he exerts upon those under his charge. But every warden has at times
the melancholy experience of observing that instead of some officers
elevating and uplifting their men by their examples, the convicts’
influence has become the greater, and the officer’s ideals are
gradually shattered, his resiliency lost, and his influence vanished.
It is to guard against this melancholy possibility that officers should
be urged to cultivate the best part of outside social, moral, and
religious life.
All of the progress and reform that has occurred in penal legislation,
prison rules, and procedure has come as a result of the study, care,
thought, and efforts of prison officials and students of penology.
All the legislation that has taken away from prisons the gospel of
labor, that has robbed them of the full opportunity of doing what was
intended for them, has come largely as a result of the cowardice or
lack of energy of prison officials who have not stood up against the
unreasonable, unrighteous demands of thoughtless labor agitators, or
who have not in time remedied and improved their labor systems and
conditions so they might escape just criticism.
If there is a bad prison law on any statute book, or if a good one
needs to be placed there, zealous, informed prison officials should
never cease agitation until the defect is remedied. These reforms will
come from no other source.
In this strenuous age the people have shown that they desire to do the
right thing if the way be pointed out, and the age is ripe for reforms
in prison laws and customs as it is in all other lines.
All those who have to deal with offenders of the law should be brought
in touch with one another. Judges and district or prosecuting attorneys
should be required, as part of their duties, to visit the institutions
which house the men sent there through their efforts, and should know
the conditions and be in a position to offer and receive suggestions.
Whenever a likely man, once discharged, reënters a prison, let the
thoughtful warden not ask, “What did this man to be returned?” but
rather let him inquire: “What did I fail to do? Where is my institution
defective? What precaution did society fail to take that this man fell
again?”
Precepts count for _something_ in prison and elsewhere. Example counts
for almost _everything_. We proceed not from the abstract to the
concrete in our daily lives. To-day the eyes of America are turned upon
our strenuous president, not for precept, but for example; strenuous
in his sports, therefore everybody becomes athletic; strenuous in
literature, and all America reads; strenuous in the enforcement of the
law and a “square deal” for every man, and the whole nation emulates
his example and takes on a new lease of civic righteousness.
As Napoleon rode at the head of his legions through Egypt, past the
pyramids, he halted, and in an impassioned address he said, “Soldiers,
from the summits of these pyramids forty centuries look down upon you.”
But the modern warden, within his castled home, environed by frowning
walls, at the head of his scores of officers and superintendents of
departments, may say, “Officers, from these depths of crime, misery,
degradation, and despair hundreds of imprisoned souls look up to you
for example, for inspiration, for guidance, and for help.”
And as officers thus receive the message and the tacit command may each
resolve that his heart shall be so moved, his mind be so cultivated,
strengthened and disciplined, and his actions be so guarded and guided,
that the pathetic call thus made by those below him shall not be made
in vain.
AFTERNOON AND EVENING
At the afternoon session Judge Simeon E. Baldwin, of Connecticut,
presented the report of the Committee on Criminal Law Reform, and in
the evening brief addresses were made by Miss Katharine B. Davis,
Women’s Reformatory, Bedford, N. Y.; Chaplain D. H. Tribou, of the
United States Naval Home, Philadelphia; Superintendent Frank L.
Randall, of Minnesota, and others.
The following is a list of the officers for the current year:
President, E. J. Murphy, Joliet, Ill.; First Vice-president, J.
L. Milligan, Allegheny, Pa.; General Secretary, Amos W. Butler,
Indianapolis, Ind.; Financial Secretary, Joseph P. Byers, New York;
Assistant Secretaries, H. H. Shirer, Columbus, Ohio.; L. C. Storrs,
Lansing, Mich.; W. C. Graves, Springfield, Ill.; Treasurer, Frederick
H. Mills, New York; Official Stenographer, Isabel C. Barrows, New York.
Wardens’ Association: President, F. L. Randall, St. Cloud, Minn.;
Secretary, C. E. Haddox, Moundsville, West Virginia.
Chaplains’ Association: President, Rev. A. J. Steelman, Joliet, Ill.;
Secretary, Rev. W. E. Edgin, Jeffersonville, Ind.
