. On the day of this visit the 
 thermometer fell to fourteen degrees. 
 
 " In March another visit was paid to the institution 
 by several gentlemen in a body. Only one portion of 
 the building was visited, which is supposed to be de 
 voted exclusively to women. In one cell was a young 
 woman, the one already referred to. Her cell was 
 without any furniture whatever, her bed consisted of 
 one blanket, her clothing a ragged chemise open to her 
 waist, and one scanty skirt and a pair of shoes. She 
 was indescribably unclean, and alive with vermin. Her 
 cell reeked with a sickening odor, the result of a total 
 absence of all conveniences of cleanliness. She 
 shivered with cold, while in the presence of her visitors, 
 the thermometer standing, at the time, several degrees 
 below the freezing point. 
 
 "Opposite to the cell, which We have very faintly 
 described, was another. The short day had already 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 277 
 
 faded into dusk, and as the light was thrown through 
 a little aperture in the door, it fell upon two wretched 
 women, both of whom were absolutely without a single 
 garment to cover them. One of the poor creatures 
 sat crouching- in the corner with a small blanket drawn 
 
 o 
 
 across her shoulders, while the other was crawling on 
 all fours on the floor, without even this poor apology 
 of any remnant of human decency ! There was not 
 a particle of furniture in the cell ; and there, on this 
 wintry March night, in an atmosphere which the wit 
 nesses declare to have been utterly horrible, were 
 these two human beings, brought down far below the 
 level of our domestic brutes. 
 
 " In an adjoining cell the visitors found a man lying 
 on an old mattress, the only sign of furniture which 
 they saw in either of the rooms inspected. They 
 were informed that the inmate was a woman, but upon 
 one of the gentlemen calling to him, he sat up, and it 
 was seen that it was a man. The attendant, with some 
 confusion, explained that he must have been brought 
 in while he was away. 
 
 " We found the female insane department in a shock 
 ing condition ; so bad that it would be impossible to 
 give a description of the place on paper. In some 
 cells there were two or more women confined, some 
 without any clothing, lying on the floor without mat 
 tress, carpet, or anything else, except an old .Govern 
 ment blanket. The place had a horrible, putrid odor. 
 
 "We examined one woman who was quite young. I 
 was afraid to go near her, as she seemed covered with 
 vermin. We were all much shocked by the visit, and 
 I think I shall remember it as long as I live." 
 
278 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 And the general agent reports the following amongst 
 many similar instances of abuses and neglect in the 
 same establishments : 
 
 " Insane totally neglected morally, physically, and 
 medically ; less attention is given to them than would 
 be given to the lowest animals ; four are, incapable of 
 self-care, confined in filthy cells ; one, a female, has 
 great neighborhood notoriety, from sad incidents con 
 nected with her history ; known as an intelligent, 
 esteemed, and attractive young lady, the daughter of 
 a well-known inhabitant of the neighborhood, she fell 
 a victim to the arts of the seducer. Insanity is alleged 
 to be caused by her disappointment. This occurred 
 twenty-one years ago. The sad case is rendered still 
 more painful by her present forlorn condition. A bed 
 of straw upon a damp, dirty floor, into which the ex 
 ternal light can find no entrance, is the only furniture. 
 A seat, a chair, or a bench, has apparently never been 
 furnished ; the consequence of which is, that the mus 
 cles of the lower extremities, from the cramped posi 
 tion in which she was always found, have become 
 permanently contracted, so that the only movement of 
 which she is capable is one similar to that of a frog." 
 
 "An unusually large number of insane, many of 
 chronic form, but quite a number of strongly-marked 
 cases, who were confined and had been chained to the 
 floor until released by my direction. A young girl of 
 seventeen years of age, confined in a gloomy cell, 
 since removed, by my request, to the State hospital, 
 where she is gradually being restored." 
 
 " Twenty-two insane, twelve are kept in close con 
 finement, some in chains ; one always chained to the 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 279 
 
 ceiling to prevent him from tearing his clothes ; some 
 entirely nude ; at least six with straw litters ; not one 
 of the twelve was ever removed into the open air. All 
 confined in apartments opposite each other, a narrow 
 corridor extending between them. The effect of this 
 close proximity was to make the day and night hideous 
 with the distressing shrieks and yells of the wretched 
 and maltreated madmen. 
 
 " Eight insane, one of whom hand-cuffed, one hop 
 pled ; one female confined to her room." 
 
 "One hundred and thirty-five inmates, four blind, one 
 palsied, seven idiots ; seven cells in the basement, with 
 insane in each, in a revolting condition." 
 
 " Twenty insane ; of these about eight were confined, 
 not to their uncomfortable cells only, but restrained by 
 iron fetters, long after the necessity had passed away. 
 These were removed at my instigation, and the doors 
 of their cells were opened, to give them the benefit of 
 the open air and exercise, with decided improvement 
 in their condition." 
 
 There are two difficulties in the way of checking 
 these and similar abominations : one is the unwilling 
 ness of the directors of the poor to make expenditures 
 for the comfort and well-being of the classes committed 
 to their charge. They employ a steward, whose prin 
 cipal requisite, is that he shall be a good farmer, and 
 whose attention must be given mainly to the farm of 
 the institution, which may be, in extent, from one hun 
 dred to four hundred acres. As a consequence, the 
 care and supervision of the human beings over whom 
 this " steward " is placed are lost sight of, to a great 
 degree, in the apparently more important business of 
 
280 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 the farm, and are generally committed to the oversight 
 of the paupers themselves. This is one evil. The 
 other is apparent in the very unsuitable arrangement 
 and construction in which the most helpless inmates 
 we mean the insane are placed. In these structures 
 it is a rare thing to find the sexes at all adequately 
 separated, and, generally, they have no airing grounds, 
 or even yards, to which the patients can repair and 
 refresh themselves during the day. Therefore they 
 must remain in seclusion within their cells, from the 
 beginning to the end of the year, existing in an atmos 
 phere of great impurity, and constantly deteriorating 
 in their mental and physical condition. 
 
 In order to make the work of the board effective, a 
 certain amount of executive power should be granted 
 to it, as has recently been conferred upon the New 
 York Board of Public Charities by the legislature of 
 that State. The public seem to be satisfied with houses 
 of detention. To get the various classes of unfortu 
 nates out of sight seems to be the main object. The 
 consequence is, that, as a general rule, the prison is 
 better than the poor-house as a receptacle for the 
 insane. 
 
 We may lay it down as a principle, at length become 
 too plain to be controverted, indeed, as a point admit 
 ted on all hands, that poor-houses are not, and cannot 
 be made, fit places for the care and treatment of the 
 insane. That they may receive proper treatment with 
 any hope of recovery, they must be placed in hospitals 
 or asylums, especially constructed and fitted up for 
 their accommodation, with cheerful scenes within and 
 cheerful scenery around, with skilled medical supervi- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 281 
 
 sion and carefully selected and well-trained attendants; 
 none of which conditions can be commanded in, or in 
 connection with, an ordinary county poor-house. In 
 connection with so large an establishment as the Phila 
 delphia almshouse, where are gathered nearly one-half 
 of all the pauper population of the State, a separate 
 hospital of the required character may be provided and 
 supported ; and we commend the humane and earnest 
 spirit which is engaged in two or three of the larger 
 communities, as, for instance, Berks and Lancaster 
 counties, in making adequate provision for their in 
 sane. But in connection with the smaller almshouses 
 of the several counties, and still more in connection 
 with the township arrangements for the care of the 
 poor, such separate hospital accommodations are out 
 of the question. They will never be established, and, 
 if they were, they could not be maintained. 
 
 It will naturally be asked here, whether the State has 
 not already established one or more general hospitals 
 for the care of the insane, with a view to meeting this 
 precise difficulty ? She has ; and established them, 
 professedly, for this very class of the insane whose 
 case we are now considering, for the insane poor, the 
 insane who had been or are liable to be orathered into 
 
 o 
 
 the almshouses, or sent for safe-keeping to the prisons, 
 in the several counties. The State has established 
 these hospitals at no little expense ; but a very small 
 percentage of the " poor " insane are now in them ; the 
 great mass still remain in their former wretched, forlorn, 
 and hopeless quarters, a spectacle of misery or a butt 
 of derision ; and an element of disturbance and irrita 
 tion to the rest of the inmates. To the hospital at 
 
282 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 Harrisburg there were committed by the public authori 
 ties and courts during the year 1872, sixty-one poor 
 patients ; and one hundred and thirty-eight " paying " 
 patients were sent there by "friends." And of the 
 four hundred and eight remaining on December 3ist, 
 1872, there were one hundred and seventy-nine sup 
 ported by " public authorities," and two hundred and 
 twenty-nine by " friends of patients." Again, of the 
 one hundred and sixteen patients committed to this 
 hospital during the nine months ending September 
 30 th, 1873, eighty-four were "paying" and only thirty- 
 two public or indigent insane patients. 
 
 Now it is manifest from the memoral of Miss Dix, 
 in response to which the State hospital was estab 
 lished, and by the express words of the law of 1845, 
 coeval with its establishment, that the original design 
 of the hospital was what that of any such hospital 
 ought, in all reason, to be, to provide for the insane 
 poor. 
 
 The law, section twenty-five, declares that, in order of 
 admission the "poor" shall have precedence of the 
 "rich," defined throughout the act "paying patients," and 
 while the finances of the State do not permit ample pro 
 vision for all cases of insanity, recent cases shall have 
 precedence over cases of long standing. If, under this 
 law, the whole capacity of the hospital were devoted to 
 the " poor," no objection, perhaps, could be made to 
 sending away the incurable, after a reasonable period of 
 trial, to make room for recent cases; although it does 
 not appear that such was the intention of the law, 
 which seems to have merely laid down a " rule " to 
 govern the order of admission to vacancies as they 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 283 
 
 should be found to exist. But how should it happen 
 that a majority of the inmates of this State institution 
 should be " paying patients "? 
 
 How happens it that during the year 1872 sixty- 
 nine per cent, of the patients admitted were paying 
 patients, and only thirty-one per cent, public patients, 
 and of those admitted during the nine months ending 
 September 3Oth, 1873, the paying patients should in 
 crease to seventy-two per cent., with corresponding re 
 duction of public patients to twenty-eight per cent.? 
 Again, that at the close of the year 1872, this hospital 
 should be occupied with fifty-five per cent, of paying 
 patients, and at the end of September 3Oth, 1873, with 
 fifty-six per cent, of the same class ? 
 
 It is said that the incurables are sent away to make 
 room for recent cases. But upon what authority ? 
 And, besides, if those sent to the hospital by their 
 friends are recent and curable cases, in a larger pro 
 portion than the others, how comes it that a smaller 
 percentage of these are discharged during the year? 
 Or, if they are incurable in a large proportion than 
 those committed by the public authorities, why are they 
 not sent away in still greater proportion than the 
 others, instead of being discharged in still less propor 
 tion ? Or, rather, why are they not all sent away ; or 
 rather kept away, as long as any of the others remain 
 unprovided for? We understand that, as a general 
 rule, those committed to this hospital by the county 
 authorities, if not " speedily " cured, are sent back to 
 the helpless and hopeless life-doom of the poor-houses. 
 On the other hand, it is evident that " paying " patients 
 may stay as long, apparently, as their comfort and the 
 
284 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 convenience of their friends require, and their means 
 suffice for their support. Now we cannot but regard 
 all this as a gross public wrong. The State has erect 
 ed hospitals, not for the "rich" but for the "poor;" 
 or, for the rich, only when the poor should all be pro 
 vided for. There is no need, even if it were right, 
 that the State should erect hospitals at the public ex 
 pense and out of the public taxes, for the accommoda 
 tion of the rich ; they can or they will provide hospitals 
 for themselves, including persons of moderate means 
 as well as of considerable wealth. We maintain that 
 the entire capacity of the State hospitals should be ap 
 propriated to the poor patients, before any such are 
 refused admission or sent away under any pretext 
 whatever. The hospital at Dixmont, though a private 
 charitable corporation, and only aided by the State, 
 comes much nearer to our idea of the duty and the in 
 tention of the State in this regard than that at Harris- 
 burg. At the former, there remained, at the close of 
 the year 1872, only one hundred and seventeen private 
 patients out of a total of four hundred and forty-six ; 
 and on September 3Oth, 1873, only 23.89 per cent, of 
 "paying" patients, or one hundred and eight out of a 
 total of four hundred and fifty-two. 
 
 And again, of the one hundred and sixteen patients 
 received into the State hospital, at Harrisburg, during 
 the nine months ending September 3Oth, 1873, eighty- 
 four, or nearly three-fourths, were "paying" patients; 
 while for the same period out of one hundred and 
 seventy-three patients admitted to the hospital at Dix 
 mont, only seventy-two, or about two-fifths, were "pay 
 ing" patients. In other words, 30.79 per cent, more 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 285 
 
 private patients were received into the State hospital for 
 the " insane poor," at Harrisburg, than into the- private 
 hospital for the insane (aided by the State) at Dixmont. 
 
 It may be said, and perhaps with truth, that in many 
 cases the friends of insane patients who can furnish the 
 smaller sum required at the State hospital for their 
 support would not be able to meet the heavier charges 
 of a private asylum ; and that, therefore, such insane 
 patients must be thus admitted at the hospital or sent 
 to the poor-house. This idea seems highly plausible 
 and might at first receive favor from inconsiderate 
 persons. But upon reflection it clearly appears un 
 sound in theory; and upon experience it proves highly 
 objectionable. If these patients are poor why should 
 precisely this class of poor patients have precedence 
 of those who are still poorer? And if they are rich, 
 as by the terms of the statute all " paying " patients 
 are, then the law expressly gives the poor the preced 
 ence over them. Besides all these middle measures of 
 giving public aid to the poor are found in practice to 
 be dangerous and liable to great abuses on the part 
 both of the recipients and the almoners of the public 
 bounty. This case has proved itself in our judgment 
 no exception to the general rule. 
 
 It may be suggested that it has been thought well to 
 have some paying patients in order to give respecta 
 bility to the institution. 
 
 We can scarcely listen to the suggestion with pa 
 tience or answer it with calmness. If all the poor were 
 already provided for and accommodated the suggestion 
 might pass, although we should not make it. We 
 should never propose that the State should tax herself 
 
286 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 to furnish hospital accommodations to the rich in any 
 case, whether by way of gratuity or of profitable 
 speculation. But that is not the case. The poor are 
 not all enjoying the care and treatment of the hos 
 pitals ; and shall they by the hundred and the thousand 
 continue to languish into idiocy or rave out their mis 
 erable lives in the cells of prisons with malefactors and 
 felons, or in the more foul and wretched and hopeless 
 receptacles of county poor-houses, in order that the 
 hospital, which receives a few score of them, may be 
 respectable, and its superintendents and officers may 
 not find themselves in charge of an institution of mere 
 paupers ? 
 
 But, finally, it may be said, as a partial explanation 
 of the great comparative rapidity with which the poor 
 who are committed to the hospital are sent away, that 
 a large part of them those committed by the courts 
 are persons charged with crime who have been ac 
 quitted on the ground of insanity. Under the present 
 law this explanation must to a certain extent be 
 accepted; but as these persons do not fall under the 
 general class of the insane now under consideration, 
 viz., those who have done no harm and are free from 
 any charge of crime, their case is reserved for con 
 sideration in the sequel. 
 
 In the class of harmless insane we include, it will be 
 remembered, all those who are legally charged with no 
 acts of mischief, violence, or crime; as well, therefore, 
 those from whom such acts may be apprehended as 
 those who, from their apparently gentle and inoffensive 
 habits, are the objects of no such fear. Whether there 
 be any of the insane so entirely harmless that they 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 287 
 
 can be trusted with absolute confidence, needing no 
 special watch or restraint, some have doubted, and we 
 need not decide or discuss the question ; for, in our 
 clear judgment, there is no good reason why those 
 who may need greater degrees of watchful care and 
 restraint should not be treated in the same establish 
 ments with those who may need less, especially as the 
 distinction is merely one of varying degrees. Even 
 those who exhibit the greatest developments of insane 
 cunning for mischief or are subject to the fiercest 
 paroxysms of violence or even of homicidal impulse, 
 may be kept, with proper classifications and internal 
 arrangements, in the same institution with patients of 
 the greatest gentleness and quietness of temper and 
 demeanor. At all events, the proper hospital, with its 
 more skillful superintendence and its more varied and 
 thorough appliances, is, of all others, precisely the 
 place for the former class ; for in poor-houses they can 
 scarcely be kept at all, except as wild beasts, and 
 prisons are not places to which justice or humanity can 
 doom the innocent and helpless madman, however vio 
 lent or dangerous. Yet are not such poor, defense 
 less unfortunates, if adjudged too dangerous to go at 
 large and pronounced not curable, habitually sent to 
 rave and rot in the foul dens of a poor-house or in the 
 dungeons of a prison, there to be classed with robbers 
 and murderers? 
 
 The importance of having the State hospitals for the 
 insane subjected in this and in other respects to the 
 supervision of some party not connected with the 
 immediate management, so that the rights of the 
 poor may be more surely, steadily, and systematically 
 
288 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 protected, we reserve for fuller consideration further on. 
 But we cannot omit to observe here, that the State 
 hospitals for the insane poor were not devised originally 
 at the suggestion of experts, but upon the pains-taking 
 investigations and earnest petitions of Miss Dix and 
 other benevolent persons ; and it is highly reasonable 
 that their management, particularly as regards the re 
 ceiving and discharging of patients, should be placed 
 under the visitorial power of disinterested parties, 
 concerned only in securing the good to be derived 
 from them for the defenseless insane poor. It is not 
 to be supposed, however, that, under any management, 
 sufficient provision has yet been made in our State hos 
 pitals for all the insane poor in the Commonwealth. 
 
 Such provision ought to be made with all possible 
 dispatch. To propose to make it is no wild or vision 
 ary or extravagant scheme. It can be made in Penn 
 sylvania as well as in New York. As we have already 
 shown, if we are to take care of the insane poor at 
 all at the public expense, the most economical method, 
 irrespective of the demands of humanity, is to gather 
 them into well-managed hospitals, instead of leaving 
 them to linger out a miserable existence, hopeless of 
 restoration, in prisons and poor-houses. 
 
 We proceed now to consider the case of the two 
 other classes of the insane. 
 
 II. Those who, while sane, have committed acts of 
 violence or crime, but have either 
 
 i. Become insane before arraignment, and so have 
 never been tried ; or, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 289 
 
 2. Have become insane after conviction insane 
 convicts. 
 
 III. Those who were insane at the time of commit 
 ting such acts, and who, therefore, have been acquitted 
 of crime on the ground of their insanity. These fall 
 into various sub-divisions to be mentioned hereafter. 
 
 The two classes (i) those who stand charged or con 
 victed of committing acts of violence or mischief while 
 sane ; and (2) those who, although charged with crime 
 for the commission of such acts, have been acquitted 
 on the ground of insanity at the time of their commis 
 sion, we place together, not to identify or confound 
 them under any such denomination as " criminal in 
 sane," but rather in order the more emphatically to 
 centra-distinguish them. 
 
 We begin with the case of the first of these classes ; 
 and the question is, what disposition is to be made of 
 the insane who stand charged with, or have been con 
 victed of, crime. And first of those who may, with 
 some propriety, be called " the criminal insane," i. e., 
 those who are charged with the commission of crime 
 while sane, but who have become insane before arraign 
 ment; and who, consequently, have never been con 
 victed or tried. Their case is a somewhat delicate one 
 in a legal as well as a moral point of view. According 
 to legal principles, it would seem that their detention 
 cannot be regarded as a punishment, for they are not 
 to be presumed guilty because they are charged with 
 crime, nor until they are found guilty upon trial and 
 proof; but in their present condition they are not 
 
290 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 capable of pleading, and, of course, cannot be put 
 upon their trial. Both as accused and as dangerous 
 persons, they may properly be kept under detention 
 and restraint ; but neither in fact nor in feeling are they 
 to be classed with felons or looked upon as tainted 
 with crime, or as suffering a penalty. The fact of their 
 present lunacy may be ascertained and established 
 without the intervention of a jury, by the court itself, 
 or by a commission appointed for the purpose ; but 
 their having committed the criminal acts laid to their 
 charge, and having committed them in a sound state of 
 mind, can be ascertained and determined only by the 
 intervention and verdict of a jury; and any investiga 
 tion or inquiry in that direction, instituted without such 
 intervention, and without a hearing of the defendant, 
 must necessarily be merely ex parte. And it is but the 
 natural course of things, when a poor, friendless man, 
 in his squalor and raggedness, is arraigned before a 
 court, under the charge of some atrocious crime, ac 
 companied by the confident allegation that, whatever 
 may be his present mental condition, he was sane up 
 to and at the time of the commission of the acts 
 charged against him it is but the natural course of 
 things, that such a man is easily believed and presumed 
 to be guilty ; and as society must at all events be pro 
 tected from his violence, whether sane or insane, he is 
 consigned, side by side, with the convicts and felons, to 
 the safe-keeping of a prison cell. 
 
 But surely this ought not to be so in all reason it 
 ought not to be so. The State owes it to her own self- 
 respect, to her own sense of justice, if not to her senti 
 ments of humanity, not to consign to the odium and 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 291 
 
 punishment of crime, one of her citizens whose guilt 
 has never been duly ascertained. What then shall be 
 done with such persons ? That is a serious question, 
 and we shall endeavor to answer it. But, for the 
 present, we only say, what is clear in the face of the 
 matter, that they ought not to be placed in prison, or 
 in any department of a prison ; and they ought to be 
 placed where they not only will be effectually restrained 
 from doing harm, but where they will have the best 
 curative treatment, and the best prospect of being re 
 stored from their fearful malady. 
 
 The case of insane convicts that is, of those who 
 become insane after conviction and while undergoing 
 the punishment of crime is different from the foregoing 
 in several important particulars. For these the ques 
 tion of guilt is presumed to have been duly ascertained, 
 and that they are suffering a just punishment, but in 
 the midst of it the mind loses its balance, and they 
 become lunatics. Supposing this point to be ascer 
 tained and admitted and the feigning of madness is 
 pretty easily detected then they are no longer re 
 sponsible beings ; they are no longer proper subjects 
 of prison discipline. It is utterly unreasonable and 
 unjust, as well as inhuman, to continue to inflict punish 
 ment on a maniac, who neither knows the reason, nor 
 the end, nor the idea of rightful punishment. It is 
 as absurd as to inflict indignities or violence upon the 
 dead body of a criminal ; it is even more malignant, for 
 the dead body has no sense of pain, but the maniac has. 
 
 Besides, the State owes it to these helpless beings, 
 who, while under her enforced control and guardian 
 ship, have been smitten down with the most terrible of 
 
292 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 maladies owes it to them as a mere matter of right, 
 to give them the most skillful and promising curative 
 treatment in her power, to save them, if possible, from 
 confirmed and permanent mania or imbecility. To 
 suffer a convict to become, from neglect, an incurable 
 lunatic is worse, unspeakably worse, than to dismiss 
 him, at the expiration of his sentence, bereft of sight 
 or hearing, or crippled by loss of limbs, or under some 
 chronic bodily disease, in consequence of a reckless 
 neglect of the proper medical care and treatment at 
 the proper time. These irremediable losses and dis 
 abilities formed no part of his sentence. 
 
 The State is bound, so far as she reasonably can, to 
 discharge the convict, at the close of his term of 
 punishment, in at least as good a condition mental, 
 moral, and physical as that in which she received him. 
 And, for failing in this, it will not do to seek an excuse 
 in the small number, or the unworthy character of 
 those who may suffer the wrong. The State, the very 
 fountain of justice, she who takes it upon herself to 
 punish wrongs, is bound to do no wrong even to one, 
 and that one the meanest and most undeserving of her 
 citizens. If there are but few convicts who need 
 surgical or medical treatment, whether for bodily or 
 mental diseases, so much the less excuse is there, at 
 least on the ground of economy, for neglecting them. 
 
 Nor is this all. Even of those who are strictly in 
 sane convicts in the legal sense, and it is of those only 
 we are now treating, i. e., of those who have been con 
 victed of crime, as having been sane both at the time 
 of the commission and the conviction, but being found 
 insane afterwards, even of these it would be easy to 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 293 
 
 show that by far the larger number were probably in 
 sane before conviction, and even at the time of the 
 commission of the alleged offense. It is the rich and 
 respectable offender, who has friends and money, who 
 can fee lawyers, who can procure and array a crowd of 
 witnesses in his behalf, who can protract his trial, clog 
 the wheels of justice, and make interest by his audacity- 
 it is he who too often escapes from merited punishment 
 under a mistaken verdict of insanity. But the poor 
 friendless man, who has been seized in some terrible 
 act of atrocity, though committed under the impulse of 
 actual insanity, is swiftly arraigned; and, having nobody 
 of any consideration or influence who personally cares 
 for him to stand by him or advise him ; without testi 
 mony, and, from his very unsoundness of mind, per 
 haps, neither caring nor knowing how to procure it; 
 the evidence against him ample and clear, his defense 
 provided by the court being merely professional and 
 perfunctory, and, of course, under such circumstances, 
 both hasty and imperfect, he is forthwith convicted and 
 sentenced to the penitentiary or the gallows. That 
 this is no fancy picture, but a familiar matter of fact, is 
 established by an abundance of proof. The uniform 
 testimony of those who have charge of jails and 
 penitentiaries is, that almost all the so-called insane 
 convicts under their charge were insane when brought 
 
 o o 
 
 to prison, and so were almost certainly insane when 
 tried, and probably so when they committed the 
 offenses for which they were convicted. 
 
 Dr. Compton, in charge of the State Lunatic Asy 
 lum of Mississippi, says : " My own experience with 
 insane criminals leads me to feel rather charitable 
 
294 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 towards them. I have had only three, and there have 
 been circumstances connected with each of these cases 
 which lead me to think they were insane before com 
 mitting the crime." 
 
 Of the eighteen prisoners reported insane in the 
 Eastern Penitentiary in 1852, the inspectors declare 
 that " three had been placed in the penitentiary for 
 safe-keeping only, and not for crime, and had already 
 been confined in its cells one nearly three, one over 
 three, and one over seven years ! Eleven of the re 
 maining fifteen were more or less insane when they 
 were received into the penitentiary, two of the others 
 became so a few months after, one a year, and one 
 about four years after his reception. It will thus be 
 seen that a large proportion were insane in a greater 
 or less degree when first sentenced to the penitentiary, 
 and all but one or two of the rest developed it shortly 
 after. The observation and experience of the inspect 
 ors have convinced them that the commission of crime 
 is more frequently connected with mental disease than 
 courts and juries (far less the public) suspect: hence 
 the necessity of a prompt removal of all, who are found 
 to be thus afflicted, to a place where proper treatment 
 may restore them to mental health, and, as a conse 
 quence, to moral rectitude." Nor did this state of 
 affairs cease at a later period. In their report for 
 1862, the inspectors repeat that "there are yearly 
 received into this penitentiary insane convicts, insane 
 or of diseased mental condition, on their admission." 
 And again, in 1863: " The inspectors again ask the 
 legislature to require the State Lunatic Asylum to take 
 insane convicts, or to make an appropriation for their 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 295 
 
 medical treatment in the penitentiary. When so many 
 convicts are known to be insane on reception into this 
 prison, this course is wise, humane, and necessary." 
 
 There are now about twenty of these " insane crimi 
 nals " in the two penitentiaries, all of whom, according 
 to the reports of the wardens, were insane or imbecile 
 when received there. We insert here the report of 
 Mr. Townsend, warden of the Eastern Penitentiary, 
 made on this subject in October last, and also that of 
 Captain Wrigkt, warden of the Western Penitentiary, 
 made on November 24th. 
 
 REPORT OF WARDEN TOWNSEND. 
 
 
 
 "E. S. PENITENTIARY, October 24th, 1873. 
 
 " To George L. Harrison, Esq., 
 
 11 President of the Board of State Charities, 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I sent you a list, some time ago, of 
 eleven persons confined in this penitentiary who were 
 more or less insane. Since that time one has died, 
 and one was pardoned by the governor of the State, 
 leaving now in confinement nine. The one who was 
 pardoned is now an inmate of an insane asylum. The 
 nine who remain were all noted on our physician s 
 book as insane , or mentally unsound at the time of 
 admission. One was sent here twenty-three years and 
 ten months ago, charged with assault and battery with 
 intent to kill, and sentenced, not for a term of years, 
 but for safe-keeping ; he is a harmless imbecile. One 
 was sent here from Luzerne county for ten years, on a 
 
296 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 charge of burglary and larceny. The object seemed 
 to be to rid the neighborhood of a troublesome fellow. 
 One sent from Northampton county for ten years on 
 charge of rape. One from Bradford county, charged 
 with child-murder, holding his own child under water, 
 to see the effect of it, thus proving the insanity of the 
 act ; his sentence is twelve years. A woman from 
 Luzerne county, for shooting her husband, sentenced 
 to eleven years and eleven months. She is very crazy/ 
 and not a fit subject for penitentiary discipline. 
 
 " One woman on several charges of larceny, sen 
 tenced to nine years. This woman has been an inmate 
 of an insane asylum. One from Luzerne county, for 
 injury to railroad. He piled lumber on the road to 
 see how it would be scattered by the engine (a crazy 
 man s trick). One from Philadelphia, for aggravated 
 assault and battery, sentenced to seven years, very 
 weak-minded on admission, and easily provoked to 
 violence. One from Philadelphia, for wife-murder, 
 sentence ten years ; insane on admission. These in 
 dividuals have received such care and attention as we 
 were enabled to give them, but we have no accommo 
 dations for insane patients no rooms larger than the 
 ordinary cells. They have had such medical care as 
 our resident physician was able to give them, but we 
 have no suitable nurses, nor places for any. I consider 
 it very improper, very unkind, very cruel, to send in 
 sane persons to a jail or penitentiary. It is almost 
 certain to fasten the malady upon them, until it becomes 
 irremediable. A hospital, with hospital appliances, is 
 the only place for these poor stricken ones. 
 
 " I think that a hospital for the insane should not be 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 297 
 
 connected in any way with a prison, but be entirely 
 separate, and under separate administration. 
 
 " Could not a part of the Danville Asylum be thus 
 used ? 
 
 " Hoping these interrogatories are sufficiently an 
 swered, I remain, very truly and respectfully, thy friend, 
 
 "EDWARD TOWNSEND, 
 
 "Warden" 
 
 REPORT OF WARDEN WRIGHT. 
 
 " ALLEGHENY, PA., November 24th, 1873. 
 
 " Geo. L. If arris on, Esq., 
 
 " President of Board of Public Charities, 
 
 "DEAR SIR: In your letter of i7th of October, 
 you request that I give you my views on the subject of 
 the treatment of the criminal insane confined in peni 
 tentiaries and jails. 
 
 "The subject has often been referred to in the 
 annual reports of this penitentiary, and the inspectors, 
 in their report for 1844, say: If, in the present 
 pecuniary embarrassment of the Commonwealth, you 
 cannot erect and endow a State asylum for the insane, 
 we must urge upon you the propriety and necessity of 
 authorizing us to establish, within the prison walls, a 
 hospital for the reception of the limited number of 
 demented convicts which may unhappily come under 
 our supervision. The occurrence is rare that they 
 
298 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 become so after they enter the penitentiary ; but, in 
 many instances, they are sent here after the commission 
 of crime, because there is no other barrier to protect 
 society from their demoniac depredations. There is a 
 convict of this character now immured in one of our 
 cells, for such is the sentence of the law. He came 
 here in this lamentable condition. In the report for 
 1857 it is said, convicts are often sent here whose 
 proper destination should be the State Lunatic Hospi 
 tal. Why they are sent here, whether for the purpose 
 of supposed relief to the treasury of the county from 
 which they come ; from culpable ignorance of the law 
 regulating the State Lunatic Asylum, or from the 
 suggestion, flattering to us, that we will take good care 
 of them, and that society at large will be exempt from 
 the dangers incident to a too close proximity to mad 
 men ; it is a practice alike contrary to the policy of the 
 law and the dictates of humanity. 
 
