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The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, March 06, 1913, Image 1

Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90060762/1913-03-06/ed-1/seq-1/

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Vol. XXVI. —No. 31
Gala Days At New
Prison,
The mammoth new Minnesota
states prison at South Stillwater was
the scene o f great' gaiety on
Wednesday and Thursday of last
week, when both branches of the
State Legislature, now in session at
St. Paul, accepted Senator Sullivan’s
invitation to inspect the new insti-
tution.
The senators arrived in Stillwater
Wednesday morning, accompanied
by members of the State Board of
Control, and were met by Warden
Wolfer, who escorted them through
the old prison. After a brief inspec
tion of the various departments of
the old institution, the senators and
their company boarded street cars
and were escorted to South Stillwat
er where preparations had been made
to receive them at the new prison.
Upon their entrance to the admin
istration building, the senators were
greeted with the soft strains of dis
tant music, which floated toward
them from the farther end of the
main corridor, where the prison or
chestra had taken up its position.
After inspecting the beautiful in
terior of the administration building,
the senators passed through the gates
into the cellhouse rotunda, and
thence into the completed wiDg of
the cellhouse itself. They were ac
companied by Warden Wolfer and
the members of the state Board of
Control, who, as they proceeded, ex
plained the workings and uses of all
the apparatus.
From the cellhouse, the company
again entered the main corridor and
traversed its length to the auditor
ium, service rooms and thence to the
great convict dining hall where a
bounteous luncheon had been pre
pared for their enjoyment. Deputy
Warden Coles and Assistant Deputy
Warden Backland were in attend
ance throughout the day. House
Steward Westlund of the old prison
and a large force of white-coated
waiters were on hand in the dining
hail and the luncheon was carried
through without a hitch. During
Uie progress of the repast, the pris
on orchestra filled the hall with live
ly tunes, intersected occasionally,
with a “coon” song by a colored
prisoner. The luncheon came to an
end with coffee aud cigars, and the
senators returned to the administra
tion building where, before their de
parture for St. Paul, they were en
tertained for over an hour with
songs and appropriate selections by
the orchestra.
Practically the same program was
carried out the following day, when
the Representatives and numerous
attaches decended on Stillwater iu
force to look over both prisons. As
on the previous day the members of
the State Board of Control were in
attendance, and the whole company
were taken in charge by Warden
Wolfer and escorted first on a tour
of the old prison, and thence by
street car to the new institution.
The Representatives arrived at the
new prison at 3 p. m., and spent the
remainder of the afternoon and even
ing at that institution. There en
trance was the signal for the prison
orchestra to strike up a lively march
and the music continued during the
progress of the company through the
*
EDITED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE INMATES OF THE MINNESOTA STATE PRISON
main corridor on their way to in
spect the twine factory, which is
situated to the rear of the prison in
closure. From the twine factory
and warehouse, the Representatives
proceeded to the hospital building
and thence back by a side entrance
to the cellhouse rotunda. A little
later they were escorted to the din
ing hall where a luncheon, identical
to the one served the pi*evious day,
awaited them. Upon the invitation
of Warden Wolfer to “dig in and
help themselves,” the company pro
ceeded to enjoy the feast. The or
chestra, supplemented by a choir of
four colored inmates, made things
lively during the course of the meal.
After lunch the company entered
the magnificent auditorium where
brief addresses were delivered by
Senator Spooner, Warden Wolfer,
P. M. Ringdal, Chairman of State
Board of control, C.E.Vasaly, mem
ber of State Board of Control, Clar
ence Johnson, Architect and con
sulting engineer, Pillsbury. Later
in the evening the company assem
bled in the rotunda of the cellhouse
and were entertained for some time
by the orchestra and colored singers.
The Gost of High
Living.
H. F. R., New Prison
The high cost of living is of inter
est to every man woman and child
in this country because it directly
affects the pocketbook, and when
something affects the pocketbook
mankind is ready to sit up aud take
notice.
Few could dispute the fact that it
was this “high cost of living” prob
lem that was indirectly if not direct
ly the cause of the great Democratic
land slide last November, which
ended by giving us Democratic ma
jorities in both branches of Con
gress, as well as a Chief Magistrate.
The people voted for Woodrow
Wilson because they wanted a
change, not only in the Adminis
tration officials, but also in the tar
iff which many believe is the chief
cause for present high prices.