Physicians’ Association: President, Dr. W. D. Stewart, Moundsville,
West Virginia; Secretary, Dr. O. J. Bennett, Allegheny, Pa.
Committee Chairmen: Board of Directors, Henry Wolfer, Stillwater,
Minn.; Executive Committee, Joseph F. Scott, Elmira, N. Y.; Criminal
Law Reform, S. E. Baldwin, New Haven, Conn.; Preventive and Reformatory
Work, W. H. Whittaker, Jeffersonville, Ind.; Prevention and Probation,
Julian W. Mack, Chicago, Ill.; Prison Discipline, J. A. Leonard,
Mansfield, Ohio; Discharged Prisoners, Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth, New
York; Statistics of Crime, S. J. Barrows, New York.
In 1907 the Association will meet in Chicago.
J. F. OHL, _Official Delegate_.
JOHN WAY, _Treasurer_,
IN ACCOUNT WITH
THE PENNSYLVANIA PRISON SOCIETY
1906.
January 25. To Balance on hand. Principal $2,365 37
“ Income 633 19 $2,998 56
“ Life Membership fee 20 00
“ Sale $1,000 Lehigh Valley R. R. Co., 4% 997 50
“ Membership Dues and Subscriptions 274 00
“ Interest on Deposits 41 02
“ Income from I. V. Williamson Legacy 630 00
“ Income from Investments 1,728 41
---------
$6,689 49
PAYMENTS
By Amount reserved account Goodwin Mortgage $1,100 00
“ Bond and Mortgage R. W. C. 5 years 4½% 2,500 00
“ Salaries, Secretaries and Prison Agents 1,550 00
“ Janitor’s Service and Office Expenses 39 00
“ Expense, Delegate National Prison Congress 25 64
“ Printing Journal 1906, Postage and other items 731 30
“ Prison Sunday Observance Committee 76 28
“ Sundry Printing, Franklin Printing Company 23 20
“ Safe Deposit Box Rent, Advertising, etc. 17 50
Balance of income account 626 57
---------
$6,689 49
SPECIAL FUND FOR DISCHARGED PRISONERS
Am’t collected by Gen’l Secretary during the fiscal year $4,585 50
Am’t disbursed 3,795 56
BARTON FUND
FOR TOOLS TO DISCHARGED PRISONERS
RECEIPTS
To Balance on hand January 25, 1906 $145 59
“ Income from Investments 63 00
-------
$208 59
PAYMENTS
For tools to discharged prisoners $69 16
Balance on hand January 24, 1907 139 43
-------
$208 59
C. S. WILLIAMS FUND
RECEIPTS
To Balance on hand January 25, 1906. Principal $484 25
Income 46 50 $530 75
“ Income from Investments 113 00
-------
$643 75
PAYMENTS
By $500 Electric and People’s 4% Stock Trust Certificates at 102 $510 00
“ Am’t paid Home of Industry 87 25
Balance Income Account, January 24, 1907 46 50
-------
$643 75
HARRIET S. BENSON FUND
RECEIPTS
To Balance on hand January 25, 1906. Principal $1,500 00
Income 35 93 $1,535 93
“ Proceeds of sale of $500 Electric and People’s 4% Stock
Trust Certificates at 102 510 00
“ Income from Investments 200 00
---------
$2,245 93
PAYMENTS
By $2,000 Lehigh Valley R. R. Co. Gen’l Consol, 4% at 101½ $2,010 00
“ Accrued Interest on above 20 00
“ Home of Industry 215 93
-------
$2,245 93
SUMMARY OF BALANCES
General Fund $626 57
Special Fund for Discharged Prisoners 789 94
Barton Fund 139 43
C. S. Williams Fund 46 50
---------
Cash on hand January 24, 1907 $1,602 44
We, the Committee appointed to audit the accounts of John Way,
Treasurer, have examined accounts, compared the payments with the
vouchers, checked the receipts of income from invested funds, compared
the securities themselves with the list thereof and find them all
correct.
JOHN W. DILLINGHAM,
GEORGE S. WETHERELL,
_Auditing Committee_.
PHILADELPHIA, February 20, 1907.