 " I have thus far made up, as briefly as practicable, 
 from our own reports, evidence that insanity has proven 
 no bar to conviction and confinement in the peniten 
 tiary, and do not doubt further evidence could be 
 given showing that harmless imbecile prisoners have 
 been received and discharged without further record 
 than such as was given to other prisoners. 
 
 "As having a direct bearing upon the views expressed 
 in a former report, that prisons are often used as 
 asylums, the following extract from the report of the 
 warden of the Eastern Penitentiary, for the year 1871, 
 bears pertinent testimony: Men are frequently sent to 
 this penitentary who are not fit subjects for its discip 
 line. During the year four men were received who 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 299 
 
 were quite insane when admitted ; one in unsound 
 mind ; and four of weak intellect. One of these insane 
 prisoners died of tetanus, resulting from injuries inflicted 
 upon himself shortly after his reception, and another 
 committed suicide in one month after he came here. 
 Of the nine hundred and eleven confined in 1871, 
 twelve were insane when admitted; four of unsound 
 mind ; two feeble-minded, and thirty-six of weak in 
 tellect, bordering on idiocy. 
 
 " In the annual report of the Eastern Penitentiary 
 for 1872, it is stated that two hundred and twenty-six 
 convicts were received during the year, of whom one 
 was of unsound mind, four were weak-minded, fifteen 
 were dull, and two doubtful, making nearly ten per 
 cent, of impaired intellect. Of the two hundred and 
 seventeen convicts discharged, one insane died, two 
 were weak-minded, and thirteen were dull, being nearly 
 seven and a half per cent, of the discharged impaired 
 in intellect. 
 
 "Under the provisions of the act of 1852, four 
 prisoners were removed in -December, 1859, of whom 
 the physician of the prison states : It would be absurd 
 to assert that no case of insanity ever occurred in this 
 prison; but to show the probable effect of the discipline 
 in these cases, I will refer to their condition on admis 
 sion : No. 1419, general good health, but appears to 
 be of unsound mind ; circumstances had led to the 
 belief of insanity before he was brought to the prison. 
 No. 1485, general good health. No. 1987, good health, 
 but owing to his inability to speak English, his mental 
 condition was not recognized, but I now have no doubt 
 he was insane when admitted. No. 2094, insane/ 
 
300 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 One of the above-noted prisoners, No. 1485, was re 
 turned to the prison exactly three months after his 
 transfer to the hospital, of whom it is afterwards 
 entered that he died in the prison, insane, in January, 
 1862, after an imprisonment of ten years and nine 
 months. The physician notes in his official report, 
 upon his return here, he was decidedly insane. (Dix- 
 mont Hospital was not then open.) 
 
 " The physician s record of insane prisoners as given 
 to your board, and printed on page fourteen of report 
 for 1870, in brief, shows that one prisoner died in 1862 
 (previously noted as received in good health in 1851), 
 and seven others were received from 1863 to 1868; 
 five were sent to Dixmont by order of the governor, 
 and two were discharged insane. All were insane or 
 of feeble intellect when admitted. 
 
 " The physician notices eight cases of the various 
 forms of insanity under treatment in 1871, who are 
 stated to have been received insane ; four were trans 
 ferred from the Eastern Penitentiary ; one had been 
 in several insane asylums ; one when received was a 
 mental and physical wreck (since dead); one had been 
 held in jail a long time, owing to uncertainty, is still 
 confined, a complete imbecile ; one had been unsound 
 as to his mental health. He was sent to Dixmont, 
 where he remained for several years. None of the 
 cases originated in this prison. The report for 1872 
 contains further mention of the four cases remaining 
 over from the preceding year. 
 
 " The records of jails and other institutions within 
 the Commonwealth, if culled from the official reports 
 to your board, would furnish abundant evidence of 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 301 
 
 the need for a change in the present method of treat 
 ment of the criminal insane. 
 
 " I doubt not you will recommend some important 
 changes, and whether you favor the erection of a State 
 asylum for the criminal insane/ or endeavor to meet 
 the present exigency by procuring the setting apart of 
 a wing in one or more of the existing State lunatic 
 hospitals, I trust you will arrive at a satisfactory solu 
 tion of this important question, and submit a plan wise 
 in its details and ennobling in its humanity. 
 " Very respectfully, 
 
 " EDWARD S. WRIGHT, 
 
 " Warden" 
 
 We pass now to the consideration of the third class 
 of insane persons, viz., of those who, having committed 
 acts of violence or mischief, are acquitted of crime on 
 the ground of insanity. 
 
 Here we presume that those persons who commit 
 such acts under a partial aberration of mind or a 
 monomania or a sudden impulse, which did not destroy 
 or disable the power of rational moral judgment; or 
 under a temporary delirious excitement, resulting from 
 their own deliberate action, and the cause of which was 
 under their own control, as in a fit of intoxication, are 
 not to be regarded as properly insane, and should not 
 be acquitted of crime on that ground. But acts com 
 mitted in a state of proper insanity that is to say, 
 when the whole rational faculty is so deranged that the 
 moral judgment, the power of discrimination between 
 right and wrong, is, by the visitation of Providence, 
 utterly blotted out or partially paralyzed ; such acts, 
 
302 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 however destructive or atrocious, cannot, without great 
 impropriety and even absurdity, be denominated crimes; 
 and those who so commit them cannot be classed among 
 criminals. An "insane criminal" as an expression in 
 tended to describe a person as having committed a 
 crime while in a state of insanity, is a contradiction in 
 terms. 
 
 How the facts are to be ascertained in these cases 
 or what are the proper evidences, is not a point which 
 concerns us at present ; such questions belong to courts, 
 juries, and experts ; but if the facts have been ascer 
 tained and adjudicated ; if there is admitted to have 
 existed in the person arraigned such a general mental 
 derangement as obliterated the moral judgment, or any 
 other mania which involved the loss or subversion of 
 the moral judgment and control, in relation to those 
 acts to which the impulse or propensity points, whether 
 such be judged and found curable or incurable, and 
 whether the lunatic be adjudged dangerous or harm 
 less ; then such acts cannot be reckoned crimes, and 
 the person who has committed them cannot, without 
 gross injustice and inhumanity, be regarded or treated 
 as a criminal. And such is presumed to be the case 
 of all those who are acquitted of crime on the ground 
 of insanity. Yet, under our laws and the administra 
 tion of justice (!) in this Commonwealth, numbers of 
 these innocent and pitiable sufferers are so regarded 
 and treated, especially those who are tainted with the 
 sin of poverty as well as the crime of insanity. This 
 is, at the present moment, one of the foulest blots upon 
 the escutcheon of our State, a blot which, instead of 
 being in process of gradual effacement, has been made 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 303 
 
 darker and deeper by our more recent legislation. All 
 the improvement and tendency to improvement in this 
 respect which resulted and promised to result from the 
 just and merciful laws of 1845 an d 1852, have been re 
 tracted and reversed by the law of 1861. 
 
 The cases of insanity to which we now refer may be 
 variously classified; but the law fixes its attention 
 chiefly on that form of mania which is more or less 
 dangerous and requires more or less restraint for the 
 protection of the community as well as for the safety 
 of the patient. 
 
 And that the case may be brought clearly and in one 
 view under the eye of the members of the legislature, 
 we may be excused for here reciting somewhat at 
 large the present provisions of our laws on this subject 
 as they stand in the statute-book. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST CRIMINAL LUNATICS. 
 Act of 1836. 
 
 (At the time this act was passed there was no State hospital for the insane, 
 and for want of such institutions they were sent to the penitentiaries and jails.) 
 
 SECTION 58. In every case in which it shall be given 
 in evidence, upon the trial of any person charged with 
 any crime or misdemeanor, that such person was 
 insane at the time of the commission of such offense, 
 and such person shall be acquitted, the jury shall be 
 required to find specially whether such person was 
 insane at the time of the commission of such offense, 
 and to declare whether such person was acquitted by 
 them on the ground of such insanity, and if they shall 
 
304 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 so find and declare, the court before whom the trial 
 was had shall have power to order such persons to be 
 kept in strict custody, in such place and in such 
 manner as to the said court shall seem fit, at the 
 expense of the county in which the trial was had, so 
 long as such person shall continue to be of unsound 
 mind. 
 
 SEC. 59. The same proceedings may be had, if any 
 person indicted for an offense shall, upon arraign 
 ment, be found to be a lunatic by a jury lawfully im 
 paneled for the purpose ; or if upon the trial of any 
 person so indicted such person shall appear to the 
 jury, charged with such indictment, to be a lunatic ; in 
 which case, the court shall direct such finding to be re 
 corded, and may proceed as aforesaid. 
 
 SEC. 60. In every case in which any person, charged 
 with any offense, shall be brought before the court, to 
 be discharged for want of prosecution, and shall, by 
 the oath or affirmation of one or more credible persons, 
 appear to be insane, the court shall order the prosecu 
 ting attorney to send before the grand jury a written 
 allegation of such insanity, in the nature of a bill of 
 indictment, and thereupon the said grand jury shall 
 make inquiry into the case, as in cases of crime, and 
 make presentments of their finding to said court ; and 
 if said grand jury shall affirm said written allegation, 
 they shall endorse the same thereon, thereupon the 
 court shall order a jury to be impaneled to try the in 
 sanity of such person. But before a trial thereof be 
 ordered, the court shall direct notice thereof to be 
 given to the next of kin of such person, by publication 
 or otherwise, as the case may require. And if the jury 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 305 
 
 shall find such person to be insane, the like proceed 
 ings may be had as aforesaid. 
 
 SEC. 61. Provided, That if the kindred or friends of 
 any person, who may have been acquitted, as aforesaid, 
 on the ground of insanity, or in default of such, the 
 guardians, overseers, or supervisors of any county, 
 township, or place, shall give security in such amount 
 as shall be satisfactory to the court, with condition that 
 such lunatic shall be restrained from the commission of 
 any offense, by seclusion or otherwise ; in such case it 
 shall be lawful for the court to make an order for the 
 enlargement of such lunatic, and his delivery to his 
 kindred or friends ; or, as the case may be, to such 
 guardian, overseer, or supervisors. 
 
 Act April 1 4th, 1845. 
 
 SECTION 8. The admission of insane patients, from 
 the several counties of the Commonwealth, shall be in 
 the ratio of their insane population : Provided, That 
 each county shall be entitled to send at least one insane 
 patient. 
 
 SEC. 9. Indigent persons and paupers shall be 
 charged actual cost, &c., payable by counties. 
 
 SEC. 10. The courts of this Commonwealth shall 
 have power to commit to said asylum any person 
 who, having been charged with an offense punishable 
 by imprisonment or death, shall have been found to 
 have been insane in the manner now provided by 
 law, at the time the offense was committed, and who 
 still continues insane, and the expenses of said person, 
 
306 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 if in indigent circumstances, shall be paid by the 
 county, &c. 
 
 SEC. 12. The several constituted authorities having 
 
 o 
 
 care and charge of the poor of the respective counties, 
 districts, and townships, shall have authority to send to 
 the asylum, such insane paupers under their charge as 
 they may deem proper subjects, and they shall be 
 severally chargeable with the expenses of the care and 
 maintenance, and removal to and from the asylum of 
 such paupers. 
 
 SEC. 14. That if any person shall apply to any court 
 of record within this Commonwealth, having jurisdic 
 tion of offenses, which are punishable by imprisonment ) 
 for the term of ninety clays or longer, for the commit 
 ment to said asylum of any insane person within the 
 county in which such court has jurisdiction, it shall 
 be the duty of said court to inquire into the fact of in 
 sanity in the manner provided by law ; and if such court 
 shall be satisfied that such person is, by reason of in 
 sanity, unsafe to be at large, or if suffering any un 
 necessary duress or hardship, such court shall, on the 
 application aforesaid, commit such insane person to 
 said asylum. 
 
 SEC. 15. In the order of admission, the indigent 
 insane of this Commonwealth shall have always 
 precedence of the rich [in another place "paying 
 
 patients"], and recent cases shall have precedence 
 
 of those of long standing. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 307 
 
 Act May 4th, 1852. 
 
 Whenever, in the opinion of the inspectors of the 
 Eastern Penitentiary, any of the prisoners therein con 
 fined shall develop such marked insanity as to render 
 their continued confinement in said penitentiary im 
 proper, and their removal to the State Lunatic Hos 
 pital necessary to their restoration, it shall be the duty 
 of the said inspectors to submit such cases to a board 
 composed of the district attorney of the county of 
 Philadelphia, the principal physician of the Pennsyl 
 vania Hospital for the Insane, at Philadelphia, and the 
 principal physician of the Friends Insane Asylum, at 
 Frankford, in Philadelphia county, and in case a ma 
 jority of them cannot at any time when required attend, 
 a competent physician or physicians to be appointed 
 by the Court of Quarter Sessions of the County 
 of Philadelphia, in the place of such as cannot attend, 
 upon whose certificate of insanity or the certificate of 
 any two transmitted to the governor, and if by him 
 approved, he shall direct that said insane prisoners 
 shall be by said inspectors removed to the State 
 Lunatic Hospital, there to be kept and properly pro 
 vided for at the cost and charge of the county from 
 which they were sent to the penitentiary, and if at any 
 time during the period for which any such insane 
 prisoners shall have been sentenced to confinement in 
 the Eastern Penitentiary, they shall, in the opinion of 
 the trustees of said lunatic hospital, be so far restored 
 as to render their return to said penitentiary safe and 
 proper, then the said trustees shall cause the said 
 prisoner to be returned to the Eastern Penitentiary, 
 
308 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 due notice to be given to the clerk of the court of 
 quarter sessions of the county from which such 
 prisoners were sent to the penitentiary of all such 
 removals or transfers. 
 
 Act April 8th, 1861. 
 
 SECTION i. When application shall be made under the 
 fourteenth section of the act of April I4th, 1845, to which 
 this is supplementary, to any court of this Common 
 wealth, for the commitment of any person to the Penn 
 sylvania State Lunatic Hospital, it shall be lawful for 
 such court either to inquire into the fact of insanity in 
 a summary way, &c. ; and in all cases, it shall be lawful 
 for the several courts to use their discretion in sending 
 insane persons to said hospital, or cause them to be 
 confined elsewhere, as the said court may deem the 
 case to be curable or otherwise. 
 
 SEC. 2. No person shall hereafter be sent to the said 
 lunatic hospital, under the tenth section of act April 
 1 4th, 1 845, or any other law of this Commonwealth, who 
 shall have been charged with homicide, or having en 
 deavored or attempted to commit the same, or to com 
 mit any arson, rape, robbery, or burglary, and have 
 been acquitted of any such offenses on the ground of 
 insanity, or been proceeded against under the fifty- 
 ninth or sixtieth sections of the act of 1836 (see above), 
 where the court trying the same shall be satisfied that 
 it will be dangerous for such lunatic to be at large, on 
 account of having committed or attempted to commit 
 either of the crimes aforesaid; but such persons shall 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 309 
 
 be confined in a penitentiary or the prison of the 
 proper county. 
 
 SEC. 3. In every case where a lunatic has been or 
 shall be committed to said hospital, after an acquittal 
 of any crime on the ground of insanity, or after an in 
 vestigation in court under the fifty-ninth and sixtieth 
 sections of the act June i3th, 1836, or on account of its 
 being adjudged dangerous for such lunatic to be at 
 large ; and in all cases where any lunatic has been or 
 shall be removed from either of the penitentiaries, or 
 any prison of this Commonwealth, under the order of 
 a judge or of any court, it shall be lawful for the 
 trustees of said hospital, with the aid of the super 
 intending physician, to inquire carefully into the situa 
 tion of the lunatic, and if a majority of the board, 
 including the physician, shall be satisfied that there is 
 no reasonable prospect of a cure of the insanity being 
 effected by a retention of the lunatic in the hospital, 
 they shall, at the expense of the proper city or county, 
 cause him or her to be removed to the prison of the 
 proper county, or the penitentiary from which he or 
 she was sent. 
 
 Thus it appears that before 1845, before the erec 
 tion of a State lunatic hospital, (i) persons tried and 
 acquitted of crime on the ground of insanity, (2) per 
 sons indicted for an offense and found to be insane 
 when brought up for trial, and (3) persons charged 
 with some offense and brought before the court, to be 
 discharged for want of prosecution, but being found in 
 a state of lunacy provided they have no friends were 
 to be sent to the penitentiary, the county jail, or, if the 
 county authorities should give the required guarantees, 
 
310 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 to the county poor-house as the court should judge 
 most proper. 
 
 By the act of 1845 an d the establishment of the 
 State Lunatic Hospital, this state of things was at once 
 and in prospect greatly improved. This alleviation 
 was obtained upon the memorials of Miss Dix and 
 other philanthropic citizens, backed by the follow 
 ing representation from the judges of the criminal 
 courts : 
 
 The memorial of Miss Dix to the legislature, dated 
 February 3d, 1845, contains the following certificate 
 from members of the judiciary in relation to the im 
 prisonment of " insane criminals," Miss Dix prefacing 
 its introduction with this paragraph : 
 
 " Next, after private families and poor-houses, the 
 insane will be found in the jails and penitentiaries. 
 On this subject the opinion of some of your jurists has 
 been so explicitly declared, that I feel it but justice to 
 the cause to give this expression of their sentiments 
 place here." 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, March 5th, 1839. 
 
 " The want of an asylum for the insane poor often 
 occasions painful embarrassments to the courts when 
 the defense in the criminal charge is insanity fully sus 
 tained by proof. Although the jury may certify that 
 their acquittal is on that ground, and thus empower the 
 court to order the prisoner into close custody, yet that 
 custody can be in no other place than the common prisons, 
 places illy qualified for such a subject of incarceration. 
 We cannot doubt that the ends of justice would be 
 greatly promoted if such an asylum as the petitioners 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 311 
 
 contemplated were established with proper regulations, 
 and the courts were authorized to commit to it all per 
 sons acquitted of crimes on the ground of insanity. 
 
 "(Signed) EDWARD KING, 
 
 " ARCHIBALD RANDALL, 
 "J. RICHTER JONES, 
 
 " Judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions. 
 " JAMES TODD, 
 "J. BOUVIER, 
 "R. T. CONRAD, 
 " Judges of the Criminal Sessions. 
 
 " CALVIN BLYTHE, 
 "Judge of the Twelfth Judicial District." 
 
 Miss Dix adds: "It is believed that all the judges 
 of the courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
 having criminal jurisdiction, would coincide in the 
 above opinion." 
 
 But by the act of 1861, now in force, the benefits 
 which had been secured, or which it was hoped would 
 be secured, and which the judiciary thus earnestly de 
 sired might be secured, have been substantially anuulled 
 and frustrated ; for, as to the subsequent act of April 
 2Oth, 1869, an act intended to guard the commitment 
 to, and secure a proper discharge from, private hos 
 pitals, it will be seen immediately, that it simply pro 
 vides for the mode of procedure in one particular case, 
 viz., in discharging a person who has been acquitted of 
 crime on the ground of insanity, at the time of its com 
 mission, but who is alleged now to be sane. It pro 
 vides for his " confinement," and then prescribes how 
 the question of his sanity shall, before his discharge, 
 
312 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 be adjudicated. It is, in fact, legislation for the sane and 
 not for the insane. (See Judge Brewster s " opinion," 
 further on.) 
 
 Under the first section of this act (1861) a person, 
 a man or woman, though free from the taint or charge 
 of any crime whatever, having committed no act of vio 
 lence or mischief, a poor, pitiable, harmless lunatic, 
 may be sent to jail for indefinite incarceration ; and 
 if, upon summary examination, such person is thought 
 to be more probably incurable, it is more than suggest 
 ed to be the DUTY of the court to send him to prison. 
 And, if once sent there, his case is remediless, unless 
 he can get through the provision of section three, and 
 we shall see what probability there is of that. 
 
 Under the second section, no person charged with 
 committing or attempting to commit certain heinous 
 crimes, and acquitted of the charge on the ground of 
 insanity, shall, if the court judge it dangerous for him 
 to be at large, be sent to the hospital at all, but he shall 
 be confined in the penitentiary or the prison of the proper 
 county ; that is to say, the only option left to the court 
 is, either at once to discharge such a person and let 
 him go at large, or to commit him to a hopeless imprison 
 ment, hopeless, we say, unless he can run the gaunt 
 let of section three. 
 
 Under this third section and this is the key to the 
 right understanding of the present state of our whole 
 legislation on the subject any lunatic who, (i) upon trial, 
 has been acquitted of any crime whatever, and however 
 slight, or (2) who has been indicted for any offense, and 
 upon being brought up for trial has been found insane, 
 or (3) who, when brought up to be discharged for want 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 313 
 
 of prosecution, is found insane, or (4) who, though 
 never charged \v\ti\ any crime or any act of violence or 
 harm, has been adjudged dangerous if allowed to go 
 at large, any lunatic of either of these four classes, 
 who has thereupon been sent by the order of any 
 court to a State hospital for the insane, as well as 
 any lunatic (5) who, by the order of the governor, or 
 by any provision of law, has been removed from any 
 penitentiary or jail to the said hospital, may, upon, the 
 judgment of the trustees and superintending physician 
 of said hospital, that there is no reasonable prospect 
 of a cure of his insanity, be by them, and by their sole 
 and uncontrolled authority, consigned to a helpless 
 and hopeless imprisonment in the penitentiary or the 
 county jail. (Perhaps we ought to remark, by the way, 
 that the last words of the section, " from which he or 
 she was sent," may seem to confine the exercise of the 
 power of the hospital authorities to the fifth class of 
 persons before described ; but as in that case the four 
 other classes would have been enumerated in the 
 section without any enactment in regard to them, it is 
 presumed the act should be interpreted as extending 
 the same power of removing the parties from the hos 
 pital to prison, to all those four classes of cases also; 
 and so we believe it has always been interpreted. But 
 perhaps it is to the credit of those who drew the act 
 that there should be marks of haste in its composition.) 
 It is clear, however, that this act contains no authority 
 for sending any patients, however incurable, to the 
 county poor-houses ; they can be sent back only to the 
 prison or the penitentiary. 
 
 We must ask your indulgence, gentlemen of the 
 
31 4 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 legislature, if we find ourselves compelled to speak 
 harshly, or even disrespectfully, of the law of the land. 
 We are addressing legislators and not a jury. But 
 what a law is this ! Is it possible that the members of 
 our subsequent legislatures, is it possible that you, 
 gentlemen, have been fully aware of its extraordinary, 
 of its atrocious, provisions ? a law which, we are con 
 strained to say, in the terrible coolness of its barbarous 
 enactments, in its disregard not only of all the claims 
 of humanity and justice, but of the simplest civil rights 
 of every citizen, is, so far as we can find, without a 
 parallel in the legislation of any other State of this 
 Union, or of any Christian or civilized community in the 
 world. By this law, not only are persons, men and 
 women who are admitted and solemnly adjudged to be 
 innocent of all crime, men and women who have never 
 even been charged with any act of violence or harm, 
 liable to be hopelessly incarcerated, incarcerated pro 
 fessedly for life (for they are pronounced probably in 
 curable, and this is their only crime); incarcerated in the 
 common jail or the penitentiary, incarcerated in the 
 society of felons, incarcerated where they can have no 
 proper care or treatment ; not only this, but such per 
 sons liable to be so incarcerated, not upon the verdict 
 of a jury of their fellow-citizens, or the examination and 
 sentence of any court of justice, but upon the dictum 
 the sole, peremptory, uncontrolled, and irreversible 
 dictum of whom ? The dictum of the trustees and 
 superintending physician of a State hospital, a tribunal 
 unknown elsewhere to the Constitution and laws of 
 the State ; whose rescript overrides and reverses 
 the solemn sentences of all the criminal courts of the 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 315 
 
 Commonwealth, and holds, in respect to them, the char 
 acter of a judgment of a supreme court of errors and 
 appeals; and the appeal to this court is made by the 
 court itself, and even this is not all, but the court is the 
 party interested to be ricl of the care and burden of the 
 poor speechless and defenseless victims, whose cases are 
 to be passed upon ! 
 
 Can anything be added to the extraordinary char 
 acter of such a law ? Shall it be allowed any longer 
 to disgrace our statute-book, and tarnish the fair fame 
 of our beloved and honored State? 
 
 No man, no one of us, gentlemen, can be sure that 
 he will not become a helpless lunatic to-morrow. But 
 does every citizen of Pennsylvania know that he is liable, 
 without any fault of his own, to be sent at any time 
 to the common jail, for life-long detention, by the sole 
 and irrevocable authority and sentence of the superin 
 tendent and trustees of a State lunatic hospital? And 
 that in spite of, and in reversal of, the contrary judg 
 ment and sentence of every court of justice, which may 
 have passed, or which by law can pass, upon his case ! 
 
 We beg here to disclaim, once for all, intending any 
 personal reference to or reflection upon the estimable 
 gentlemen who have the charge of the State hospitals 
 for the insane. We doubt not they are honorable and 
 conscientious men ; but they are men. The constitu 
 tion of such a court of review must, we think, be ad 
 mitted to be an anomaly in our legislation, and no less 
 an anomaly that interested parties, however honorable 
 and trustworthy, should be empowered to decide in their 
 own case. And perhaps it is worth observing that, 
 while a lunatic may be thus summarily removed from 
 
31 6 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 the hospital to the prison, by the simple fiat of the hos 
 pital authorities alone, a lunatic could not so readily be 
 removed from the penitentiary to the hospital. For this 
 purpose the law of 1852 presented a complex process. 
 In order that a lunatic might be removed from the 
 penitentiary to the hospital, the law provided that not 
 only the inspectors of the penitentiary honorable and 
 conscientious men should judge the continued con 
 finement of such lunatic in the penitentiary to be im 
 proper, and his removal to the State lunatic asylum 
 necessary to his restoration, but the case must also be 
 submitted to a board composed of the district attorney 
 and either two superintendents of insane asylums or a 
 competent physician or physicians to be appointed by 
 the court of quarter sessions. Nor was their certificate 
 of approval sufficient to secure the object ; but that cer 
 tificate must be transmitted to the governor, and, if he 
 approved, he might order the removal. So careful was 
 the law in that case to guard the process against abuse. 
 But we may be asked why should we cavil at what 
 may be considered a theoretic anomaly, while it ac 
 complishes the best results, and is the shortest and 
 best way of accomplishing them ? We answer by ask 
 ing in return, what have been the results ? Have the 
 courts, by them, been encouraged to send lunatics to 
 the hospital, or, on the contrary, have they found that 
 this is too often a roundabout way of sending them to 
 prison ? But why is it that for more than twenty years 
 the law has existed for sending certain lunatics from 
 the penitentiaries to the hospital, and yet the experi 
 ment of doing so has been tried in the eastern district 
 of the State but once, indeed, has not been tried at 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 317 
 
 all in that district for full twenty years past ? Is it said 
 that lunatics so transmitted very soon make their es 
 cape ? But if the hospital is by law to receive such 
 lunatics, some part of it ought manifestly to be so con 
 structed and arranged as to be suitable for their safe 
 keeping, as has been done without difficulty or oppo 
 sition in the hospitals of several other States. Have 
 the hospital authorities sought to provide such con 
 struction and arrangements, in order that the ends of 
 the law might not be defeated ? Or, have they not 
 rather sought and obtained the counter-provisions of 
 the law of 1861, authorizing them to send all such 
 lunatics back to prison ? Since which time it has been 
 hardly thought worth while to commit any such to their 
 care. Indeed, it has been trumphantly said, on ap 
 parently good authority (see Journal of Insanity, Oc 
 tober, 1873, page 214), that, after the first experiment, 
 i. e., before the law of 1861, as well as since, the board 
 of trustees of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Harris- 
 burg, declined receiving any more cases. That is to 
 say, the board of trustees decided the question by their 
 sole and ultimate authority commission or no commis 
 sion law or no law. We do not vouch for the fact, 
 but it has been publicly so stated, without dissent, in 
 the presence of the superintendent of the lunatic 
 asylum. We presume the refusal, if made, was a 
 mere declaration and not an act ; but the statement, 
 however interpreted, is highly suggestive. The act of 
 1852 is still the law of the land ; a law whose ends are 
 eminently politic, just, and humane; but can the author 
 ities of the State hospital be counted upon as ready 
 cordially to concur in carrying out the provisions of 
 that law, for the accomplishment of those ends ? 
 
318 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 The views of the judges df our criminal courts and 
 of the Supreme Court of the State, upon present legis 
 lation in regard to the insane poor and the insane 
 criminal, will appear in their petitions to the legisla 
 ture, which we here introduce: 
 
 " To the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania : 
 
 " The judges of the criminal courts being greatly 
 embarrassed under the law of 1836, in the disposal of 
 persons charged with crime, who were acquitted on the 
 ground of insanity, being obliged to commit them to 
 close custody ; the jails and penitentiaries being alone 
 open to them, memorialized the legislature in 1839, in 
 behalf of the establishment of a hospital for the insane 
 poor, and denounced the commitment of the ir 
 responsible insane to the prisons of the State. By 
 such influence and other humane and rightful effort, 
 the legislature, in 1845, established the State Lunatic 
 Hospital at Harrisburg, under a law which gave proper 
 protection to the rights of the * poor and the crimi 
 nal insane. This legislation satisfied the judges who 
 bore the responsibility of disposing of such persons, 
 and was also a clear exponent of the public mind on 
 the subject. 
 
 " By more recent legislation, namely, by the act of 
 April 8th, 1861, the courts, having jurisdiction of such 
 cases, are forbidden to send them to the State hos 
 pitals, however irresponsible for crime, unless * speedily 
 curable, if they are deemed dangerous persons to be at 
 large ; and in every case where a lunatic may have 
 been sent to the State hospital, after an acquittal of 
 any crime on the ground of insanity, the authorities of 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 319 
 
 such hospital may send such persons to a penitentiary or 
 jail, at the expense of the county where he belongs, 
 unless they deem the case speedily curable. Sub 
 stantially the same provisions are contained in the act 
 of April, 1863, relating to the western part of the 
 State. The undersigned, regarding the provisions of 
 the acts of 1861 and 1863, above cited, as an obstruc 
 tion to the ends of justice ; and, being greatly embar 
 rassed in our administration of such causes, respectfully 
 beg that the legislation be repealed, or such amend 
 ments made as will relieve from unjust and injurious 
 imprisonment with felons the irresponsible class re 
 ferred to, and which will also protect the insane poor 
 in their rights, and enable the courts to comply with the 
 laws, without violating a sense of right or a sentiment 
 of humanity. 
 
 "The act of April, 1863, in relation to the commit 
 ment of the insane to the Western Pennsylvania Hos 
 pital, provides for the return of insane criminals and 
 persons acquitted on the ground of insanity, to the 
 jail or penitentiary, if deemed incurable. 
 
 "Jos. ALLISON, 
 U ]AS. R. LUDLOW, 
 "\M. S. PEIRCE, 
 
 "TlIOS. A. FlNLETTER, 
 
 " EDWARD M. PAXSON, 
 " Judges of Court of Quarter Sessions, Philadelphia Co. 
 
 " F. H. COLLIER, 
 
 " JAMES P. STERRETT, 
 
 " EDWIN H. STOWE, 
 "Judges of Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny Co" 
 
320 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 " We concur in the foregoing recommendation. 
 
 " GEO. SHARSWOOD, 
 " HENRY W. WILLIAMS, 
 "JoHN M. READ, 
 " DANIEL AGNEW, 
 " ULYSSES MERCUR, 
 
 " Judges of Supreme Court. 
 "November 28th, 1873." 
 