Personally, I do not think a re
duction in the tariff will reduce the
cost of living to any noticeable de
gree, for I am strong in the belief
that the present “high cost of living”
is nothing more or less than the
“cost of high living,” or' in other
words, extravagence.
It is easy enough to figure out
why it costs us so much more to live,
than it did our forebearers, especi
ally when we consider the many lit
tle things we class as neccesities to
day which did not exist even as
luxuries a decade or so ago.
The farmer of today must receive
a higher price for his products be
cause his expenses are double if not
triple what they were 20 years ago.
When I was a boy of 15 or there
abouts I spent a great deal of my
time on a farm and I recall that a
good farm hand in those days re
ceived $15.00 or SIO.OO per month.
Today he gets double that amount
and during harvest time good farm
hands receive from $3.00 to 3.50 per
day. In addition to this the farmer
must have modern equipment, all of
which adds to the cost of his product.
This however is not all, for in the
good old days when the farmer paid
IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND.
STILLWATER, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, MARCH 6. 1913.
his bills once a year aft'" 1 dling his
crops his wants were few and far
between, and he cared little whether
he had real money in his pocket or
not, as his credit was good at the
general store, and he had no wants
that could not be supplied from that
source. How about today? The
average farm house has its gra
phaphone with new every
month, or its piano wbiJu means
music lessons for the children, a tele
phone whereby it is very easy for
the wife or daughter to order some
thing from the store that will now
be delivered by “parcel post.” Elec
tric lights instead of candles and in
a great many instances, an automo
bile. When the farmer goes to
town today he see many new and
valuable articles that catch his eye
and it is seldom indreed that he
leaves without spending a dollar or
two.
The truth is that in v the old days
of 20 years ago the farmer had little
or no chance to spend his money,
whereas today he has little or no
chance to escape spending it. If he
does not go to town the temptation
to spend is ever before him in the
alluring advertisments m the news
papers and magazines issued by the
mail order houses. If he is pressed
for ready money he can buy almost
anything on SI.OO down and SI.OO
per, so in the end he must succumb
and become modernized.
This “cost of high living” grips
the average man who works by the
day week or month, even harder
than it does the farmer, for if he
lives in a village or town (and 90
per cent, do) he is surrounded ou all
sides by expenses that did not exist
a score of years back.
First of all is the house with its
running hot and cold water instead
of the old well; then the telephone
and the electric light, all of which
cost a few dollars a month and at
the end of each year amount to a
very snug total. After this he finds
his wife is not satisfied to cover an
old bonnet for many years, but
instead must have at least two new
bats (not bonnets) every year, and
instead of one Sunday best dress
which formally did service for 5
years or more she must now have a
new dress every season, and we
have four seasons a year.
If the man has children they
must also be dressed, and let me tell
you it takes money to dress children
nowadays. To go anywhere today
one must dress in style and to be in
style means that garments must
match from “shoes to coiffure.”
Then last but not lea t we have
our amusements and thes are so al
luring that even the poorest manage
to enjoy them. There are the parks,
resorts and etc., in summer and the
dear old moving pictures in winter.
At the amusement park or resort,
there is almost every known device
to seperate the average man from
his nickel or dime and he who takes
his family for a day’s outing usually
comes home several dollars light.
In connection with amusements we
have the electric cars that carry us
eveywhere for a few cents. This
modern transportation makes the
large cites easy of access and where
is the family that does not go to the
city once or twice i year?
The little mov
only cost 5 or 1G <
goes and takes the family once or
twice a week it all counts up and if
the good housewife w r ho complains
so loudly about the high cost of liv
ing would only keep account of her
expenditures for a year, she will be
appalled at the large amount spent
on amusements, etc.
No one will dispute that prices
of foodstuff have almost doubled in
the past decade, but it is only a nat
ural advance because the people
who raise foodstuffs need more mon
ey and the only way they can secure
it is by receiving a higher price for
goods.
We can rant about the trusts and
the tariff till we are black in the
face but it will not put prices back
ten years aud the sooner we recog
nize these facts the better.
Lowering the tariff may reduce
prices in a few commodities but it
will not reduce our desires which
are ever on the increase and as long
as we desire these modern luxuries
that are now so dear to our hearts
we must pay for them.
