OCTOBER, 1923
THE UNITED AMERICAN
again obtain their freedom and take their places in
society. This cannot 'be accomplished unless the pub
lic demands the appointment of humane wardens,
rather than the appointment of men who have hunted
criminals all their lives and who may know the crim
inal instinct from every angle, but are ignorant and
indifferent to the better qualities in every being which
eventually must be relied upon, if one who has failed
is to come back, instead of being plunged deeper and
deeper into the mire of hate and vengeance.
♦
♦
•
In reviewing the Smith case we must have these
things uppermost in mind in order to be able to deter
mine just to what extent the governor feels the re
sponsibility intrusted to him by the citizenry at large
in this state, who in selecting him for their governor,
for a period of four years, have given him supreme
power and authority over the lives of those who are
in prison and expected to come back, in time, cured of
the passions that led them to commit wrong. If
Warden Smith had administered the prison satisfac
torily to the governor and to SOCIETY, then he should
have been retained and the governor should have had
the courage of a MAN to stand pat in the face of his
enemies and political advisers, because he KNEW.
Inasmuch as the governor in his anxiety to remove
I Smith, to appease his political adversaries, could not
find ONE FAULT to charge his warden with, as a
cause for his dismissal (which was borne out by the
governor’s letter when he had to assert his authority),
the presumption is that there was none. If the simple
facts sustains this contention then the governor can
not escape conviction in the court of public opinion on
the charge that he considers petty policies before
public responsibility.
I This is not vindictive criticism, or partisan critic-
I ism. We refuse to indulge in either. We recognize
I the office of governor, but the citizen who has been
[elevated to hold that high office must aspire to
[measure up to the responsibilities and the obligations
[of the office, the office can never be made to measure
[the individual man, the group or the party that con
trols the office.
| This is the acme of reason in good citizenship. We
emphasize it in order to guide right those who are
keeking intelligence to good citizenship through the
pages of this magazine.
*
*
*
Mr. Smith, it may be safely conjectured, did not
eceive his appointment on the strength of having
ubscribed to any definite outlined policy of prison
(¡ministration, formulated by the governor. His ap-
ointment, however, (so much in the governor’s
avor), was distinctly a party consideration, justifi-
ble, in the instance, in every sense of the word. And,
ir. Smith came to the institution with many years of
eputy warden experience (gained under a previous
^ministration), making him competent to handle
riminals and convicts. From a citizenship stand
bint he possessed some excellent qualities for the
bsition and had the governor pledged Mr. Smith to a
lefinite prison policy and program, both in manage
ment and treatment of prisoners, it is beyond a doubt
fiat Mr. Smith would have carried out that policy to
7
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