 We turn to another description of the insane to 
 those who, without any charge or suggestion of crime, 
 have, either as dangerous or simply as helpless luna 
 tics, been placed in the county poor-houses. These 
 may by law be committed by the county authorities to 
 the State hospitals for the insane. How many of them 
 have been so committed ? Does the management of 
 these hospitals encourage and stimulate the authorities 
 to send them there ? They need encouragement and 
 stimulus ; for, as experience too constantly shows, those 
 authorities are extremely liable to be led by the con 
 siderations of a false and short-sighted economy, to 
 endeavor to make a cheaper provision for the care and 
 maintenance of their insane than that furnished by the 
 hospital. -Are those whom they actually commit sent 
 back to them again, with a charge for the expense of 
 both transfers ? If so, by the authority of what law 
 are they sent back ? What law provides that the 
 authorities of the hospitals may send any of their 
 patients, or allow any of their patients, however violent 
 or incurable, to be taken to a county poor-house ? Yet 
 the simple fact is that while there are some five hun 
 dred of the insane poor in our hospitals, sent from the 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 321 
 
 county almshouses, there are more than twice that 
 number raving or languishing in our county poor- 
 houses, an incarceration much better fitted to make a 
 sane man mad, than a madman sane. And of the two, 
 if there is less disgrace, there is also, in a majority of 
 cases, less chance for comfort, and no better chance for 
 , recovery, in the poor-house than in the prison. So 
 that it may be said upon a deliberate calculation, to be 
 better, as regards comfort and a prospect of resto 
 ration, for an insane person to be convicted of crime, 
 and sentenced to the penitentiary for a definite time, 
 than, as an innocent lunatic, to be imprisoned in the 
 poor-house. But we may add that the great and irre- 
 mediable defect in both the prison and the poor-house, 
 but especially in the latter, is the want of proper 
 attendance and of skillful medical care. These poor 
 creatures are not expected to recover. They are given 
 over to utter hopelessness. 
 
 And now, what is to be done ? To this question we 
 would address ourselves with the full appreciation of 
 the many and formidable difficulties with which the 
 subject is encompassed. But we believe that there is 
 no thoughtful person, who has made himself practically 
 acquainted with the facts, that does not fully concur in 
 the judgment that no poor-house can be a proper re 
 ceptacle for the insane. We shall enter into no argu 
 ment, therefore, to show that all the insane poor now 
 gathered in the county poor-houses should, as soon as 
 possible, be provided for in State lunatic hospitals, 
 and transferred to them, to be there supported as the 
 law may direct, unless any particular county has popu 
 lation enough, and insane poor enough, to render it 
 
322 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 advisable and feasible to establish and maintain a 
 separate hospital for itself, with the full appointments 
 and provisions for the best and most skillful care and 
 medical treatment of the inmates, with a view both to 
 their comfort and their care, as well as to the safety of 
 the community. 
 
 As to the other, less numerous, class, who have been 
 committed by the courts (or by the hospital authorities) 
 to the jails or the penitentiaries, including (i) those who, 
 having been charged with the most heinous felonies, 
 have been acquitted on the ground of insanity; (2) those 
 who, on the same ground, have been acquitted of any 
 offense whatever, and however slight ; (3) those who 
 have been indicted for any offense, and, upon being 
 brought up for trial, have been found insane ; (4) those 
 who, when brought up to be discharged for want of 
 prosecution, have been found insane ; (5) those who, 
 though never charged with any act of crime or harm 
 whatever, have been judged dangerous if allowed to 
 go at large ; as well as (6) those who, having been con 
 victed of crime, committed while they were presumed 
 to be sane, have since become lunatics, in regard to 
 all these, it seems now to be universally conceded that 
 the jail or the penitentiary is not the proper place for 
 their cure and detention. 
 
 The practical question then is, what other provision 
 is to be made for them ? 
 
 The act of May 4th, 1852, had, as we have seen, 
 provided that any of the prisoners confined in the 
 Eastern Penitentiary, being found insane (thus, insane 
 convicts as well, but not insane convicts only) might, 
 by a certain process, be removed to the State Lunatic 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 323 
 
 Asylum. In their report of the year following, the in 
 spectors of the penitentiary inform us that of eighteen 
 persons proposed by them as candidates for removal, 
 eight had been so transferred by order of the gov 
 ernor, and they add : 
 
 " The inspectors cannot omit this opportunity of 
 again calling upon the general assembly, should the 
 means provided for this object be found in any way 
 inadequate, either in the terms of the law authorizing 
 the removal, or in the provision for the safe-keeping in 
 the lunatic hospital, not to halt in the good work until 
 it is carried into full effect. Let it no longer rest upon 
 the fair fame of Pennsylvania, who claims to be fore 
 most in the work of penitentiary reforms, that insane 
 men are imprisoned in the cells of her penitentiary for 
 long years or for life. Surely, in 
 
 this enlightened Christian age and country, the cells 
 of the penitentiary should cease to be the abode of 
 human beings without moral perceptions or responsi 
 bilities to fit them for the salutary effects of either peni 
 tentiary punishments or moral reform. The inspectors 
 have gone more fully into this subject than they other 
 wise would have done, from the fact that a State hos 
 pital has been put into operation by the legislature for 
 this enlightened and benevolent purpose. Its estab 
 lishment has been long needed." 
 
 In their report for the next year (1854), the inspect 
 ors remark that " the eight persons before alluded to 
 were the first so removed since the opening of the 
 prison, twenty-five years ago, as until last year no in 
 stitution existed in Pennsylvania, as in other States, 
 for the reception and treatment of persons who, though 
 
324 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 insane, required punitive restraint. No other cases 
 have since occurred requiring removal from the peni 
 tentiary. The State Lunatic Hospital is an establish 
 ment of the highest utility, its purpose approved by 
 the most enlightened benevolence and sound policy. 
 Every humane mind cannot but hope that it will be 
 fostered and encouraged for the accomplishment of 
 benefits to an increasing class of unfortunate people." 
 They then proceed to a class who are sometimes in 
 cluded among the " criminal insane," in the following 
 terms : " As yet no complete provisions have been 
 made for the reception and treatment of those insane 
 who are sentenced to restraint of their liberty, because 
 the fact of their unsound mind renders them irrespon 
 sible for the crimes charged against them. There are 
 now four prisoners in the penitentiary thus confined ; 
 their dangerous character, arising from homicidal 
 mania, rendering them unsafe, unless under a cautious 
 restraint. As they are in the penitentiary not as con 
 victs, but here retained because of no other place of 
 equal security, it is difficult properly to treat them for 
 the confirmed malady under which they labor. The 
 time will come when, in the State hospital, provision 
 can be made for this class of insane." 
 
 Nearly twenty years have elapsed, and these poor, 
 wretched beings are still in jails and almshouses. 
 
 The inspectors making the report in 1853 were 
 John Bacon, Richard Vaux, Hugh Campbell, Singleton 
 A. Mercer, and Charles Brown; in 1854, Messrs. 
 Bacon, Vaux, Mercer, Andrew Miller, and Charles 
 McKibben. 
 
 Then came the law of 1861, which empowers the 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 325 
 
 trustees and physician of the State Lunatic Asylum to 
 send insane persons, committed to the hospital by 
 the courts, or removed to it from the penitentiary, 
 back to the penitentiary from which they were sent, 
 or to a prison to which they were not committed 
 by the courts, when there appeared no reasonable 
 prospect of a cure. The result is, that it is found 
 a useless expenditure of pains and money, in many 
 cases, for the courts to send to the hospitals insane 
 men acquitted of crime, and always for the peni 
 tentiary to remove thither its prisoners or insane con 
 victs, while authority resides in the hospital forthwith to 
 send them back again. In anticipation of this result, 
 the inspectors of the Eastern Penitentiary, in their re 
 port of the following year (1862), " respectfully suggest 
 to the legislature that provisions by law be made re 
 quiring the State Lunatic Asylum to take insane persons 
 convicted of crime into that institution." And, in 1863, 
 " the inspectors again ask the legislature to require 
 the State Lunatic Asylum to take insane convicts. 
 The inspectors in 1862 and 1863 were Richard Vaux, 
 Samuel Jones, M. D., Alexander Henry, Thomas H. 
 Powers, and Furman Sheppard. 
 
 It is plain that these gentlemen, as well as the inspect 
 ors of 1853 and 1854, judged it to be the wisest and 
 most desirable plan, in this as in other States, that pro 
 visions should be made for the criminal insane and 
 even for insane convicts in connection with the State 
 hospital rather than with the State penitentiary. 
 
 We append here, without comment, as the docu 
 ments tell their own story very clearly, the communica 
 tions to this board from the inspectors of the Eastern 
 
326 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 and Western Penitentiaries, requesting its intervention 
 with the legislature for the modification or repeal of 
 the obnoxious laws against the rights of the insane 
 which now disgrace our statute-books. 
 
 "NOVEMBER 26th, 1873. 
 " To the Board of Public Charities : 
 
 "The inspectors of the State Penitentiary for the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania have heretofore in 
 their reports called the attention of the legislature to 
 the deplorable condition of the insane committed to 
 the custody of that institution, and have suggested 
 legislation which would relieve us from the pressure of 
 a duty which we could not fulfill in providing for them 
 proper care and medical treatment, and which also 
 would provide for these defenseless and, for the most 
 part, irresponsible persons, a more rightful and suitable 
 abode than a prison. We now most respectfully appeal 
 to the legislature, through your board, to so amend 
 the legislation of the act of April 8th, 1861, as will give 
 effect to the former representations of the inspectors, 
 and place the class of the poor insane and the crimi 
 nal insane in the more just and favorable position 
 which they occupied under the law of April I4th, 1845, 
 which established the State Lunatic Asylum at Harris- 
 burg. 
 
 " RICHARD VAUX, 
 
 "THOMAS H. POWERS, 
 "ALEX. HENRY, 
 " CHARLES THOMSON JONES, 
 "JOHN M. MARIS." 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 327 
 
 " To the Board of Public Charities : 
 
 "The inspectors of the Western Penitentiary desire 
 to call the attention of the legislature, through your 
 board, to the necessity of further and fuller provision 
 by law for the care and protection of the indigent and 
 criminal insane. 
 
 " In many of the annual reports of this penitentiary, 
 attention has been directed to the fact that insane per 
 sons have been convicted of crime and sent to prison. 
 The following, from our report for 1867, briefly states 
 the facts in the case, and in its conclusions, we trust, 
 will receive your earnest co-operation : 
 
 "We would ask the attention of the legislature to 
 the great necessity there is for such legislation as will 
 secure to the insane convict a place in some State in 
 stitution where he may be properly cared for. By 
 special amended enactments of the law on this subject, 
 no insane convict who has been committed to prison on 
 the higher grades of crime, can be transferred to the 
 hospital at Dixmont, unless by the verdict of the jury in 
 the case there is reason to believe that a cure of such 
 insanity may be speedily effected. 
 
 " If this institution is intended only for the benefit of 
 the curably insane, what is to become of the ill-fated 
 wretch who has no helper, and whose reason is declared 
 to be clean gone forever. 
 
 " We hold that it is the duty of the State to make 
 some speedy provision for his relief, either by the 
 modification of existing laws, or the enactment of such 
 
328 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 statutes as will guarantee to him a humane and Chris 
 tian protection. 
 
 "T. H. NEVIN, 
 
 " ROBERT H. DAVIS, 
 
 "JoHN DEAN, 
 
 " GEORGE A. KELLY, 
 
 " ORMSBY PHILLIPS, 
 
 " Inspectors" 
 
 In like manner the secretary of the Massachusetts 
 Board of State Charities, in his report for 1871, re 
 commends, and in that for 1872 renews the recommen 
 dation, that a special " receptacle or institution be 
 provided for insane convicts, and for insane persons who, 
 in a state of insanity, have committed or are disposed 
 to commit violent acts ;" for which he gives his reasons at 
 large, and then adds, "it is submitted that the construc 
 tion of such a receptacle may perhaps be wisely made 
 a part of the plan for a new hospital at Worcester. It 
 can be made a separate building, surrounded by a wall, 
 sufficiently removed from other buildings to avoid any 
 unpleasant associations, and yet near enough to have 
 the benefit of the general superintendence of that in 
 stitution." 
 
 That is to say, as the secretary immediately adds, 
 the project of a new and (totally) separate institution 
 for the class referred to, is sure to start some vexed 
 question, with which it would not be well to embarrass 
 the desired improvement. The "convict insane " would 
 give to it its distinctive character, and then any propo 
 sition to admit to it others, not "convict insane," who 
 could be better provided for in it than elsewhere, would 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 329 
 
 * 
 
 be resisted, as affixing to them the repute of a criminal 
 class. Nor is it likely that it would, with its peculiar 
 character, as well as it smaller numbers, be provided, 
 in the long run, with a corps of officers equal in skill 
 to those whose services are commanded by the other 
 hospitals. "For these and other reasons, it is better 
 that provision should be made for the insane, who have 
 committed or are predisposed to homicidal or violent 
 acts, in buildings or apartments, properly arranged and 
 provided with means of security, in connection with 
 some one of the lunatic hospitals." 
 
 So much from the secretary. The board itself, in its 
 first report, had said, " there is still another class, the 
 criminal insane, for whom special provision should be 
 made. Formerly they were kept in the prisons, con 
 fined in cells; but more recently they have been placed 
 in the State hospitals. It is generally thought that this 
 class of the insane should not be allowed to mingle 
 with those who are free from crime, but should have 
 apartments built expressly for their accommodation. 
 The most appropriate plan for an asylum, designed for 
 this class of insane persons, would probably be at one 
 of the State hospitals." 
 
 The same subject was again referred to in their fifth 
 and sixth reports ; and again it is added, if a proper 
 building for "insane convicts" and others predisposed 
 to violent acts should be provided in connection with one 
 of the State lunatic hospitals, "power should be given 
 to this board to transfer from the other hospitals to the 
 one where such provision is made, persons of the class 
 referred to." " From the other hospitals," observe 
 not "from the prisons," in Massachusetts there are 
 
330 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 no "insane criminals," nor " insane convicts" in the 
 prisons. 
 
 We have referred to the injurious and wrongful 
 effects of the act of 1861, and we have seen the 
 earnest counter-recommendations of the inspectors of 
 the Eastern Penitentiary and other just and honorable 
 authorities. We have ourselves already pointed out 
 the disastrous consequences of that act ; and now, to 
 confirm our position, we beg leave to insert here the 
 results of the experience and research, and the carefully- 
 drawn statements of Judge Brewster on this point, 
 conveyed to us in a letter dated October loth, 1873. 
 
 "No. 214 WEST WASHINGTON SQUARE, 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, October loth, 1873. 
 
 " To Hon. George L. Harrison, 
 
 " President of the Board of Public Charities, 
 
 "DEAR SIR: Your communication of August I4th, 
 in reference to insane criminals, was duly received 
 and acknowledged. 
 
 "With your permission, the examination of the 
 authorities which you desired was postponed until a 
 recent date. 
 
 " I have considered with some care the question you 
 propound, and the several acts of assembly to which 
 you referred me. I was induced to do this, not only 
 because of the respect due to your letter, but also be 
 cause of the peculiar interest which ever attaches to 
 the subject of the treatment of persons afflicted with 
 the peculiar and distressing calamity of insanity. 
 
 " Your favor refers me to a passage which is to be 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 331 
 
 found in a communication addressed by your board to 
 the public. 
 
 " As you invite a statement of my opinion as to its 
 accuracy, it is proper that I should quote it at length ; 
 it is in these words : 
 
 " The sad and anomalous condition of " insane 
 criminals " under the provisions of the act of 1836, 
 relating to this class, did not satisfy the public mind, 
 little as the public mind takes cognizance of such mat 
 ters, and it found in Miss Dix such an exponent of its 
 wishes as led to the legislation of 1845, which estab 
 lished the State Lunatic Hospital at Harrisburg, at 
 which provision was made for the reception of this class 
 of the insane in community with the other patients. So 
 largely did this feature interest the public, that it was 
 the common thought that this institution was created 
 for the special care of this class. The act of 1861 
 practically nullified this legislation, and since then a 
 great wrong has been imposed upon them, which this 
 board is endeavoring to remove. Very many of them 
 are consigned to the public jails. While wholly irre 
 sponsible in the eyes of the law, they are dealt with by 
 the law as convicted criminals. We maintain that, 
 under the law of 1861, the wisdom and humanity of 
 our able and excellent judges are not competent to 
 make any other disposition of them. 
 
 " You ask me to give my professional opinion upon 
 the accuracy of the statement just quoted. 
 
 "Save for your request, which implies that some one 
 has ventured to doubt the correctness of your narra 
 tive, I should not have supposed it possible that it 
 needed confirmation. 
 
33 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 "My first impression was decidedly in favor of its 
 entire truth, and my subsequent examination of the 
 law has confirmed my original conviction. 
 
 " By the act of June I3th, 1836, it was provided that 
 upon the acquittal of a defendant in a criminal case 
 upon the ground of insanity, the court should have 
 the power to order such a person to be kept in strict 
 custody, in such place and manner as * * 
 
 should seem fit so long as such 
 
 person should continue to be of unsound mind. (Act 
 of June 1 3th, 1836, section 58, P. L., 1836, page 603.) 
 
 "The like proceedings were authorized if the de 
 fendant were upon arraignment found to be a lunatic 
 and even where he was about to be discharged for 
 want of prosecution. 
 
 "Prior to 1841 there was no place in which such 
 unfortunate persons could be kept in strict custody, 
 except prisons and penitentiaries. The private asy 
 lums were evidently not contemplated by the law, and 
 were probably under no obligation to receive any 
 person sent to them by the courts. 
 
 "March 4th, 1841, Governor Porter approved an 
 act to establish an asylum for the insane of this Com 
 monwealth. This statute reflects great credit upon 
 the gentleman who drafted it and upon the legislature 
 and the governor who passed and approved of it. It 
 established a public asylum for the reception and 
 relief of the insane of this Commonwealth. The 
 governor was to appoint three commissioners to pur 
 chase a site and to erect a building for the accommo 
 dation of three hundred patients and necessary offices, 
 at an expense not exceeding $120,000. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 333 
 
 "The eighth section of said act was designed to 
 remedy the evil you refer to as existing under the 
 statute of 1836. It provided: 
 
 " That the proper courts of this Commonwealth 
 shall have power to commit to said asylum any person 
 who, having been charged with an offense punishable 
 by imprisonment or death, shall have been declared by 
 the verdict of a jury or otherwise, to the satisfaction of 
 the court, to have been insane at the time the offense 
 was committed and who still continues insane. 
 
 "The prior act of 1751 had contained no such pro 
 vision. The act of 1841 removed the blot upon our 
 system of confining insane persons as criminals. 
 
 " So far as I have been able to discover, there was 
 no change in this system for many years. It evidently 
 met with the support of the people. By act approved 
 by Governor Shunk, April I4th, 1845, a hospital was 
 established at Harrisburg (P. L., 1845, P a g e 44 2 )- 
 
 "The tenth section of this statute repeats the hu 
 mane provision of the act of 1841. 
 
 "March iSth, 1848, Governor Shunk approved the 
 act incorporating the Pittsburg Hospital. (P. L., 1848, 
 page 218.) By a supplement to this charter, approved 
 by Governor Pollock, May 8th, 1855 (P. L., 1855, page 
 512), the provisions of the act of 1841 were extended 
 to that institution. 
 
 "Provisions for the removal of insane persons from 
 prisons and penitentiaries were repeated by the acts of 
 May 4th, 1852 (P. L., 1852, page 552), and March 24th, 
 1858 (P. L., 1858, page 151). 
 
 "So the law stood from 1841 to 1861. During 
 those twenty years the courts and all classes of citizens 
 
334 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 were satisfied with the propriety, justice, and necessity 
 of these laws. 
 
 "April 8th, 1861, a statute was approved which pro 
 hibited the commitment to the Pennsylvania State 
 Lunatic Asylum of any person charged with certain 
 crimes enumerated. It, however, contained a humane 
 proviso which left the power of commitment with the 
 courts where they were satisfied that there was reason 
 to believe that a cure of insanity might be speedily 
 effected (P. L., 1861, page 249). But a subsequent 
 section authorizes the trustees and the superintending 
 physician to reverse the order of the court, for if they 
 are * satisfied that there is no reasonable prospect of a 
 cure they may in all cases cause 
 
 the patient to be removed to the prison of the proper 
 county or the penitentiary from which he or she was 
 sent. 
 
 "It is therefore unfortunately true, as stated by you, 
 that the act of 1861 practically nullifies the humane 
 legislation of former years, and that since 1861 a great 
 wrong has been imposed upon a class of unfortunate 
 persons who, although not responsible to the law, are 
 yet subject to confinement in prisons and penitentiaries 
 as felons. These views are not affected in any wise 
 by the act of April 2Oth, 1869 (P. L., 78), for the 
 officers of the State asylums are not embraced within 
 its provisions. The act of 1861 stands unrepealed. 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, yours, 
 
 "F. CARROLL BREWSTER." 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 335 
 
 In a large number of our sister States constitutional 
 provision has been made to secure appropriate legisla 
 tion in behalf of the insane ; but in order to bring the 
 whole subject more fully before the legislature, in all 
 its bearings, or, at least, in a great variety of points of 
 view, we take leave to introduce here the legislative 
 provisions of a number of States as to insane persons, 
 charged or convicted of crime ; premising that we have 
 examined the constitution and laws, together, of thirty- 
 three States (all that we have been able to reach), in 
 relation to the insane, and in all cases their rights have 
 been tenderly protected and the legislation in behalf of 
 the class to which we are now directing your attention, 
 with the single exception of Pennsylvania, is invariably 
 of the most humane character. 
 
 LEGISLATION OF OTHER STATES IN RELATION TO INSANE 
 
 CRIMINALS. 
 
 Arkansas. A person that becomes insane or lunatic 
 after the commission of a crime or misdemeanor, shall 
 not be tried for the offense during the insanity or 
 lunacy. 
 
 If, after verdict of guilty and before judgment pro 
 nounced, such person becomes insane or lunatic, then 
 no judgment shall be given while the insanity or lunacy 
 shall continue. 
 
 If, after judgment or before execution of the sentence, 
 such convict becomes insane or lunatic, if the punish 
 ment be capital or corporal, the execution thereof shall 
 be stayed until the recovery of such convict from such 
 insanity or lunacy. 
 
336 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 Connecticut. That section two hundred and forty- 
 three of the act concerning crimes and misdemeanors 
 be amended by erasing from the fourth line thereof the 
 words the " common jail," and inserting in lieu thereof 
 the words " the General Hospital for the Insane of the 
 State of Connecticut." 
 
 Georgia. It shall be the duty of the physician to 
 the penitentiary of the State, when he discovers that 
 any one of the convicts in said penitentiary has become 
 lunatic or insane, to certify the same to the principal 
 keeper of said penitentiary, and it shall be the duty of 
 said principal keeper, upon the receipt of such certifi 
 cate, to transfer said convict to the lunatic asylum 
 of this State, and shall send together with such con 
 vict a copy of said certificate, together with the day on 
 which the term of service of such convict will expire 
 in said penitentiary, and the county from which he was 
 sentenced. 
 
 Louisiana. Whenever any person arrested to answer 
 for any crime or misdemeanor before any court of this 
 State shall be acquitted thereof by the jury, or shall 
 not be indicted by the grand jury, by reason of the in 
 sanity or mental derangement of such person, and the 
 discharge or going at large of such person shall be 
 deemed by the court to be dangerous to the safety of 
 the citizens or to the peace of the State, the court is 
 authorized and empowered to commit such person to 
 the State Insane Hospital or any similar institution in 
 any parish within the jurisdiction of the court, there 
 to be detained until he is restored to his right mind or 
 otherwise delivered by due course of law. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 337 
 
 Maine. When any person is indicted for a criminal 
 offense, or is committed to jail on a charge thereof by 
 a justice of the peace or judge of a police or muni 
 cipal court, any judge of the court before whom he 
 is to be tried, when a plea of insanity is made in court, 
 or he is notified that it will be made, may in vacation 
 or term time order such person into the care of the 
 superintendent of the insane hospital, to be detained 
 and observed by him till the further order of the 
 court, that the truth or falsity of the plea may be 
 ascertained. 
 
 When the grand jury omits to find an indictment 
 against any person arrested by legal process to answer 
 for any offense by reason of his insanity, they shall 
 certify that fact to the court ; and when a traverse jury 
 for the same reason acquits any person indicted, they 
 shall state that fact to the court when they return their 
 verdict; and the court by a precept stating the fact of 
 insanity, may commit him to prison or to the insane 
 hospital till restored to his right mind or delivered 
 according to law ; but he shall only remain in prison till 
 provision can be made for him at the hospital and then 
 removed thereto. 
 
 When an inmate of the State prison becomes insane, 
 the warden shall notify the governor of the fact, and 
 he, with the advise of counsel, shall appoint a commis 
 sion of two or more skillful physicians to investigate 
 the case, and if such inmate is found insane by their in 
 vestigation, he shall be sent to the insane hospital until 
 he becomes of sound mind ; and if this takes place 
 before the expiration of his sentence, he shall be re 
 turned to prison ; but if after, he shall be discharged 
 
33^ CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 free. The expenses of the commission, removal, and 
 support shall be paid by the State. 
 
 Minnesota and Wisconsin. When any person so in 
 dicted or informed against for an offense, shall on trial 
 be acquitted by the jury by reason of insanity, the jury, 
 in giving their verdict of not guilty, shall state that it 
 was given for such cause, and thereupon, if the dis 
 charge or going at large of such insane person shall 
 be considered by the court manifestly dangerous to the 
 peace and safety of the community, the court may order 
 him to be committed to prison, or may give him into 
 the care of his friends, if they shall give bonds with 
 surety, to the satisfaction of the court, conditioned that 
 he shall be well and securely kept ; otherwise he shall 
 be discharged. 
 
 Oregon. If the defense be the insanity of the de 
 fendant, the jury must be instructed, if they find him 
 not guilty on that ground, to state that fact in their 
 verdict, and the court must thereupon, if it deems his 
 being at large dangerous to the public peace or safety, 
 order him to be committed to any lunatic asylum 
 authorized by the State to receive and keep such per 
 sons, until he become sane or be otherwise discharged 
 therefrom, by authority of law. (General Laws, Ore 
 gon, page 469, section 170.) 
 
 New Jersey and New York. When a person shall 
 have escaped indictment or have been acquitted of a 
 criminal charge upon trial, upon the ground of insanity, 
 upon the plea pleaded of insanity or otherwise, the 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 339 
 
 court being certified by the jury or otherwise of the 
 fact, shall carefully inquire and ascertain whether his 
 insanity in any degree continues, and if it does, shall 
 order him into safe custody, and to be sent to the 
 asylum. 
 
 If any person in confinement, under indictment or 
 under sentence of imprisonment, or for want of bail 
 for good behavior shall appear to 
 
 be insane, the judge of the circuit court of the county 
 where he is confined shall institute a careful investiga 
 tion, call two respectable witnesses, physicians, and 
 other credible witnesses, invite the prosecutor of the 
 pleas to aid in the examination, and, if he shall deem 
 it necessary, call a jury, and for that purpose is fully 
 empowered to compel the attendance of witnesses and 
 jurors, and if it be satisfactorily proved that he is insane, 
 said judge may discharge him from imprisonment, and 
 order his safe custody and removal to the asylum, 
 where he shall remain until restored to his right mind, 
 and then, if the said judge shall have so directed, the 
 superintendent shall inform the said judge and the 
 county clerk and prosecutor of the pleas thereof, 
 whereupon he shall be remanded to prison, and crimi 
 nal proceedings be resumed, or otherwise be dis 
 charged. 
 
 Persons charged with misdemeanors and acquitted 
 on the ground of insanity may be kept in custody and 
 sent to the asylum in the same way as persons charged 
 with crime. 
 
 New York. An act to organize the State lunatic 
 asylum for insane convicts passed April 8th, 1858. 
 
34 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 SECTION i. The building now being erected on the 
 prison grounds at Auburn, for an asylum for insane 
 convicts, shall be known and designated as the " State 
 lunatic asylum for insane convicts." 
 
 [After defining the method of administration, the 
 statute proceeds : ] 
 
 SEC. 8. Whenever the physicians of either of the 
 State prisons of this State shall certify to the inspect 
 ors, that any convict is insane, they shall make imme 
 diately a full examination into the condition of such 
 convict, and shall cause such convict to be examined 
 by one of the physicians of the State Lunatic Asylum, 
 at Utica, and if satisfied that said convict is insane, or 
 that there is probable cause to believe such convict to 
 be insane, they shall order the agent and warden of the 
 prison where such convict is confined forthwith to con 
 vey such convict to the State Lunatic Asylum for 
 insane convicts, and to deliver the said convict to the 
 superintendent thereof, who is hereby required to re 
 ceive said convict into the said asylum, and retain him 
 there so long as he shall continue to be insane; and 
 no convict who has been committed to said asylum 
 as insane shall be discharged from said asylum by 
 reason of the expiration of the term for which he was 
 sentenced, unless the relatives of such convict shall 
 produce to said superintendent satisfactory evidence 
 of their ability to maintain such convict, and shall 
 execute and deliver to said superintendent an agree 
 ment in writing that such convict shall not be a charge 
 upon any public charity, if such convict shall continue 
 to be insane at the expiration of the time for which 
 such convict was sentenced. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 341 
 
 Act May 2ist, 1873. 
 
 No person, association, or corporation shall establish 
 or keep any asylum, institution, or house of retreat for 
 the care, custody, or treatment of the insane, or per 
 sons of unsound mind, without first obtaining a license 
 therefor from the Board of State Charities : Provided, 
 That this section shall not apply to any State asylum 
 or institution or to any asylum or institution estab 
 lished or conducted by any county, or by any city or 
 municipal corporation. 
 
 The said board may revoke the license of any 
 asylum or institution, issued under the provision of this 
 act, for reasons deemed satisfactory to said board ; but 
 such revocation shall be in writing and filed, and notice 
 given in writing to the person, association, or corpora 
 tion to whom such license was given. 
 
 Act June jth, 1873. 
 
 If any inmate of any such almshouse, when admitted, 
 is insane, or thereafter becomes insane or of unsound 
 mind, and the accommodations in sai.d almshouse are 
 not adequate and proper, in the opinion of the said 
 secretary of the State Board of Charities, for his treat 
 ment and care, the said secretary may cause his re 
 moval to the appropriate State asylum for the insane, 
 and he shall be received by the officer in charge of 
 such asylum, and maintained therein until duly dis 
 charged. 
 
 Ohio. If any person in prison shall, after the com 
 mission of an offense, and before conviction, become 
 
34 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 insane an examining court may 
 
 be called in the manner provided in the act entitled 
 and if such court shall find that such 
 person became insane after the commission of the 
 crime or misdemeanor of which he stands charged or 
 indicted, and is still insane, the court shall proceed and 
 the prisoner shall, for the time being, and until restored 
 to reason, be dealt with in like manner as other lunatics 
 are required to be after inquest had : Provided, how 
 ever, That if said lunatic be discharged, the bond given 
 for his support and safe-keeping shall also be condi 
 tioned that said lunatic shall, when restored to reason, 
 answer to said crime or misdemeanor and abide the 
 order of the court in the premises ; and any such 
 lunatic may, when restored to reason, be prosecuted 
 for any offense committed by him previous to such 
 insanity. 
 
 If any person, after being convicted of any crime or 
 misdemeanor, and before the execution in whole or 
 in part of the sentence of the court, become insane, it 
 shall be the duty of the governor of the State to in 
 quire into the facts, and he may pardon such lunatic, 
 and commute or suspend, for the time being, the 
 execution in such manner and for such a period as he 
 may think proper, and may by his warrant to the 
 sheriff of the proper county, or warden of the Ohio 
 Penitentiary, order such lunatic to be conveyed to the 
 asylum and there kept until restored to his reason. 
 If the sentence of any such lunatic is suspended 
 by the governor, the sentence of the court shall be exe 
 cuted upon him after such period of suspension hath 
 expired, unless otherwise directed by the governor. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 343 
 
 Rhode Island. If upon examination a judge is satis 
 fied that the person thus imprisoned is insane or 
 idiotic, he shall have the power to order the removal 
 of such prisoner from the State prison or jail aforesaid, 
 to be detained in the State asylum for the insane, if he 
 can be there received, or if not in the Butler hospital. 
 
 Such order of removal shall be for and during the term 
 of said prisoner s sentence, and be directed to the sheriff 
 of the county in which such prisoner stands committed. 
 