LIFE MEMBERS
Henry B. Ashmead,
[1]Francis M. Brooke,
C. H. Brush,
John E Carter,
[1]Alfred M. Collins,
Miss Mary Coles,
Henry S. Cattell,
B. L. Douredoure,
Rev. Herman L. Duhring, D. D.,
[1]Richard H. Downing,
Edward Grebel Dreer,
John A. Duncan,
Rev. Alfred Elwyn,
Helen M. Elwyn,
W. W. Frazier,
[1]George W. Hall,
Alfred C. Harrison,
Charles C. Harrison,
Emily J. Ingram, M. D.,
John P. Jenks,
W. W. Justice,
Alfred H. Love,
F. Mortimer Lewis,
[1]J. Fisher Learning,
Sarah A. Lewis,
M. Carey Lea,
William Longstreth,
Caleb J. Milne,
James W. McAllister,
Robert Patterson,
[1]Charles Santee,
David Sulzberger,
George C. Thomas,
Henry T. Townsend,
James W. Walk, M. D.,
E. B. Warren,
James V. Watson,
John Way,
Mary S. Whelen.
[1] Deceased.
ANNUAL MEMBERS
Hon. William N. Ashman,
Rev. Samuel E. Appleton,
H. St. Clair Ash, M. D.,
Joshua L. Baily,
T. Wistar Brown,
Samuel Biddle,
Rev. R. Heber Barnes,
William Burnham,
John E. Baird,
Rev. Lewis C. Baker,
Henry W. Boies,
Ethel M. Boies,
David Boies,
Helen M. Boies,
J. Henry Bartlett,
Henry D. Booth,
Catharine C. Biddle,
Hannah S. Biddle,
Elizabeth Bradford,
T. Broom Belfield,
Mrs. Robert S. Bright,
Robert P. P. Bradford,
Layyah Barakat,
Joseph K. Calley,
Ethel Conderman,
John H. Converse,
Mrs. E. W. Clark,
S. W. Colton, Jr.,
Mrs. S. W. Colton, Jr.,
Miss F. Clark,
Henry H. Collins,
E. W. Clark, Jr.,
John Callahan,
Agnes Camp, M. D.,
Jonas G. Clemmer,
Charles F. Cripps,
Henry C. Cassel,
John H. Dillingham,
Edward T. Davis,
Isaac L. Detweiler,
Walter L. Detwiler,
Rev. J. G. Dubbs,
Charles E. D’Invillier,
Albert M. Dallett,
Agnes Dean, M. D.,
Mrs. E. C. Denniston,
Samuel Emlen,
Joseph Elkinton,
Otto Eisenlohr,
Rev. Solomon G. Engle,
B. W. Fleisher,
Spencer Fullerton,
Esther Fricke,
Mrs. Horace Fassett,
Melvin M. Franklin, M. D.,
Susanna Gaskill,
Sylvester Garrett,
D. W. Grafley,
Elizabeth N. Garrett,
Mrs. W. S. Grant, Jr.,
W. H. Gilbert,
Mrs. C. L. Grubb,
Samuel B. Garrigues,
Mrs. Louis Gerstley,
Luther Gerhard,
Mrs. E. W. Gormley,
Sallie H. Green,
Mary S. Gregg,
Rev. J. Andrews Harris,
William H. Hart, Jr.,
Edwin Hagert,
William B. Hackenburg,
Mrs. W. W. Harding,
William S. Hallowell,
Clyde A. Heller,
Miss C. V. Hodges,
J. H. M. Hayes,
Rev. C. Rowland Hill,
Charles P. Hastings,
Jacob D. Hoffman,
D. John Hampton,
Mrs. George W. Hensell,
Edwin S. Johnston,
William T. W. Jester,
William Kennard,
William Koelle,
William Kennard, Jr.,
Harry Kennedy,
J. Albert Koons,
Louisa D. Lovett,
John J. Lytle,
Josiah W. Leeds,
Deborah C. Leeds,
Charles H. LeFevre,
Mrs. P. W. Lawrence,
Rebecca C. Latimer,
George A. Latimer, Jr.,
Theodore J. Lewis,
Mary Lewis,
Richard H. Lytle,
Rev. Philip Lamerdin,
Frank H. Longshore,
Susanna W. Lippincott,
Benjamin K. Liveright,
Charles B. Miller,
Mrs. M. A. Mason,
Isaac P. Miller,
Charles M. Morton,
Hon. J. Willis Martin,
John Marston,
Mrs. Henry C. Mayer,
George R. Meloney,
Thomas H. McCollin,
Rev. H. Cresson McHenry,
Charles McDole,
Mrs. L. M. Mewes,
Rev. H. E. Meyer,
Joseph C. Noblit,
William F. Overman,
Rev. J. F. Ohl,
Albert Oetinger,
Frederick J. Pooley,
Charles Platt,
Laura N. Platt,
Miss L. N. Platt,
George F. Parker,
Joseph G. Rosengarten,
