[In the Summer of 1911, Mr. Lewis traveled through Belgium, Holland,
Germany, England and Scotland, studying European methods of dealing
with delinquents, and especially the beggar colonies of Central Europe.
The following article is a part of one chapter of Mr. Lewis’s report
to the Prison Association of New York, which will be presented to the
Legislature in 1912. The report has special significance because the
state of New York is to build a compulsory farm colony for habitual
tramps and vagrants.]
Foreign countries, notably Belgium, Holland and Germany, have had
lengthy and varied experience with the problem of vagabondage and
mendicancy. Indeed in Central Europe the vagrancy problem is not alone
a generation old, but a century old. Napoleon devoted some of his
genius to the problem of the suppression of vagabondage. When the Dutch
possessed Belgium as well as Holland, Dutch benevolent societies sought
the reformation and rehabilitation of the vagabond. A half century ago
Holland was segregating over one thousand vagabonds and beggars on the
bleak heath in the north of Holland near the Zuyder Zee and already
turning the arid plain into a blooming oasis. Belgium was creating
fifty years ago local beggar colonies, and recognizing that vagrancy
is one of the great social dangers of a nation, a danger increasing
inevitably with the progress of civilization. Germany was thirty
years ago this year establishing its first voluntary labor colony at
Bielefeld in Central Prussia. Pastor von Bodelschwingh, the great
organizer of philanthropic institutions for defectives of all kinds,
founded with deep religious conviction his first farm colony for the
“brothers of the highway.” Compulsory workhouses, semi-penal in nature,
have come to number about thirty in the kingdom of Prussia, containing
not thieves, not cases of assault, not robbers, not other criminals
of greater or less degree, but solely vagrants, mendicants, and that
despicable class of human beings, the souteneurs, who traffic in human
flesh.
Today the accumulated experience of generations can be found in
the records and in the methods of administration of Belgian beggar
colonies, Dutch vagrancy colonies, German free labor colonies and
German compulsory workhouses. It is unthinkable that the United States,
ever ready in commercial and industrial lines to profit not only by the
mistakes but by the successes of other nations, will be blind to the
wealth of experience that European countries can offer us.
With the purpose of rendering a slight contribution to American
information on this subject, a considerable part of my last summer’s
tour in Belgium, Holland, Germany, England and Scotland, as general
secretary of the prison association of New York, was devoted to the
first-hand study of the administration of institutions for vagrants and
mendicants and the study also of their history and of the laws under
which at various times they have been operated. In several chapters
following this introductory chapter I present a somewhat careful study
of Merxplas the world-famous beggar colony of Belgium; of Veenhuizen,
the less known but remarkably interesting vagrancy colony of Holland;
of the free labor colonies and the compulsory workhouses of Prussia
and Germany; and of conditions and problems of vagrancy in England and
Scotland.
Several general observations may well precede the special chapters.
1. In all four of the countries above mentioned (Belgium, Holland,
England and Scotland) the correctional institutions in which vagrants
and mendicants are confined are under the same governing body as that
which governs the prisons. In Belgium and Holland, the department
of justice controls the beggar colonies and the vagrancy colonies.
In England and Scotland the boards of prison commissioners are the
governing bodies not only for the convict prisons in which the more
serious offenders are imprisoned, but also the local prisons, which
are the places of imprisonment of beggars and mendicants. In Prussia,
the Arbeitshâuser (compulsory workhouses) are under provincial, not
royal control. In short, in Prussia compulsory workhouses are county
institutions, or in the case of Berlin municipal institutions, rather
than state institutions. We find, herefore, in Holland and Belgium
special institutions for the imprisonment of vagrants and mendicants
controlled by the state, in Prussia special institutions for the
imprisonment of vagrants and mendicants controlled by the provinces
corresponding in general to our American counties; we find in England
and Scotland local prisons, not specially designated for vagrants
and mendicants, controlled by the state through boards of prison
commissioners. While in Prussia the American student might perhaps
expect under provincial (county) management a condition analogous to
the indifferent if not highly neglectful management of correctional
institutions so familiar to American students, where politics rule
in county affairs, the fact is that the Prussian county compulsory
workhouses are managed with that German thoroughness, efficiency,
and integrity which makes these county institutions, so far as my
observations went, fully comparable with the management of the state
prisons and penitentiaries.
The important point is that the state, or in Prussia the county, can
organize and operate its institutions for vagrants and mendicants
independent of petty local prejudices or ignorance, and regardless of
pernicious political influences. If the state concludes to institute
in its labor colonies or other institutions an innovation or a method
well tested elsewhere, it has the power. As with us in New York,
state institutions are in general far better managed than the local
institutions, so in European countries I visited the principle of state
control and operation of all correctional institutions is held to be
fundamentally correct. If in Prussia the local institutions were poorly
managed, undoubtedly the state would seek to step in and take over
the management of these institutions. Briefly then, it can be stated
that state control and operation of institutions for the treatment of
vagrants and tramps is a principle justified by European experience.