 Any person removed as aforesaid, upon restoration 
 to reason may, by an order of either of the judges of 
 the Supreme Court, in his discretion, be remanded to 
 the place of his original confinement, to serve out the 
 remainder of his term of service. 
 
 Massachusetts. The physician of the State prison, 
 as chairman, with the superintendent of the State 
 Lunatic Hospital, shall constitute a commission for the 
 examination of convicts in said prison alleged to be 
 insane. Each commissioner shall receive for his ser 
 vices in such capacity his traveling expenses and three 
 dollars a day for each day he is so employed. 
 
 The commission shall investigate the case, and if, in 
 the opinion of the majority of them, the convict has 
 become insane and his removal would be expedient, 
 they shall so report, with their reasons, to a judge of the 
 Superior Court, who shall forthwith issue his warrant 
 under the seal of that court, directed to the warden, 
 authorizing him to remove the convict to. one of the 
 
 o 
 
 State lunatic hospitals, there to be kept till, in the 
 opinion of the superintendent and trustees thereof, he 
 may be recommitted consistently with his health. 
 
344 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 When a convict in the prison appears to be insane, 
 the warden or inspector shall give notice to the chair 
 man of said commission, who shall forthwith notify the 
 members thereof to meet at the prison. 
 
 New Hampshire. The governor, with the advice 
 of the council, may remove to the asylum, to be there 
 kept at the expense of the State, any person confined 
 in the State prison who is insane. 
 
 South Carolina. Any judge of the circuit court is 
 authorized to send .to the lunatic asylum every person 
 charged with the commission of any criminal offense, 
 who shall, upon the trial before him prove to be non 
 compos mentis, and the said judge is authorized to make 
 all necessary orders to carry into effect this power. 
 
 Tennessee. That section 5488 of the code of Ten 
 nessee be so amended as to read, whenever the physi 
 cian reports to the keeper of the penitentiary that any 
 convict is insane, and ought on that account to be re 
 moved to the lunatic asylum, the keeper shall cause 
 such insane convict to be removed accordingly, there 
 to remain until discharged by the physician of said 
 lunatic asylum. 
 
 Texas and Iowa. If any person charged with or 
 convicted of any criminal offense, be found to be 
 insane in the court before which he is so charged or 
 convicted, said court shall order him to be conveyed to 
 and retained in the State Lunatic Asylum, and he shall 
 be received and retained, until removed by the order 
 of the court by which he was committed to the asylum. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 345 
 
 If any person after being convicted of any crime or 
 misdemeanor, and before the execution in whole or 
 part of the sentence of the court, becomes insane, it 
 shall be the duty of the governor of the State to in 
 quire into the facts, and he may pardon such lunatic 
 or commute or suspend for the time being the execu 
 tion, in such manner and for such a period as he may 
 think proper, and may by his warrant to the sheriff of 
 the proper county, or warden of the Iowa Penitentiary, 
 order such lunatic to be conveyed to the hospital and 
 there kept until restored to reason. 
 
 As before said, the State of New York has made 
 provision for the care in hospitals of all her insane 
 poor. For this she is to be commended ; in this to be 
 imitated. But the hospital or asylum referred to in the 
 foregoing statutes as that to which " insane convicts " 
 and others are to be sent, is a lunatic asylum estab 
 lished by a statute of 1858, on the prison grounds at 
 Auburn, expressly for this object. In this, her purpose 
 is most laudable ; but the propriety of her course is 
 most questionable, as will more fully appear in the 
 sequel. 
 
 This board had the honor, last year, of causing to 
 be prepared and laid before the senate the draught of 
 a bill " to provide for the care and keeping of the 
 criminal insane of this Commonwealth including 
 those who may be acquitted of crime on the ground of 
 insanity." And the proposition was, in general terms, 
 that a department, a wing, or a distinct building sur 
 rounded by a wall, of the hospital now under construc 
 tion at Danville, should be so planned, arranged, 
 
346 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 completed, and organized as to make it fit, suitable, 
 and convenient for the care, keeping, and treatment of 
 the classes of insane persons referred to. It may be 
 proper to say that the board had chiefly in view the 
 more numerous class, those who were in prisons with 
 criminals, without ever having been convicted of crime ; 
 and that they made their recommendation, so far as 
 regards the less numerous class, the strictly " convict 
 insane," on the assumption, which we have shown may 
 fairly be made, that the vast majority of such convicts 
 were really insane, or, at least, in the incipient or 
 latent stages of insanity, at the time the acts charged 
 against them as crimes were committed.* They 
 
 * Report in relation to the insane convicts in the Eastern Penitentiary on Feb 
 ruary 24th, 1873, by Edward Townsend, warden. Number this date, 12. 
 W. W. Confirmed lunatic on admission. 
 M. L. Imbecile in mind on admission. 
 T. R. Unsound mind on admission. 
 A. N. Unsound mind on admission. 
 I. B. H. Imbecile on admission. 
 G. V. Decidedly imbecile when admitted. 
 M. V. B. S. Very weak-minded on admission, since insane. 
 Dora S. Insane on admission and remains so. 
 
 Mary S. Insane on admission and had been an inmate of an insane asylum. 
 M. McG. Very feeble-minded on admission. 
 E. L. Weak-minded, bordering on lunacy, when admitted. 
 P. L. Insane on admission. 
 
 Report of Edward S. Wright, warden of Western Penitentiary, on the 
 same subject, made at the same time. Number of insane convicts in peniten 
 tiary, 8. 
 
 Prisoner No. 3324, mental health impaired on admission. 
 3720, 
 3750, 
 " 3958, 
 
 " " 4006, " " " 
 
 " " 4008, " 
 
 " " 4019, insane on admission. 
 
 " " 4030, " " " 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 347 
 
 were cases of this sort, or this was the aspect of 
 the cases we had in mind, and for which we sought 
 relief; the others, the ten per cent, or so, we regarded 
 as simply exceptions, which, at all events, should not 
 vitiate the rule. We proposed but did not urge the 
 bill ; and, through misunderstanding, and in conse 
 quence of opposition from interested parties, it was 
 lost. 
 
 At the late meeting in Baltimore of the Association 
 of Medical Superintendents of Hospitals for the Insane, 
 it was openly stated by a member from Pennsylvania 
 that " that measure was defeated (I suppose) by the 
 efforts of certain members of this association," and the 
 statement was not contradicted. (See Journal of In 
 sanity, October, 1873, page 236.) 
 
 This meeting of medical superintendents was a not 
 able one. Believing that the case of the proposed law 
 just referred to had not been fully understood, and 
 wishing to have the subject freely and thoroughly 
 ventilated, we addressed to the president of this asso 
 ciation the following communication : 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, May 28th, 1873. 
 
 " Dr. J. S. Butler, President of Convention of Medical 
 Superintendents for the Insane, 
 
 " DEAR SIR : The morning papers inform me that 
 the important humanitarian body over which you pre 
 side has assembled, for the consideration of the 
 interests of the insane, in convention at Baltimore. 
 On other like occasions, the commissioners of this 
 board have been honored with an invitation, to be 
 represented, of course, in presence merely ; but still 
 
34$ CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 we are glad to be apprised of your meeting by public 
 announcement, and venture to address you on a sub 
 ject of great interest to this board, and one which, we 
 think, has escaped any authoritative action of your 
 body. 
 
 "We refer to the subject of the care of the crimi 
 nal insane. We are led to refer this matter to you 
 for action, because of an unsuccessful effort made by 
 this board to have a precedent established by-the Legis 
 lature of the State of Pennsylvania, to construct a 
 department for this class upon the grounds of the 
 Hospital for the Insane at Danville, Pennsylvania, for 
 the reception and treatment of (for the most part) the 
 irresponsible insane, who are now incarcerated in the 
 penitentiaries and jails of this Commonwealth. 
 
 " It is true that we did not press this matter upon 
 the legislature, believing that the simple proposition 
 should be sufficient for favorable action ; but as the 
 higher advice of representatives from this State in 
 your convention prevailed to defeat the measure which 
 we proposed, we feel justified in asking you to take 
 such definite action as will have like influence in pro 
 tecting the class who are committed, in this State, at 
 least (I am glad to say not in all other States), to the 
 miseries of a felon s doom. 
 
 " In noticing this subject I beg your permission to 
 venture on a few observations on this subject, and in 
 doing so I express the mind of every member of this 
 board. 
 
 " It is a fact patent to all of us, that multitudes of 
 irresponsible criminal insane are now in prisons of 
 many of the States, and it is equally true that the in- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 349 
 
 fluence of the body known as the Association of Medi 
 cal Superintendents of American Institutions for the 
 Insane has exercised a most potent and salutary influ 
 ence "in shaping the legislation of the several States in 
 behalf of this afflicted class of their citizens. 
 
 " Believing that your influence will avail to check the 
 enormous wrong which the class we refer to suffer, we 
 ask your intervention in their behalf, and urge you to 
 set forth a distinct and definite policy which shall satisfy 
 its demands. 
 
 " We know that in Great Britain there are two asy 
 lums for the specially criminal insane ; one at Broad- 
 moor, not far from London, a distinct institution, with 
 accommodations for from five to six hundred inmates ; 
 and one at Perth, Scotland, under penal jurisdiction, 
 but in charge of a special superintendent. 
 
 " We know that on the continent of Europe there is 
 no special provision for the criminal insane ; it being 
 held by the most distinguished alienist physicians, and 
 so proclaimed in many works on psychological subjects, 
 that insanity should level all distinctions ; and, as Dr. 
 Manning reports, that * the great gulf which separates 
 the convict from the honest man is bridged over by in 
 sanity ; that when sick in body, the prisoner should be 
 kept within his prison and treated for his malady, but 
 when sick in mind, the prison should be opened and the 
 badge of the convict be forgotten. 
 
 "In this view, the well-known humanitarian, Miss 
 Dix, concurred. 
 
 " We also know that in these United States there is 
 an asylum for insane convicts at Auburn, New York, 
 intended originally for the reception of such as became 
 
350 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 insane when convicts, but more recently for those, also, 
 who have been acquitted on the ground of insanity. 
 We know of no other special provision made for this 
 class, unless it be in jails. In the State of Pennsylvania 
 there are not, we think, over ten per cent, of the num 
 ber who are now confined in the penitentiaries and jails 
 who, on the report of the wardens and prison-keepers, 
 were not insane when sentenced, and of this small per 
 centage some, of course, were mentally imbecile or in 
 the incipient stage of insanity when the crime was 
 committed. The law holds them to be irresponsible/ 
 and still they are held as felons by the act of the law. 
 As has been well said, the courts fail to detect the disa 
 bility for want of a proper defense or because the 
 mental disease is still latent. The jails thus receive 
 these forlorn wards of the State, forsaken by man ; 
 not, we believe, by God. We could enumerate instan 
 ces of marked cruelty in individual cases, but we point 
 only to the injustice which must inevitably oppress 
 them, when subjected to the treatment of prisoners in 
 the State and county jails. Their lightest affliction 
 being perpetual incarceration without the slightest 
 consideration of their sufferings or their needs. This 
 is the case certainly in Pennsylvania. 
 
 " There will be no dispute as to the impolicy as well 
 as the wrong-doing of such proceedings/ These irre 
 sponsible citizens are, as if often said, wards of the 
 State/ Surely no official of the State, no private 
 citizen, who is the head of a family, would overlook the 
 claims of his own children. They would extend the 
 solace and the help all the more for their infirmities. 
 
 " In the year 1871 the Massachusetts Board of Public 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 351 
 
 Chanties addressed communications to the superin 
 tendents of the lunatic hospitals of that State, requesting 
 their views on certain points. That which concerns 
 this board is the inquiry as to the provision which 
 should be made for the class to whom we refer. It is 
 highly honorable, in our judgment, to the intelligence 
 as well as to the humanity of each of these distinguished 
 gentlemen, that neither recommended that a hospital 
 for the criminal insane should be an appendage or 
 an appurtenance of a prison, or built at all on prison 
 grounds. On the contrary, although one of them, to 
 relieve the urgency of the case, admits that he has 
 recommended the fitting of a lunatic ward in the State 
 prison, to be placed under the special care of the prison 
 physician, still he declares there would be but little 
 objection, aside from sentiment, to the treatment of 
 lunatic convicts in a properly constructed hospital for 
 the insane, where they would not mingle indiscrimi 
 nately with the other classes of patients. Another 
 says, I would not advocate making it an adjunct of the 
 State prison, or any penal institution. The last, after 
 recommending that a distinct institution be established 
 for the reception of this class, says, with the knowledge 
 that they are provided for [in Massachusetts] in the 
 State lunatic hospitals, if the superintendents and 
 trustees of any State lunatic hospital, and the general 
 agent of the Board of State Charities, concur in the 
 opinion that a patient of said hospital ought to be 
 removed to said building, he should be so removed. 
 This is the alternative to care and treatment in a gene 
 ral hospital for the insane : in Pennsylvania [it would 
 be] from a prison to a hospital. 
 
35 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 "As the result of the investigations of this intelligent 
 commission, and the views forcibly presented by the 
 eminent alienist physicians of their own State, viz., 
 Drs. Godding, Earle, and Bemis, this cautious board 
 has recommended in their present report, just issued, 
 the establishment of a hospital for the criminal insane] to 
 be placed near enough one of the other State hospitals for 
 the insane to be under the same administration. 
 
 "This board concurs in the principle which underlies 
 this recommendation, as well as in its practical wisdom, 
 for as to the latter, it cannot be expected that any one 
 State will incur the expense of an independent estab 
 lishment for this class and the cost of its proper over 
 sight and maintenance. As has been already stated, 
 there is but one in England whose population approxi 
 mates to our own (that of the United States). As to 
 the former, there is no moral ground upon which the 
 separation of the two classes can be based. It is 
 simply the ground of disagreeableness, to those who 
 conduct the institution, to a small proportion of the 
 patients, and to some of their friends. It is sentiment/ 
 and this we admit should be religiously regarded in the 
 consideration of every provision for the insane. Let it 
 not be overlooked in behalf of the class we are now 
 considering ! We say sentiment only, for the scheme 
 proposed to our legislature provided for a separate 
 and secure building, separately enclosed with suitable 
 walls, but to be under the supervision of the superintend 
 ent of the general hospital, on the same premises. 
 
 " Believing that our views have been clearly con 
 veyed in this communication, and excusing its crudeness 
 by the obvious necessity of haste, I beg most respect- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 353 
 
 fully to commit the subject to your thoughtful deter 
 mination and action ; and I trust that they may be so 
 enlightened as to reflect honor upon your body and 
 yourselves individually not merely for the present, 
 but for all time. 
 
 " I am, most respectfully, yours, 
 
 "GEO. L. HARRISON, 
 
 " President" 
 
 When the association entered upon the consideration 
 of this letter, the following resolutions were offered : 
 
 "WHEREAS, The proper disposal of that class of the 
 insane, whose criminal acts require their seclusion and 
 confinement, is a matter on which this association is 
 requested to express an opinion. 
 
 "i. Resolved, Therefore, as the opinion of this associ 
 ation, that neither jails and penitentiaries nor ordinary 
 hospitals for the insane are proper receptacles for this 
 class of persons ; but that they should be cared for in 
 establishments designed expressly and solely for them. 
 
 "2. Resolved, That under no circumstances should 
 * insane convicts be associated with other insane per 
 sons, believing that such an association is not calcu 
 lated to improve the condition of the latter, and that 
 the best interests of the former require a special 
 management, and architectural arrangements of a 
 peculiar kind, both very different from such as are 
 adapted to the needs of other classes of the insane. 
 
354 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 " 3. Resolved, also, That the example of the State 
 of New York, which has thus provided for its criminal 
 insane/ as they are usually called, be commended to 
 imitation by other States, either singly or collectively." 
 
 We take the liberty of reproducing here some of the 
 most noteworthy utterances which this discussion called 
 forth in the association, as they are published in the 
 Journal of Insanity, before cited. 
 
 Dr. Shew, superintendent of the general hospital for 
 the insane, Middletown, Connecticut : " If the resolu 
 tions refer to persons who commit acts which would be 
 considered criminal, were they not insane, I cannot concur 
 in all the resolutions. Many of the patients received in 
 our hospital commit those acts, and are sent to the hos 
 pital because they are dangerous to society, dangerous 
 as insane persons. It seems to me that there can be but 
 one opinion, and that is that insane criminals should be 
 separated entirely from patients in hospitals. First, 
 because of the dangerous influence upon other patients; 
 secondly, because of the odium which it brings on the 
 institution, and the unpleasant feeling which the friends 
 of the patients have in supposing or believing that 
 their loved ones are associating daily and hourly with 
 criminal persons. 
 
 " In practical experience I have not found that * in 
 sane convicts are particularly objectionable in them 
 selves not so much as Dr. Shurtleff and Dr. Curwen 
 have." [Dr. Curwen has not given his remarks in the 
 official publication.] "Three years ago the Legislature 
 of Connecticut passed a law requiring the trustees of 
 the hospital at Middletown to receive all insane con- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 355 
 
 victs after a proper examination, which was specified, 
 and a commission appointed. We had no separate 
 provisions, and were obliged to receive them in the 
 hospital proper, and place them in association with the 
 other patients. Since that time twelve insane convicts 
 have been transferred from Wethersfield to Middle- 
 town ; two of that number have escaped ; one of them 
 feigned insanity ; arrangements had been made to 
 transfer him to Wethersfield, but he escaped the very 
 night before the transfer was to be made. Of the ten 
 others, seven have been among the most valuable farm 
 laborers, harmless, industrious, and peaceable, and yet 
 positively insane ; much less dangerous than many of 
 the chronic patients. One of the number has been 
 very valuable the past few years, in sharpening the 
 tools used by the stone-cutters in the erection of the 
 two wings, saving the cost of one skilled mechanic. It 
 was his trade and occupation before being sent to 
 prison. None of the seven who have been employed 
 ever attempted to escape." 
 
 [ Why, then, was it that in the case of the eight in 
 sane convicts sent to the Harrisburg institution, Jive 
 managed to escape f] 
 
 " They are generally liked by the patients, and are 
 not more troublesome than others. The friends of the 
 patients [ paying patients, doubtless] object to the 
 association, and in my report last year I called the 
 attention of the legislature to that fact, and asked that 
 an appropriation be made for a separate building, dis 
 tinct from the main hospital, a cottage simply, to 
 provide for the insane convicts. 
 During the present year, we hope to have a building 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 for the accommodation of twenty persons, in which we 
 will provide for all the insane convicts. There have 
 been only three transferred from Wethersfield each 
 year." 
 
 Dr. Shew then assuming that the population and 
 resources of some of the States, and the number of 
 their insane convicts, may be such as to warrant the 
 construction in each of an entirely separate hospital 
 for their accommodation, with all the best appoint 
 ments for their proper care and treatment proceeds to 
 express, in that case, his preference for having such a 
 hospital, intended exclusively for the insane convicts 
 proper, erected on the grounds of the State prison, 
 rather than on those of a general hospital ; but other 
 wise, and for other States, he clearly prefers such an 
 arrangement as he has described at Middletown. 
 
 Dr. Compton, of Mississippi : 
 
 "The third resolution, I think, I would amend, be 
 cause that condemns the action of my own State in 
 this matter. It declares that under.no circumstances 
 should insane convicts be permitted to associate with 
 other insane persons, believing that such association is 
 not calculated to benefit the insane, &c. I would be 
 very decidedly against the first part of the resolution, 
 that, under no circumstances should they be associ 
 ated. I would take them into my asylum rather than 
 let them remain in the penitentiary or jail. In the ab 
 sence of the proper provisions I would take them out of 
 the penitentiary and jails and put them into my asylum! 
 
 Dr. Earle, of Northampton, Massachusetts : 
 
 " I would put the convict insane in a separate insti 
 tution, independent of all other institutions. I would 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 357 
 
 put in the same place those who have been tried for 
 crime and acquitted on the ground of insanity ; then 
 those incendiary and homicidal patients who never 
 had been tried for crime. I would make the provision 
 that they should be removed to that institution, but not 
 unless it was decided by the superintendent of the 
 hospital and the Board of State Chanties and its agents; 
 all these authorities must concur before a man who had 
 committed a criminal act, and had not been convicted 
 of crime, should be removed (not from the common 
 hospital to the penitentiary or prison, but) from the 
 common hospital to this institution. This applies only 
 to the incendiary and homicidal class, because our most 
 dangerous patients are not convicts, and have never 
 been tried for crime and acquitted on the ground of 
 insanity." 
 
 Dr. Grundy, of Athens, Ohio : 
 
 " In endorsing the action of the State of New York, 
 we go further than my amendment would contemplate, 
 because we endorse this course. They have done very 
 well in providing a hospital for insane convicts, but with 
 those insane convicts they send persons who are com 
 pelled to mingle with them, whose acts of violence were 
 committed in their diseased condition. It is urged that 
 this is a matter of expediency, because the hospitals are 
 not able to contain them for various reasons. If the 
 hospitals are not properly constructed make them so. 
 If special arrangements are required for violent pa 
 tients, have those special arrangements made." The 
 doctor then goes on to speak with more kindness than 
 respect of boards of State charities; but with this we 
 have nothing to do. 
 
35 8 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 Dr. Smith, of Fulton, Missouri : 
 
 "I must also object to that part of one of the reso 
 lutions which endorses the New York law. Those 
 conversant with this law inform us that one of its pro 
 visions requires that all acquitted on the ground of in 
 sanity shall, in the discretion of the judge, be sent to 
 the same institution designed for convicts." [And he 
 might have added, standing as a department of the 
 State prison.] " Such a provision as this I cannot en 
 dorse. Endorsing this law would 
 be equivalent to endorsing the punishment of the insane, 
 because of the acquittal of crime ; the penalty of assign 
 ing them to a position most repulsive to their feelings 
 and those of their friends, and one that would not only 
 retard but often prevent recovery." [What would the 
 doctor have said of sending them, as zve do, not to a 
 common hospital, but to a common prison ?] " We 
 have patients in our institution, who, prior to admission, 
 committed terrible deeds, and no doubt there are such in 
 most hospitals for the insane. We have fathers who 
 killed their wives and children, and a mother who 
 killed her husband ; all under the influence of delu 
 sions in regard to different members of their families. 
 These patients have been as orderly, quiet, and pleas 
 ant as any in our building; have shown no tendency 
 to violence, and exerted no injurious influence over 
 others." 
 
 The resolutions were amended and finally passed as 
 follows, and were transmitted to us at the response of 
 the association : 
 
 "WHEREAS, The President of the Board of Charities 
 of Pennsylvania has requested that this association 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 359 
 
 should express its opinion in regard to the proper dis 
 position of insane convicts : therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That neither the cells of penitentiaries 
 and jails, nor the wards of ordinary hospitals for the 
 insane, are proper places for the custody and treatment 
 of this class of the insane. 
 
 " 2. That when the number of this class in any State 
 (or in any two or more adjoining States which will unite 
 in the project) is sufficient to justify such a course, 
 these cases should be placed in a hospital specially 
 provided for the purpose ; and that until this can be 
 done, they should be treated in a hospital connected 
 with some prison, and not in the wards nor in separate 
 buildings upon any part of the grounds of an ordinary 
 hospital for the insane." 
 
 The published report of the debate, from which we 
 have made the foregoing citations, as containing import 
 ant medical opinions bearing on the subject in hand, 
 would have been more complete and fair, as well as 
 less liable to misunderstanding, if the letter from this 
 board which called it forth had not been suppressed. 
 It would then have appeared that both the debate and 
 the final action of the association failed to grasp the 
 precise points presented in the letter. They treated 
 the subject with reference to an ideal standard, rather 
 than with reference to the actual laws and practice of 
 Pennsylvania in the case. 
 
 The whole debate and the final action were eventu 
 ally narrowed down to the case of " insane convicts " 
 exclusively, instead of taking into view all the classes 
 of the " criminal insane," so called, which were pre 
 sented for their consideration. 
 
360 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 It is instructive, however, to compare the resolutions 
 finally adopted with those originally proposed. 
 
 1. Both sets of resolutions agree and so did, ap 
 parently, every member of the association, in the most 
 emphatic manner in the fundamental principle, that 
 neither the cells of jails and penitentiaries, nor the 
 wards of ordinary hospitals for the insane, are proper 
 receptacles for the custody and treatment of that class of 
 the insane whose case was under consideration. 
 
 2. The resolutions adopted confine themselves to the 
 care of insane convicts as such, a portion only of the 
 cases submitted for consideration, while the original 
 preamble included the "proper disposal of that class 
 of the insane whose criminal acts require their seclu 
 sion and confinement." Precisely what class was in 
 tended to be thus described might be doubted, but if 
 simply " insane convicts " were intended, it was a very 
 circuitous way of saying so. 
 
 3. It is not expressly and positively declared, in 
 these as in the former resolutions, that, under no cir 
 cumstances, should "insane convicts" be associated 
 with other insane persons ; but merely that they should 
 be treated " in a hospital specially provided for the pur 
 pose" 
 
 It is left an open question whether or not other spe 
 cial classes of insane persons may be treated in the 
 same specially-provided hospital, i. e., supposing such 
 hospital not to be on prison grounds, and, at the same 
 time, not a department of any ordinary hospital for the 
 insane. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 361 
 
 4. The commendation of the New York plan of 
 sending other insane persons besides convicts to a 
 hospital connected with a State prison, is carefully 
 avoided. 
 
 5. A separate hospital for this class separate from 
 prisons as well as ordinary hospitals is proposed as 
 the proper and desirable plan, provided it can be had. 
 
 6. Until such a hospital can be had, it is proposed, 
 as an imperfect, temporary, and unsatisfactory substi 
 tute, but as much better than giving "insane convicts" 
 no special or remedial treatment at all, that they, i. e., 
 the strictly " insane convicts " as such, and by themselves, 
 should be treated in a hospital connected with some 
 prison, rather than on the grounds of any " ordinary " 
 hospital for the insane. 
 
 The conclusions thus reached, as far as they go, 
 would be quite in harmony with the views of this 
 board, except, perhaps, in the last-mentioned particu 
 lar ; and, on that point, there might be no substantial 
 disagreement when the case is narrowed down to the 
 precise circumstances contemplated, and the precise 
 expressions employed. // is, in terms, an undesirable 
 alternative which is thus presented. We think, and we 
 shall hope to show, that it is neither reasonable nor 
 necessary to resort to such an alternative at all. 
 
 The plan of two or more States joining in the erec 
 tion or support of a hospital for insane convicts is 
 not new. Such a plan was proposed and drawn out 
 at large by Dr. Edward Jarvis, of Massachusetts, in 
 
362 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 1857, in a very able and suggestive paper on the 
 " criminal insane." We cannot but regard all such 
 propositions as simply futile. No two or more States 
 will ever combine in building a common hospital for 
 their " insane convicts ; " nor will any one State ever 
 provide such a hospital for the use of other States. 
 In reference to such joint action, the case of insane 
 convicts is very different from that of the blind or deaf- 
 mutes or the ordinary insane. We may therefore dis 
 miss such suggestions as visionary and illusory. And 
 the fact that United States convicts are received into 
 the convict-prisons of several of the States, in the ab 
 sence of a national prison, furnishes no parallel at all 
 to the expedient suggested, of one State taking charge 
 of another State s convicts. It may be quite possible, 
 and fair, also, for a child to accommodate a parent in 
 an emergency, and impracticable and unreasonable to 
 extend like assistance to a fellow-child. But let it be 
 observed, in any case, that we make no objection to the 
 joint action of several States in the premises : we only 
 express a decided opinion that it will never be brought 
 about. 
 
 It remains, then, for each State to make provision 
 for herself. We must consider the subject in this 
 point of view, if we are to give it any practical con 
 sideration at all. No one State not even New York 
 or Pennsylvania, has such a number of insane convicts, 
 in the strict sense of the term, as would warrant the 
 erection and equipment of a completely separate hos 
 pital for their exclusive care and treatment, such a 
 hospital as should furnish them the best supervision 
 and attendance, and nothing less ought to be furnished 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 363 
 
 them. The number of such convicts in this State is 
 probably not many more at any one time than could 
 be accommodated in Dr. Shew s " little cottage" at 
 tached to his hospital. For it is to be observed that 
 the magnitude of the existing evil in this particular 
 case consists not so much in its numerical extent as 
 in the principle involved, and in its ramifying con 
 nections. 
 
 The State has no right to offset economy against an 
 injustice or against inhumanity; but she has a right, in 
 doing justice, to study economy ; and she is likely more 
 fully to meet the demands of justice and humanity on 
 the whole and in the long run, when she makes her 
 plans with a far-seeing and systematic economy, than 
 when she indulges in spasmodic extravagance. 
 
 It may be assumed as another settled thing, that the 
 State will never establish an entirely separate hospital, 
 separate from all connection either with prisons or 
 with ordinary hospitals, for the exclusive accommodation 
 of twenty or thirty "insane convicts" and provide it 
 with all the appointments of a complete hospital for 
 the care and treatment of the insane. This plan may 
 be dismissed as equally visionary and illusory with the 
 other. 
 
 But it is not to be forgotten that, besides the strictly 
 insane convicts, there are other analogous and closely- 
 bordering classes of insane persons yet to be provided 
 for in this State: (i.) Those who have been convicted 
 of crime, but have served out their sentences and con 
 tinue insane; and of these, there may be nearly as 
 many as of the others. (2.) Those who have been 
 charged with crime, but found insane before trial or 
 
364 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 sentence ; these are a class as numerous, probably, as 
 the insane convicts, and yet they are not insane con 
 victs. (3.) Those who have committed terrible acts of 
 violence or destruction, as homicide, arson, burglary, 
 &c., and have been acquitted on the ground of in 
 sanity, but who, for the safety of the community, must 
 be kept under the most watchful and perhaps rigorous 
 restraint, as well as provided with the most skillful 
 curative treatment. All these classes are now in our 
 jails and penitentiaries or poor-houses, or are by law 
 liable to be there, and other classes besides them;* and 
 their case is be provided for as well as that of the 
 strictly insane convicts. And even if a special hospital 
 should be provided for insane convicts, in connection 
 with some prison or penitentiary, and on the prison 
 ground, rather than in connection with one of the State 
 lunatic asylums, and with the imperfect appointments 
 and supervision which must needs characterize such an 
 
 * The following facts are reported by the general agent of this board under 
 date November 1st : 
 
 Insane frequently sent to prison, sometimes as many as eight or ten at a time, 
 who are kept until the court decides what disposition to make of them. 
 
 One lunatic sentenced November 1 3th, 1868, for ten days, to enter bail for good 
 behavior. In default of bail he has been confined ever since. The cause of his 
 detention is the want of suitable accommodations in the county almshouse. 
 
 Eight insane were sent to this prison in 1872, all of whom were transferred to 
 the county almshouse. 
 
 One lunatic confined since last winter, was sent here from the poor-house for 
 safety, not being able to keep her at the latter. 
 
 One " criminal insane," confined nearly six years under a " charge " of arson. 
 
 One man charged with having stolen a horse was acquitted on the ground of 
 ins.inity, but is still confined. 
 
 One committed for threat to kill. 
 
 One man not charged with crime committed for safe-keeping. 
 
 Insane frequently committed. 
 
 One charged with attempt to shoot suffers under mental disorder. 
 
 Insane frequently committed. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 365 
 
 establishment, considered as a mere department of the 
 prison, we will not ask now whether this is all that is 
 due to the "insane convicts" themselves ; but we do ask 
 whether those other classes of insane persons ought 
 to be sent to such a hospital, to associate with the in 
 sane convicts in a department of a prison ? Either 
 that, or left in the cells of the jails and penitentiaries 
 or poor-houses, where they are. But it is asked, why 
 not send them, in such a case, to the ordinary lunatic 
 hospitals ? We answer by asking why they are not 
 uniformly sent there now? or why, when sent there, 
 they are exposed to be remanded to the prison cells ? 
 
 It may be said that this very class of " criminal in 
 sane" are in the hospitals, and that the "returns" to 
 this board, from these institutions, present this fact 
 continually. We have not denied or disputed the fact. 
 We have not found fault with the little good that is 
 done ; but only with the great wrong-doing which so 
 completely obscures and over-shadows it. The law 
 should declare the rights of every citizen, and vindicate 
 them uniformly and without exception, especially the 
 rights of the poor and defenseless. 
 
