42                    A. M. E. REVIEW.

weaker spirits so long as they earn enough  to eat every
day and have a place to sleep every night.
  Mary Boyle O'Reilly, Prison Commissioner of Massachu-
setts, said in a recent interview:
  Women criminals are almost entirely the victims of the parasitic
season-trades that by piece work and starvation wages drain the
workers of life, liberty and happiness  The average wage of women
is $4.50, of girls, $2.90, and twenty per cent of the women workers in
Massachusetts are always unemployed.  Given idleness, hunger,  anx-
iety, and the illy concealed criticism of the neighbors and the unen-
durable tension of nerve and muscle, and it is not long until we find the
woman who comes before the court for offenses against her womanhood.
Women in industry are the least valuable of human beings, yet the bur-
den of the giant spiders of commercial industry falls upon them. Pro-
longed exertion, unsupported by adequate nourishment, alternated
with spells of loafing, brings about a physical state that offers no re-
action against the temptation to infirmity. The mere physical move-
ments necessary in certain trades bring on a nervous excitability that
paves the way to unchastity. The sorrowful sisterhood make up one-
third of all women in prison, and the majority are very young.
  Miss O'Reilly makes the sweeping statement that all ha-
bitual women criminals are physically diseased, and that all
women convicted are first in need of physical care to build
up the tired body and correct the imperfect action of the
heart caused by anaemia. Many women are simply prob-
lems for the nerve specialist, and others, either from pre-
natal influences or diseases such as meningitis, are moral
idiots entirely irresponsible for their offenses.
  After the initial processes in dealing with offenders, the
arrest, the trial, the sentence, comes the stage of incarcera-
tion where a cure of crime is possible. To do this success-
fully, the cause that brings the prisoner into custody must
be considered in every case. Much is accomplished by med-
ical treatment, healthful hygiene, wise discipline, education,
and the constant example by the officials of self-control and
right living. Cleary, swiftly, simply, habits are inculcated
that lead to moral  stability  and  economic  independence.
There is little use to teach the way of virtue to fallen women




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 1

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  01
Date:  07/1911