Newspaper Page Text
t^¥^ r 111 I Ificl/%L,S Prf JPI r Prison £abor as an indication of Civilization. NOTWITHSTANDING all the facts, the expe rience, and the observation which go to prove that civilization has made wonderful ad vances in aJmost every direction during the last hundred years or more, the assertion is constantly made that it is an appearance of progress that attracts public attention; and, however much pop ular education may be stimulated and supported by pub lic funds and universities may constantly increase, and rial prosperity may attend our affairs, and music and art be nearer the common people than ever, never theless the pessimist rather insists that real moral conditions have not changed for the better, that Clime iaes, that marriages decrease relatively, that vice In great cities is more strongly intrenched than ever, and that in spite of all the wonderful prosperity anil other elements which ought to make for progress, -s is only apparent and not real. All through the nineteenth century these questions . -J more or less attention, bat during the last Quarter of it immense changes were brought about nut only in methods relating to the management of prisons, but in the employment of prisoners. Economic reasons Induced labor reformers everywhere to make an attack Ohe Drue Realistic Novel Refined. WHAT is a novel? What does it teach us? Terhaps we never wrong a writer more than when we try to think some delinite, specific purpose into his work, a purpose that might more fitly come from our own Qualifications than from his. At the same time, if h« ly delivers himself, he must bring us, how unconsciously, some philosophic n:e;sige, some of thought that can be worked back into an axiom rr own guidance and which claims universal alle giance through Its justice. The simplest, most unlnten- I drawing of a neot geometrical figure cannot tail, ret unwittingly, to manifest a portion of the eter nal laws of balance and agreement in science, and so the faithful relation of the simplest set of occurrences cannot help portending some of the moral force that we all correspond to. Therefore, a store, of whatever kind, I>e it even farcical and tell the truth by introversion; or romantic, and tell -tha truth by experiment, must have Relation of the Press to the Postal Service. THE relations between the postoffiee department and the newspapers of the country should b« at ell points harmonious and co-opemtive. The postal service renders the journal ism of today possible; the postal ser vice and journalism combined furnish, a pervading, ramifying, aggressive educational institute, a na . university for the people, equaled by no other enterprise, for the diffusion of intelligence now existing among the children of men. Cheap postage, far below the cist of actual service for all legitimate journals, and free circulation in the home county for the omnipresent (in ttif aggregate well nigh omnipotent) local weekly aie th« cheerful contributions a generous nation makes toward building up this potent agency of advancing civilization. Journalism owes to the rostal service the conscientious discharge of a reciprocal obligation. It has been a matter of complaint by postoffice oiticials Ohe Registration of tuberculosis. IS there nothing further that can b« done to prevent the enormous death rate from consumption? Much as the intelligent body of physcians has done to limit its spread, and to awaken the public to a realiza- tion of its dangers, are there no other feasible means which ran be employed? The building of sanatoria, tho prevention of milk infection, regulations in regard to ex pectorating in public places, will do much. But the one thin? which is essential,' the proper education of the public, is difficult and oan be said scarcely to have been The legis'ature as a body is indifferent. At a recent hearing before the legislature of this state, the learned a sat for an hour listening to doctors recite the dreadful ravages of the disease and the meaii3 by which they could t« checked, with as much interest and enthusiasm as would be vouchsafed to a recital of ths low .spiritual condition of the Fjji islanders. The mere recital of statistics has no apparent effisct on them and Purpose of Manhood Suffrage. THE purpose of manhood suffrage is not primarily to give good government, but to make men .strong. Without responsibility for national af fairs, men will lose Interest in them. Without interest, they will fail In intelligent comprehension of them. The tendency of man hood suffrage is to give broader views, wiser methods of action, and higher patriotism. "While democratic terms oft'cu yield bad government, it is through their opeiation Jhe Enthusiasm for literature. AS a suggestive definition for culture w» may take literary enthusiasm for the right things, This is by no means the common Idea, lor enthusiasm has corn to mean often merely a cloak for Ignorance. However, the deill catlon of knowledge is. rot so popular In pedagogic circles as formerly. Tho most important develop:" of later times is in the recognition of the emotional and inspira tional as valuable forces in education. Is it not a fact of life, that our emotions, in the broad sense, make up Advantages of Co-operative Slevators. TUB co-operative elevator, even In Minnesota and Kansas, where ft Is most in evidence, has hardly arrived at the dignity of a "movement." The difficulty is that farmers are not trained to the business of merchandising grain, how ever expert .is 3rain growers; arid in consequence too many shareholders in co-operative concerns have had their finders burred to make farther experiment popular with the Initiated. upon the methods of employing convicts. When It was thoroughly understood that penal labor was bad in every