 In fact, the whole question is narrowed down to these 
 points : 
 
 1. It is agreed on all hands that neither prisons nor 
 ordinary hospitals, with the ordinary arrangements, are 
 fit places for the custody and treatment of "insane 
 convicts." 
 
 2. The co-operation of several States in establishing 
 or maintaining a special hospital for that purpose is 
 out of the question. 
 
366 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 3. It is equally out of the question for one State 
 for this State to provide for the exclusive use of this 
 class of insane an entirely separate institution, with 
 the proper hospital equipment and superintendence. 
 
 4. Their special hospital, therefore, if they are to have 
 any, must either be upon the grounds of a prison and 
 an appendage to it, with the imperfect and insufficient 
 supervision of the prison physician, the attendance of 
 prison overseers or keepers, and the atmosphere of 
 prison associations, or upon the grounds of some State 
 hospital, so as to be under the same supervision of 
 high and appropriate medical character, the same 
 attendance and the same curative influences ; though, 
 while a department of the hospital, it may be made as 
 completely secure, and kept as separate from it as 
 may be thought best ; to be denominated, not " the 
 convict department," or " the criminal department," 
 but simply " the special department of such a hos 
 pital." This remains the only practical alternative. 
 
 If the former course is chosen, the patients will not 
 be secured that degree of skillful treatment and of 
 humane and careful attendance which is their due, and 
 without which there is small prospect of their recovery; 
 and, what is perhaps more, it would be utterly unjust 
 and outrageous to retain those other classes of the 
 insane, if placed in the same hospital with the con 
 victs, not only in connection with those convicts, but 
 in association with the scenes and the character and 
 the odium of the penitentiary. Even that might, in 
 deed, be an improvement upon their present condition; 
 but in principle and in fact, the wrong inflicted upon 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 367 
 
 them would be the same ; they would still be con 
 signed to the penitentiary. Either this, we say again, 
 or they must be sent to ordinary hospitals. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the latter alternative is chosen, 
 then this special or separate department of the hospital, 
 instead of being regarded as properly intended for in 
 sane convicts, may and should be regarded as intended 
 chiefly, and in the first instance, for the accommodation 
 and safe-keeping of the three (and perhaps other] classes 
 of insane persons above described; and the far less 
 numerous class of insane convicts may be regarded as 
 being admitted, in the character of insane, to a higher 
 position than, as convicts, they could claim; and mean 
 time, the infamy of incarcerating innocent and helpless 
 men and women in the criminal s dungeon would be 
 done away, while the ordinary hospitals would be 
 relieved from the charge of some of the insane, who 
 require the most special and expensive arrangements 
 for their safe-keeping. // would not be that the insane 
 of these other classes would be thrust into a convict hos 
 pital; bitt convicts woitld be admitted to a hospital 
 intended for other classes. And even this need not con 
 tinue, and should continue no longer than till the State 
 should feel justified in establishing a totally separate 
 hospital for the insane convicts themselves. If, till then, 
 it be thought a wrong to these other classes of luna 
 tics, that convicts, though insane like themselves and 
 equally irresponsible, should be thrust upon their 
 society at all, we answer that among these classes as 
 little of actual association or intercourse mio-ht be 
 
 o 
 
 allowed, even within this separate department or wing 
 of the hospital, which they would occupy in common, 
 
368 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 as might be thought advisable. At all events, to be 
 obliged to be associated with insane convicts in a com 
 mon hospital is small ground for complaint, in com 
 parison with being thrust into association with felons, 
 sane as well as insane, in a common prison. As to 
 the inmates of the other departments of the general 
 hospital, on whose grounds this special and separate 
 department would stand, for us or for their friends to 
 think of any hardship or degradation to them in con 
 sequence of their separate connection with this depart 
 ment, is, surely, nothing less than the most superlative 
 extravagance or sentimental fastidiousness ; especially 
 when it is remembered that the whole hospital is 
 furnished by the liberality of the State for the accom 
 modation of poor and destitute insane people ; people, 
 too, who would, otherwise, be miserably and hopelessly 
 languishing in poor-houses and prisons. 
 
 And besides, the objection to making the provision 
 we have suggested for the criminal insane, so called, in 
 a separate department on hospital grounds, leaves only 
 the alternative of keeping them in direct association 
 with unoffending insane in the poor-houses, where they 
 are constantly sent; so that, as these are not " paying" 
 patients, it would seem that they are to be left out in a 
 discussion of the subject, and their rights are not to be \ 
 considered. Let us not continue, as a State, to inflict, 
 by the wholesale, upon our helpless fellow-creatures, 
 the most outrageous wrongs, waiting until we can be 
 sure of doing right with the most mathematical pre 
 cision, or after the nicest and most perfect ideal and 
 sentimental model. Let us not strain out the gnat 
 while we unhesitatingly swallow the camel ! 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 369 
 
 The suggestion that, dealing with insane convicts, 
 one or two things must occur, namely, that " you must 
 make a prison of the hospital or a hospital of the 
 prison," and that the latter alternative is wiser and 
 more humane, is, we consider, more specious than 
 sound. We think we have shown that the tendency 
 of the prevailing system in this State is to " imprison " 
 numbers of irresponsible insane, whose clear right it is 
 to enjoy " hospital " care. Surely this should be re 
 versed even at the inconvenience (if it need be and if 
 it be such) to the hospital of caring for a few individuals 
 who have been guilty of crime and have since become 
 insane. 
 
 One of the strangest and most inhuman suggestions 
 in regard to the insanity of convicts is, that it should 
 be considered as "a part of their punishment." So far 
 as their whole punishment is to be regarded as a divine 
 infliction, the suggestion is entirely true and God s 
 ways can undoubtedly be vindicated ; but from this 
 point of view the same is true of all cases of insanity ; 
 they are all visitations of Divine Providence and as 
 such are just and are not to be murmured against. 
 However great the suffering it is in every case a 
 righteous infliction. But to say that insanity is any 
 part of the punishment inflicted on convicts by the 
 sentence of human law, is simply false. If it were 
 true ; if by the sentence of the law men were to 
 be driven insane as a punishment for their crimes- 
 some, and not others, without any "rhyme or reason" 
 in making the distinction it would be nothing short of 
 the grossest and most detestable inhumanity as well as 
 injustice. In the case of convicts insanity is no more 
 
37 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 a part of their punishment than any other disease. If 
 a convict is seized with fever or small-pox, shall we say 
 " it is a part of his punishment," and so leave him to 
 its consequences ? No ! we are to give him such diet 
 and care and medical treatment as will be likely to 
 insure his recovery in the shortest time. This can be 
 done in the prison hospital. All we ask is that the 
 same be done in case the disease is insanity. If this 
 can be done ; if the best medical superintendence and 
 care can be provided in connection with the prison, let 
 it be done ; we have no objection to make. But if 
 not, if better provision can be supplied for these pur 
 poses in connection with some established hospital and 
 at vastly less cost, then let this latter course be pre 
 ferred and adopted. 
 
 The whole matter is narrowed to a question of 
 expediency and expense. If the State is prepared to 
 meet the expense of providing the appointments of a 
 first-class hospital, expressly and exclusively for twenty 
 or thirty " insane convicts," very well, let them be 
 provided. But, if not, let some other adequate pro 
 vision be made. At all events, let not helpless lunatics 
 be left incarcerated in the cells of prisons and poor- 
 houses. 
 
 We have said before, and we now say again, that 
 neither insanity, nor the privation of proper treatment 
 in case of insanity, is any part of the sentence imposed 
 upon convicts by law ; and if there are still any who 
 maintain that insanity is to be regarded as " a part of 
 the convict s punishment," we beg only to add that 
 such views as these are not shared by the distinguished 
 medical gentlemen nor by the eminent philanthropic 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 371 
 
 citizens who have intelligently, and with full knowledge 
 of the import of what they have done, set their hands 
 to the accompanying memorials to the legislature, 
 praying your honorable bodies to redress the wrongs, 
 not merely or chiefly of insane convicts, but of the 
 several classes of insane poor, upon whose defense we 
 have entered, against not only the injurious insinua 
 tions of interested parties, but the actual personal 
 injuries and sufferings wh^ch are continuously heaped 
 upon them m defiance of every impulse of humanity 
 as well as every sober and righteous conviction of 
 reason and sound judgment. 
 
 To the Board of Public Charities of the State of Penn 
 sylvania : 
 
 The undersigned, practicing physicians of the cities 
 of Pittsburg and Allegheny, request your board to 
 take action looking to the repeal or modification of 
 some of the provisions of law in relation to the treat 
 ment of insane, more especially of those who have 
 been acquitted on the ground of insanity or who have 
 become insane while incarcerated in prison or peni 
 tentiary. 
 
 We understand that the laws of this State in refer 
 ence to these unfortunates are such, that in some cases 
 the courts are expressly forbidden to commit them to 
 the hospitals unless they are deemed speedily curable; 
 and that in cases where insane criminals or persons 
 acquitted on. the ground of insanity have been sent by 
 the court to the hospital, the board of managers 
 and superintendent or physician, if they deem them 
 
372 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 incurable, may send them back to the jail or peniten 
 tiary from which they came. 
 
 We are assured that such treatment of the insane, 
 whether criminals or not, is inhuman ; and knowing as 
 we do that a prison or penitentiary is not and cannot 
 be a fitting place for the treatment of human beings so 
 sadly afflicted, whether incurable or not, we earnestly 
 appeal to you, and through you to the legislature of 
 our State, to have such a change made in the laws as 
 will effectually prevent the exposure of the insane of 
 any class to incarceration in our prisons, jails, or peni 
 tentiaries. Yours, &c., 
 
 ANDREW FLEMING, M. D., 
 GEO. D. BRUCE, M. D., 
 H. T. COFFEY, M. D., 
 F. LE MOYNE, M. D., 
 W. J. ESTEP, M. D., 
 J. N. DICKSON, M. D., 
 THOS. W. SHAW, M. D., 
 JOHN DICKSON, M. D., 
 A. W. McCov, M. D., 
 JOHN S. DICKSON, M. D., 
 W. SNIVELY, M. D., 
 
 PITTSBURG, December, 1873. 
 
 A. M. POLLOCK, M. D., 
 W. C. REITER, M. D., 
 JULIAN ROGERS, M. D., 
 R. B. MOWRY, M. D., 
 C. B. KING, M. D., 
 J. B. MURDOCH, M. D., 
 W. R. HAMILTON, M. D., 
 JAS. KING, M. D., 
 JAS. MCCANN, M. D., 
 T. C. RHOADS, M. D., 
 JAMES MACFARLANE, M. D, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, December, 1873. 
 To the Legislature of Pennsylvania : 
 
 The undersigned, members of the medical profes 
 sion, being aware of the sad condition of the " poor " 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 373 
 
 and the " criminal insane," who are suffering cruel per 
 sonal wrongs and constant deterioration of their mental 
 and bodily condition in the jails and poor-houses of the 
 State, respectfully appeal to your honorable bodies to 
 provide such legislation as will effectually secure the 
 admission and detention of these classes in the State 
 hospitals for the insane so long as their malady re 
 quires it. 
 
 We believe that both humanity and public duty de 
 mand such legislation for the relief of wrongful suffer 
 ing and for the restoration to health and usefulness of 
 these afflicted and injured classes. 
 
 S. D. GROSS, M. D., 
 JOSEPH PANCOAST, M. D., 
 ALFRED STILLE, M. D., 
 FRANCIS G. SMITH, M. D., 
 S.WEIR MITCHELL, M. D., 
 WILLIAM PEPPER, M. D., 
 D. HAYES AGNEW, M. D., 
 J. FORSYTH MEIGS, M. D., 
 
 EDW. HARTSHORNE, M. D., 
 CASPAR MORRIS, M. D., 
 J. M. DA COSTA, M. D., 
 HIRAM CORSON, M. D., 
 HORATIO C. WOOD, M. D., 
 JOHN H. PACKARD, M. D., 
 F. F. MAURY, M. D. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsyl 
 vania: 
 
 We gladly unite our names with those of the emi 
 nent jurists, the distinguished physicians, the inspect 
 ors and wardens of the penitentiaries, and other noted 
 personages, familiar with the subject, in the appeal of 
 the Board of Public Charities to your honorable bodies 
 to redress, by proper legislation, the wrongs of the 
 
374 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 "poor" and the criminal" insane, who are now con 
 signed to the jails and almshouses of the State, and 
 who should, properly, be placed in the State hospitals 
 for the insane, which were established by the public 
 for their reception, their care, and remedial treatment. 
 
 JAMES J. BARCLAY, 
 JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 
 MAHLON H. DICKINSON, 
 HENRY C. CAREY, 
 ISAAC LEA, 
 JOHN O. JAMES, 
 JAMES THOMPSON (late 
 Chief Justice), 
 
 DECEMBER ist, 1873. 
 
 WM. BACON STEVENS, 
 JOHN WELSH, 
 CALEB COPE, 
 JOHN M. WHITALL, 
 WILLIAM BIGLER, 
 ASA WHITNEY, 
 M. SIMPSON, Bishop. 
 
 After the fullest investigation of facts and the ma- 
 turest reflection upon the case, we are constrained to 
 declare that, in our clear conviction and judgment, 
 every consideration of humanity, justice, propriety, and 
 expediency is combined in favor of placing the special 
 hospital for the " criminal insane" so called, including \ 
 incidentally and temporarily, "insane convicts" on the 
 grounds of some State hospital, so as to be under a 
 common superintendence therewith, rather than within 
 the purlieus of any prison. 
 
 We, therefore, most earnestly renew our recommen 
 dation that such a separate hospital department be 
 speedily provided, with the proper construction and 
 arrangements for the purposes indicated, on the 
 grounds of the Danville hospital. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 375 
 
 We further feel constrained to suggest and we do 
 it with much hesitation and with sincere respect for all 
 parties that, in forming a judgment of this scheme, a 
 preponderating weight ought not to be attached to 
 the opinions of parties who may have any personal 
 interest or convenience involved in the question, how 
 ever respectable they may be, and even though they 
 present themselves in the character of experts. The 
 authority of experts is limited to their particular pro 
 fessional sphere. Their proper office is to serve as 
 witnesses and not as judges ; and any intelligent and 
 disinterested layman, who, by personal observation 
 and thorough study, has made himself acquainted with 
 the condition of the insane in our penitentiaries, jails, 
 poor-houses, and hospitals, is as well (perhaps better) 
 qualified to judge as they are of the broad features of 
 any plan proposed for ameliorating that condition; to 
 judge what is consistent with or demanded by the dic 
 tates of justice, humanity, and the public good. 
 
 We beg also to suggest that, for examining and de 
 termining what persons should be transferred from the 
 prisons or poor-houses or other hospitals, to the sepa 
 rate hospital department above recommended, or there 
 from to prison or the other hospitals, the law should 
 provide that either the Board of Public Charities, by 
 their general agent or some other commissioner or 
 commissioners specially appointed, who should make 
 themselves thoroughly acquainted with the condition 
 and wants of the insane throughout the Common 
 wealth (i. ., of such as are kept under detention and 
 restraint), who could be supposed to have no interest 
 to subserve but those of justice, humanity, and the 
 
376 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 public good, and who could act systematically and on 
 general and impartial principles, should have the 
 ultimate control, with such advice from the superin 
 tendents of the State hospitals and other experts as 
 they may require; or as in the case of the New York 
 law in this behalf, with the aid and advice of a com 
 missioner of lunacy, specially appointed to aid the 
 Board of Public Charities in their action. 
 
 If your honorable bodies should prefer the appoint 
 ment of an independent commission, this board will, of 
 course, be entirely satisfied. 
 
 In all this, we presume, of course, that the courts 
 would, in the first instance, make such disposition of 
 the insane, who come under their judicial cognizance, 
 as they should by law be authorized or required to do. 
 Provision might also be made for carrying up any 
 decision of the aforesaid commission or of the general 
 agent of this board which may be alleged to be erro 
 neous or unjust, to some court, to be reviewed and 
 either confirmed or reversed. It is remarkable that in 
 the late convention of superintendents of the insane, 
 to which reference has before been made, one of its 
 members, having alluded to the provision of the New 
 York law, empowering a judge to dispose, according 
 to his discretion, of persons acquitted of murder and 
 other crimes on the ground of insanity sending them 
 either to a convict hospital or some other, exclaimed, 
 "Too great a sweep of power for one man !" And 
 almost immediately after another member naively 
 declared that " persons acquitted of a criminal act on 
 the ground of insanity should be placed in the hospital 
 for the insane, and . the moment the superintendent 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 377 
 
 considers him a fit subject for the asylum for convicts 
 he should be sent there" ! 
 
 The truth is, the very fact of the malady being 
 obscure, and thus causing the general public to neglect 
 its victims, excepting through mere curiosity, makes it 
 important that the State, representing the community, 
 should have a special agency whose duty it shall be to 
 scrutinize the condition and needs of this class. Such 
 a commission can understand these, as well as the 
 physicians or attendants, and have no considerations 
 of personal convenience to warp the judgment. The 
 simple point of diagnosis of the particular phase of 
 the malady is all in which it would necessarily be 
 deficient. 
 
 It is the universal practice of governments which 
 appoint commissions to constitute them of laymen. 
 
 We have said that the wrongs of the insane in prisons 
 and poor-houses continue as they were when Miss 
 Dix s " Memorial " caused the State to provide a hos 
 pital for their alleviation. We now say that, although 
 every hospital built and projected has been recom 
 mended to the legislature with the same view, and 
 seemingly with the same design, the system pursued 
 has never extinguished and never will extinguish or 
 even abate the evil. There are twelve hundred of 
 these (outside of Philadelphia, where alone there are 
 one thousand and fifty in the almshouse asylum) 
 suffering incarceration and neglect. The unnecessary 
 costliness of these hospital establishments for the indi 
 gent insane, and the liberal admission into them of 
 "paying patients" forbid the realization of the inten 
 tions and the desires of the legislature and the public. 
 
378 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 In conclusion, we think we may assume the following 
 as established principles or settled points : 
 
 1. The State is bound to provide, not only for the 
 safe-keeping, but for the proper care and treatment of 
 all her insane poor. 
 
 2. Neither jails, penitentiaries, nor poor-houses are 
 proper places for their detention or treatment, what 
 ever may be the character of their insanity, or whether 
 it be recent or of long standing curable or incurable. 
 
 3. A person while insane can be guilty of no crime, 
 and it is both unjust and inhuman to consign innocent 
 men and women to the ignominious cells of jails and 
 penitentiaries, or to the foul kennels of poor-houses, 
 simply because, though insane and irresponsible, they 
 are "dangerous to be at large." 
 
 4. Even insane convicts ought not to be retained in 
 the cells of prisons, but transferred to some hospital 
 where they may be both safely kept and receive appro 
 priate medical treatment. 
 
 In view of the foregoing admitted facts and princi 
 ples, this board begs to renew and repeat, by way of 
 summary, the following recommendations, and most 
 earnestly to urge them upon the attention of the 
 legislature : 
 
 i. That the law of April 8th, 1861, be repealed, or 
 amended, in the points indicated in this report. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 379 
 
 2. That the State should make prompt and adequate 
 provision in general State hospitals for all the insane 
 poor in the Commonwealth, determine by law how 
 their expenses should be paid, require the several 
 counties either to make equally suitable provisions in 
 proper hospitals for their insane poor, or to send them 
 to the State hospitals, and require the authorities of 
 these hospitals to receive and retain them as long as 
 they need hospital care. 
 
 3. That a separate wing or department of one of the 
 State hospitals to be under the charge of its superin 
 tendent should be suitably constructed, arranged, and 
 equipped for the reception, custody, and proper medical 
 treatment (i) of those persons who continue insane after 
 completing the period of their sentence for crime ; (2) 
 of those who, being charged with the commission of 
 crime while sane, are adjudged insane before trial or 
 sentence ; (3) of those who are acquitted of certain 
 crimes, as murder, arson, rape, burglary, &c., on the 
 ground of insanity, and are adjudged too dangerous 
 to be discharged, and, (4) perhaps, of other dangerous 
 lunatics ; all these to be sent either to this depart 
 ment or to the ordinary hospitals, according to the 
 discretion of the court or of the proper commission. 
 
 4. That all other insane persons who are brought 
 up for the sentence of the courts should be sent to 
 the ordinary hospitals, so that no insane persons in 
 any case should be committed to prison. 
 
 5. That, till an entirely separate hospital may be pro 
 vided for their accommodation, "insane convicts " should 
 
380 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 be admitted to appropriate quarters in the above-men 
 tioned special department, their insanity to be ascer 
 tained and their transfer regulated according to pro 
 visions of law, and they themselves allowed as much 
 or as little association with the inmates of this depart 
 ment as the superintendent of the hospital shall judge 
 proper and expedient. 
 
 6. That a special commission, appointed for the 
 purpose, or the Board of Public Charities of the Com 
 monwealth, be authorized to transfer from the other 
 State hospitals to the special department above pro 
 posed, and from that to the ordinary hospitals, such 
 persons as upon due examination and inquiry shall 
 be judged proper. Whether this same commission 
 should have authority to remove insane persons from 
 prison to the special hospital department, we leave 
 without any expression of opinion. Definite provisions 
 as to this might be prescribed by statute. 
 
 7. Inasmuch as there are strong and well-founded 
 objections to condemning any person as incurably in 
 sane beforehand, and as the presence of incurables is no 
 more disadvantageous to the curable, and often less 
 so, than of some others who are curable, the board 
 are not prepared to recommend their systematic sepa 
 ration, but, under the presumption that general hos 
 pitals will be provided for all the insane poor, leave 
 them to be retained in the several hospitals and dis 
 tributed in each as the superintendents may deem 
 most advisable. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 381 
 
 Such are our recommendations, and we present and 
 urge them, not as theories, but as practical sugges 
 tions, looking to positive and immediate action. 
 
 We beg to call the particular attention of the mem 
 bers of the general assembly to the fact that most of 
 these recommendations are supported and guaran 
 teed, not by the MERE OPINION, BUT BY THE DIRECT 
 
 TESTIMONY OF THIS BOARD AND ITS GENERAL AGENT ; 
 
 and not only so, but by both the opinions and the 
 testimony of the present and former JUDGES OF OUR 
 
 CRIMINAL COURTS, THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT, 
 
 and by the INSPECTORS AND WARDENS OF OUR PENITEN 
 TIARIES, as well as by those of many superintendents of 
 the insane, whose declarations on this behalf are 
 embodied in this report ; as also by those of LEARNED 
 PHYSICIANS and INTELLIGENT PHILANTHROPISTS, who have 
 made the facts of this case a subject of special examina 
 tion and study ; to which many other names might 
 have been added from all parts of the State, if pains 
 had been taken to secure them ; and, finally, by the 
 
 EXAMPLE AND EXPERIENCE OF OTHER STATES. 
 
 ADDENDUM TO PLEA. 
 
 PAYING PATIENTS IN STATE LUNATIC HOSPITALS FOR THE 
 
 INSANE. 
 
 THE fact that so great a number of the poor and 
 " criminal," though irresponsible, insane of this Com 
 monwealth are now languishing in the county poor- 
 houses or prisons, notwithstanding all the generous 
 
382 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 provision made for them in the State hospitals, is be 
 lieved to be traceable, in a large degree, to another 
 fact, that more than half of the inmates of some of 
 these hospitals are and have been not poor \*\& paying 
 patients. This is especially the case with the hospital 
 at Harrisburg. In behalf of this hospital, it has, indeed, 
 been given out of late that, had not the superintendent 
 sent the cases to Danville, the proportion of patients 
 from the authorities of the counties would have been 
 greater than those from friends. In answer, it is stated 
 in the report of the Dixmont Hospital just issued (and 
 this is a private institution, aided by the State), that, 
 since the opening of that institution in 1862, one thou 
 sand two hundred and forty-nine of its patients have 
 been sent by friends, and one thousand two hundred 
 and eighty-eight by authorities in charge of the poor; 
 while at Harrisburg the proportion has been two thou 
 sand two hundred and sixteen by friends, and one 
 thousand two hundred and seventy-eight by the au 
 thorities. 
 
 This state of things is made a subject of grave com 
 plaint by the Board of Public Charities. But a serious 
 attempt seems to be made (in some quarters) to de 
 fend this policy, even while it implies and necessitates 
 the exclusion of so many of the insane poor. 
 
 We take leave to introduce here the statement made 
 on this subject by this board in their report recently 
 presented to the legislature, showing that they had 
 viewed and grasped the question in all its bearings: 
 
 " It may be said, and perhaps with truth, that in 
 many cases the friends of insane patients who can 
 furnish the smaller sum required at the State hospital 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 383 
 
 for their support would not be able to meet the 
 heavier charges of a private asylum ; and that, there 
 fore, such insane patients must be thus admitted at the 
 hospital or sent to the poor-house. This idea seems 
 highly plausible, and might at first receive favor from 
 inconsiderate persons. But upon reflection it clearly 
 appears unsound in theory ; and upon experience it 
 proves highly objectionable. If these patients are 
 poor, why should precisely this class of poor patients 
 have precedence of those who are still poorer ? And 
 if they are rich as by the terms of the statute all 
 "paying" patients are, then the law expressly gives 
 the poor the precedence over them. Besides, all these 
 middle measures of giving public aid to the poor are 
 found in practice to be dangerous, and liable to great 
 abuses on the part both of the recipients and the 
 almoners of the public bounty. This case has proved 
 itself, in our judgment, no exception to the general 
 rule. 
 
 " It may be suggested that it has been thought well to 
 have some paying patients in order to give respect 
 ability to the institution. 
 
 " We can scarcely listen to the suggestion with 
 patience, or answer it with calmness. If all the poor 
 were already provided for and accommodated, the sug 
 gestion might pass ; although we should not make it. 
 We should never propose that the State should tax 
 herself to furnish hospital accommodations to the rich 
 in any case, whether by way of gratuity or of profitable 
 speculation. But this is not the case. The poor are 
 not all enjoying the care and treatment of the hospitals; 
 and shall they by the hundred and the thousand 
 
384 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 continue to languish into idiocy, or rave out their mis 
 erable lives in the cells of prisons, with malefactors and 
 felons, or in the more wretched and hopeless recep 
 tacles of county poor-houses, in order that the hos 
 pital, which receives a few score of them, may be 
 respectable, and its superintendent and officers may 
 not find themselves in charge of an institution of mere 
 paupers ?" 
 
 The attempt is now made to defend the course pur 
 sued at the State hospitals, by exciting a special public 
 sympathy in favor of the unfortunate class of " respect 
 able " poor persons, who may have become insane, 
 persons having respectable connections and respectable 
 antecedents, whose friends can now pay a moderate 
 sum for their treatment in the hospital, instead of their 
 being received or rather rejected as paupers ; but 
 who, if refused on those terms, could not have their 
 expenses paid at a private institution, and would simply 
 go to increase the number of the pauper insane who 
 require to be supported and cared for at the public 
 expense. 
 
 Now, we would not diminish one jot the public in 
 terest for this worthy class of unfortunate persons. 
 We share it in its fullest extent. We rejoice that for 
 them is found a special chord of sympathy in the sus 
 ceptibilities of the public mind, and, for this very 
 reason, we think they should not be received as pay 
 ing patients, and that to the exclusion of the poor, in 
 the State hospitals. These patients have friends and 
 some means, and a strong hold upon personal sym 
 pathy ; if they need aid, it is most properly to be 
 afforded them through private and not through public 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 385 
 
 channels ; and we believe that in such cases it would 
 be so afforded, and that they would generally be pro 
 vided for at private institutions, if they were not re 
 ceived at the State hospitals. But who is to provide 
 for those who have no friends and no means and no 
 claim upon any man s sympathy except their helpless 
 misery and the shocking repulsiveness of their squalid 
 and abandoned condition ? We simply maintain that 
 it is these the State must provide for first of all. If, 
 after having adequately provided for them, the State 
 has still the means and the disposition to make public 
 appropriations for eking out the scanty means of all 
 her less fortunate citizens, who, though not strictly 
 poor, are in comparatively reduced circumstances, we 
 might or we might not object to her so doing; but for 
 the State to undertake this sort of communistic charity 
 now, to the neglect of the absolutely helpless poor, is, 
 we maintain, simply preposterous. Moreover, we do 
 not believe that the superintendent of a great public 
 charity should be intrusted with this sort of discretion 
 in selecting its recipients. He should not be exposed 
 to the danger of abusing an enormous power of per 
 sonal patronage, of consulting his personal convenience, 
 or being influenced by the special solicitations of any 
 body s friends in dispensing the bounty of the State. 
 
 We may be permitted to refer to some cases of the 
 misery of the insane poor which have fallen more or 
 less directly under our own observation. 
 
 i. A young man at county poor-house, whose 
 
 father had treated him with such uniform brutality, and 
 exacting demands upon his ability to labor, as literally 
 
386 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 to drive him crazy. The slightest sound startled him. 
 He was afraid of the approach of the quietest step, 
 even that of a cat. Night and day he was thus agi 
 tated by terror ; and he found in the poor-house no 
 possible care or treatment which could alleviate his 
 misery or promise the least hope of recovery. 
 
 2. In the same place there was another young man, 
 whose employer had abused him by stoning him in the 
 field when his work was not satisfactory, striking head 
 or body, as the case might be. This boy never re 
 moved his hand from his head at the part where the 
 stone struck him last, and by which his mental health 
 was broken down. 
 
 3. The old man who was starved to death in a poor- 
 house the other day, medicine being forced into him, 
 but food being considered unnecessary. 
 
 4. "The attractive young lady" driven to insanity 
 by her seducer, and for the last twenty years occupy 
 ing a cell of filthiness, with wet litter for a bed, resting 
 like a beast upon her haunches, and so permanently 
 cramped as to be capable of no movement but such as 
 resembled that of a frog. 
 
 5. The patient in another poor-house, who exists 
 perpetually chained by the wrists to the ceiling, lest he 
 may tear his clothes. 
 
 6. The young girl in shackles at another poor- 
 house, who, at the name of "mother," utters sobs 
 whose pathos would touch the most callous heart. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 387 
 
 7. And that other gentle-faced child, whose malady 
 has been caused by religious over-excitement, seeking 
 in vain for repose amid the shrieks of the intermingled 
 inmates of the insane department of the poor-house. 
 
 8. "The splendid old man " in chains for forty years 
 
 in poor-house, released by the general agent 
 
 of this board, himself aiding in filing off his chains. 
 
 Add to the foregoing specimens the following, which 
 we here reproduce from the report of the board : 
 
 " In February last a visit was paid to this almshouse, 
 and an insane inmate was seen a young woman over 
 twenty years of age whose whole dress consisted of 
 a thin chemise with short sleeves, a single skirt, and a 
 pair of shoes. When brought before the visitors, a 
 borrowed cloak was thrown over her shoulders. She 
 was blue with cold, and utterly filthy in person. Her 
 cell had the appearance of having undergone a recent 
 hasty washing, but was pervaded with an odor loath 
 some in the extreme. On the day of this visit, the 
 thermometer fell to fourteen degrees. 
 
 " In March another visit was paid to the institution 
 by several gentlemen in a body. Only one portion of 
 the building was visited, which is supposed to be de 
 voted exclusively to women. In one cell was a young 
 woman, the one already referred to. Her cell was 
 without any furniture whatever ; her bed consisted of 
 one blanket ; her clothing of a ragged chemise, open to 
 her waist, and one scanty skirt and a pair of shoes. 
 She was indescribably unclean, and alive with vermin. 
 Her cell reeked with a sickening odor, the result of a 
 
388 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 total absence of all conveniences of cleanliness. She 
 shivered with cold while in the presence of her visitors, 
 the thermometor standing- at the time several degrees 
 below the freezing point. 
 
