And so the report continues, the several Commissioners complaining of lack of classification, of employment, of ventilation, of cleanliness, and of practically everything that goes to make up proper conditions of life in an institution intended to be correctional.

In the county jail, with its unclassified service, we have the perfect flower and fruit of the theories of "rotation in office," and "to the victor belong the spoils."

The argument of Secretary Me Laughlin, hereinbefore quoted, in favor of a limited amount of partisanship in public service, must be conceded to be an excellent one.

Let us, however, contemplate the more familiar case of an official who has been appointed partly because of his ability and partly because of his politics, one who has finally gained experience which should be useful in the public service, but when there is a turn in the fortune wheel of politics, is displaced to make room for another good man, who is, in turn, appointed partly because of his ability and partly because of his politics, but who has had no experience and must for years grope his way along until it has been gained. Does the State profit or lose by this transaction, oft repeated as it has been and as it must be, if partisanship is to weigh in the balance at all?

Penologists everywhere recognize the necessity of trained service in the care and treatment of the criminal, whom they commonly regard as the victim of a diseased condition of character requiring careful diagnosis and skillful treatment. It is a crime, therefore, against those whose defects of nature or taints of blood bring them within the meshes of the law, and not less so against the great body of the people, whose labor and toil pay the cost of maintaining these correctional institutions, to substitute for the honest and efficient worker the untrained partisan.

The service of honest and efficient officers is the most valuable, as it should be the most valued, asset of the State and its divisions. It should not be lightly dissipated to cash political obligations.

What business house would reason or act otherwise than upon the theory that it should do everything possible to retain the service of fit employes, even though the firm changed hands. Is not such a course, therefore, businesslike, and the reverse of it, unbusinesslike? Who, then, will wish to father the proposition that the business of the State, and of the counties, the cities and the towns should be conducted in an unbusinesslike manner, simply to forward the temporary and selfish interests of a little group of people?

While it is not probable that any one in this audience will be willing to join with a distinguished State Senator from this city, in placing civil service reform in the category of "crimes," there may be those who consider it to be somewhat of a misfortune, and I should like to hear from any such on this particular proposition. When we speak of "politics" in a connection like this, we usually really mean, if we are careful to analyze the matter, the supposed interest of some individual, or, perhaps, a small group of individuals, as opposed to the interests of the whole community.

Great parties do not, as a rule, nowadays, seek to inject politics into the management of prisons, penitentiaries and jails, even though some of their leaders may attempt to do so for the benefit of themselves or their friends. Whatever is done in this direction is done, I am satisfied, against the will of those who make up the great body of the political parties and because they are, at the time, powerless to prevent it. If this were made a distinct issue, unmixed with anything to distract, I am sure that the people of this State would most unqualifiedly range themselves upon the side of civil service reform. Their devotion to this cause is shown by the adoption of the civil service reform section of the revised Constitution, and by their action on other occasions when the subject has been an issue.

This State is a great State. It has for over a hundred years been gradually working from primitive conditions in the admin

istration of charitable and correctional institutions toward an ideal standard. The time for further progress has arrived, and it will surely be made.

DISCUSSION ON "POLITICS IN PRISONS, PENITENTIARIES AND JAILS."

The discussion was opened by Neuville O. Fanning, Deputy Commissioner of Correction, New York:

Mr. FANNING. I am very much pleased with two special features of the paper just read by Mr. Hebberd. I like it because of the moderation that it shows in omitting the usual harsh characterizations of party men who may have received their official positions in prisons for partisan reasons.

I consider it moderate because it argues, also, for the high aims of civil service as against the mere use of the civil service laws to further partisan ends. Several speakers here have made assertion, and, of course, being a party man, I agree with them, to the effect that not all party men are bad officials. The majority of partisans, I think you will agree, are partisans from principle. When such partisans hold office they perform the functions of the office conscientiously, and when they appoint partisan subordinates they exact from those subordinates the same conscientious performance of duty. This fact established, we have only the corrupt or incompetent partisan in office to condemn, and in condemning him we must not forget that the law under which we hold elections. provides a remedy for him. There is no doubt, however, that civil service laws wisely applied, tend to increase official efficiency, and, therefore, should be approved for the institutions in which this Conference is primarily interested.

The second point of Mr. Hebberd's discussion, which I most especially approve, or at least which attracts my attention most strongly, is the description of the civil service situation in the State of New York. If you will remember, Mr. Hebberd seemed to indicate very clearly that while the cities of New York and

Buffalo, the counties which hold the great cities of the State of New York, are now acting under civil service rules of the State or special civil service rules applied to the county, all other counties of the State, all other penal institutions of the State, are practically exempt from the operation of those laws. Now, in the discussion of partisan politics in connection with penal institutions, it should not be forgotten, in connection with this fact, that the counties holding the great cities of the State of New York are all Democratic, and that all other counties of the State, or practically all of them, are Republican. If you will carry out that analogy, you will see that some influence has evidently created a civil service in the State of New York which applies to Democratic communities and does not apply to Republican communities, and that it may consequently be manipulated through a State civil service board of one party denomination and a city, civil service board of another denomination, to the detriment of one and the advantage of the other. I just suggest this as a possibility.

Some time ago, about a year ago, I think, in Albany, I had occasion to differ from the chairman of my committee, who made a report recommending with regard to the penal institutions of the State that all penitentiaries of the State should be placed under a single commissioner who was to be a State official, and that the State system of prisons should thereby be strengthened by say six or seven penitentiaries I think it is six-as against the county penal system of the State, where the institutions are under control of the elected officials of the county. It seemed to me that in that recommendation the chairman of my committee had taken a pretty long step to strengthen the dominant idea that the State government ought to keep as many institutions under the control of the Republican party as possible at the expense of those counties under the control of the Democratic party, because if these institutions, or at least some of them, are not controlled by Democrats in the counties which are Democratic, and if they were put under State

some of them

control, they would be, according to the common political situation of the State now, under Republican officials. These officials would be appointed without any civil service law -to govern the selection. The plea could be made that new buildings might be erected for these institutions and all their supplies, of course, would be bought, if desired, from Republican sources.

Now, following up that, I, at that time, indicated, as I thought very clearly, that the tendency of legislation in this State has been constantly against the interests of the penal institutions in Democratic communities for a great many years. That tendency has been offset occasionally, only by the non-partisan labors of philanthropists in the city of New York, who have sought to develop the prison system in this State irrespective of any such considerations at all.

You all remember the movement that was made to take the prisons from Blackwell's Island, the intention being to create a new prison system for the city of New York on other islands farther up in the East river, and so much was done in connection with that movement that a law was passed preventing the erection of any further penal institutions on Blackwell's Island, and to establish, in course of time, the penitentiaries and workhouses on Riker's Island and Hart's Island. Now, I think that is a movement that everybody will sympathize with, but you will observe that in the passage of this law a clause was inserted which prohibited any further prison construction on Blackwell's Island. Now, the effect of that, without any accompanying clauses providing for appropriations for new institutions, was to paralyze the penal system of the city of New York. We can not improve it. We can not take any steps to better a building or erect a new building as long as that law is on the statute books, and it remains there to-day in just that shape.

The efforts of the present administration of the Correction Department have been devoted very largely toward the development of Riker's Island with a view to the future erection of prisons there.