respect, the state everywhere undertook to conduct prisons on what may be called a treasury basis—that is, the utilization of prison labor in such a way as to make that labor pay the expenses of the prison and per haps bring some profit to the public treasury. These results were sought through what was known as the contract system, under which the labor of prisoners wag let out to the highest bidder. Then the manager entered the prison and utilized the labor of the prisoners, pay ing low prices for the work and thus having a supposed advantage in the sale of his goods. This brought the attention of labor reformers to prison labor, but the greatest result which has come from their attack has been in calling attention to the real condition of prison ers as well as the methods under which their labor was employed. While prison labor affected wages and. prices under the contract system to -some extent, enough at least to incite the antagonism of organized labor, the real, great question was whether prisoners were being employed in such a way as to work their reformation or otherwise. a moral, if earnestly and faithfully told, because viewed in the light of its best significance, whatever is true must preach. What we feel after reading a story is always re ducible to some philosophical statement, and It is ac cording to whether such a statement is true or false teat the story is good or bad. And the true realistic story, being good, leads us to ask, wihat makes it good? la it necessarily because of it 3 literal accuracy of event, or of its faithful character sketching? We all know that the most graphic of stories is only a silhouette of life, that there are untold myriads of equally possible, but different phases, developments and climaxes, and that those chosen, and which we accept, have rested in the arbitrary choice q£ the writer. Therefore, our pleasure in the realistic novel is not so much in its ac tuality as in something else. All of us are delighted when Orlando hangs his lady love's name on the forest trees, though we should laugh heartily at any youn^ man of our acquaintance for doing exactly the same for a long time that the mails have 'been overloaded with publications which get the advantage of rates on periodi cals without being entitled to them. If any class of mail matter is to be handled at a loss, It would be better for that less to be occasioned by cheap rates on letters and newspapers. It is bad policy to compel newspapers and letters not only to pay their own way, but to bear a portion of the cost of transporting matter which is car ried for the benefit of the few rather than for the many. The ex-postmaster general, himself an ; experienced journalist of more than national reputation, has correct ly diagnosed the malady and helped to prescribe an ef fective remedy. He admits that if the miall thus car ried at a heavy loss were limited t» just what the law Intended there would be nothing more to tie said. In that case It would be a deliberate and rational public expendi ture for a well defined, justifiable and worthy public ob ject, f.nd, taking the service as a whole, there would bo no losa. Bat the privilege has been abused until unendur- they have only an academic interest In prophylaxis and hygiene. The abstract consideration of the question is of colTrse entertaining and diverting, but does not awaken active co-operation in any movement to better the condi tions. Were an economic question under discussion, if the question concerned individual interest or if the benefit to come from legislation could be expressed in dollars and cents, there would be no lack of enthusiasm and eagerness to enact laws. Is there not gome way In which R little life can be infused into the problem of prevent ing- the spread of tuberculosis? The general public is also indifferent. We bear other people's sorrows lightly. The victim of consumption has the sympathy of his friends and a largely attended fun eral, but there the matter ends. The fact that one- seventh of the population is dying of a preventable dis ease excites scarcely a ripple of interest or alarm. A catastrophe by fire in which a hundred lives are lost stirg the hearts of the country, and loosens purse stirngs to that we have the best guarantee of good government in the future. A. republic is a huge laboratory of civics, a laboratory where strange experiments are performed, but where, as in other laboratories, experience must bring wisdom. The failure 3of democracy bring their own remedy in the greater wisdom of the people. If voting has this effect on man, we have a right to expect similar results from the extension of the suffrage to woman. That sucii results shall not be in all respects the most of existence, and render it worth while? So culture, in its true sense, is not merely knowledge that begets weariness and censoriousness—that creates the blase attitude which finds all things wrong without being able to say why they are wrong. This is mock culture—a degraded notion which is, alas, too common. Knowledge, to be sure, is necessary to the cultivated man or woman, but is not all, nor even half. There la a motor force which must move knowledge and t-iat Is love. Yet in spite of these repeated failures, new co-opera tive elevator companies appear about aa last as old ones die. What is the reason? The Hanley-Butler tyre of co-operation is extremely local in its influence; more over, the new co-operative concerns seem as a rule to come into being without their aid or surges lion. What, then, is the influence that begets them? Without trying to give a direct answer to the Query, the fact may be recalled that the co-operative THE ST. PAUIr GLOBE, SUNDAY, MAY 4, 1902, Political parties then took up the question, and the mat ter