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r.T John i;:.fituTii watkinr.
WASHINGTON. D. C. April Ifi.
To learn why poople go wrong is
the proposed function of a labo
ratory which Senator Dolliver, of Iowa,
wants entablif hed In sonio spare corner
of the Interior Department. His bill to
this efToot, which has been introduced also
In the House, has just been difiussed in
an Interesting hearing before the Senate
committee on education and labor, to
w hit h it has been recommended by the
Important National and state legal and
medical associations.
Jail, ropulnlion liiggcr Than Nash
ville's. ,
More and more people are going wrong
from year to year, according to statistics
read to the committee. There are now
enough people in our jails iB2.00) to pop
ulate a city bigger thajf Nashville. In
Kt-w York alone there are IS, 000 prisoners,
more than enough to fill a city of tl& size
of tairo. 111., or Leadville, Colo.
Sluy every eoul in Denver today and
you reproduce he 132.000' murders and
homicides which have been -committed in
this country in 20 years. And, to put a
finer point on it, there are, per million
population, three times as many murders
In the United States today as there were
30 years ago. Criminals are inflicting the
death sting upon 25 of our citizens per
jiay, and this very day of our Lord, be
"ides feeding and sheltering this Naeh
villeful of criminals in our jails and re
formatories, we are boarding and lodging
an equal number of paupers (82,000) in our
almshouses; fur, oddly enough, our prison
and almshouse populations arc equal, with
in a few hundreds. Combining them w.e
nave a total of 164.000 criminals and pau- J
pers. Our task would he lighter if we
boarded, lodgi d and clothed in the same ,
way every living, kicking soul In Kansas
City or St. Paul. And. worse ad more ;
of it, we have in our asylums nearly an
Idahoful of lunatics (ISO.OOO: while there :
are an equal number of feeble-minded in j
the land, althouch only H.fr0enough to i
Jill a second Alexandria, Va. are in asy- '
lums. Adding the deaf and durrrb and 1
the blind we have a total defective popu- j
lation of 400,000. equal to two Minneapo- !
Uses, or more than one Cleveland. ;
Boston fill of Public Charges.
These figures are all to the point here
because Senator Dolllver's proposed labo
ratory is to study "the criminal, pauper
and defective classes." which, all told,
amount to 564.00U, or over a Bostonful,
If we include the criminals and paupers
In Jails and institutions onlyv . And the
Matistics presented the other day during
the hearing on the bill showed that these
clashes are increasing from year to year.
In proportion to population.
Hut why? That Is what the American
Par .Association, the American Medical
Association and Mve other National medi
cal societies hacking the bill would like
to know. When the boll weevil gets into
the Southern cotton or the gypsy moth
rets into the tres of New England the
Government Is willing to s;end thousands
in learning "why." The Investigation
which Senator Dolliver and the ?2 soci
eties tndoi-sing his bill want inaugurated
will cost the Government the extravagant
auin of jr per annum the amount stated
1n the bill. And our .criminals alone
are estimated to cost us a billion dollars
a year. What the first Thaw trial abwie
coat the State of New York would support
thia Investigation for 15 years.
Immigrants Not to Blame.
That our increased immigration Is
to blame for this continued swelling
of our wrong ward-going hordes we
ar almost certain to learn fro our
wiseacre who goes off at half-cock on
all public Questions. But this "scum
of Europe" argument does not live
long in the light of knowledge lately
gleaned by our careful statisticians,
who find the smallest increase of homi
cides, for instance, in the states where
the most Immigrants congest and the
greatest Increase' in the far West and
Sout ht where the fewest aliens pene
trate. In August Drahm's recent work,
"The Criminal." the various propor
tions of murders and homicides in the
I'nited States are laid to the door of
our various nationalities in the follow
ing proportions: Native white, 42.94
per cent; negroes, 31.2 per cent; for
eign born. 16.r0 per cent. But murders
and homicies are about the only of
fenses with which our statisticians
have busied themselves to date, so far
as the country as a whole is con
cerned. No one knows the relationship
of nativity to our. crime in general,
and that is one line of research into
which this proposed laboratory of the
government would inquire.
1K Prisons Increase Crime?