It is folly for economic writers to
tell us to go back to the simple life,
for nearly all Americans are pro
gressive and continue to go forward,
not backward. The modern con
ditions are here to stay and the only
proper way to cope with them is to
advance wages. Labor Unions have
already done this to a large extent
for organized labor but the unor
ganized, which includes fully two
thirds of all labor in this country,
is today struggling along on the
same compensation received 5 or 10
years ago, and thus is the element
that is chiefly affected by the high
cost of living.
Mr. Cost of High Living and Mr.
High Cost of Living are modern
Siamese Twins and they cannot be
seperated. They were joined to
gether at birth, have been fostered
and encouraged through childhood
until today they are fully matured.
If you want to cut down the high
cost of living you can partly do so
by returning to the simple life of
our forebearers, but as I said before
I believe this an impossibility, also
that if our fore bearers were on
earth today they would be guilty of
the same crime we are, viz: High
Living.
Modern Education
The studies of the young, in fact
all the studies throughout the life of
man have more than one object.
We should iudeed be amply repaid
for the hours spent if we only con
sidered the great pleasure such labor
brings.' But long before such pleas
ure is though of by the learner,
books are placed before him because
of the absolute need of three great
essentials. Reading, Writing and
Arithmetic. To this must be added
another great reason for the length
of time spent in our studies of lan
guage and science, and this is the
mental power that is given us
through this course of instruction.
The word, education, irr.plies this;
it does not mean a vast store of
knowledge, but the developing and
fostering of our mental mind. The
mind is made full of possibilities,
full of tendencies, and under daily
training the possibilities become re
alities.
g picture show
nts but when one
A. M. P.
MINNESOTA j
HISTORICAL I
SOCIETY.
T „ U11 .I sl.ooa Year
T ERMB* | 6 M oaths Fifty Cts.
During the long period that man
kind has been training and develop
ing his mental possibilities, two
questions have always been uper
most: What studies most strength
en the mind? What kind of knowl
edge is of the most value? It is safe
to say that no answer has been found
to either of these and it is equally
safe to say no answer ever will be
found. There are many studies of
equal merit; what will suit one will
not suit another. All are good, all
are perfect in their own place.
For long ages it has been taken
for granted that dead languages,
Latin and Greek, with higher matba
inatics, was the course that give the
best results, and it was thought and
is still thought in some quarters that
a mind that has been trained on any
food less strenuous than this, was
not fully equipped. No man was
considered educated until he had a
working knowledge of Latin and
Greek. This feeling w r as not alto
gether a prejudice, because these
subjects w y ere a magnificent exercise
for the brain but they were a pre
judice when they considered no
other form of exercise was equally
useful, that it was the exercise itself
that was of use not only the knowl
edge. The exercise is the first con
sideration, it is only second ar y
w r hether the form of exercise be
Latin, Greek, Algebra or Euclid,
or whether it be facts and cause, as
found in science, history and litera
ture. Those that favor the first
case have a strong argument in the
statement that during the great
era “The Christian Era” that has
been the almost universal form of
study. llut against this we must
ask the question, what made the
great minds of those who were born
to the Greek tongue? What made
and formed the mind of Socrates,
Plato, Pericles? Wbat gave their
knowledge to those wonderful wom
en, Sappho and Aspasia? There
w ere no years of study in the dead
languages for them. There can on
ly be one answ r er, that is that the
mind is made great by constant
reaching after truth, by a constant
effert to accumulate knowledge, by
a constant dissatisfaction of the
preseut progress and an ever ceasing
activity after new sources of infor-
mation.
Pericles, Plato, Cicero, Humboldt,
Mill, Webster, Clay and Lincoln,
all received their instruction in the
same way, not through any course
of particular study, not from a
knowledge of any one language, but
from a determination to know all
that it was possible for ihem to find
out, that was contained in all lan
guages of all times. It was the fact
that counted, not the language, and
not one fact, or set of facts, but
many so that one could be set against
another, and a just mean determined.
There were many centuries when
the Greek and Latin tongues were
almost indispensible. For the first
fifteen centuries after Christ liter
ature seemed to have fallen entirely
in disuse, and we can imagine what
pleasure must have been taken, what
an inspiration it must have been to
the people to read beautiful poems
of Homer, Virgil, the orations of
Cicero and Demosthenes, and to fol
low out the philosophies of Socrates
and Plato. Through the ancient
Continued on 3rd page)

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