George J. Reger,
Marie Rosenberg,
Anthony W. Robinson,
Francis B. Reeves,
Mrs. Evan Randolph,
Mary Randolph,
Mrs. M. B. Riehlé,
David Scull,
Rev. F. H. Senft,
P. H. Spellissy,
William Scattergood,
Isaac Slack,
Dr. William C. Stokes,
G. A. Schwarz,
Samuel Snellenburg,
Mrs. Samuel Snellenburg,
Frank H. Starr,
R. C. Shafges,
Esther Strawbridge,
Mrs. E. Stillwell,
John Smallzell,
Augustus Thomas,
Mrs. George C. Thomas,
Augusta Thomas,
Rev. Floyd W. Tomkins,
William E. Tatum,
Mrs. J. F. Unger,
G. H. S. Uhler,
George Vaux,
Elias H. White,
Catharine A. Wentz,
Emily Whelen,
Sarah S. White,
Mrs. Frances Howard Williams,
Thomas B. Watson,
Samuel L. Whitson,
William C. Warren,
Mary S. Wetherell,
George S. Wetherell,
A. J. Wright,
E. M. Zimmerman,
Mrs. E. M. Zimmerman.
FORM OF BEQUEST OF PERSONAL PROPERTY
I give and bequeath to “THE PENNSYLVANIA PRISON SOCIETY” the
sum of .... Dollars.
FORM OF DEVISE OF REAL ESTATE
I give and devise to “THE PENNSYLVANIA PRISON SOCIETY” all
that certain piece or parcel of land. (Here describe the property.)
ARTICLE V.
The Acting Committee shall consist of the officers of the Society,
_ex-officio_ and fifty other members. They shall visit the prison at
least twice a month, inquire into the circumstances of the prisoners,
and report such abuses as they shall discover to the proper officers
appointed to remedy them. They shall examine the influence of
confinement on the morals of the prisoners. They shall keep regular
minutes of their proceedings, which shall be submitted at every stated
meeting of the Society, and shall be authorized to fill vacancies
occurring in their own body, whether arising from death or removal
from the city, or from inability or neglect to visit the prisons in
accordance with their regulations. They shall also have the sole power
of electing new members.
ARTICLE VI.
Candidates for membership may be proposed at any meeting of the
Society or of the Acting Committee; but no election shall take place
within ten days after such nomination. Each member shall pay an annual
contribution of two dollars. If any member neglects or refuses to pay
such contribution within three months after due notice has been given
such person, the Acting Committee may, at its option, strike said name
from the list of members. The payment of twenty dollars at any one time
shall constitute a Life Membership. Any person paying not less than
five hundred dollars shall be called a Patron of the Society.
ARTICLE VII.
Honorary members may be elected at such times as the Society may deem
expedient.
ARTICLE VIII.
The Society shall hold an Annual Meeting on the fourth Fifth-day
(Thursday) in the First month (January) of each year, and Stated
Meetings on the fourth Fifth-day (Thursday) in the months of April,
July, and October, at which seven shall constitute a quorum.
ARTICLE IX.
No alteration in the Constitution shall be made unless the same shall
have been proposed in writing at a stated meeting of the Society, held
not less than three months previous to the adoption of such alteration;
and no such amendment shall be adopted unless approved by the votes of
three-fourths of the members present.