Whether our prison methods increase
crime is another question to be an
swered. The civilized world, after
sleeping over the question for cen
turies, awoke, to the fact that It wa:
brutal to cage the insane and exhibit
them in the open, like animals, also to
chain them like dogs in dunsteons
spread with loose straw bedding. Yet
we still adhere religiously to the zoo
logical garden method of confining our
piisoners in tiers of iron cages where
visitors can pass down the line and
gaze at them through the bars. And
Hi circus parade method of carting
the "chain gang' through Tur streets
and over our public roads; also the
menasrerle van system of catling them
to the public works in stuf f "portable
prisons," wherein they must live of
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nights until the tour is complete, are
still cherished by us In this 20th cen
tury of our I..ord. The system of strip
ing delinquents zebrawtse and then
turning them out in the open to be
jeered at by the street gamin and
stared at by all passersby is still
esteemed in many communities, notably
those in which crime seems to be most
rampant. But a progressive element of
our population has come to believe that
humans treated like beasts will so be
have, also that it is bad social econ
omy, to say the least, to try to pre
vent crime by degrading the criminal
and then turning him loose upon soci
ety more helpless, hopeless, revengeful
a.nd brutal than he was when first
locked up.
These advanced thinkers, whom your
police authorities will brand as "vis
ionaries," are now advocating the dis
placement of these old and tried me
nagerie systems of revenging crime
by the moral hospital system of trying
to cure it. The experiment lias been
tried, notably at Blmira, N. Y-, where
delinquents are divided into grades.
under military discipline, and are set
at learning useful occupations in a
'military trades school" and "school of
letters." are given systematic physical
culture in a modern gymnasium; are
cheered by music and given lasting
moral training through the intellect
rather than temporary moral stimula
tion through the emotions. These de
linquents are marked like college boys,
and after passing up through the
grades are paroled on probation, and
finally discharged as cured when by
their own mental and moral enterprise
they work their way through the laby
rinth. oOnly one-half of one per cent
of these moral invalids now have to
go to the guardhouse in a year, and
of those discharged and paroled over
86 per cent do well. This is the "in
determinate sentence" system, concern
ing which we are hearing much these
days. And this brief outline of the
best type of reformatory applying it
is to the potn t here because one of
the phases of the investigation wanted
by Senator Dolliver would be the de
termination of what classes of crimi
nals can and cannot be improved in
this way.
Marks of Habitual Criminal.
The difference between habitual and oc
casional criminals must for this purpose
be learned. "There are a csrtain num
ber, how large no one knows, of men
who under normal or average conditions
are almost sure to go wrong," the Senate
committee considering this bill was told
the other day by Arthur MacDonald, who
was honorary president of the recent in
ternational congress of criminal ac
thropolgy, held in Europe, and who,
often living in penitentiaries in order to
do so, has studied various criminal types,
including the most desperate im rdtrers
of this generation. For the stuiy of
criminals, paupers and defectives, accord
ing to the most modern methods utilized
by anthropologists and psychologists, he
has devised a system which has been
translated into nearly every language of
the world, and whose adoption is now
under consideration by six fo.eign gov
ernments. Including Japan. According io
this plan, the prevention of crime .should
commence "with a study of the delinqut-nt
child. Those reformatory children found
to be habitual criminals should be care
fully studied to determine in what ways
they differ physically and nervously from
other- chilaren. These characteristics,
when afterward definitely discovered in
young children who show premonitory
symptoms, would give the alarm for the
taking of preventive measures car'.i-sr in
life than they are taken now. A child
in which such a tendency had been diag
nosed should then be treated mucn as
would a child with weak lungs or a weak
heart. Parents would be informed in a
private way as to the tendencies and tcld
how to protect these unfortunates in ad-
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND,
THE GOVERNMENT IS GO"
IN& TO INQUIRE IN A
vSCIBNTiriO WAY:
.woauy-s i?irst test
OF IOIBROSOy TSIEOR.V
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Tance. But such information, if givea to
teachers, should be confidential.
"The state has been tryinff to io some
thing through laws punishing ihe guilty;
but this Is after the disease is discovered.
The Barn is locked after the hors Is
stolen." said Mr. MacDonald.
Lombroso, the noted Italian criminol
ogist, believes that these signs of the
habitual criminal are marked, but Mr.
MacDonald told the committee that
this can be proved only by a thorough
investigation of thouands of reform
atory children. And if this study
should show that these signs bore no
significance, such negative Information
would be of great value. Such a study
In our reformatories would be proper,
because their inmates are supported
by the state, and there would be noth
ing to harm or annoy a single child,
even if the study were as inquisitive
as that commonly made of men In.
prison.