was agitated in many places, labor reformers de manding in some parts of the country that prisoners should not be employed at any productive labor at all. This position was soon abandoned, however, and then the demand came that they should be employed In such a way as to secure the least competition with free labor on the outside of prisons, adopting the very thought of the burgomaster of Ghent. Under the reformatory measures various systems ■were projected with the view of avoiding the contract system, until today we have two groups of systems— first those und«r which the product of profits of prison labor is shared by the state with private individuals, firms or corporations. Under this group three distinct systems are authorized, being known respectively as the contract system, the piace-price system and the lease system. Under all these the state has a financial ad vantage, but the contractors or lessees have a greater advantage. Second, systems under which convicts are worked wholly foe the benefit of the state or its political sub divisions or public institutions. Under this group there thing. We have here a very pertinent proof of £h.a value of realism to maice us appreciate and get the ben efit of romanticism, an unspeakable boom. When does the beauty of the heavens, of the sea or of the moun tain peaks appeal to us more than when we are stand ing safe on firm ground? When can we answer more aptly than when sustained by realism to whoever would remind us that those things are beautified into deceptive worth through the light they are viewed in? "Yes, my friend, but what about the reality of the light Itself? Does not that beautiful simulation and seeming de parture from the severity of reality evidence the pres ence of something that is blessedly true?" Yes. is it only because it leads us to apprehend such beauty that the true realistic novel is good? The true realistic novel is not the undue dignifying of the unworthy. It is not the apotheosis of mediocrity. To the earnest and striv ing among us it draws out of us the threads from which we weave something new and noble and we are grateful to feel within ourselves the counterpart of its best able impositions resulted, and a cure must be vigorously applied. There is a single advertising periodj|cal of which the copies sent thorough the ma:is during onaiquarter averag?d 223,688 pounds for each issue, or nearty eight carloads, reckoning the weight of a carload of paper as 30,<JU0 pounds. For transporting each issue of that periodical the government actually paid JH.154.40, against wlrch it collected. $2,23G.6S in postage. It also paid $),473 for handling, making a direct net loss of $13,421 for every is sue. As- compared with this cash gift of the government the publishers paid for everything else $7,337 as against a net cost to the government of $13,421; so that th« govern ment contributed about $6,064 more on every issue to the expense of running that publication than- the publishers themselves contributed. Three distinct reforms are aimed at by the department In the movement it is now seeking to carry into effect under existing law, each of which it holds to be warranted the extent of millions, but the devastation of the white plague is complacently regarded as a dispensation of Providence, or an expression of the will of God. The Eame mental attitude in which people accept the state ment that "the poor ye hare always with you" as a justification and defense of poverty, receives the terrible mortality of tuberculosis as one of the inevitable condi tions of existence. Is not the effort to awaken the public well nigh hopeless There is, however, one portion of the public that can be made to realize the necessity of controlling the disease. It is that portion which is brought in direct contact with the disease in themselves or in their families. To educate the public in general is hopeless, but to educate those whose interest in the disease is personal is a relatively easy matter. They see in it a personal affliction and they are or should ba anxious to lessen the burden on themselves and others. The mere fact that one member of a family has tuber cular disease is sufficiently alarming to make the ethers use strenuous efforts to prevent the disease from afliict- advantageous is also certainly true. But, so far as women are concerned, the gain would seem to outweigh its cost. It has been made a reproach to women that they are short-sighted, devo-i.d to the near and the immediate, careless of ultimate results. This tendency exists in tho nature of things, for woman's sphere Is the home, rathe* than the nation. But. if it be a reproach, the extension of responsibility would correct it. It is moreover true that the average man is prone to All great teachers have been first of all human be ings. Such men as Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, have had per sonality. They have appealed to- their students as being men like themselves, subject to the same influence, mov ed by the same feelings. So in our attitude toward literature, the most precious thing is real culture, whlcih means the ability to read a poem and thrill in response to it. Enthusiasm, sensitiveness to noble emotional ap peal, these are the basis of appreciation. The supprea- elevator is moat In evidence in that part of th* country dominated by the grea* line elevator companies-tha Northwest. Is this a more coincidence? The lino ele vator system certainly containa the germs of potential abuses that would, if put into practice, tend to culti vate the farmers' elevator system. Do those abused, In fact, exist? While believing with Secretary Wells, of lowa, that the regular grain dealer is a business necessity for tn« By Carrot X>. Wright, are three specific