 " Opposite to the cell which we have very faintly de 
 scribed was another. The short day had already 
 faded into dusk, and, as the light was thrown through 
 a little aperture in the door, it fell upon two wretched 
 women, both of whom were absolutely without a single 
 garment to cover them. One of the poor creatures sat 
 crouching in the corner, with a small blanket drawn 
 across her shoulders, while the other was crawling on 
 all-fours on the floor, without even this poor apology 
 of any remnant of human decency. There was not a 
 particle of furniture in the cell ; and there, on this 
 wintry March night, in an atmosphere which the wit 
 nesses declare to have been utterly horrible, were 
 these two human beings, brought down far below the 
 level of our domestic brutes. 
 
 " In an adjoining cell the visitors found a man lying 
 on an old mattress, the only sign of furniture which 
 they saw in either of the rooms inspected. They were 
 informed that the inmate was a woman ; but, upon one 
 of the gentlemen calling to him, he sat up, and it was 
 seen that it was a man. The attendant, with some 
 confusion, explained that he must have been brought 
 in while he was away. 
 
 " We found the female insane department in a 
 shocking condition ; so bad that it would be impossible 
 to give a description of the place on paper. In some 
 cells there were two or more women confined ; some, 
 without any clothing, lying on the floor without mat- 
 
OARE OF THE INSANE. 389 
 
 tress, carpet, or anything else, except an old Govern 
 ment blanket. The place had a horrible, putrid odor. 
 
 " We examined one woman who was quite young. 
 I was afraid to go near her, as she seemed covered 
 with vermin. We were all much shocked by the visit, 
 and I think I shall remember it as long as I live." 
 
 And the general agent reports the following amongst 
 many like instances of abuses and neglect in similar 
 establishments : 
 
 " Insane, totally neglected morally, physically, and 
 medically ; less attention is given to them than would 
 be given to the lowest animals ; four are incapable of 
 self-care, confined in filthy cells ; one a female, has 
 great neighborhood notoriety, from sad incidents con 
 nected with her history. Known as an intelligent, 
 esteemed, and attractive young lady, the daughter of a 
 well-known inhabitant of the neighborhood, she fell a 
 victim to the arts of the seducer. Insanity is alleged 
 to be caused by her disappointment. This occurred 
 twenty-one years ago. The sad case is rendered still 
 more painful by her present forlorn condition. A bed 
 of straw upon a damp, dirty floor, into which the exter 
 nal light can find no entrance, is the only furniture. 
 A seat, a chair, or a bench, has apparently never been 
 furnished ; the consequence of which is that the muscles 
 of the lower extremities, from the cramped position in 
 which she was always found, have become permanently 
 contracted, so that the only movement of which she is 
 capable is one similar to that of a frog." 
 
 "An unusually large number of insane, many of 
 chronic form, but quite a number of strongly marked 
 cases, who are confined and had been chained to the 
 
39 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 floor until released by my direction. A young girl of 
 seventeen years of age confined in a gloomy cell ; since 
 removed by my request to the State hospital, where 
 she is gradually being restored." 
 
 " Twenty-two insane ; twelve are kept in close con 
 finement, some in chains ; one always chained to the 
 ceiling to prevent him from tearing his clothes ; some 
 entirely nude ; at least six with straw litters ; not one 
 of the twelve was ever removed into the open air. All 
 confined in apartments opposite each other, a narrow 
 corridor extending between them. The effect of this 
 close proximity was to make the day and night hideous 
 with the distressing shrieks and yells of the wretched 
 and maltreated madmen." 
 
 " Eight insane ; one of whom hand-cuffed, one hop 
 pled, one female confined to her room." 
 
 " One hundred and thirty-five inmates, four blind, 
 one palsied, seven idiots ; seven cells in the basement, 
 with insane in each, in a revolting condition." 
 
 " Twenty insane ; of these about eight were confined, 
 not to their uncomfortable cells only, but restrained by 
 iron fetters, long after the necessity had passed away. 
 These were removed at my instigation, and the doors 
 of their cells were opened, to give them the benefit of 
 the open air and exercise, with decided improvement in 
 their condition." 
 
 Now, all these cases, and others without number, 
 have had their histories (histories as touching to human 
 sensibilities as any which the more " respectable " poor 
 can furnish), which should excite interest and sympathy, 
 and should also command the efforts and influence of 
 good men to create the needed revolution in the system 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 391 
 
 now pursued at the State hospitals, to stop it at once 
 and forever. 
 
 It is a fraud on the public to allow these wards of 
 the State and who alone of this class are strictly 
 such to go down to certain misery and death, while 
 providing from the public resources for citizens who 
 can be helped by their own means or the means of 
 friends. 
 
 The poor, neglected and abused orphans and seams 
 tresses and widows sons and daughters, whom we 
 meet under pauper care at the poor-houses, would 
 not be treated even there as they are treated, if they 
 had friends who would look after them and protect 
 them. It is because they have no friends to help them 
 that their condition is so forlorn. 
 
 When the State comes to take care of them, as she, 
 first of all, should do, the other class those who can 
 pay from three dollars and fifty cents to five dollars or 
 six dollars a week will be provided for as they are else 
 where, and as others who are slightly above them in 
 the scale of affluence. There are homes and hospitals 
 for all of this latter class, for widows and orphans, for 
 old men and children, whose support is, in part, paid 
 for by themselves and friends, and the deficiency made 
 up by private benevolence, often supplemented from 
 the public coffers. 
 
 This should and would be the resource of the "pay 
 ing patients" now in the State hospitals, if, by the 
 personal system introduced there, the State had not 
 been drawn away from her clear duty to enlist in a 
 scheme of charity which is never recognized as the 
 proper function or duty of the State certainly not as 
 
39 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 her first duty. It would be just as reasonable to 
 devote the almshouses proper to the maintenance of 
 paying inmates and exclude the indigent, leaving them 
 to perish. Just recur for a moment to the cases of 
 wretchedness described above and imagine one of 
 those poor creatures (if it were possible) to present 
 himself at Harrisburg and implore admission to the 
 State Lunatic Hospital and to receive for answer, 
 " How much can your friends pay ? Can you pay 
 three dollars, four dollars, or five dollars per week for 
 your treatment here ? If not, if you have neither 
 friends nor money, we have no room for you ; we are 
 already crowded, chiefly by those who can pay ; this 
 hospital was not established especially for such as you ; 
 those who can pay must have precedence over those 
 who cannot ; you must return to your poor-house or 
 prison and die there." 
 
 What cooler mocking of humanity can be conceived 
 of than this ? Can such an answer be a true interpre 
 tation of the mind and purpose of the Commonwealth 
 of Pennsylvania in founding her hospitals for the 
 insane ? Is the wretchedly poor, the absolutely naked 
 and destitute lunatic, whose only claim is his misery, 
 his helplessness, his friendlessness, to be met with the 
 gentlemanly and supercilious questions: "What is 
 your social position ? Where are your friends ? Where 
 is your money?" It is too outrageous to think of; 
 there are no words whereby the enormity can be prop 
 erly characterized. 
 
 Was ever an utterly friendless, helpless, destitute, 
 naked, and starving pauper turned away from the 
 doors of an almshouse in any Christian or civilized 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 393 
 
 land, to wait outside till all (or any) of the more respect 
 able poor, who could pay something for their food 
 and clothing, should have their wants supplied ? Was 
 he ever told by the superintendent or managers of 
 such an institution, " we have no room for such as you 
 just now ; you are too poor and friendless to find a 
 lodging here ; the sympathies of the public are, in the 
 first place, for the more respectable class of indigent 
 persons ; you must give place to your betters ; stay out 
 in the cold and die as quietly as you can"? Has the 
 State ever adopted, or is she ready to adopt, such 
 principles as those in the administration of her bounty? 
 We leave these questions for candid and thoughtful 
 men to answer ; protesting again that, for ourselves, 
 we are not wanting in sympathy for the struggling suf 
 ferers of moderate or scanty means ; we have no 
 quarrel against them, or against any who, in their 
 Christian benevolence, may be making personal efforts 
 or sacrifices to afford them assistance or relief; we 
 simply insist, that the State should, FIRST OF ALL, make 
 provision for the proper care of the absolutely destitute 
 and friendless. 
 
 In our judgment, the State cannot, at least now, 
 afford to erect and maintain hospitals sufficient for the 
 accommodation of both of these classes, viz., for the 
 poor who can pay nothing, and for paying patients of 
 scanty means ; and, if she could, she should begin with 
 the former. But under the present system of receiving 
 into her hospitals even a larger number of the latter 
 class than of the former, the State, with all her benevo 
 lent efforts and magnificent outlay in establishing hos 
 pitals for the insane, is making no progress zvhatever 
 
394 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 towards relieving all of the former class. There are 
 now twice as many of the insane poor languishing in 
 the dens and dungeons of the poor-houses and prisons 
 of this Commonwealth as there were when Miss Dix 
 first made her appeal for their relief, and the hospital 
 at Harrisburg was built in response to her touching 
 memorial. 
 
 No legerdemain in the cautious wording or adroit 
 management of plausible propositions can annihilate 
 that fact, or that other parallel fact, that, in the mean 
 time, nearly two-thirds of the inmates of the Harris- 
 burg hospital have been "paying patients." It matters 
 not what excellent resolutions, purposes, petitions, or 
 kind intentions are arrayed in defense against us. 
 We make no personal charges of corrupt intentions, but 
 rather of mistaken proceedings. We attack a system, 
 not men nor motives. 
 
 If it be alleged that the presence of " paying patients" 
 in the hospitals is not the cause of the exclusion or 
 neglect of the poor, that there are now as many of the 
 insane poor in the State hospitals as there would be if 
 there were no "paying patients" in them; then it is 
 evident, if that be true, that (the present system in 
 other respects being retained) we need erect no more 
 hospitals for the insane poor ; we have already hospital 
 accommodations for more than twice as many of them 
 as require it. Is that so ? 
 
 Should it be said that when application is made for 
 the admission of the pauper insane at the State hos 
 pitals, no recent cases, only those of long standing or 
 improbable cure, are rejected? The answer is, that 
 among the "paying patients" cases of long standing 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 395 
 
 and little likely to be cured are actually retained, and 
 even admitted. If, by the contract made with friends, 
 such cases might be removed from the hospital at the 
 discretion of the superintendent, and are not, we do 
 not see that it improves the case in any point of vi,ew. 
 We have no doubt that these "paying patients" may 
 be much more decent, quiet, gentlemanly, and agreeable 
 inmates of the establishment, giving the superintendent 
 much less distasteful and repulsive work and trouble, 
 than those who might be brought to him from the foul 
 dens of poor-houses or cells of prisons. All this we 
 can understand ; but this is no good ground in law or 
 reason, or in the view of humanity, for preferring the 
 former to the latter. Should it be alleged that neither 
 the county authorities nor the criminal judges are 
 eVer deterred or hindered from sending insane persons 
 to the hospitals by being told that it is already full or 
 crowded ; or should it be said that, though these 
 officials are invited or encouraged by the hospital 
 authorities to send the insane thither, they yet ob 
 stinately refuse or neglect to do so ; then all we have 
 to say is, the laws ought at once to be so amended as 
 to compel those officials to send the lunatics who are at 
 their disposal to the hospital at all events ; and if then 
 the poor do not come in, in such numbers as to dis 
 place the " paying patients," very well, we have no 
 objection to make; but if they do, then we say the 
 " paying patients " should give way to this other class. 
 We object to the present system. We demand a 
 revolution. The scheme we would propose to substi 
 tute is easily understood. It is simply this : (i) That, 
 in all cases, the poor and friendless, those who cannot 
 
39 6 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 pay, should, in these State institutions, have precedence 
 of the rich, of those who can pay ; and (2) that, among 
 the poor, recent cases should have the precedence of 
 those of long standing, and so on, until as soon as 
 possible all that need are provided for. For ourselves, 
 we believe that such is the real intent of the laws as 
 they now stand ; but if that is not the case, and if the 
 policy hitherto pursued by the State hospitals, and par 
 ticularly by that at Harrisburg, has been, as is alleged 
 by interested parties, in accordance with the existing 
 laws of the State, which we, however, on our part, 
 emphatically deny, then we ask that the laws be 
 forthwith so amended as to secure the abandonment of 
 that policy, and the inauguration of another, more just 
 and more in conformity with the plain duty and proper 
 functions of the State. 
 
 PROVISION FOR THE INSANE POOR. 
 
 In again presenting the claims of the insane poor to 
 your honorable bodies, we are quite aware that the 
 subject has already been made familiar by our frequent 
 handling, and that we may labor under some disadvan 
 tage by urging the matter anew upon your attention. 
 We believe, however, that, considering the subject as 
 legislators, and aiming, as you will do, jointly to protect 
 the interests of the State and of these, her recognized 
 wards, the apprehension of importunity will not apply 
 to yourselves, as may possibly be the case with such 
 portion of the public as, from ignorance or indifference, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 397 
 
 are conscious of no responsibility in the matter. The 
 majority of men, however humane their natures, prefer 
 to give money as alms rather than care or considera 
 tion. They put their hands into their pockets for their 
 share of the poor tax, and hold their account with the 
 pauper portion of the community to be thereafter 
 closed. They do not want to hear that their money 
 has been misapplied, or to have their consciences or 
 sympathies disturbed by any knowledge of the suffer 
 ings of the wretched creatures whom it should have 
 relieved. It is only this strange but common union of 
 benevolence and indifference in human proceedings 
 which can explain the extraordinary spectacle that has 
 for years been presented in this State, of magnificent 
 hospitals on the one side, built and sustained at enor 
 mous cost by the tax-payers, for the benefit of the 
 indigent insane, and, on the other, of the large majority 
 of these very indigent insane, still held in almshouses, 
 debarred from any reasonable chance of cure, and, 
 in many cases, receiving treatment which would be an 
 admitted cruelty if visited upon brutes ; chained and 
 naked, lodged in pens and cages unfit for the habita 
 tion of cattle ; scantily and carelessly fed ; without 
 bedding or blanket or fire during the inclemency of 
 winter ; and all this in wealthy districts, filled with 
 happy homes of cultured and Christian people. 
 
 We do not propose to detail again the sickening 
 minuticz of our investigations. Some of these, we thank 
 fully announce to you, are buried in the dead past, 
 never to be exhumed, as we believe, for a spectacle of 
 sorrow and discredit to the communities which suffered 
 them to exist. But we must submit, as briefly as we 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 can, certain facts and deductions which, we trust, will 
 have the force to settle your convictions as to the 
 folly as well as cruelty of the past systems in this 
 relation, if systems they may be called, and to settle 
 and establish other and better ones, which will main 
 tain the dignity and benevolence of our honorable 
 State, as well as protect her financial interests from 
 injudicious and unwise expenditures. 
 
 The number of indigent insane in the State hospi 
 tals, established primarily for the maintenance, cure, 
 and treatment of this class, was seven hundred and 
 sixty-four on September 3Oth, 1874, as reported by 
 the authorities of these institutions; while the number 
 of the same class in the poor-houses of the State and 
 under other county provision, amounted to one thou 
 sand three hundred and fifty-two at the same date, 
 exclusive of the insane department of the Philadelphia 
 almshouse, which contained one thousand and seventy- 
 five. 
 
 It is towards these latter this great body of help 
 less beings that we would direct your attention. We 
 urge you to regard them critically in their actual con 
 dition, without any exaggerated sentiment or aid of the 
 imagination. In every one of our county almshouses 
 we find numbers of these unfortunates called " in 
 curables," held and considered as a dead-weight upon 
 society, in no wise differing from the lower animals in 
 intellect or efficiency, to be lodged and fed as we lodge 
 and feed the brute creation, with such scant measure 
 of kindness and care as the temper of the superintend 
 ent may dictate. In most cases these officials are 
 chosen either from political motives or because of 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 399 
 
 their skill and experience in farming operations ; and 
 such considerations, we must admit, are not likely to 
 insure a proper choice for the responsible position of 
 caring for "minds diseased;" even if an almshouse was 
 a place where such scientific ministering were practi 
 cable. The superintendent is expected to make the 
 institution, as nearly as possible, self-supporting. The 
 burden of his ability and his care-taking must be 
 devoted to this preponderating effort. The insane 
 inmate can give but little aid in this paramount un 
 dertaking, and he is therefore a clog and a hindrance, 
 and pays the penalty of his helplessness in partial or 
 absolute neglect. No consideration is given to the 
 phase of his malady; no effort is made to discover 
 whether it is curable or incurable ; and it is the grand 
 exception when the insane inmate of a poor-house 
 issues therefrom clothed in his right mind. 
 
 The more accurate and detailed have been our in 
 vestigations into the condition of this class, the more 
 are we convinced that none of God s creatures call 
 upon us more urgently for help and pity than the in 
 sane man, whom we have thrust ought of sight into 
 our county poor-houses and left there unnoticed for 
 years. There is laid upon him every one of those 
 forms of suffering which Christianity calls upon us to 
 seek out and relieve; he is a stranger among stran 
 gers ; a terrible background of poverty and wretch 
 edness lies behind his advent into the place; for, 
 as we all know, so general is the perhaps irrational 
 but natural prejudice against these institutions, that 
 nothing but utter friendlessness or the extremity of 
 want can account for his entrance into it. He is in 
 
400 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 prison and sick; sick with a deeper disease than those 
 which only kill the body; the man himself has lost the 
 place, rights, and well-nigh the existence of a man; 
 his body goes to and fro, performing its natural func 
 tions as an animal, but the living creature within, which 
 made him human for good or evil ends, which gave him 
 the chance to be the faithful husband and father, the 
 useful citizen, the God-fearing, honest helper of his 
 fellow-men, is struck with death, answers not to any 
 call or summons. Surely this poor wretch, beyond 
 any other man, might echo the cry of Job, "Have 
 pity upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me." 
 
 To act humanely, or even intelligently, toward any 
 class, it is necessary that we should, in some degree, 
 comprehend its peculiar character and needs, and its 
 individual idiosyncrasies. This is not difficult to do in 
 the present case. 
 
 In the records kept by the State and other insane 
 hospitals, one or two curious facts have been elicited, 
 bearing strongly, by inference, on the condition of the 
 same class in almshouses. 
 
 First. Subtracting the number whose profession or 
 business is unknown, more than one-fourth of the 
 whole remainder of male insane patients are farmers 
 or farm laborers, and a large proportion of the female 
 insane patients are the wives and daughters of the 
 same class. The fact that the population of the State 
 is largely agricultural does not altogether explain this 
 result, almost the same disproportion being found in 
 the statistics of the insane in other States and countries. 
 
 The solitude, the lack of intercourse with other 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 401 
 
 minds, the increasingly restricted routine of ideas year 
 after year, all undoubtedly tend to make the agricul 
 tural life one tending to foster any disposition to 
 melancholy mania. Other causes will readily suggest 
 themselves to any one familiar with the habits and 
 modes of thought of the population of our agricul 
 tural districts. The small farmer or farm laborer and 
 his wife lead lives of hard manual toil; however pure 
 or wholesome the mental atmosphere about them may 
 be, it is one of exceptional narrowness and seclusion, 
 where the same small subjects of thought are iterated 
 and reiterated with a steady monotony. 
 
 More than the dwellers in cities, they build on the 
 good opinion of their neighbors the social rank they are 
 able to hold in the small community, the members of 
 which, shut out from the outside world, watch each other 
 from generation to generation with exaggerated inter 
 est. Petty debts and petty savings assume an incredible 
 magnitude in their morbid anxiety. Many a man and 
 woman give their whole lives to hard drudging and to 
 small, biting economies in order to send a boy to col 
 lege, or to free their few acres from mortgage. In 
 such a solitary, narrow life, a disappointment or grief 
 or physical ailment which touches the brain has leisure 
 to canker and do its deadly work, which, in a life of 
 less circumscribed ambitions or scope of outlook, 
 would healthfully disappear by sheer force of friction. 
 
 The deadly work at last is done ; the man is pro 
 nounced insane ; he is a helpless burden on the State ; 
 his family sink into misery and poverty. Now, what 
 would humanity and common sense dictate to the State 
 as the proper course to pursue ? Doubtless, to cure 
 
402 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 the man, if possible ; restore him to his place as a work 
 ing citizen and the supporter of his family, and relieve 
 herself of the actual burden which he has become, and 
 of the impending burden of his family. The State 
 hospitals ought to afford skilled medical treatment for 
 his case, and that wholesome change of daily life, that 
 cheerfulness, consciousness of protection and friendly 
 care essential to his cure. 
 
 What does the State do with him ? Sends him to 
 the county almshouse, within sight of his own home ; 
 it may be to the almshouse which he has been taught 
 to dread from his childhood as the receptacle of all 
 that is degraded and vile ; forces upon him, with every 
 hour, his own damning disgrace in the eyes of his 
 neighbors (the only world he knows) ; teaches the 
 poor, luckless being, sometimes through inhuman 
 cruelty, to regard himself thenceforth as cast out 
 and accursed from human brotherhood, as the lepers 
 that in old times stood without the gates, crying un 
 clean ! unclean ! For no guilt but that of his misfor 
 tune, he is visited with punishment more terrible to 
 him than death, a punishment which, from the pre 
 vious habits of thought and life which we have tried to 
 portray, is certain to fasten his malady upon him irrevo 
 cably. 
 
 We have regarded this question, so far, from the side 
 of the insane pauper, in the light of humanity. We 
 shall now look upon it from the stand-point of public 
 interest, and hope to be able to show that the confine 
 ment of this large body of useless dependents in a 
 position where "cure" is impossible, is no less disad 
 vantageous to the State than to the wretched victims. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 403 
 
 First. It is an uncontroverted fact, established by 
 the authoritative statements of the highest medical 
 experts, without dissent, that insanity is a physical dis 
 ease and as readily curable as other bodily maladies. 
 
 Secondly. The number of recent cases (cases where 
 the disease has not existed over three months) cured 
 under scientific hospital treatment is about seventy- 
 five in every hundred, in the first six months time. 
 It has also been shown, by the same authority, that not 
 over seven in every hundred of the insane confined in 
 the ordinary almshouses leave them restored to health. 
 Our own reports state that eighty per cent, of the in 
 sane in the State are held as incurable. 
 
 Now, if seventy-five per cent, are curable (as they 
 are, according to scientific computation, tested by ex 
 perience), and that percentage has actually been cured 
 in our own hospitals, the only explanation of this ter 
 rible majority of incurables in Pennsylvania is their 
 confinement in almshouses. 
 
 We would point out as matter for your consideration, 
 in passing, the different modes of treatment of this class 
 of unfortunates in the almshouses and hospitals, both 
 exercised under the authority of the State ; for the 
 State makes the laws which control the action of the 
 counties. 
 
 The almshouse system is based upon the old theory 
 by which the mind was held to be absolutely apart 
 from the body. The insane man was held by the an 
 cients to be possessed by a god or a demon, and was 
 either treated with reverential homage, and his maniac 
 utterances received as divine oracles, or he was driven 
 
404 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 out, as a thing accursed, from human habitations. 
 Among ourselves, but a generation ago, insanity was 
 regarded with awe and dislike, as an inscrutable male 
 diction of Providence, belonging to the emotional or 
 religious life of man. It was accounted for (as sudden 
 deaths were then disposed of by coroners juries) as 
 coming "by the visitation of God." The almshouse 
 system is, as we said, still based upon this theory. 
 The unhappy wretch, cursed by this visitation of 
 God, is given a straw litter, food and drink, and is 
 locked in a cell covered with vermin, to wait until the 
 same mysterious dispensation of power shall cure or 
 kill him. We need but cite as proof the condition of 
 the Philadelphia Almshouse Hospital (as favorable an 
 example as exists in the State, judiciously governed by 
 a skillful and humane physician), where, owing to over 
 crowding, it is necessary to place two or three patients 
 in one cell, and hand-cuff them to prevent their injuring 
 each other, and where, notwithstanding the hourly visits 
 of attendants, the danger of murder from this forced, 
 unwholesome contact, is reported by the medical su 
 perintendent as imminent, and where it has actually 
 occurred on several occasions. Five hundred more 
 patients are received into this institution than its 
 capacity warrants. Yet this is our model almshouse, 
 under the care of a skilled physician. What chance of 
 cure is there here for the lunatic, hand-cuffed to keep 
 him from killing or being killed ? 
 
 The common sense and higher religious intelligence 
 of mankind have fortunately discovered that in this 
 case, as in every other, God works through secondary 
 causes, that insanity, as well as scrofula or tetanus, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 405 
 
 can be traced to physical laws and their violation. The 
 material brain which is the mouth-piece of the imma 
 terial mind, is found to be subject to the same chemi 
 cal changes, the same hygienic influences, as the liver 
 or the stomach. It needs medicine, rest, certain kinds 
 of food as much or more than they. A guilty man 
 who drops dead is not now supposed to be smitten by 
 the suddenly-outstretched hand of an angry God. 
 " After death it is found that the cerebral tissue is torn 
 by an effusion of blood into substance." When this 
 mouth-piece this mechanical organ is out of order, it 
 necessarily misrepresents the mind. "The organic 
 affections of the brain," says an eminent medical au 
 thority, "necessarily modify the mental conditions, 
 not only by destroying the efficiency of a certain 
 portion of the tissue, but by interfering with the due 
 performance of organic changes in other parts." The 
 researches into the path of knowledge, of which this is 
 but the starting point, have been vigorous and accurate. 
 Not only is it a matter of certainty how far and in what 
 manner disorders of the mind may affect the material 
 organs, but also the reflex action of the diseased body 
 upon the thinking power is at last subject to plain, 
 practical rules, and may be controlled and to a certain 
 extent hindered. The scientific physician can not only 
 decide how far the unhealthy action of the mind of a 
 morbid or visionary man is due to lack of oxygen, or 
 surplus of bile in the blood, but he can trace, by reasons 
 founded on the solid basis of statistics, the great major 
 ity of cases of insanity and idiocy to tangible causes. 
 Cretinism in certain European countries is distinctly 
 traceable to the argillaceous soil and enormous deposits 
 
406 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 of gypsum in the hillsides ; a singular form of melan 
 choly mania prevalent among the inhabitants of La 
 Bresse is produced by the malarious air of the marshes. 
 M. Esquirol says that one-half the cases of insanity 
 among the higher classes in France, and one-third 
 among the lower, have been inherited from parents or 
 ancestors. Seventy-seven per cent, of the cases at the 
 Bicetre were hereditary. Epilepsy, chorea, all neural 
 diseases, and consumption in the parents, manifest 
 themselves in insanity in the children. In a still larger 
 degree chronic alcoholism in one generation adds, in 
 the next, this crowning, most terrible, calamity to its 
 deadly fruit. 
 
 The point and force of these statements lie in the 
 truth that insanity, thus traced by the clear eye of 
 science to its physical causes, is, like any other malady 
 primary in the body, open to cure by scientific means. 
 We have thus reached the cause of the fact that while 
 seventy-five per cent, of "recent cases," receiving 
 scientific treatment in our hospitals, are curable, eighty 
 per cent, of the insane in Pennsylvania are pronounced 
 incurable, owing to their detention in poor-houses. 
 
 How does this fact affect the economy of the State ? 
 
 Putting the question of humanity aside, it may seem 
 at first view cheaper to suffer these thousands of help 
 less human beings to become inmates of almshouses, 
 than to subject them to the more costly treatment of 
 the hospitals. The answer is a matter of figures, not 
 sentiment, and we will now endeavor to show conclu 
 sively that the truest economy will be secured by 
 making the well-managed hospital the sole recipient 
 of every insane man, woman, and child in the Common- 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 407 
 
 wealth, and by making such legislative provision as 
 will furnish accommodations for at least every recent 
 case which may hereafter occur. 
 
 Whatever errors may have occurred in the census of 
 1870 in the enumeration of the insane in some of the 
 States, so far as it relates to the number in the State 
 of Pennsylvania it may be taken as sufficiently cor 
 rect for all practical purposes. We do not assume 
 that it is perfect, for that, with the machinery existing 
 under present laws, is impossible ; but it is entitled to 
 confidence as regards the numbers of the "unfortunate 
 classes," particularly the insane, until disproved by 
 facts gathered under a more systematic agency. In a 
 previous report made to your honorable bodies, we 
 stated that, "by the returns on file in this office, the 
 number of insane maintained in institutions, or by 
 authorities making reports to the Board of Public 
 Charities, on September 3Oth, 1873, was three thousand 
 eight hundred and forty-two. It is estimated that there 
 are in addition about six hundred, who comprise the 
 increase in county institutions since the above date, 
 those who are retained under family care and those 
 who wander about as outcasts, making a total of four 
 
 o 
 
 thousand four hundred and forty-two." In the census, 
 the number of insane on June 3Oth, 1870, was three 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety-five ; allowing for 
 the increase of the same, on September 3Oth, 1873, they 
 would number four thousand three hundred and sixty- 
 eight, being a difference of but seventy-four. A more 
 remarkable evidence of the accuracy of the census is 
 furnished by the investigation of the Board of State 
 Commissioners of Public Chanties of New York, in 
 
40 8 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 regard to the number of this afflicted class in that State. 
 The prosecution of the inquiry involved the addressing 
 of nearly seven thousand written and printed commu 
 nications to physicians and officers of institutions. The 
 result of the investigation showed that there were 
 living on December 31 st, 1871, according to the reports, 
 six thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. The 
 census of June 3Oth, 1870, enumerated six thousand 
 three hundred and fifty-three, to which if added the 
 number obtained from the rate of increase, as shown 
 by the census of 1870, would, on December 3ist, 1871, 
 give, as the number living, six thousand seven hundred 
 and thirty-three, or only forty-two less than the number 
 ascertained by the investigation of the Commissioners 
 of the State Board of Public Charities of New York. 
 We make these statements as confirmatory of our view 
 as regards Pennsylvania, in which the enumeration of 
 this afflicted class is sufficiently accurate to furnish a 
 basis for any legislation for their proper care and re 
 medial treatment. 
 
 In the third report of this board, we stated that it 
 may be expected that one in one thousand six hundred 
 and ninety persons in Pennsylvania will yearly become 
 insane. This statement, emanating from the high 
 official authority of medical experts on the subject, was 
 believed at the time to be correct ; but an examina 
 tion of the returns of the hospitals for the insane, in 
 regard to their admissions, and the number discharged 
 therefrom as restored or died, has, in connection 
 with our proved practical accuracy of enumeration of 
 this class of unfortunates, given us reasons for be 
 lieving that about one in three thousand nine hundred 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 409 
 
 and eighty-six of the population of Pennsylvania 
 annually becomes insane ; that one in one thousand six 
 hundred and ninety does not, is clearly shown, thus : 
 
 On June 3Oth, 1863, there were in Pennsylvania, 
 according to the annual increase, as shown by the 
 census, three thousand and sixty-seven insane persons. 
 Upon the basis that one in one thousand six hundred 
 and ninety of the population becomes insane annually, 
 there would be developed from 1864 to 1873 twenty 
 thousand two hundred and seventy-five cases of in 
 sanity, which, added to the number remaining from 
 the preceding year, would give twenty-three thousand 
 three hundred and forty-two cases in ten years. 
 
 If this was true, what became of them ? From the 
 returns of the State Lunatic Hospital at Harrisburg, 
 Western Pennsylvania Hospital at Dixmont, Friends 
 Asylum at Frankford, Pennsylvania Hospital (Kirk- 
 bride s), and the Philadelphia Hospital, there were re 
 stored in these five institutions three thousand four 
 hundred and ninety-four, and one thousand nine hun 
 dred and eighty-one died within the same period, viz., 
 1864 to 1873, leaving a balance of seventeen thousand 
 eight hundred and sixty-seven cases, according to the 
 above computation, to be accounted for. Of this num 
 ber, we know from our returns and investigations that 
 there were not four thousand four hundred and forty- 
 two living on September 3<Dth, 1873, leaving a balance 
 to have died, or been cured in almshouses or families, 
 of thirteen thousand four hundred and twenty-five. 
 This statement alone is sufficient to show how mis 
 taken is the estimate that one in one thousand six hun 
 dred and ninety of the population becomes insane. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 [We note in passing, in regard to the hospitals for the 
 insane, that the low percentage of cures is due to the 
 fact that but one-half of the patients received had the 
 disease for less than one year prior to their admission.] 
 In illustration of our theory as to the probable per 
 centage of new cases of insanity, we present the follow 
 ing table, giving the population and number who should 
 have become annually insane upon the basis of one to 
 one thousand six hundred and ninety, during the 
 decade from 1864 to 1875, inclusive : 
 
 
 
 Will become 
 
 RESTORED OR DIED IN FIVE 
 
 
 
 insane annu 
 
 HOSPITALS. 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Population. 
 
 ally on the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 basis of i in 
 1690. 
 
