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.
GOVERNOR WEST’S PRISON POLICY
By Rev. O. A. Stillman
[The prison policies of several governors have lately attracted attention, notably those of Governor West of Oregon, Schafroth of Colorado, Foss of Massachusetts and Gilchrist of Florida. The following article, written by one closely in touch with Oregon prison conditions and published in “Lend a Hand,” is a useful outline of Governor West’s work in Oregon for prison betterment.]
There has been much comment in the papers and magazines lately regarding Governor West’s prison policy; some of which has been written in a friendly spirit, some of it in a spirit of criticism, and some of it, while undoubtedly written in a friendly spirit, has, because of insufficient information, had rather the result of putting the governor and his policies in a false light.
Some of these writers, probably with the best intentions, have given the impression that Governor West’s policy flashed upon the unmitigated horrors of the Oregon state penitentiary like a flash of lightning out of a clear sky, without any preparation or previous warning. If this had been true, it would probably have resulted only in disaster, as far as the policy is concerned, and in making the governor appear rash and inconsiderate, if not ridiculous.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Governor West knew perfectly well what he was doing, and, so far as I have been able to judge, he has been eminently wise in his reforms. He has not entered into this work without having given a great deal of study to its problems, and he seems to have a large fund of information regarding the conditions he is trying to meet.
The fact is that the change in the prison policy began in the spring of 1903. At that time conditions were just about as bad as they have been pictured. The generosity of the people of the state of Oregon did not go to the length of furnishing the prisoners in the penitentiary even such common necessities as socks and underclothing. Flogging was common, and the hose, no less terrible as a punishment than the whip, was considered a necessity in the government of the penitentiary. There was no common dining room, and the men lived, slept, cooked and ate in their cells. An exceedingly limited and coarse fare was provided by the state, but the prisoner who had money could send out and purchase provisions, which he could cook in his cell over a small oil stove. The prisoner who had no money had to content himself with dry bread and bean soup flavored with the smell from the cooking of his more fortunate neighbor. Sanitary conditions were shockingly bad, and at one time resulted in a large number of cases of typhoid fever. The spirit of the inmates was exceedingly dangerous, as witnessed by the fact that the officers of the prison considered it unsafe to go among the men without a guard. The Tracy-Merrill outbreak was a fair sample of the spirit of the institution at that time.