systems, known as the public-account system, the state-use system and the publlc-ways-and works system. The methods named under this group are those which are attracting more attention than any others. Under them penologlsts se« the greatest advan tage to be derived from the employment of prisoners. They abandon in a certain sense the treasury idea—that is, the profit should come to the state —and recognize that the reformation of prisoners is of far more Impor tance than profit to the state. Under the agitation the idea has grown with legis lators, economists and sociologists everywhere that the convict or the criminal should be treated from the ph> - Sician's point of view—as a man morally sfck, not to be degraded but to be treated, not to be punished simply for the sake of punishment but restricted in his liberty for the sake of society but while being restricted he la to be given the best possible opportunity for moral de velopment; also for the development of his working powers, so that when he is fre«d from his restriction he shall be in a position to take up self-sustaining woik as a good citizen of the community. This state of affairs shows the remarkable changes By Jflrs. J. S. Kenney, parts. To live a little more according to our own capa bilities, to adjust these a iittle more to those of other people—the book that makes us do this is the book for us, whether its kinship of a touch of nature bo felt through a sigh or a laugh. And what is the medium of this kinship? What, in fine, makes a story good? First, last and always, the man behind it, the quality of his mind, the ens-roe of his personality—a personality shedding the beautiful colors painted into it through his own impulses having quivered, through conjecture into allegiance to tbe an-d our heritage is his nature purified, perhaps, through heartsearing experience, through high resolv.- r through love of his kind, and redolent always of hi* habitual self-communings. Be his touch ever so transient, it reveals himself, and be his subject mattur what it will, we are always captivated if there runs through his writing the life blood of his own Stirling worth. Some writers merely sot down the ttguies of By tfenry A. Castle. by the law's plain intent and neither of which can in In the slightest degree injure any genuine nwesptper or periodical. These reforms are cutting off pur. ly ftdvertta ing sheets, changing serial books to the class they prop erly belong and abolishing the abuse of returning us.soid goods from newsdealers to publishers at the I deal p. r pound rate. In these reforms the postmaster general truly says all legitimate newspapers and magazines have an interest as Immediate and vital as that of tbe ernment.and the people themselves. No criticism falls oa them, and no laying of an ax at r<:oied evils sv their position. They ask no favors; they stand on tm-ir rights with their fixed place, their public object and the.r regular body of readers; they are the direct Objects <>f that deliberate and enlightened public policy whlcn ir. the interest of the people fosters the r< cognized k<h; ; public intelligence; they observe and fulfill the r nients of the law, and because they do t.h y have the more concern in eliminating those which do not. By &r. Arthur Jweeney. ing themselves. But general, haphazard, occasional and perfunctory instruction from the family physician Is njt enough to be effective. The disease is a public a* w-II as a private affair, and should be under the control of the public health authorities. Not less directly than smallpox and dipththerta, titt^r culosis is communicable. There is no valid reason v.hy it should not come under the official supervision of the health boards. To be tuberculous is no disgrace, m stigma can attach to the one wli > cEfoeaaa. The legislature should be ursed to n a. report of cases of tuberculosis, just as is done with the ordinary r-onta#ious ;ind Infectious rtlinatrn. Tie officers should have the power to Inspect ti occupied by consumptives, and to require a minimum of hygienic surroundings. They should k^\> a I those sick with the disease, and should period personal visitation see that the genera] laws of i i tion are being observed, and by proper literal instruct the sick and their relatives concerning ..lu- i> at By jDctvid %ftctrr Jordan. feel a greater interest in far-away affairs, which he can- ' not control, than in near matters which affect him v!t Uy. He neglects the home and its needs, in his later the nation. The sanitation of our own street, the extinc tion of the slums in our own city, the purtSeaticn o" centers of corrosion which destroy our own children, is far more vital to us, as individuals, than the proMtHM of Imperialism, of commercialism, or even of national finance. In great affairs our republic is the most 3'able By &r. Richard £ur(on, sion of right feeling is ossification. This enthusiasm, this love for our subject, is the solvent which mak.-s knowledge palatable. All questions of methods, of teaching, of culture, face the same way. They must re.-;ult, in the true sense, in character. They must keep us sensitive to the hi-.