 Restored. 
 
 Died. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1864, . 
 
 3^38,385 
 
 1.857 
 
 335 215 
 
 55 
 
 
 l86q, 
 
 3> I 99> 2 7 
 
 1.893 
 
 380 223 
 
 603 
 
 
 1866 
 
 3.261,336) J >9 2 9 
 
 301 204 
 
 55 
 
 
 1867, . 
 
 3,724,606 
 
 1,967 
 
 ^Si 216 
 
 ^67 
 
 1868, 
 
 -2, ^8Q, IO3 
 
 2.ooc; 
 
 ^oc; 100 
 
 S8<; 
 
 i860, . 
 
 3,454,852 2,044 
 
 339 
 
 210 
 
 549 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 3.521,95! 
 
 2,084 
 
 347 
 
 157 
 
 54 
 
 1871, 
 
 3.59 ? 2 77i 2,124 
 
 38i 
 
 207 
 
 588 
 
 1872, 
 
 3,659,928 2,l65 
 
 366 
 
 200 | 566 
 
 1873. 
 
 3.73Q.93 1 
 
 2,207 
 
 299 
 
 159 458 
 
 Number become insane in ten years, 
 
 20,275 
 
 3.494 
 
 I, 9 8l 
 
 5.475 
 
 Add number remaining insane from 
 
 
 
 
 
 186-*, , 
 
 -3,067 
 
 
 
 
 Insane population for ten years, . 
 
 23. 42 
 
 
 
 
 Deduct restored and died in hospit 
 
 
 
 
 
 als, 
 
 5.475 
 
 
 
 
 There were not over this number 
 
 
 
 
 
 17,867 
 
 living September 3oth, 1873, 
 
 4,442 
 
 
 
 
 Leaving as restored or died in 
 
 
 
 
 
 almshouses and private families, 
 
 13.425 
 
 
 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 411 
 
 As we have already stated, it may be assumed, 
 as near an approximation to the truth as can possibly 
 be now obtained, that one in three thousand nine 
 hundred and eighty-six of the population of Penn 
 sylvania annually becomes insane. In verification of 
 this estimate we present the following table, exhibit 
 ing the number of cases developed annually, with 
 the aggregate insane population from the year 1864 
 to 1873: 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Number will 
 become in 
 sane annual 
 ly on the ba 
 sis of i in 
 3986. 
 
 Aggregate in 
 sane popula 
 tion. 
 
 l864 
 
 1, 1 "?8 ^8^ 
 
 787 
 
 -Z 8^A 
 
 186=;, 
 
 O> A o u >o >J D 
 3,100,270 
 
 77 
 802 
 
 v5>:>4 
 i 076 
 
 1866, 
 
 ^,26l,^76 
 
 818 
 
 oy i w 
 
 4,10-2 
 
 1867, 
 
 3,324,606 
 
 8^4. 
 
 A, 214. 
 
 1868 
 
 -7 ?RQ io^ 
 
 "OT- 
 
 Qr 
 
 A 760 
 
 i860, 
 
 o o^y? AW o 
 Z,AZA.8Z2 
 
 867 
 
 43 u y 
 
 A COQ 
 
 l870. . , 
 
 1..Z2I.QZ i 
 
 884 
 
 ^-jj^y 
 4,6^ 1 
 
 1871. 
 
 3,^00,277 
 
 QOI 
 
 A, 706 
 
 l8?2. 
 
 7 6CQ Q28 
 
 y J 
 
 OT Q 
 
 40 An 
 
 l87l, 
 
 o> w jy>y * < - 
 "*, 7^0,0^1 
 
 Q "^6 
 
 Wry 
 
 z 108 
 
 
 
 yo^ 
 
 
 Will become insane in ten year 
 
 s, 
 
 8,597 
 
 
 If to the eight thousand five hundred and ninety- 
 seven who, in consonance with our computation, 
 became insane in ten years, we add three thousand 
 and sixty-seven as the number remaining from the year 
 1863, it will give a total of eleven thousand six hun 
 dred and sixty-four as the insane population for ten 
 years. 
 
412 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 It is important for us now to inquire how many were 
 restored, how many died, and the probable number re 
 maining at the end of the decade. The next table will 
 show these facts, thus : 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Aggregate in 
 sane popu 
 lation. 
 
 IN HOSPITALS. 
 
 OUT OF HOSPITALS. 
 
 Total of 
 restored 
 and died. 
 
 Number 
 remaining 
 insane. 
 
 Restored. 
 
 Died. 
 
 Restored. 
 
 Died. 
 
 I86 4 , . . 
 
 3>854 
 
 299 
 
 159 
 
 120 
 
 102 
 
 680 
 
 3, T 74 
 
 I86 5) . . 
 
 3,97-6 366 
 
 2OO 
 
 6 7 
 
 58 
 
 691 
 
 3,285 
 
 1866. . . 
 
 4,103 381 
 
 207 
 
 62 
 
 53 703 
 
 3,4oo 
 
 I86 7 , . . 
 
 4,234 347 
 
 157 
 
 114 
 
 97 
 
 715 
 
 3,5*9 
 
 1868, . . 
 
 4,369 i 339 
 
 210 96 
 
 82 
 
 727 
 
 3,642 
 
 l86 9 , . . 
 
 4,509 395 
 
 190 
 
 8 4 
 
 7i 
 
 740 
 
 3,769 
 
 1870, . . 
 
 4,653 
 
 351 
 
 216 
 
 I0 3 
 
 88 
 
 758 
 
 3,895 
 
 I8 7 I, . . 
 
 4,796 
 
 301 
 
 204 
 
 I4O 
 
 120 
 
 765 
 
 4,031 
 
 I8 7 2, . . 
 
 4,949 
 
 3 80 
 
 22 3 
 
 94 
 
 80 
 
 777 
 
 4,172 
 
 1873, 
 
 5,108 
 
 335 
 
 2I 5 
 
 130 
 
 110 
 
 79 
 
 4,3i8 
 
 Here we learn that of the eleven thousand six hun 
 dred and sixty-four insane, four thousand five hundred 
 and four 38.51 per cent. were restored, and two 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-two, or 24.36 per cent., 
 died, leaving four thousand three hundred and eighteen 
 insane on June 3Oth, 1873. The number based upon 
 our own returns would be four thousand three hundred 
 and ninety-two. 
 
 We now inquire whether any additional accommoda 
 tions in the form of hospitals are needed. The increase 
 of the insane population of 1873 over that of 1864 
 was 36.04 per cent, while the increase of the sane 
 population, for the same period, was only 18.88 per 
 cent.: 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 413 
 
 
 1864. 
 
 Increase. 
 
 1873. 
 
 
 
 Sane population, .... 
 Insane population, . 
 
 3,138,385 
 3, X 74 
 
 18.88 per cent. 
 36.04 
 
 3.730,931 
 4,318 
 
 Although such is the fact, it would be erroneous to 
 infer that all the recent cases are sent to the hospitals 
 and the balance of the admissions made up of chronic 
 cases. 
 
 The following table will show to what extent recent 
 and chronic cases are admitted into the hospitals : 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Number 
 resident 
 in the 
 hospitals 
 at begin 
 ning of 
 year. 
 
 Duration of disease before admission 
 of those received during the year. 
 
 Per cent, on 
 admissions 
 of those 
 whose dis 
 ease was 
 under twelve 
 months. 
 
 Annual pop 
 ulation of 
 insane in 
 the hospit 
 als. 
 
 Under 
 twelve 
 months. 
 
 Above 
 twelve 
 months. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1864, . . . 
 
 J , 2 93 
 
 360 
 
 451 
 
 811 
 
 44.4 
 
 2,104 
 
 1865, . . . 
 
 1,346 
 
 412 
 
 472 
 
 884 
 
 46.6 
 
 2,230 
 
 1866, . . . 
 
 1,442 
 
 473 
 
 53 
 
 976 
 
 48.5 
 
 2,418 
 
 I86 7 , . . . 
 
 i,453 
 
 489 
 
 53 2 
 
 1,021 
 
 47-9 
 
 2,474 
 
 1868, . . . 
 
 1,616 
 
 5M 
 
 508 
 
 1,022 
 
 5o-3 
 
 2,638 
 
 l86 9 , . . . 
 
 MI9 
 
 503 
 
 560 
 
 1,063 
 
 47-3 
 
 2,782 
 
 1870, . . . 
 
 i,835 
 
 537 
 
 572 
 
 1,109 
 
 48.4 
 
 2,944 
 
 1871, . . . 
 
 1,996 
 
 578 
 
 5 21 
 
 1,099 
 
 52.6 
 
 3,095 
 
 1872, . . . 
 
 2,166 
 
 59 1 
 
 613 
 
 1,204 
 
 49.1 
 
 3,370 
 
 1873, . . . 
 
 2,274 
 
 520 
 
 595 
 
 i"5 
 
 46.6 
 
 3,389 
 
 Totals, . 
 
 . . . 
 
 4,977 
 
 5,327 
 
 10,304 
 
 48.3 
 
 
 Thus we see how our hospitals are rapidly filled with 
 unfortunate patients whose duration of disease was of 
 one, two, three, four, five years and upwards, who can 
 not but become a lifelong expense to the public. We 
 have, for the purpose of this paper, in the above table, 
 considered as " recent " cases those whose disease 
 
414 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 before admission was under twelve months, compared 
 with others existing over twelve months. 
 
 It is but proper to state that many experts in the 
 treatment of this disease limit the term of " recent " 
 cases to the class in which the malady existed for only 
 six months or less. The highest authorities, as Tuke, 
 Esquirol, Pinel, and others, agree that the average 
 time in which a chance of cure may be expected is less 
 than one year, and after the third year the probability 
 of cure is at the rate of about one-eighth of one per 
 cent. 
 
 We now inquire what has been the result of treat 
 ment in our hospitals ? 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Annual 
 population 
 of insane 
 in the five 
 hospitals. 
 
 Per cent, on the whole number treated 
 who were discharged as 
 
 Total 
 number 
 discharged. 
 
 Number re 
 maining at 
 the end of 
 the year. 
 
 Restored. 
 
 Died. 
 
 Improved 
 and 
 unimproved. 
 
 I86 4 , - . - 
 
 2,104 | 14.21 
 
 7.56 
 
 14.26 758 
 
 ^346 
 
 l86 5 , . . . 
 
 2,230 ! 16.41 
 
 8-97 
 
 9.96 788 
 
 1,442 
 
 1866, . . . 
 
 2,4l8 | 15.76 
 
 8.56 
 
 15-59 9 6 5 
 
 i453 
 
 1867, . . . S 2,474 | 14.02 
 
 6 -35 
 
 J 4-3 J 
 
 858 
 
 1,616 
 
 1868, . . . 
 1869, . . 
 
 2,638 12.85 
 2,782 14.20 
 
 9.96 
 6.83 
 
 14.03 919 
 13.01 947 
 
 1,719 
 
 1,835 
 
 1870, . . . 
 
 2,944 11.92 
 
 7-34 
 
 12.94 948 
 
 1,996 
 
 1871, . . . 
 
 3.095 9-72 
 
 6.60 
 
 13.70 929 
 
 2,166 
 
 1872, . . . 
 
 3,370 11.28 
 
 6.62 
 
 14.60 1,096 
 
 2,274 
 
 1873, . 
 
 3,389 
 
 9.88 
 
 6-35 
 7-3i 
 
 13.60 
 
 1,011 
 
 2,378 
 
 Totals, . 
 
 
 I 3-3 
 
 13.60 
 
 9,2I 9 
 
 
 The result of the neglect of early treatment is 
 strikingly exhibited in the above table, which shows 
 that of the population or number annually treated/ an 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 415 
 
 average of only 13.03 were restored, 7.31 per cent, 
 died, and 13.60 per cent, discharged as improved and 
 unimproved. This population, as we have shown, is 
 largely composed of chronic insane ; eighteen to 
 twenty per cent, of the annual admissions are re- 
 admissions, and in only 48.3 per cent, the disease had 
 existed for one year or less. It cannot be doubted 
 that much better results under more favorable auspices 
 would be obtained. All diseases in their incipient 
 stages are readily manageable, and insanity is not an 
 exception. 
 
 In the Journal of Insanity, 1870, page 379, it is 
 stated, "that when patients are subject to early and 
 judicious treatment in the first stages of this disease, 
 from eighty to ninety per cent, will recover." We 
 have cautiously stated in a previous report that " about 
 seventy-five per cent, of recent cases of insanity will 
 be cured in the first six or twelve months, if placed 
 under proper and skillful treatment in our best hos 
 pitals," while " in poor-houses not more than seven 
 per cent, will be cured in twelve months." This, we 
 believe, is a fact admitted without a dissenting voice. 
 What then would have been the result had there been 
 ample accommodation for the reception of all the 
 insane for the period named, viz., 1864 to 1873, with a 
 compulsory law requiring that these hospitals should be 
 used, or equally adequate measures for their restora 
 tion ? Take the case of the 8597, which, as we have 
 shown on page 411, is the probable number who 
 would have become insane from 1863 to 1874, and 
 assume that seventy-five per cent, or 6447 would re 
 cover ; at an expense of three dollars per week for 
 
4*6 CMtff OJF TJffJK JM&4WJR. 
 
 twenty-six weeks (the average term of treatment^ it 
 wonuild amount to . $50^866 
 
 The remainder. 2150 incurables* to be pro 
 vided for, during an insane life of eighteen 
 years, at a cost of $3 per week, would 
 "-^ * 6,037,200 
 
 Total cost of hospital treatment of 
 
 $597 insane persons, % . $6,540^066 
 
 On the other hand supposing these 8597 insane 
 persons had been disposed of in the poor-houses, 
 seven per cent, or 602, would recover in twelve 
 months. At die rate of $1.50 each per week, the 
 
 ^ 
 
 Leaving die remainder, 7995, as chronic 
 insane, to be supported for say eighteen 
 years, at $1*50 per week, which would 
 - : :: ... 11,224,980 
 
 Total cost of poor-house or no treat- 
 
 $11,271,932 
 
 This shows a dear saving of $4,731,866. Further 
 more, as it costs the community or State to rear one of 
 its ineotbers from birth, to the time when he earns more 
 than he consumes, the sum of $500, then die first cost 
 of die seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-five 
 chronk insane was $5,997,500* and if we assume that they 
 would have earned, if they had continued sane, on an 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 417 
 
 average one hundred dollars per annum in excess of 
 what they would hare consumed, supposing they 
 had lived eighteen years, it would hare amounted to 
 $14,391,000, winch would have added so much to the 
 wealth of the State, This constructive Iocs added to 
 the first cost, amounts to $18,288,500, But under 
 hospital treatment, supposing that only two thousand 
 one hundred and fifty should remain incurable, there 
 would be, by the same calculation, a loss or cost to the 
 State of $4,945,000, which added to the amount saved 
 by hospital treatment makes an aggregate of $9,676,- 
 8 66, or a gain of that much to the wealth and power 
 of the community, which has to a large extent (we 
 may safely say one-half) been lost to the Slate few- 
 want of ample hospital accommodations, where die 
 
 -.. ; V. , , c. : - : ,- : : : iC/: , . -, : ^ . - , " -. : 
 
 men t For we find that instead of eight thousand fire 
 hundred and ninety-seven being sent to the hospitals as 
 
 -. . . -, . . :>.- : ." .--I- : c -; - : -: -.:_ ;- I:.- : : : : . : . - 
 
 whose disease had existed for twelve months or kss, 
 
 , : -_, V ., c~. ; , . - . -_ -. ;.- : : : -.- : - : . 
 
 c r.-: J c , ". " :: ; ..". . : . . ." .: . \ : -; - . > 
 :, :i ;. - . :- : : .; : - : :. ".;.- ; c ^: -,: -. ;- - 
 :,i*.:-:r.: ^ ." ":c .^ . ; ::.-:: r : " : ; -.:~ -.- : -. . : ^ 
 
 - : ".i .- : -. : : -. . :^ : -. --,. : >.c. - :: . . :" : .. --. 
 
 We urge a very careful attention to and also criticism 
 of the above demonstration. 
 
 If tl*i< frti^ state of things <ffffriffifffy we may wefl 
 
 . , , .."": : -- . .. - : *.. .- : . : . - . ". . *. : " : : . : -. ^- : _ . 
 
 from 187410 1883? 
 
 .:-.--: ,::: -/ ii"-:- : :: -:--. -:-- -----^.i -.-.-. . . 
 
 : . : . -: .-". .--. . -- \ . ". \ -, . , : . . " ^; 
 
4i8 
 
 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 the aggregate insane population, with the number that 
 will probably remain in the middle of each year : 
 
 YEARS. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Number will 
 become in 
 sane annually 
 on the basis 
 of i in 3986. 
 
 Aggregate 
 insane popu 
 lation. 
 
 Estimated 
 will remain 
 insane in mid 
 dle of each 
 year. 
 
 l8?/t 
 
 3,803,311 
 
 3>877,95 
 3*95 2 *3H 
 4,028,986 
 
 4,107,148 
 4,186,827 
 4,268,051 
 4,350,851 
 4,435* 2 58 
 4,521,302 
 
 954 
 972 
 992 
 
 ,011 
 
 ,030 
 ,050 
 ,071 
 ,092 
 
 , JI 3 
 ,134 
 
 5> 2 72 
 5*441 
 
 5,6i7 
 5 5 79S 
 
 5,985 
 6,178 
 
 6,378 
 6,585 
 6,798 
 7,018 
 
 4,469 
 4,625 
 4,787 
 
 4,955 
 5,128 
 
 5,307 
 5,493 
 5,685 
 5*884 
 6,090 
 
 187^ 
 
 1876 
 
 l877, . 
 
 l878. 
 
 l87O 
 
 l88o .... 
 
 1881 
 
 1882, 
 
 1883, . 
 
 t "- O 
 
 Estimated number who will become insane in ten years, 
 Add number remaining insane in 1873, 
 
 10,419 
 
 Total, 14,737 
 
 The population of the State, and of the insane in the 
 above table, are estimated upon the ratio of increase 
 as shown by the census of 1870. and exhibits some 
 important facts for the consideration of philanthropists. 
 Upon the basis that one in three thousand nine 
 hundred and eighty-six become insane annually, there 
 will be developed in ten years, from 1874 to 1883, ten 
 thousand four hundred and nineteen cases of insanity. 
 These, added to the number remaining insane from 
 1873, viz., four thousand three hundred and eighteen, 
 will make a total of fourteen thousand seven hundred 
 and thirty-seven. Of this number we estimate that, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 419 
 
 including the hospital at Danville, which went into 
 operation in 1873 (the number restored outside of the 
 hospitals being in proportion about the same as in the 
 preceding decade), five thousand and sixty-four will be 
 restored, and three thousand five hundred and eighty- 
 three will die, leaving in the middle of the year 1883 
 six thousand and ninety insane persons living. It will 
 thus be observed that the insane population would be 
 increased from four thousand four hundred and sixty- 
 nine, in 1874, to six thousand and ninety at the end of 
 the decade, under the system of treatment now in 
 operation. 
 
 This growing burden upon the resources of the 
 Commonwealth imperatively demands that immediate 
 measures be taken to lessen the number of these 
 unfortunates. In other words, that the current system 
 respecting them be revolutionized by proper legislation. 
 
 It is the interest of the State, as well as the demand 
 of humanity, that this should be effected. Dr. Jarvis 
 has stated in the fifth report of the Board of Health of 
 Massachusetts, page 382: " If the persons who are 
 attacked with this disorder are as promptly cared for as 
 others when attacked with fever, dysentery , pneumonia, 
 eighty or ninety per cent, can be restored to health and 
 usefulness ; but, if neglected, the disease tends rapidly to 
 fix itself upon the brain, and becomes more and more 
 difficult to remove. If allowed to remain one year, 
 the chance of restoration is materially diminished. In 
 two years this hope is reduced more than half ; and after 
 five years duration few are restored, and even then it is 
 due to some unexpected turn of the disease, rather than 
 the result of healing remedies" 
 
420 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 It is thus clearly demonstrable that the economic 
 interests of the State are largely concerned in uproot 
 ing the past and re-establishing a future for this class 
 of dependents, which shall not only restore them to the 
 power of self-support and family support, but also 
 shall gladden many lives upon which gloom and misery 
 now perpetually lower and depress. It is a most dis 
 couraging task to undertake the proposed revolution. 
 We estimate that there are now in this Common 
 wealth four thousand four hundred and sixty-nine 
 insane persons, and that of these three thousand five 
 hundred and seventy-six are incurable. The dis 
 couragement which is felt in contemplating such a 
 state of things is simply overwhelming. It exceeds 
 even that which one feels in regarding the increase of 
 the criminal or the pauper class ; and we are less in 
 sensible to it only because the former are regarded as 
 further beyond the pale of human consideration than 
 the selected few who are their keepers. The public 
 interest and the active public sympathy decline, be 
 cause of the false notion which exists, that these 
 stricken members of the community are doomed to 
 desertion by the " mysterious " malady which has 
 overpowered and obscured their reason, while it hap 
 pens that every day we are enjoying domestic comfort, 
 sharing business enterprises, or taking counsel with 
 many, who have at some time been members of the 
 very class who, by a false public impression, become 
 as estranged from public care and thought as are the 
 mummies in the Egyptian catacombs. 
 
 Having proved conclusively, as we think, that some 
 other method than that heretofore used by the State 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 421 
 
 must be tried (unless we accept the alternative, which 
 plainly confronts us, of a great and increasing aggre 
 gate of unrelieved suffering and disease, and a corres 
 ponding expenditure of public funds for the mainte 
 nance of their victims), we turn to the suggestion of a 
 plan by which we believe the remedy may be applied 
 with benefit to the treasury of the people, as well as to 
 the stricken and helpless beings whose sad woes ap 
 peal to every heart, not only for sympathy, but for sure 
 and permanent relief. 
 
 Past experience has demonstrated that the legisla 
 ture will not build costly hospitals fast enough to 
 receive the gathering increase of the insane, and espe 
 cially for the reception of the population of the various 
 poor-houses, who are so imperfectly cared for in the 
 best conditions of such houses of detention. Outlays 
 for these structures have come to be of magnificent 
 proportions; so much so, that the legislature of 1872 
 felt constrained, by economical considerations, to re 
 fuse, for that year, all pecuniary aid towards the com 
 pletion of the Danville Hospital, although the needs of 
 the insane for hospital accommodation were sore and 
 pressing. 
 
 This is not surprising when we discover that the cost 
 of such infirmaries for the sick poor are so enormous, 
 and the length of time required for their construction 
 so great. Patience becomes exhausted, and liberality 
 receives a natural check. 
 
 But if the legislature becomes informed of the real 
 condition of its helpless wards, by frank and honest 
 statement concerning them ; if, knowing their needs, it 
 is shown a reasonable plan for their relief, quick in 
 
422 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 application and attainable without extravagance, the 
 question of its readiness to accept and carry out such 
 a measure without delay cannot, we think, be doubted. 
 
 Such a scheme we are now prepared to recommend, 
 after full deliberation. It consists in the establishment, 
 on the grounds of each of the State hospitals for the 
 insane, detached buildings, near enough to the main 
 institutions for convenience, for the accommodation of 
 say two hundred of each sex of the chronic, and for the 
 most part quiet, patients, whose number is always 
 largely in excess in all of our hospitals. 
 
 These houses can be built substantially, and in per 
 fect adaptation to their uses (and in accord, also, if 
 necessary, with the architectural character of the main 
 building), for $500 per patient, including furniture and 
 every appliance and appurtenance demanded for their 
 proper administration. They might consist of a single 
 structure for each department, to accommodate two 
 hundred patients, or, as in the case of the Willard 
 Asylum for the Insane, in the State of New York, of 
 groups of buildings for each department, with accom 
 modations for fifty patients each; which is preferred by 
 the managers of that institution and its most able and 
 efficient medical superintendent, Dr. John B. Chapin. 
 These extensions would be, of course, under the con 
 trolling authority of the physician-in-chief, but they 
 would be directly managed by a superintendent and 
 matron, and ordinarily visited by an assistant physician 
 of the institution. The cost of "living" accommoda 
 tions for these four hundred patients by our proposed 
 plan would be $200,000. The average estimated cost 
 of the Danville Hospital, by builders, was $1,200,000, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 423 
 
 with the originally intended provision for five hundred 
 inmates, and without furniture. Its actual cost and its 
 ultimate extent cannot be accurately estimated. 
 
 It will not be difficult, moreover, to compute the sav 
 ing in the expense of maintenance and treatment of 
 the inmates under the proposed management. The 
 present weekly cost, as stated in the reports of the 
 medical superintendents, is about four dollars and 
 eighty-five cents per caput. We estimate the cost, 
 under the system we now respectfully submit to your 
 honorable bodies, not to exceed three dollars and fifty 
 cents per caput. As to the ability of the chief to con 
 duct an institution of such capacity as is herein indi 
 cated, we need only point to the hospital for the insane 
 connected with the Philadelphia almshouse, in which 
 are maintained over eleven hundred patients: as large 
 a proportion of the curable class as in the State hos 
 pital, and with a want of almost every desirable feature 
 for convenient or successful administration. 
 
 We quote here some passages from the last report 
 of the Willard Asylum for the Insane, bearing most 
 pertinently upon this very important question : 
 
 "The number of insane persons in the asylum on 
 the twentieth day of November, 1874, was nine hun 
 dred. The number of patients occupying single rooms 
 was two hundred and ten ; the remainder occupied 
 associated dormitories. No casualty occurred during 
 the night, and in my observation injuries are inflicted 
 by the insane more frequently in the day-time. We 
 record the experience of another year in confirmation 
 of the opinion entertained that a large proportion of 
 the chronic insane may be cared for in this manner 
 
424 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 without disturbance or dano-er to each other: the noise 
 
 o 
 
 and turbulence of the insane being due principally to 
 the presence of acute cases. We have passed through 
 the wards, and about the buildings at night, without 
 hearing more than one or two voices, and frequently 
 entire quiet prevails. 
 
 "A number of cases have been brought here during 
 the year, and forever released from the restraint of 
 chains and noisome cells. A single case, that of an 
 unknown foreigner, deserves a passing mention from 
 the fact that he bears the marks of former respect 
 ability and intelligence, who was released from the 
 heavy chains which he had worn about his legs for a 
 period of nineteen years a fate which rarely falls to 
 the lot of the most hardened felons in countries less 
 civilized than ours. Since the admission of this person 
 he has occupied a room with others, and is harmless. 
 We could record many similar cases, and fear that 
 other instances exist in the State.. We have specu 
 lated upon the causes which have led to the imposition 
 of such painful restraint upon these wretched persons 
 over long periods, and infer it has, perhaps, followed a 
 single outbreak of maniacal violence, which is handed 
 down among the traditions of the establishment and 
 neighborhood to excite an apprehension of repetition. 
 These facts should be commended to journalists, and 
 engage the attention of others who are in the habit of 
 arousing the public mind to the abuses and wrongs of 
 the insane. 
 
 " Dr. Hoyt, secretary of the State Board of Public 
 Charities, informs me, in a recent letter, that he found 
 two hundred and thirteen insane locked in cells or 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 425 
 
 chained (in an insane population of one thousand five 
 hundred and twenty-eight) in the county poor-houses, 
 when visited by me (him) in 1868. Most of these, it 
 was said, had been so restrained for a long time, and 
 many of them for several years. They were generally 
 filthy, violent, and destructive, and several were entirely 
 nude. 
 
 " The number of insane at present in the county 
 poor-houses is nearly as large as in 1868, but they are 
 in a much better condition. During the present year 
 I have visited about forty of these institutions. I 
 found several insane in some form of restraint, but 
 observed none in chains, and but few locked in cells. 
 
 " I attribute this improvement in the condition of the 
 insane under local care, to the removal of the more 
 violent and disturbed cases to the Willard Asylum. 
 There is still urgent need for more accommodation for 
 the chronic insane/ 
 
 " We are gratified to be able to present this official 
 statement, indicative of an improved public sentiment 
 toward this unfortunate class. We trust it can soon 
 be announced that this practice of caring for the insane 
 has been effectually abolished throughout the State. 
 
 " One very serious objection heretofore made against 
 our public buildings for charitable purposes has been 
 their cost, hence the satisfaction we feel in presenting 
 the actual facts and successful operations of these less 
 expensive, yet substantial and comfortable, buildings 
 for the care of the insane. Their reasonable cost ob 
 viates the objection, for, when good homes can be 
 provided for the pauper insane of the State, at $500 
 per capita, who will complain or object ? And when 
 
426 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 to this is added their support in comfort and safety, at 
 an actual cost of three dollars per week, who will not 
 commend the system which has led to such a result, 
 and rejoice in a charity which has rescued so many 
 from the ill-provided poor-houses of the State ? One 
 great object aimed at by the establishment of this 
 asylum, and by connecting with it the cottage system 
 of buildings, was to reduce the expense both of build 
 ing and care. The result has fully met our expecta 
 tions, and has, we think, assured the complete success 
 of the great and humane enterprise of providing better 
 homes for the chronic pauper insane than the poor- 
 houses and the jails of the counties where necessity 
 had compelled their confinement. 
 
 " By centralizing at the main asylum the general 
 management, and by doing at the same place the 
 baking and laundry-work for all the buildings, much 
 expense is avoided, and more vigorous supervision and 
 accountability secured. To this fact we attribute much 
 of the success here, and upon it we base our con 
 fident expectations for the future, that we can extend 
 without the heavy outlays for additional offices and for 
 laundry and other purposes. The matter is reduced 
 down to the simple cost of building, heating, and 
 furnishing, and these, as has been demonstrated, may 
 be brought to $500 per patient hereafter. We dwell 
 upon this subject, because, in our judgment, it affords 
 the real solution of the great question, what can be 
 done with this most helpless and unfortunate class of 
 our people ? We assume that it is the duty of the 
 State to look after, protect, provide for, and secure this 
 class. They are homeless, friendless, irresponsible, 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 427 
 
 dangerous, incapable of self-protection, and yet are 
 citizens, part and parcel of the body politic ; assuredly 
 they are, and should be wards of the State. In the 
 establishment of this asylum, the State has assumed to 
 provide them a home, and has made provision for their 
 proper care. It is quite evident that this humane 
 purpose would have been greatly retarded, if not en 
 tirely defeated, without devising less expensive build 
 ings than had heretofore been erected for the care of 
 the insane. The class to be received here being 
 chronic, can be provided for in cheaper buildings, with 
 less expense than more recent and excited cases. 
 Keeping these ends in view, we have proceeded with 
 our system, planned our buildings, and now propose 
 to extend on a scale that will give more room and 
 better accommodations for less money than was sup 
 posed by many to be possible. 
 