The Secretary shall state on the notices of that meeting that an
amendment or amendments will be acted upon. And not later than the
usual time of sending said notices, he shall furnish the members with
written copies of the word or words, and form of the proposed amendment
_displayed_, and so much of the original form of the article to be
amended as will show the relation of the proposed amendment to the
context, and of the article in its amended form with all the words of
the amendment displayed. All other questions shall be decided, when
there is a division, by a majority of votes; in those where the Society
is equally divided, the presiding officer shall have the casting vote.
OF VISITORS.
No person who is not an official visitor of the prison, or who has not
a written permission, according to such rules as the Inspectors may
adopt as aforesaid, shall be allowed to visit the same; the official
visitors are: the Governor, the Speaker and members of the Senate, the
Speaker and members of the House of Representatives; the Secretary of
the Commonwealth; the Judges of the Supreme Court; the Attorney-General
and his Deputies; the President and Associate Judges of all the courts
in the State; the Mayor and Recorders of the cities of Philadelphia,
Lancaster, and Pittsburg; Commissioners and Sheriffs of the several
Counties; and the “Acting Committee of the Philadelphia Society for
Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.” Note: Now named “The
Pennsylvania Prison Society.”
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE
Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.
SECTION I.--_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General
Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same_,
That all and every the persons who shall at the time of the passing of
this Act be members of the Society called “The Philadelphia Society
for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,” shall be and they are
hereby created and declared to be one body, politic and corporate, by
the name, style and title of “The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating
the Miseries of Public Prisons,” and by the same name shall have
perpetual succession, and shall be able to sue and be sued, implead
and be impleaded in all courts of record or elsewhere, and to take and
receive, hold and enjoy, by purchase, grant, devise, or bequest to them
and their successors, lands, tenements, rents, annuities, franchises,
hereditaments, goods and chattels of whatsoever nature, kind, or
quality soever, real, personal, or mixed, or choses in action, and
the same from time to time to sell, grant, devise, alien, or dispose
of; _provided_ That the clear yearly value or income of the necessary
houses, lands, tenements, rents, annuities, and other hereditaments,
and real estate of the said corporation, and the interest of money by
it lent, shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars; and also
to make and have a common seal, and the same to break, alter, and
renew at pleasure; and also to ordain, establish, and put in execution
such by-laws, ordinances, and regulations as shall appear necessary
and convenient for the government of the said corporation, not being
contrary to this Charter or the Constitution and laws of the United
States, or of this Commonwealth, and generally to do all and singular
the matters and things which to them it shall lawfully appertain to do
for the well-being of the said corporation, and the due management and
ordering of the affairs thereof; and provided further, that the objects
of the Society shall be confined to the alleviation of the miseries
of public prisons, the improvement of prison discipline and relief of
discharged prisoners.
SAM’L. ANDERSON, _Speaker of House_.
THOS. RINGLAND, _Speaker of Senate_.
Approved the 6th day of April, Anno Domini Eighteen Hundred and
Thirty-three.
GEORGE WOLF.
LEGAL CHANGE OF NAME.
The Following Confirms the Action Relative to the Change of the Name of
the Prison Society,
Decree:
And now, to wit, this 27th day of January, A. D. 1886, on motion
of A. Sidney Biddle, Esq., the Petition and Application for change
of name filed by “The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the
Miseries of Public Prisons,” having been presented and considered,
and it appearing that the order of court heretofore made as to
advertisement has been duly complied with and due notice of said
application to the Auditor-General of the State of Pennsylvania
being shown, it is Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed, that the name
of the said Society shall hereafter be “THE PENNSYLVANIA PRISON
SOCIETY,” to all intents and purposes as if the same had been the
original name of the said Society, and the same name shall be
deemed and taken to be a part of the Charter of the said society
upon the recording of the said Application with its indorsements
and this Decree in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of this
County, and upon filing with the Auditor-General a Copy of this
Decree.
[Signed] JOSEPH ALLISON.
Record:
Recorded in the office for the Recording of Deeds in and for the
City and County of Philadelphia, on Charter Book No. 11, page 1064.
Witness my hand and seal of Office this 28th day of June, A. D.
1886.
GEO. G. PIRRIE, _Recorder of Deeds_.
[Transcriber’s Note:
Obvious printer errors corrected silently.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]