- ■ highest things of life. We must learn to let our go, at the right place, as human beings. In Bl Ing's words, "I>et us be unashamed of soul." One of the few great channels ot power and spiritual By parley £. Mitchell. Sditor of the American &ievator and (Jrain Jrc.de. economic merchandising of grain, one must also r::og nlze the fact that the economies attained by modern methods of merchandising grain are well understood by the grain grower, and, rightly or wrongly, are further understood by him to inure most to his benefit in ■ natural state of competitive buying. Wntrever, therefore, competitive buying la ■eliminated by the line company, and the usufruct of the economies is -.vh. ■! ly appropriated by the buyer, naturally th« grower be- r% United States Commissioner of Aabor. in prison discipline and the development of the prisoner, and !s one of the strongest answers to the allegation that progress is apparent and not real. Here la a concrete illustration of the real moral and economics progress, for the prisoner today is not only employed, but in many of our states is given a training, technical and otherwise, which shall fit htm for reasonably decent citizenship. Now, Instead of th^ old degrading condi tions in all prisons everywhere civilized governments are conducting prison industries In such a way as to leave the least impression on prices and wages. They ara recognizing the force of the suggestion that It Is tht In terest of labor and capital to reduce the number of pris oners as an initiative to means of greater reform; that they .must so deal with criminals as to effect a cure of moral raaliulies; that prisons should be conducted In the> Interest of the prisoners and of society pilmarHy, and that the interest of the treasury should only be inci dental to the best effect upon the prisoners themselves and upon the community; and they further recognize the great rr.ornl principle that the state should always conduct its prisons and employ its prisoners in such a way that the individual should not bo degraded. Member oj the Jhursday Club. life's sums. Other •writers work the figures out to some, degree. Others, yet, simply point to their results, and a few, a chosen, inspired few— and the true rea'.Utlo novelist ia one of these—show the best us of their application. Why all the heartache end weariness of searching througn emotions and act! ins if at the end of all these there is nothing b tier than an unplwaslng cluster of circumstances calling for no better comment than an ignoble sign of fatalistic helplessness? Thero Is more economy in the providential design that Insti tuted the kingdoms of feelings, where there are a groat many solutions that wo should be too idly busy to per ceive were it not for the realistic novel that tells us. wittingly or not. of the ineffable end and agreement of multitudinous human passions swelling, through princi ple, into coherence with the divine Intent that begot all right, showing, formalfy or not, the perpetual iniiltra tion of this right through wrong, and therefore proving purposely or not the- invincible triumph of the ultimata truth. Auditor of the Postojfice Department. The people do not know half as mack as they should about the postal service. They do not realize how much It Is to them and how much Its etllrlt>ncy may d*»pc»J upon their care and watchfulness. It is the bounjen duty of newspapers a.s the advance agent of civilization to stimulate their rvaders to an active interest in ar.d to copiously supply them with correct information In regard to that system the proper working of which Is so import ant to their social, moral and material welfare. Our postal service ia so nearly self.sustaining that th« question of cheaper rate 3of first-class ivostage is being discussed, and It is creditable to tho generosity of t.iu public that thero is no general demand for a doorcase, but rather that any prospective surplus should be expend ed in the betterment of the service even to the genera] establishment of rural free delivery. We need the very best, most leliable system in preference to cheaper post age, and when perfection shall have been nearly atulncxl cheaper rates will be in order. way to secure immunity. At present there is no super vision of consumptives, and the rules are willfully and carelessly cJisobeyed because tbere is nothing to compel their observance. There is no record of those afflicted with tho disease and there can be no effective control until it is known who are sick and when; the centers of dissemination ■i— All effort at education of the general public will fail because the effort Is misdirected, inero can be no result from the general dissemination cf l:tera ture, but everything is to be hoped for when common sense information in regard to the disease 13 placed la the hands of tin so who have a personal Interest in It. ■ President of Stanford University. of nations. I!*r failure is in local and municipal admin istration. It Is the re/!ex of the weakness of the averjga man. This tho shorter but clearer slant or the average woman would tend to counteract. Equal suffrage would tend to broaden the mtnda of women, and to increase their sense of personal responsi bility. It may help to solve the problem of honest and clean local government. It may tend to make our citlo centers of sweetness iuid light, as well as of activity and strength. <~% <~» <~> r*> University of Minnesot beauty is literature. Literature which 13 only esthetic is not competent literature. literature that endures Is vitally related to lifts, and has also an othical bails, literature ia not merely decorative. It la lifo Itself, seen throush a penetrating 1 light which reveals deptha of light and beauty. Shall we not then kep •ixthualairo for it. Not excitement over pretty tbfegs, nor jet Emll a at whatever happenj to be fasbtonable, but the nobler meaning, found in the lineage of tiio word—"OoO ta us." comes restless and discontented. It cannot be deuiel that the line elevator system, with Its exclusive privi. leges on the right of way and presumably of «. dis criminative rate, also would be able to c'.imiimo ci.n petition In a way that no body of Individual grain oay ers might do, however perfect their local oiffantzatiou. The latter are always subject to competition wiun con ditions arc favorable to tnvite it; the llvf company with • railway pull need bare none it ds.ee uot permit.