How Each Will Be Studied.
"The general plan," said Mr. Mac
Donald, "would be to employ special
ists in psychology, medicine and an
thropology. Just what data would be
taken would depend, in part, on the
views of each specilaists, but probably
among these would be: Age, date of
birth, height, weight, sitting -fcelght,
color of hair, eyes and skin, whether
a first-born, second-born or later-born
child; strength of hand grasp, whether
left-handed; length, width and cir
cumference of head; distance between
arches and corners of eyes; length and
width of ears, hands and mouth; thick
ness of lips; tests of sensibility to heat
and pain the latter made without in
flicting any pain; examination of the
lungs, eyes, pulse and respiration;
careful Inquiry into nationality, occu
pation, education and social condition
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of parents, including whether one or
both are dead or drunkards; whether
there Is a step-parent; whether there
is hereditary taint or stigmata of de
generation. By such study the causes
of Juvenile crime might be more def
initely determined.' as well as the dif
ferences between occasional and habit
ual criminals. Now, if we had a book
published on, say. 10,000 boys with the
above different items, it would be most
valuable. We have all sorts of theories
In criminology, but there are few, if
any, definite conclusions, and there
never will be until we begin a scien
tific study of thousands of individuals.
There can be no rational treatment of
a social or moral disease without
knowing Its causes."
Signs of Crime Ftonnd to Date.
The theory that the criminal is a re
version to a lower type results from
indications given by the limited num
ber of cases studied to date that cer
tain physical defects normal in the
lower races and in animals are found
much more frequently among crim
inals than among normal men, said the
criminologist. Thus, in a small group
of young criminals, carefully studied,
three-fourths had an arm reach great
er than the height, two-thirds had ab
normally projecting Jaws, defective
palates, ears standing out, and over
half had defective heads, abnormally
prominent cheek benes and ridges on
the forehead; also defective teeth. A
'third had abnormally large protuber
ances of the back head; rimless or
nearly rimless ears, thick lips, crooked
faces, fingers longer than the palms of
their hands and mouths kept open.
An investigation of the hereditary
taints of such of these criminal children
as could be traced showed nervous dis
ease In nearly all (95 per cent), alco
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holism and lung diseases In two-thirds.
Insanity In nearly half and epilepsy In
nearly a third of their pedigrees. A
study of 200 other reformatory chil
dren described to the committee by Mr.
MacDonald showed that a majority had
been abandoned by their parents, a still
greater number had been thieves, and
one parent or both of nearly a half
had been alcoholics. Nearly a quarter
of these unfortunates were illegiti
mate. In a study of 385 other young
criminals further facts of great inter
est were brought out.
Nearly two-thirds had ' incomplete
parentage were without father or
mother or both. Over a half had par
entage of bad or doubtful reputation.
Over 40 per cent had received little or
no care in the family, and over a third
had been completely or morally aban
doned by parents. The great major
ity of the parents of these juvenile de
linquents lived exclusively on the
product of their . labor, and 87 who
i'ere found without means of subsist
ence included the most vile and cor
rupt mothers living in immorality and
debauchery. These investigations,
though incomplete, ununiform and In
cluding group's of subjects too small
to establish any definite causes for ju
venile crime, serve to show what val
uable results can be obtained by a
complete system of examination such
as that recommended to the commit
tee. Such a Btudy would about settle
the vexed question as to whether most
of our crime results from heredity or
environment
Mrs. Elizabeth Custer intends to build
borne for impoverished literary women as
a memorial to her husband, who fell in
the Little Bis Horn fight ith the Indians
:iO years ago. Mrs. Custer has recently
nought a site for the proposed home In
Bronxvllle. w estchester countT. -
MO
n mi' fan
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Uncle Sam as an Auctioneer
Frequent Bargains Offered at Washington
in Furniture and Pure Food Samples.
THE number of going, going, gone
sales which the Government con-,
ducts ought to qualify Uncle Sam
for admission to the guild of auc
tioneers. These sales are the real thing",
too. red flag and all.
The tourist in Washington gets a
shock when he is passing the back -of
the Department of Agriculture build
ing these days and sees a big red flag
with the usual white letters sewed on:
"Auction Toiay." He wonders if the
Government is resorting to desperate
means of raiding the wind.