 " In submitting to the legislature the result of an 
 other year s observation and experience in the man 
 agement of this asylum, we would say we are more 
 and more confirmed in our estimate of its importance 
 and its peculiar adaptation to its purpose and aims. 
 It was a great problem, How can the chronic insane 
 be cared for ? and, most of all, how can this helpless, 
 hopeless class, who are literally homeless, and to a large 
 extent friendless and reduced to pauperism, be pro 
 vided for? This question, involving so largely a just 
 benevolence and becoming humanity, this institution is 
 surely and wisely solving. Necessity compelled the 
 use of the jail and the poor-houses ; but neither jail 
 nor poor-house is or can be made fit or proper 
 places for insane people. In them, in addition to the 
 
428 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 mental disturbance, of necessity was added physical 
 restraint and suffering. The safety of others de 
 manded chains, shackles, and confinement. The want 
 of convenience forced the shameful herding together 
 of the sexes, when the animal passions had survived 
 the loss of mental control. To remedy these great 
 and crying evils this asylum was instituted, and for 
 four years has been working its great, humane, Chris 
 tian purpose. It has unshackled from the limbs of 
 many of both sexes chains that long had bound them. 
 It has taken from damp, cold, loathsome cells many 
 more who had hardly seen the light of day for years. 
 It has furnished to such, and hundreds of old, infirm, 
 hopelessly insane, and demented ones, a good, warm, 
 comfortable, and safe home. To do all this, it has bur 
 dened no one to any great extent. In addition, it has 
 demonstrated that the great problem is easy of solu 
 tion, and hence the earnestness with which we urge 
 this subject so persistently upon your attention. We 
 certainly can so extend the substantial, cheap buildings 
 here on lands belonging to the State as to relieve 
 all the poor-houses of the State from the presence of 
 the insane now therein, or who will be liable hereafter 
 to be sent there. Aside from the great good to the 
 unfortunate insane, this result would greatly add to 
 the efficiency and comfort of the almshouses for their 
 legitimate work. We are assured that the work of this 
 asylum has greatly improved many of the almshouses 
 from which the insane have been removed. In every 
 aspect in which the question has been viewed, the de 
 mand comes with constant and increasing force to go 
 on until all the pauper insane are provided for outside 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 429 
 
 of jails and poor-houses; to go on until all of this 
 helpless, pitiable class are provided with safe and be 
 coming homes, here or elsewhere, by the State." 
 
 It has been made perfectly clear by the facts we have 
 set forth, by the authorities of the highest medical 
 character which we have cited, by the gathered results 
 of our own painful experience, and by the like experi 
 ence of other similar commissions, that poor-houses 
 are not proper places for the reception, care, or treat 
 ment of the insane. It is adverse not only to the 
 interests of humanity, but to reason and common 
 sense. The riches of benevolence are squandered 
 thereby, as well as the substantial and tangible wealth 
 of the community. We think that we have demon 
 strated this problem clearly and accurately to every 
 unprejudiced, unselfish, thinking mind. We submit, 
 then, that it is time at least to begin to close up this 
 inhuman and destructive system. We have presented 
 a plan which will effect this object, and which, we be 
 lieve, will in time reverse the respective ratios of the 
 curable and incurable insane within our State. If the 
 cost of maintenance at our State hospitals for the in 
 sane is brought down to three dollars and fifteen cents, 
 as at the Willard Institution, or rather to three dollars 
 and fifty cents, per week per inmate, as at the Massa 
 chusetts State Hospital at Northampton, under the 
 medical direction of Dr. Pliny Earle (a synopsis of 
 whose very definite and detailed account of the system 
 and its results is hereto appended), as we think it 
 should be, and, as we believe, the worthy superintend 
 ents of our hospitals will succesfully endeavor to make 
 it, the State can afford to allow the same ratio of 
 
430 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 reduction on the diminished, as she does upon the pres 
 ent cost, in the admissions of the indigent insane from 
 the county authorities ; which would remove the only 
 existing obstruction to the reception of this class into 
 the State hospitals. The cost, then, to the counties, 
 would not exceed two dollars and fifty cents per week 
 for each patient; and no county could fairly claim that 
 it was more economical to keep her insane poor at 
 home. Even now, when the interest upon property, 
 the cost of wear and tear, and the proper proportion 
 of the expense of supervision are charged, the real 
 cost of each inmate of the insane department of an 
 almshouse cannot be less and is often more than the 
 sum we have suggested as the weekly charge by the 
 State hospitals. And when we consider how insuffi 
 cient in all respects is the almshouse treatment, and 
 how the public mind demands and will further demand 
 a higher standard and more effective system of care 
 and treatment in these county establishments, if they 
 continue to receive this class of the sick poor, it cannot 
 be questioned that the pecuniary interest of the coun 
 ties will be served by remitting entirely to the care of 
 the State all of their insane who are not provided for 
 in private hospitals. And we trust that the State will 
 make provision to receive them, as she should do, for 
 every reason that humanity and even self-interest can 
 suggest. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 431 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF REPORT FROM DR. PLINY EARLE, OF THE 
 MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE AT 
 NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 Total cost of hospital to the State was $373,000, of 
 which sum $19,000 was for boilers, alterations in heat 
 ing, new water-tanks, &c., several years after the hos 
 pital was opened. Deducting this sum from the 
 $373,000, leaves the original cost to the State as 
 $354,000. 
 
 From the year 1861 the entire appropriations which 
 have been made to the hospital by the State amount 
 to only $5000, which sum is included in the $19,000 
 previously mentioned. 
 
 As an offset to the $5000, the hospital has paid for 
 additional land to the amount of $7425. The State 
 has thus been overpaid for its bonus the sum of $2425. 
 
 The amount paid by the hospital for repairs and im 
 provements during the nine years, from September, 
 1865, to 1874, is $95,318.91. The cash assets now on 
 hand exceed the amount in 1865 by $18,526.43. The 
 value of purchased provisions and supplies, including 
 fuel and stored clothing on hand and paid for, is esti 
 mated at $12,381.98 increase over the amount on hand 
 in 1865. The household furniture is estimated at least 
 $8000 greater than in 1865. These various sums to 
 gether make the total of $136,652.32 as the amount of 
 debit of the State to the hospital. 
 
 The necessary current repairs of the buildings are 
 estimated at $3000, which, for nine years, would make 
 $27,000; deducting this sum from the $136,652.32, 
 there is a remainder of $109,652.32 as being the 
 
43 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 amount which the hospital has itself expended for 
 necessaries, which are usually paid for by direct ap 
 propriation from the public treasury. 
 
 These expenditures have been made from revenue 
 derived from patients. We will take, for example, one 
 year, as follows: The weekly average number of 
 patients for the year ending September 3Oth, 1874, 
 was, of State paupers, 284 T 4 oir; town paupers, iO2 T 8 Q- 8 o-; 
 private patients, 82 T fo; total, 4693%. Their cost of 
 maintenance was, for State paupers, three dollars and 
 fifty cents per week for full support, including clothing; 
 for town paupers, three dollars and fifty cents per 
 week, exclusive of clothing ; for private patients, at 
 various prices, none over ten dollars per week, and 
 averaging only five dollars and forty-three cents per 
 week for each. Such were the sources of income for 
 the year. The expenditures for the same period were 
 as follows: Expenses of repairs and improvements, 
 $10,720.13; increase of cash assets during the year, 
 $1,182.01 ; increase of purchased and paid for supplies, 
 $2,224.66; an orchard of about fifteen acres of land, 
 $4000. Total of self-betterments of the hospital dur 
 ing the year, $18,126.80. 
 
CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 
 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA ADOPTS THE PRIN 
 CIPLE OF PROVIDING HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATIONS FOR 
 ALL HER INSANE POOR, RECOGNIZING THEM AS THE 
 WARDS OF THE STATE. 
 
 THIS was one of my earliest thoughts and wishes in 
 regard to the care of the insane ; and the most per 
 sistent efforts of the administration of the Board of 
 Public Charities were made to secure its adoption and 
 execution. 
 
 As a preliminary step in this direction, the following 
 action was taken by the board in relation to the insane 
 department of the Philadelphia almshouse, as reported 
 in 1870 to the legislature: 
 
 At a stated meeting of the Board of Public Charities, 
 held at the capital on June ist, 1870, Mr. Harrison 
 offered the following preamble and resolution, which 
 were unanimously adopted : 
 
 WHEREAS, The insufficient and unsuitable accommo 
 dations for the inmates of the department for the 
 insane of the Philadelphia almshouse, render it impos 
 sible not only to employ proper remedial measures for 
 their recovery, but even to secure their personal com 
 fort and safety ; therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That this board respectfully request the 
 Guardians of the Poor of Philadelphia County to take 
 early action on this subject, and to adopt and persevere 
 in the most effective measures to have these accommo 
 dations enlarged and improved. 
 
 (433) 
 
434 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 Mr. Clymer offered the following resolution, which 
 was adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That the committee of this board for the 
 district, in conjunction with the general agent, be in 
 structed to present the above preamble and resolution 
 to the proper authorities, both of the almshouse and 
 the city of Philadelphia, and to express the views of the 
 Board of Public Charities on this subject. 
 
 STATED MEETING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1870. 
 
 Mr. Harrison, on behalf of the committee on the 
 Philadelphia almshouse, made a report and read ex 
 tracts from several newspapers, expressing their appro 
 bation of the action of the Board of Public Charities 
 in reference to the Philadelphia almshouse. 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 The committee appointed to communicate with the 
 proper authorities in reference to the crowded condi 
 tion of the insane department of the Philadelphia 
 almshouse, respectfully report 
 
 That shortly after the adjournment of the board, we 
 presented the resolutions of the board on this subject 
 to the Guardians of the Poor and the Councils of the 
 City of Philadelphia, accompanied by a communication 
 to Councils, hereto annexed, intended to impress them 
 with the urgent necessity of affording immediate relief 
 to the inmates of the above institution ; that these 
 papers having been appropriately referred, conferences 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 435 
 
 were held with the committees, and other members of 
 Councils ; that a plan was devised to extend the accom 
 modations for the insane, in the simplest and least ex 
 pensive way that would secure proper wards for 
 remedial treatment ; that the information obtained was 
 imparted to Councils, with a request for an application 
 of $70,000, the sum needed to accomplish the work, 
 which was granted by both branches, by a unanimous 
 vote. Full plans and specifications have been prepared, 
 after consultation with expert physicians, and a con 
 tract awarded, and preparation made for beginning the 
 work. 
 
 The following communication was addressed to the 
 Select and Common Councils of the City of Philadel 
 phia: 
 
 GENTLEMEN : The undersigned, who have been in 
 trusted with the duty of presenting to the authorities 
 of the city of Philadelphia the accompanying preamble 
 and resolutions of the Board of Public Charities, re 
 spectfully beg leave to state that we have endeavored 
 to make ourselves thoroughly familiar with the condi 
 tion of the insane department of the Philadelphia 
 almshouse ; and that we have done so, after large 
 observation of similar institutions in various parts of 
 the State. That while we observe, with unqualified 
 satisfaction, that this institution is under the superin 
 tendence of an able and faithful physician, an advan 
 tage too seldom enjoyed by county asylums, we are 
 constrained to recognize the painful fact that the con 
 tracted accommodations for so large a population, and 
 the almost entire absence of needful resources for the 
 application of scientific remedies, render a physician s 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 skill almost useless, unless to repair the bodily harm 
 which the inmates suffer, either from self-infliction or 
 the violence of their companions, excited to frenzy by 
 a mutually reacting irritation, which is the outgrowth 
 alone of their crowded and unclassified condition. We 
 are well aware that this communication would be an 
 appropriate one to the board of guardians, and we 
 should not fulfill our duty without urging upon them 
 the necessity of instant attention to the subject ; but, as 
 legislation by yourselves is needed to enable that board 
 to reach any practical result, we address you, also, as 
 the more important authority in the premises. 
 
 We might easily set forth to you the clear right of 
 this dependent and afflicted class of our citizens, not 
 only on the ground of humanity, but of law and justice, 
 to liberal care and guardianship from the city of Phila 
 delphia. We might expose in detail their condition of 
 constant retrogression, instead of advance, in mental 
 and physical health ; we might give our views as to 
 what extension is needed to secure effectually the per 
 sonal safety of the inmates, or, what is better, so to 
 classify them as to give them the advantages of hos 
 pital treatment ; but we forbear to occupy your atten 
 tion at this time, further than to say, in behalf of the 
 Board of Public Charities, that we should deprecate 
 any reliance upon the prospective relief to this depart 
 ment of the almshouse, which may be anticipated from 
 the establishment of a house of correction ;* but that, 
 with our present convictions, we have confidence only 
 
 * The thought was encouraged by some of the officials of the city government, 
 that the contemplated house of correction would so relieve the almshouse as to 
 afford the needed room for the insane inmates. 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 437 
 
 in the prompt enlargement of the department for the 
 insane, upon the premises where it is now located. 
 
 GEO. L. HARRISON, 
 HIESTER CLYMER, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 WlLMER WORTHINGTON, 
 
 Secretary and General Agent. 
 
 STATED MEETING, DECEMBER 7, 1870. 
 
 Mr. Harrison reported further proceedings in refer 
 ence to the insane department of the Philadelphia 
 almshouse. 
 
 The following communication was addressed to the 
 Councils of Philadelphia on October jist: 
 
 GENTLEMEN : The undersigned, members of the 
 Board of Public Charities, who have especial super 
 vision of the institutions in that district of the State 
 in which Philadelphia is located, beg leave to make the 
 following statement to your honorable bodies : We 
 look back with the most grateful feelings at your recent 
 action in behalf of the insane department of the alms- 
 house, and anticipate with confident hope that the 
 condition of its inmates will be benefited to their own 
 great improvement and the consequent credit and 
 economic advantage of the city ; but in order to realize 
 full success, we earnestly ask your attention to a few 
 points bearing most influentially upon the manage 
 ment of that institution. We take it for granted that 
 suitable provision will be made for heating, lighting, 
 ventilating, &c. the projected extension, which will be 
 
43$ CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 moderate in cost, but which should be obviously 
 arranged for now, to prevent damage to the buildings 
 and to save expense from its introduction after they 
 are completed. 
 
 Another important consideration is the compensa 
 tion of the medical superintendent, and the character 
 and qualifications of his assistants. It is entirely un 
 deniable that a servant, conscious of unfair treatment, 
 whether as to recompense or otherwise, is unable to 
 meet fully the requisitions of his service, whatever may 
 be the degree of his conscientiousness ; and, for this 
 reason, we fear that, should it become certain that the 
 present appropriation for salary of that officer at our 
 almshouse will not be considerably increased, the deep 
 interest which is now manifested must necessarily de 
 cline ; and it is quite sure that no suitable successor 
 can be engaged on such terms. We feel confident 
 that the physician of seven hundred and fifty insane in 
 mates, with a salary of $1350 a year and perquisites of 
 residence and vegetables, which would not increase this 
 sum by $ 1 50, cannot, however devoted to his work, 
 enjoy that satisfaction and that freedom from care for 
 his domestic interests, which are essential to his full 
 efficiency. We hope, therefore, that in the interests of 
 the institution and the public, as also in justice to who 
 ever may be the incumbent of that office, a more 
 reasonable salary will be appropriated. We beg, in 
 this relation, to adduce a few examples of the salaries 
 paid to the physicians of similar institutions. At 
 Colney Hatch, England, John Welsh writes that the 
 " physicians receive equal to $3000 in gold, with house, 
 fuel, light, butter, milk, and vegetables." 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 439 
 
 At the New York State Lunatic Asylum, with six 
 hundred inmates, the appropriations for 1869 were 
 " $10,000 for officers;" for "attendants, engineer, 
 apothecary, butcher, tailor, farmer, bookkeeper, clerk, 
 & c -> $375983.49." The physician has three assistants. 
 At the hospital for the insane at Flatbush, Long Island, 
 the salary is $2000, with residence and full support, 
 including the convenience of a horse and carriage. 
 The number of inmates there is six hundred. There 
 are two assistants at $800 each. At the institution on 
 Blackwell s Island, New York City, the salary is $2500, 
 with dwelling apartments commodious and convenient, 
 and partial subsistence. There are three assistants, the 
 salary of the first being $1000. In our own State, Dr. 
 Reed, of Dixmont, near Pittsburg, receives $3000, with 
 dwelling and subsistence. He has four hundred 
 patients, with, at present one assistant at $900 salary, 
 another being promised. Dr. Curwen, of the Harris- 
 burg institution, receives $2500, with two assistants 
 at $800 each ; also, commodious apartments in the 
 institution, subsistence, and other liberal provision. 
 Number of inmates, four hundred. We are not aware 
 of any similar institution of any magnitude where the 
 compensation is so inadequate as at our own, and 
 where there is no paid assistant. We therefore re 
 spectfully suggest that the salary of the medical super 
 intendent of the insane department of the almshouse 
 be increased ; that a suitable dwelling-place for his 
 family be provided, and that he be furnished with at 
 least one paid assistant ; for we must not fail to bear 
 in mind that an insane asylum is not merely a place of 
 detention, requiring only men of bone and muscle as 
 
440 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 " keepers," but a hospital, where scientific and experi 
 enced skill is required, with anxious care by night as 
 well as day, for remedial treatment. In this connection 
 we would also suggest that a moderate appropriation 
 be made for the employment of paid attendants, the 
 paupers who are detailed for this work being wholly 
 unfit, and generally, from want of feeling and want of 
 principle, practising cruelty or neglect, subversive of 
 the first essentials towards relief or cure of this peculiar 
 malady. With these improvements in the affairs of 
 the almshouse asylum of this city, we are confident that, 
 when the extension is completed, so evident an ameli 
 oration of the condition of that afflicted class of our 
 citizens will be apparent, and so evident an advantage 
 to the community from the speedy restoration of many 
 of the inmates, as will lead us all to rejoice in the 
 benevolent liberality which Councils have manifested in 
 their behalf. 
 
 GEO. L. HARRISON, 
 HIESTER CLYMER, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 WlLMER WORTHINGTON, 
 
 Secretary and General Agent. 
 
 This communication was referred to the Finance 
 Committee of Councils, who reported favorably on its 
 recommendations, and, thereupon, Councils made the 
 requisite appropriations to carry them out. 
 
 Thus was taken up the best, and at the same time 
 the most conspicuous example of an insane depart 
 ment in an almshouse with medical superintendence, 
 but without suitable hospital accommodations for either 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 441 
 
 sex. The appeal prepared by me, as chairman of the 
 committee on this subject, was recognized by Councils, 
 the grant was made without dissent ; and extensions of 
 the male and female departments were built as sug- 
 gested. For the first time, up to this date, was full 
 opportunity given, in a county almshouse, to the im 
 poverished and helpless insane to enjoy the benefits 
 which are derived from hospital accommodations, and 
 hospital care and supervision. 
 
 Subsequently, in accordance with the further sug 
 gestions made in a second appeal to the Councils of 
 Philadelphia, the medical superintendent was more 
 adequately compensated, a paid assistant was given 
 him, better nourishment was allowed to the patients, 
 and the plan of "working the department in the 
 cheapest way " not the most economical was aban 
 doned. The efforts in this first movement were thus 
 crowned with success ; and while communicating with 
 many members of Councils in relation to the matter, 
 the expectation was announced that the State herself 
 would at length assume the obligation and adopt the 
 policy of providing hospital care and maintenance for 
 the insane poor of Philadelphia, as well as of the rest 
 of the Commonwealth ; thus making her policy, in this 
 regard, uniform and universal. The belief further 
 was expressed that she would be prepared for the 
 recognition of this humane and generous duty within 
 the period of five years ; and, for this end, incessant 
 efforts were put forth to inform the intelligence and 
 stir up the humanity of leading citizens to aid and 
 sustain the board in the accomplishment of this great 
 and cherished object. 
 
44 2 CARE OF THE INSANE. 
 
 The day after my report to the board in the Phila 
 delphia case, recited above, the following record is 
 made of its proceedings : 
 
 MEETING HELD AT HARRISBURG, DECEMBER STH, 1870. 
 
 Mr. Harrison offered the following resolutions, which 
 were adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That the Board of Public Charities, having 
 witnessed the evils which result from the connection of 
 insane asylums with almshouses, and believing that a 
 wrong is done to the insane by classing them with 
 paupers, hindering the public from estimating aright 
 their claims to sympathy and remedial treatment, dis 
 approve of such an alliance, and believe that the best 
 interests of this afflicted class of her people, and the 
 duty of the State, concur in the establishment by the 
 State, within a reasonable time, of sufficient accommo 
 dations for the maintenance and treatment of all the 
 insane who may not be cared for in private hospitals. 
 
 Resolved, That, in the judgment of the board, all 
 superintendents of hospitals for the insane should be 
 members of the medical profession. 
 
 The effort thus inaugurated in 1870 being earn 
 estly followed up from year to year, as the preceding 
 pages will show, resulted, in the winter of 1875, in 
 my framing a bill for carrying into effect the desired 
 object. Being unable to remain in Harrisburg during 
 that session of the legislature, the measure, though 
 reported to that body, was not pressed for enactment ; 
 but the legislature of 1876 passed the bill, providing 
 
CARE OF THE INSANE. 443 
 
 for the purchase of two hundred acres of ground and 
 the erection thereon of a State hospital for the accom 
 modation of the insane poor of Philadelphia and some 
 contiguous counties. 
 
 Though deeply regretting that the pressure of other 
 engagements prevented me from accepting the place 
 of chairman of the commission for carrying this act 
 into effect, to which I was appointed by the Governor 
 of the State, I close this little volume with the expres 
 sion of my hearty joy and thanksgiving that the erec 
 tion of this hospital, with the completion of others 
 now being built, will enable the State to perform her 
 recognized duty of supplying hospital accommodations 
 for all the insane poor within her bounds ; so that 
 none need hereafter be left in prisons or in alms- 
 houses. The Harrisburg hospital will provide for the 
 central portions of the State; the hospital at Dixmont 
 for the south-western part ; that at Warren, when com 
 pleted according to its plans, will amply suffice, for 
 many years to come, for the north-west ; the hospital 
 at Danville, when finished in like manner, will furnish 
 abundant accommodation for the north-eastern por 
 tion ; and, finally, the South-eastern Hospital, for the 
 building of which the whole sum needed has been 
 appropriated by the legislature, will be made to pro 
 vide for Philadelphia and the adjoining counties, 
 namely, for that district of the State which is desig 
 nated by its title. 
 
 Thus will a great sum of money have been ex 
 pended; but thus, also, will one of the most imperative 
 duties of the Commonwealth have been fulfilled. 
 
LIBRAE! 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absentees from public schools, 16. 
 
 Act of 1 86 1, repeal suggested, 378. 
 
 Ancient torture of prisoners, 90; abolition of vindictive punishments, 112. 
 
 Aberdeen, Scotland, juvenile delinquents in, 83. 
 
 Apathy of the public respecting insane poor, 280. 
 
 Agricultural pursuits a cause of insanity, 401. 
 
 Annual cost of criminals, 86. 
 
 Almshouses Not proper insane hospitals, 266, 274 ; cases of cruelty to insane in, 
 
 385, 390- 
 
 Board of Public Charities, 107 ; aims of, Ii8; reports of, 266. 
 Benevolence in punishment and in provision for the poor, 100-104. 
 Brewster, Hon. F. Carroll, on Pennsylvania laws on insane, 330. 
 
 Capital punishment, 116. 
 
 Carpenter, Miss Mary, letter from, 52, 55. 
 
 Cities, neglected children in, i, 5; criminal classes, 209; relations to state, 
 1 8, 70. 
 
 Charitable institutions, State aid to private, 43, 47, 48. 
 
 Christianity and civilization, influence on convicts, 89, 149. 
 
 Causes of insanity Agricultural pursuits, 401; physical and hereditary, 405. 
 
 Children Neglected, pauper, and vicious, 4, 5, 16,76,88; State aid to, 49; 
 industrial schools in England, 50, 53; employed in factories, 17, 19; out 
 side the range of common schools, 46 ; vagrant, 37, 44. 
 
 Classification of prisoners, 165, 173; in England, 168. 
 
 Commitment of insane, 253; legislation needed, 255. 
 
 Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania Retrogressive action of, 42; me 
 morial to, 56, 75. 
 
 Commutation of sentences on reformation, 178, 187. 
 
 Compulsory education, 1,36; in other countries, 8, 12,31; in various States, 
 13,15; recent legislation, 31, 36; cost of, 22; objections to considered, 20; 
 not prejudicial to liberty of conscience, 25 ; general law proposed, 30; New 
 England law of 1642, 31. 
 
 Compensation of medical superintendents, adequate, 441. 
 
 (445) 
 
446 INDEX. 
 
 Convicts Annual cost of, 55, 86; reformation of, 92; discharged, 191; instruc 
 tion to, 147, 157 ; kind treatment of, 158, 165 ; proper classification of, 165, 
 173; not discharged unreformed, 153; statistics of Pennsylvania, 242; 
 labor of, 124, 147. 
 
 Criminals Illiterate, 78; number of, 241; reform of, 119; public apathy 
 respecting, 225 ; suggestions, 209. 
 
 Criminal insane, 286, 288, 379; Pennsylvania laws, 303, 311, 330; act of 1861, 
 311; memorial to legislature in behalf of, 318, 325, 345; legislation in 
 various States, 335, 345 ; opinion of convention of medical superintendents, 
 347, 358 ; provision for, 367 ; no punitive treatment, 367 ; suggestions, 345, 
 
 374- 
 
 Crime allied to ignorance, 37 ; prevention of, 105; prison economy, 105, 119. 
 Contractors for convict labor, 138. 
 Curable insane, 268, 403; large percentage of, 259, 415, 419; importance of 
 
 early and proper treatment, 415, 419; cure retarded in poor-houses, 415. 
 Crofton, Sir William Graded prisons, 164, 231. 
 Common schools need some supplement, 59. 
 
 Dangerous classes, 182, 232. 
 
 Duty of the State to neglected children, 7 ; in general education, 41 ; to insane 
 poor, 272 378; to insane criminals, 290. 
 
 Destitute and neglected children, 37, 44. 
 
 Dietary arrangements in prisons, 98. 
 
 Discharge of convicts on reformation, 178; discharging-houses, 187-190; pro 
 vision for, 191-196, 216; discharge of untried prisoners, 206; statistics, 206. 
 
 Dix, Miss Efforts in behalf of insane poor, 273, 282. 
 
 Economy Public, in State provision for neglected children, 55, 78, 86; for in 
 sane, 259, 270, 406. 
 
 Education Compulsory, 1-37; moral and religious, IO, 25. 
 Europe Results of prison reform, 239; English industrial schools, 54. 
 Escaped prisoners, 189. 
 Earle, Dr. Pliny-r-Report of, 431. 
 Early efforts of Board of Public Charities, for insane, 433. 
 
 Family The type of the State, 101 ; of the convict should share products of his 
 
 labor, 216, 235. 
 Female convicts, 123, 212. 
 
 Gradation Of prisons, 231 ; of penalties, 115, 182. 
 "Godless schools" an unjust epithet, 21, 26. 
 
 Habeas corpus peculiar to England and United States, 92. 
 
 Humane treatment Of convicts, 92, 106, 112, 119, 158-165, 229; of insane 
 
 criminals, 290. 
 Hospitals for insane in Pennsylvania, 370, 409, 422, 443. 
 
INDEX. 447 
 
 Ignorance and crime inseparable, 6. 
 
 Illiterates In United States, 2 ; Pennsylvania, 3, 57 ; Philadelphia, 81 ; Southern 
 States, 78; New York, 79; criminals, 37; children, 43; paupers, 39. 
 
 Insanity A disease, not a crime, 405; character of, 247, 261 ; causes of, 401, 
 405, 442. 
 
 Insane Care of the, 248 ; in poor-houses, 243, 247 ; in ancient Greece and 
 Egypt, 251; experienced attendants for, 252; number of, 263; dan 
 gerous, mischievous, dependent, 264, 322; harmless, 322; memorials 
 respecting, to Board of Public Charities, 326 ; should not be in prisons or 
 poor-houses, 370; a plea for the insane, 261,381; poor in Pennsylvania 
 hospitals and poor-houses, 398 ; probable number of new cases, 410 ; sta 
 tistics, 411,418; chronic poor, 427; suggestions for enlarged provision for, 
 422, 433- 
 
 Insane criminals In prisons, 267, 286, 288 ; in State penitentiaries, 294, 295, 346 ; 
 291, 303, 311, 318, 324; legislation in various States, 335, 345, 347,358; 
 plan of a hospital ward for, 360, 366, 374> 3?8. 
 
 Insane poor, 263 ; in Pennsylvania, 270 ; cruel treatment of, in New York, 273 ; 
 shocking cases in Pennsylvania poor-houses, 274, 279, 385, 390, 394; prac 
 tically excluded from State hospitals, 281; remarks, 385, 393, 396; insuffi 
 cient provision for, in Pennsylvania, 243, 433-443. 
 
 Insane curable, 259, 268, 403, 415. 
 
 Insane incurable, 257, 282, 380, 398. 
 
 Industrial schdols in London, 50, 53; in Scotland, 83. 
 
 Intermediate prisons or discharging-houses, 187, 190. 
 
 Innocent persons charged with crime, 204. 
 
 Imprisonment for life, 198. 
 
 Intemperance a cause of crime, 183. 
 
 International Prison Reform Congress, 47, 162, 224, 233, 239. 
 
 Juvenile vagrants and criminals, 85, 87. 
 
 Jarvis, Dr. Edward Remarks on effects of education, 40. 
 
 Legislation in Pennsylvania for the insane, 330, 334; in other States, 335, 345. 
 Labor of convicts Salutary effects, 95, 124, 147, 209; profits of, 139; effects 
 
 on free labor, 141 ; proper application of proceeds, 139, 235. 
 Livingston, Edward, on prison discipline, 131, 134, 167. 
 
 "Mark system" of rewarding prisoners, 164, 172, 184, 230. 
 
 Municipal prisons, 200. 
 
 Moral effects of education, 24, 123. 
 
 Massachusetts Compulsory education in, 3, 5, 14; insane in, 328, 431. 
 
 Memorial Of Board of Public Charities to Constitutional Convention on State 
 aid to charities, 56 ; to Pennsylvania Legislature in behalf of insane crimi 
 nals, 318; of physicians and citizens in behalf of insane, 371, 374. 
 
 Medical superintendents of insane hospitals on criminal insane correspond 
 ence, 347, 353 ; resolutions, 353, 358 ; statements and review, 354, 360 ; 
 compensation of, 438. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Neglected, destitute, and vicious children, I, 17, 54, 58, 76, 88. 
 New York provides for total insane population, 258, 260. 
 
 Officials Incompetent prison, 5.24236 
 
 Pennsylvania Illiterates in, 3, 5, 57; insane in, 407 ; legislation for insane re 
 trogressive, 42, 43, 77 ; criminal lunatics, 303,310, 345; prison reform in, 
 118; poor insane, 281, 378, 385, 433-443; total amount of State aid to 
 local charities from 1752 to 1872 (130 years), 67. 
 
 Paying patients in State hospitals exclude the poor insane, 283, 285, 368, 382, 
 391 ; private asylums for the wealthy, 265. 
 
 Paupers, 39, 50, 103. 
 
 Prevention of crime, 77, 78, 105. 
 
 Pardoning power, the, 196. 
 
 Public schools in Pennsylvania, 3, 21, 45. 
 
 Penitentiaries -Convict labor, 143 ; insane in, 295, 323. 
 
 Prison discipline and economy, 89, 242; solitaiy confinement, 94; labor, 95; 
 recent progress in Europe, 222 ; general summary and suggestions, 214, 222. 
 
 Prison-keepers and officials, 93, 138; selection and training of, 173, 178, 185, 
 202, 227, 236; sheriffs incompetent as, 175. 
 
 Philadelphia Hospital, insane department Enlargement of, 435. 
 
 Read and write Number unable to, 28, 57, 79. 
 
 Refuges and other provisions for discharged prisoners, 191, 196. 
 
 Reformatory use of imprisonment, 92, 119, 124, 220, 238; reform schools, 74, 76, 
 
 00 
 
 OO. 
 
 Religious instruction in prisons, 97, 157. 
 
 State aid to public charities, 49, 56, 75. 
 Solitary confinement, 94, 127, 129, 166, 170, 209. 
 Sumptuary laws, 117. 
 Short terms of imprisonment, 183. 
 Station-houses, 200. 
 
 Truancy Suppression of, in Boston, 13. 
 
 Turner, Rev. Sydney, on reformatory and industrial schools, 74. 
 
 Untried prisoners Large number of discharged, 204, 206. 
 Undetermined sentences, 153. 
 
 Value of education to the State, 29, 40. 
 Vagrants, 210; children, 44, 52. 
 Vindictive punishments, 109; Draconian laws, no. 
 Voluntary labor of convicts, 134. 
 
 Willarcl Asylum for Insane, New York, 260, 269, 423, 439. 
 Wines, Dr. E. C., on reformatory efforts, 50, 96, 238. 
 Witnesses Provision for persons detained as, 203, 210. 
 Women as prison visitors, 237. 
 
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