2. In all European countries visited, I found a most admirable absence
of political influence. Repeatedly it was impressed upon me by high
authorities that politics play no deleterious part in the appointments
of officials, high or low, in the course of justice. To be sure each
country has its political parties, but the integrity of men in office
is, I was informed, rarely if ever questioned. Positions such as
secretary-general of the department of justice, which office carries
with it in Holland and Belgium the administration of prisons and
other correctional institutions, or that of the head of the Prussian
prison system, or that of chairman of the prison commissioners of
England or Scotland is practically a position of life tenure, during
good behavior. Governors and directors of prisons, and subordinate
officials as well, hold office without fear of removal for any cause
except dereliction of duty, incompetency or immorality. Frequently
indeed was the plea made to me: “Urge above all things the removal of
American prisons from politics.” In short, the type of prison employee
from governor down to the list of attendants is, from the standard of
integrity, admirable in all countries I visited. That such conditions
make for good service through the elimination of the worry as to tenure
and through the elimination of voluntary or compulsory dishonesty under
the pressure of political influences is self-evident.
3. On the continent vagrants and mendicants as found in the colonies
and in the compulsory workhouses are very noticeably different from our
typical tramp or vagrant, in that the European tramp in prison is much
older than our typical youthful or young adult wanderer. In Merxplas
and in Veenhuizen the young tramp was a rarity. Perhaps ninety-five per
cent. of the population of the colonies was at least forty-five years
old. The population of the several compulsory workhouses visited in
Prussia averaged somewhat younger, but nevertheless was considerably
older than the average age of our tramp army.
Added to this was the fact, everywhere observable, that the great
majority of the tramps and vagrants possessed a trade. They could
accomplish at least moderate results with their hands and they
seemed to wish to do satisfactory work to a reasonable extent. As
illustrations I cite the tailoring department, the shoe making
department and the trunk department at Merxplas, and the weaving and
the carpentry work at Veenhuizen. The great majority of the vagrants
and the beggars who are segregated in Holland, Belgium and Germany are
men who know how to do things with their hands and heads sufficiently
well to earn a living, but who are either physically or mentally
so under par that they cannot work hard enough, or will not save
money enough, to render them permanently self supporting. Hence they
gravitate, generally without marked criminal instincts or intentions,
into vagabondage or vagrancy, are arrested, and sent or returned to the
beggar colony. In these colonies, under a control which they are not
adverse to, and with a shifting of responsibility which they are glad
of, they produce a moderate amount of product with a moderate amount
of pleasure in their work. The directors of the colonies and other
representatives of the departments of justice claim that the men are
happier in the colonies and are better off by far than they would be
outside.
4. The beggar colonies and the compulsory workhouses are in practically
no sense reformatories. The importance of this fact cannot be
over-emphasized. There seems to be a rather general belief in the
United States that farm colonies for tramps and vagrants will be
important reformative agencies. European experience is directly
contrary to this belief. European sociologists, directors of colonies,
prison physicians, or prison commissioners without exception stated
emphatically to me that the percentage of reformation (by which is
meant fairly permanent rehabilitation) is exceedingly small from the
colonies and the compulsory workhouses. The history of beggar colonies
in Belgium and Holland shows that those colonies began with large
hopes of reformation and that in the course of years and generations
it has become thoroughly manifest that the tramp and vagrant is what
he is through a lack of stamina, will, physique or brain, whatever we
may call it in the individual instance, without which it is impossible
for him to lead a normal and self-supporting existence. Just as we in
the United States are coming to see that the feeble-minded criminal
and non-criminal are chronically deficient and that feeble-mindedness
means an absence of a quality which cannot be replaced or cured, so
with vagrancy and its twin sister mendicancy, European conclusions are
emphatic that vagrancy and mendicancy, especially in the more advanced
stages, must be regarded as manifestations of a social inefficiency
and incompetency which require segregation and custodial care, in most
instances permanently or for long periods.
If ever a labor colony was organized and conducted with the earnest
purpose of reformation of a large proportion of its inmates, the
voluntary labor colony at Bielefeld was such a one. Yet after thirty
years the parent colony, known throughout the civilized world and
quoted more than any other of its kind, bears this testimony through
its secretary, given to me on August 6, 1911: “This colony is not
successful in reforming many men or in making them permanently self
supporting. This colony is successful in furnishing, as do the score
of other colonies in Germany, a haven to the “brothers of the highway”
who are stranded and unable to live honestly without our help. This
colony is a colony not for the permanent rehabilitation of its inmates,
but for the temporary succor of those who seek our help. A large
proportion of our brothers come time and again to see us. They think
themselves strong enough to leave us, but they come back. If they do
not come to us, they go to other colonies from time to time. Many of
our colonists are discharged prisoners. Many of them are at times in
the voluntary labor colonies, at times in the compulsory workhouses. We
have many instances of successful reformation and rehabilitation, but
the voluntary labor colony as represented by Bielefeld colony has not
solved the problem of the elimination of the tramp.”
