• Author: Mitch
• Editor: B-6591
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 2
• Page Number:
• Date: 12 3 1913
• Tags:
• gossip
• prison
• prison reform

THINGS TALKED ABOUT Kansas is some State. No editors in jail, and only 812 paupers throughout its whole domain. A news dispatch says that a convict who had served 11 years in the Western Penitentiary died last Friday, a few minutes before the time he would have been released by parole. Looks to me as if this offers the daily papers a chance for another solar plexus blow to the parole law. They might claim that death is likely to ensue in any case where parole is granted, from sudden shock. Eighty convicts were released from the Western Penitentiary last Friday, being the first beneficiaries under the recent Supplemental Act. We beat them by a month. The Mayor of Atlantic City doesn't need a press agent. A few weeks ago he recommended unusual courtesies to men of wealth who were caught in the drag net of the law. Last week, he refused to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation, because he didn't believe that Atlantic City had anything to be thankful for. Gracious me! To have the joy of a mayor like him, and then nothing to be thankful for! Governor Foss of Massachusetts says that more than one-third of the people sent to the jails every year in his State, are sent there for no crime at all, but simply because they are too poor to pay the fines imposed. He announced an intention of devoting considerable time to prison reform upon his retirement from office, as he said he had become greatly impressed with the injustice of the present system. He urged that every man sent to jail should have the opportunity to earn money for the support of his dependent family. It is of course better late than never, but it does seem a pity that the Governor did not obtain this point of view sooner, when he had the power to correct some of the conditions he complains of. Dayton, Ohio, fully recovered from the effects of the flood, and reorganizing along advanced lines of municipal government, is seeking a man to fill the position of "‘city manager" at a salary of $25,000 a year. A number of prominent men have been suggested, but none of them appeals with stronger favor than Theodore Roosevelt. Little Mary is now old enough to understand and appreciate the benevolence of that good old gentleman, Mister Santa Claus, and while it is known positively that he will pay her a visit despite the bars and locks and dogs of Cherry Hill it is hoped, the men will not permit the kindly old gent to succumb under the weight of his own generosity, but relieve him of some of the burden. There are hundreds of men here, gifted with the knack of turning out clever toys, and other novelties amusing to a child, and I believe they could not employ their spare time to better advantage than by making some little article and contributing it to the "wee mite' on the Second Block when Santa comes around. —Mitch.