But your Uncle Sam is not in the
auction business from necessity. The
Agriculture sales are explained in this
way. Whenever an invoice of any ar
ticle of food arrives from abroad a
certain number of packages are taken
by the Government for examination to
see whether the article complies with
our food laws. i
For . instance, olive oil, Maraschino
cherries, wine, sardines, mushrooms,
French peas, preserves and jams In
fact all Imported, food articles come
under this regulation. But though the
Government requires half a dozen
packages to be turned over to it for
inspection in order to avoid the chance
of a single one being fixed up and
slipped off upon them the analysis
rarely goes beyond the contents of one
specimen out of the six.
So that of each consignment of six
cans of olive oil, six bottles of cherries
or of champagne or six cans of sar
dines, five remain untouched. If graft
were really as prevalent as the muck
rakers would have us believe the en
tire six packages would probably be
opened and a nip taken from each
one, while the rest of the contents
would be appropriated as a legitimate
perquisite of office (by the heads of
the department).
Instead of that, five out of six of
the articles received for analysis un
der the law are sold at these auctions
behind tne department building. The
receipts go into the exchequer of the
bureau.
Imported food articles are riot the
only ones sold The Government re
ceives specimen packages of domestic
manufactured foods and even of those
which are natural. Oranges, molasses,
maple syrup, wine, whisky, olive oil,
breakfast foods, patented foods of all
kinds, come to the department.
Most of these are auctioned off to
the highest bidder, but some of them
are sold at a fixed price. Recently
there have been almost dally sales of
molasses and of light brown sugar.
Any one can attend these sales and
buy, or at least bid on, the goods of
fered. But most of the patrons are
the clerks and employes of the de
partment. The auctions are held at
noon, so as to accommodate these peo
ple. They take advantage of their lunch
hour to lay in some household supplies.
They admit that sometimes things
bring the usual soaring auction prices.
At a recent sale of oranges by the
box enthusiastic bidders pa a higher
figure than was asked at the regular
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market. And tficn they had to get their
box of oranges talren home by an cx-pre-SSman
at a charge of 2- cents; for
Uncle Sam does not duliver the goods
at your.door.
They say that the luxuries suchas
brandied cherries, mushrooms, caviar
and that sort of thing go at lower
prices relatively than the good old
rtandbys do. Of course tne purchaser
is suro of one Tiling. He gets what he
pays for. If the one package which the
Government expert open and analyzes
is found to be below the standard the
whole six are unceremoniously de
stroyed. Next to foodstuffs, t'nelo Sam's auc
tions run chiefly to carpets. That is.
they do in Washington. Of course in
New York the bissest auction sales of
the Government are of goods selzi'rt at
the Custom-House. These Involve
thousands of dollars worth of Roods
of every conceivable class, and are too
well known to need description.
It Is the regular second-hand sales
which surprise the stranger in Wash
ington. These do not occur very often,
and yet every year there are several.
They include carpets, curtains, furni
ture, utensiis and fittings of all kinds.
Every visitor to tho White Ifou.sc re
members the cheerful red carpet with
which the long east corridor la laid.
A new carpet goes down every othr
year, and the old one Is cut Into lengths
which are rolled up and auctioned off,
as the children say, "sight unseen."
This seems to he a rather shrewd
performance on the part of Uncle Sam.
It is related by those who know that
more than one woman has wept copi
ously when she got her White House
carpet home and unrolled It. The un
ceasing tramp of a two years' grist of
tourists wears a carpet till it takes a
good (Cesser to decide what its color
and pattern were or whether It ever
had any at all.
The carpets of the Senate nd the
House of Representatives are auctioned
off at the close of each Congress and
are said to bring all they are worth
and more too. Like the White House
carpets, they are divided into quanti
ties more adapted to private needs than
the hundreds of yards required for the
two chambers at the Capitol. .
Sometimes the chairman of a com
mitter decides that he nas ltvl with
the furniture of his. comuiitteeroom
Just as long as he is going to. s hen
that happens there's pretty sure to be
something doing in the furniture busi
ness. Congressmen and Senators have
very nearly the best of everything
at least of everything that comes to
them from the nands of Uncle Sam.
When a new desk and set of chairs
goes into a commltteeroom the sup
planted furniture very often finds its
way to the Government auction.
Xhere is another annual sale con
ducted by the Government. The ac
cumulated packages which find repose
at the dead letter office go under tne
hammer once a year to clear the way
for the incoming tid or tne next 13
months. At these sales everything is
carefully catalogued and nil broken or
detective articles are so declared. Kven
then a purchaser Is always forthcoming.
0