On the other hand, opinion is general that the compulsory labor colony
as represented by the beggar colony or compulsory workhouse is of
great value as a deterrent and as a custodial institution. None of
the countries would, I believe, give up the colony idea, although
statements were frequently made that the colony should be smaller,
classifications more developed and that the efforts to influence
for the better the individual colonists should be more frequent and
varied. At Merxplas the secretary general of the Belgian department of
justice, the administrative head of the Belgian system, stated to me
that Belgium is planning numerous smaller colonies to take the place
of Merxplas. The feeling is pronounced in Belgium, Holland and Germany
that the most that can be achieved by any present method of dealing
with vagrants is the gradual reduction of the number of vagrants, the
deterrence of many would-be vagrants, and the segregation of a large
number of inevitable vagrants and beggars where they may do the least
harm to society at a minimum expense to society.
Although vagrants in the colonies and the workhouses manifest in
general a restlessness and a frequent desire for liberty, they are
themselves aware that their condition in general is better in the
colonies than outside. Indeed, at Merxplas, and particularly at
Veenhuizen the American visitor finds a beauty of landscape and a
condition of intensive development of garden and meadow, grove and
forest, canal and highway that renders both institutions scenically
beautiful.
The Prussian compulsory workhouse, Brauweiler, is most attractively
located in a renovated cloister, the original buildings of which
are 1,000 years old. The spacious rooms, the impressive arched
corridors, the striking central courts of the cloister as well as the
well preserved cloister church dating back to the tenth century, are
all impressive and even awe-inspiring. The workhouse prisoners eat
in cloistered passages where 500 years ago the monks had their daily
meals. The prisoners worship in a church used by royalty and nobles
at the time of the crusades. Even a spreading mulberry tree in one
of the court yards, furnishing shade from time to time for some of
the inmates, was planted a thousand years ago by the founders of the
monastery. In Rummelsburg, adjacent to Berlin, the walled workhouse
embraces ample grounds, a spacious garden and attractive buildings. At
Veenhuizen in Holland, the heath has been made to blossom like the rose
and no finer views of Holland scenery can be found than those in the
midst of the 7,000 acres embraced by the colony.
5. Not only do the vagrants live under such surroundings, but in nearly
all instances they and their predecessors have thus created their
surroundings. Merxplas and Veenhuizen were as the rest of the heath
when they were founded. Today the cold north wind, blowing down from
the North Sea, is checked before striking the grounds and buildings of
Veenhuizen by forests planted by the colonists a generation or more
ago. The large dormitories, accommodating 500 men each, in which the
Merxplas colonists sleep, were built by colonists most of whom have
passed away. The arable farm land of Merxplas, which now supplies the
bulk of the vegetable products needed by the colony, was made fertile
by gangs of colonists in previous years who rooted out the weeds and
heather and utilized the street sweepings of Antwerp in a mixture of
top soil. Shops, churches, officers’ quarters, farm buildings, farm
implements and wagons have been built by the colonists in these several
institutions. Stock has been bred and raised at the colony and to the
maximum extent the colonists are rendered self supporting. In addition,
industries are maintained to the maximum extent possible with hand and
foot power, it being still a literal principle in the colonies and in
the workhouses that by the sweat of his brow shall the colonist earn
his bread. Oftentimes the rigor of the work impressed me unpleasantly,
particularly the weaving by hand and foot power at Merxplas and at
Veenhuizen, which was carried on by many aged men who in our country
would seem candidates for an idle almshouse life.
In short, one of the important lessons taught by the colonies and the
workhouses is that there is in tramps and vagrants (at least in Central
Europe) a very large amount of latent productivity, which directed
normally and under conditions offering the least resistance can be made
financially profitable to the state.
6. European vagrants and beggars seem seldom malicious and vicious. The
colonies in Belgium and Holland are not regarded as penal institutions,
and in Prussia as only semi-penal. Discipline is comparatively easy,
the proportion of infractions of rules varying largely in proportion
to the tact, discretion and humanity of the director and of his
assistants. Throughout the Merxplas colony the words docility and
disobedience kept recurring to my mind. In Merxplas and Veenhuizen
the men come and go without the restriction of walls. Escape is easy
and the possibilities are often taken advantage of. As noted in the
special chapters that follow, little is done to follow up this escape
so long as the fugitives show a disposition to re-establish themselves
in industrial life. “Peace and good will” seem to be mottoes in the
colonies. In the Merxplas colony one finds many mottos printed in
French and Flemish admonishing the colonists to forsake the vices
and cleave to the virtues. Other religious influences, however, are
not very noticeable. By comparison, the atmosphere of Bielefeld, a
voluntary labor colony of Prussia, seems permeated with devoutness and
outward religious observance.